|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORSJune 1, 2019Draymond GreenToronto, Ontario - Practice Day Q. Transition was talked about a lot today. Was it as simple as just not making shots or not getting back? DRAYMOND GREEN: A little bit of both. A lot of our missed shots and turnovers led to run-outs for them. When we watched the film, I think we did a pretty good job in the half court, but our transition defense especially, coming on the road in the Finals, you can't win that way. It's hard to win with 17 turnovers. So yeah, we cut those couple things back, that will put us in a better position to win. Q. Even though Kevin's not playing this weekend, what's his presence around the team mean? DRAYMOND GREEN: His presence is great. Like I said yesterday, his presence is kind of, you know, becoming more and more evident. It's becoming more and more normal with where he is in his rehab and being around the team more. So it obviously means a lot. When you're talking a guy like Kevin, a talent like that, it comes with a different view. He sees the game from a different perspective. So it's always good to get that perspective in what he's seeing and trying to incorporate it in what we're doing. Q. You guys are used to taking a team's best punch. How different is it in a series being down the first game, how does that change the experience for you? DRAYMOND GREEN: No, our preparation is going to be the same, no matter if we're down or up. If you're up, you can't get comfortable. You still have to prepare the same way, and we're not hitting the panic button, so our preparation is still the same, at the end of the day you got to -- when you don't have home court in a series, you got to come win one game on the road, whenever that is. And that's still our mindset. Q. It's kind of strange to ask this at the Finals, but it's a place where you want to appreciate the here and now, but when you think about your future what are some of your goals given you're someone who is accomplished so much in your career? How do you prioritize those things? DRAYMOND GREEN: Just continue to try to win. I know all my personal goals, if we're winning, they all take care of themselves. So for me it's just focusing on that main task. When you're winning, you get the accolades. If you're on a team that wins 20 games, you usually don't get accolades, that's just the way it goes. So you just continue to try to do what we have been doing, all the rest of that stuff seems to take care of themselves as they have for this club. Q. When you talk about making adjustments, not being familiar with the Raptors, how much harder is that for players like Jonas and Kevon and Jordan who play fewer minutes and have to come in and try and get in the flow? DRAYMOND GREEN: I actually think that it may be a little easier if you're not necessarily someone who has played a ton of minutes against someone else. Because that same picture, that same experience that I may have in playing so many minutes against the Cavs, like Loon [Kevon Looney] might not have that same experience. He hasn't played as many minutes. So I think it's more normal for them and you come into a game you got to feel the game out, you kind of see where it's going and then you play. Like I think it's more normal for someone who hasn't necessarily played a ton of minutes against one opponent than us guys who have. Q. In the half-court offense, what do you guys need to do better after Game 1? DRAYMOND GREEN: Make some shots. That will help. I also think that we turned the ball over too many times. We got to make sure our spacing is there, make sure we give the guys an outlet, not necessarily -- I think we played in a crowd a lot. They have great length, that's one of their strengths. They swung to the ball. So we have to be better at not playing in the crowd because that's playing to their strengths. Q. How do intangibles play a key role in this series, getting this series back home with one win and try to secure home-court advantage? DRAYMOND GREEN: You got to do all the little things that it takes to win a game, especially on the road. Those things are no different. So you just got to bring that edge, bring in, just come in with the mentality, with the focus level that it takes to win the game on the road in the NBA Finals. We know what that means, we know what it takes, we just got to go out there and do it. Q. You saw other teams try to make Steph play in a crowd or show him a crowd, especially since KD went out. What stood out to you though about the way the Raptors approached the defensive end in Game 1? DRAYMOND GREEN: They really didn't have any defensive lapses. When you get to this point of the season, that's more and more important that you're not having defensive lapses. You look at the way they guarded, it was pretty standard the entire night. They were locked into their coverages and they did a good job of it. It's on us to counter that and use the way they're guarding certain things against them, and we have been pretty successful at doing that. So I have no doubt in my mind that we will here. Q. The mental part of the game, do you feel that's in your favor because of the last three championships you have won? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think those experiences definitely make a difference but at the end of the day no matter how many championships you won, you got to come out and play this one. Every championship series is different, every season is different. So it's not the same. You try to rely on those experiences when you can, but you got to go out and play the game. Q. You said last week that you're less emotional on the court and reacting less to refs, etc. When you look at a guy like Kawhi and how he's just been able to play that way, I mean, do you kind of ever wonder if you could do the same thing? DRAYMOND GREEN: No, I don't want to be Kawhi or have Kawhi's emotions. The way Kawhi goes about his game and his emotions ain't get me to where I am today. So no, I don't aspire to be Kawhi and the way he emotionally approaches the game of basketball. That set of emotions hasn't worked for me and my emotions hasn't worked for him. That's the unique thing about basketball. I think it's also one of the reasons fans can't really relate because you see one guy and it's like, oh, well, he acts this way and another guy acts this way like. That doesn't make sense to me. Well, that's kind of the unique thing about the sport that we play. Q. Have you ever tried to play a game and just be stonefaced the whole time? DRAYMOND GREEN: No. Never tried it. I probably never will try it either. Q. Do you wonder how some guys can do that? DRAYMOND GREEN: No. It's not even of interest to me. Q. Steve said these Raptors remind him a lot of the early years for you guys, and specifically saying that Siakam at times looks like a young you. What do you see in them that reflects maybe those early years, the 2014-15 Warriors? DRAYMOND GREEN: Well, I think they have a very good mixture of youth and experience. They play fast, they really space the floor out very similar to how we play. They have a lot of length out on the floor, very similar to what we built everything on. So I think that there are a lot of similarities there. I think overall they may have a little more experience in the guys that's playing a ton of minutes for them. I think those guys have more experience today than we had when we first started our run. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|