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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 6, 2019

Danny Green

Oakland, California - Practice Day

Q. Two games and two wins away from a title. What do you need to do to take advantage of your position?
DANNY GREEN: I think each game is different. It's not really so much a momentum game to game, but we hope -- we would like to carry over. If we could continue to shoot as good as we did would be great, but we have to do a better job defensively.

And so we're taking it one game at a time, one possession at a time, every minute, every quarter. It's a very good basketball team, they're a championship team, and we know they're going to come back fired up and try to bounce back. We got to do the best we can to match that intensity, energy, and focus.

Q. When the atmosphere is so vibrant here in this arena, do you try to zone out and lock in, or do you use silencing the fans with some buckets as a motivator?
DANNY GREEN: We try to do a little of everything to keep the fans out. We know how great this building is and can get once they get going. So we try to limit their scoring, which will hopefully keep the crowd out of it, and hopefully increase our scoring. And that helps win the games, obviously. But if we can limit their runs as much as possible, it will keep the crowd out of it, and it will help us I think a ton.

Q. The minority owner -- the guy who pushed Kyle is a minority owner?
DANNY GREEN: So I heard.

Q. And I know you think about stuff beyond basketball and a lot of things in the world. What are your thoughts on not just the fan-layer interaction, but in this case an owner-layer interaction?
DANNY GREEN: He should know better, obviously. I would say the punishment should be I guess more. I don't know what it's going to be, but it should be more than what they would give an average fan because he should know better.

So there's no place for that in our game or our league, and he knows that. I tip my hat to Kyle for being as cool as he was, reacting. I don't know how I would have reacted. Obviously he's an older gentleman, so I don't know how I would have reacted in that situation with a guy -- blatantly pushed him. Kyle wasn't even near him. He went across one or two people to get to him.

But Kyle kept his cool and he kept it smart because we're going to need him this series. And obviously at the end of the day, hopefully the punishment is harsher than they would give the average fan.

Q. Is it proportionate, I mean, something like that, could it get to the point where like it impacts the dynamic of the game where there's a ball going out of bounds and a player has to think what's going to happen to me if I dive into the crowd for a loose ball?
DANNY GREEN: I mean, it could. It hasn't gotten that extreme. Obviously there's been some player-fan interactions, and the League has done a good job of handling it. I think the fans -- I don't think players are scared of the fans as much as you think. As much as we try to protect ourselves, I think we're more so afraid of hurting people when we do dive into the stands. But knowing we're going in there and hoping -- now hoping that it's safe to go in there and dive, knowing that sometimes you might get touched or hit, that doesn't seem -- or sit very comfortably with most players, or it doesn't seem right or fair to let the fans be able to react or jump on the court or be in a player's face and say certain things. Because when we say it, we get fined or when we do something, we get in big trouble. But the League is handling it. I'm sure they will take care of it the best they see fit, and I don't think we're scared of the fans. We're not worried about them.

Q. You say he should face a higher level of scrutiny as an owner. If the NBA doesn't punish him to the degree that maybe players would appreciate, what kind of message would it send if the NBA doesn't handle this to the level maybe you expect?
DANNY GREEN: I'm hoping that they do. I have full faith in Adam Silver and our league and the Players Association to communicate with them to figure out a way to make sure things get taken care of the proper way. If it doesn't, then I'm sure the players will take it upon themselves to find a way to use their voice to make some changes throughout this league regardless of the fact -- something has to be done, and if the NBA doesn't figure it out, I think the Players Association may take it into their own hands. Or our team. Who knows. We might get a petition to pay the fines and pay us.

Q. Have you ever had your safety kind of -- or space imposed upon by a fan?
DANNY GREEN: No, I've been in many games where fans are right on top of you, that makes the game fun, for the most part, especially in college. But in this league the fans are on top of you, there have been some fans that have said some things out of line, out of pocket. We say some things to a fan, if we cuss at a fan, like I said, we're going to be fined.

But my space hasn't been invaded or I haven't felt uncomfortable, but some of the things fans say, you just got to sometimes tell them, Sit down and watch the game. That's what you paid to come here for. Enjoy the game, relax, watch the game. And I don't disrespect you or come to your job and hassle you or talk about your family, so don't do it to me.

Q. Before last night, have you or any of your teammates of yours ever experienced anything in Oakland that you thought was over the line?
DANNY GREEN: No. Being in San Antonio, we didn't have any incidents, we didn't have any with the fans or coaches or players. Everything was pretty handled -- outside of the whole media frenzy of what happened with Kawhi's injury and stuff like that, the whole Zaza thing, a lot of fans were not happy in San Antonio about Zaza.

Q. You had great game yesterday and got a lot of good looks. How were those looks different yesterday than they were the first two games?
DANNY GREEN: I think it's been awhile since I had some good quality -- I think we had great pace. We had a couple different sets, a couple different actions, but we moved the ball well. Guys took their time, they were very patient, and I think we were just all aggressive, coming out firing and not thinking about it, playing with an edge, with a chip, knowing we had to get that win last night.

So when we're playing at that pace and everybody's aggressive, it allows things to open up for everybody, especially myself.

Q. What was your reaction when you found out that the fan was a minority owner?
DANNY GREEN: I was pretty -- very shocked, actually. I mean, I was right there, I saw it, I saw him, I looked at him like -- my first thought was that this guy, if he's courtside, he's got to be somebody. So if you're somebody or if you've been courtside before, you should definitely know the rules and regulations.

Once again, he's an older gentleman, so I'm like: What the hell are you doing? You got to know better. I think you probably have kids. Like you don't teach your kids to react that way or act that way at the game. So why would you do that?

And at first I was like he's got to be somebody, and then I was like, yeah, he's just -- for him to do that, he has to be regular fan or just got those seats from somebody, not knowing any better. But when it came out, I was shocked and a little appalled about his behavior.

Q. Before that the woman tried to catch the ball?
DANNY GREEN: Okay. I didn't know that. I just saw K-Lo diving into the stands. I guess she tried to catch the ball before K-Lo could actually get to it? I didn't know that happened.

Q. What do you think about those things with the fans? Should they jump out of the way?
DANNY GREEN: I think they try to move or at least allow the player, if the player is making a play at it, give him the opportunity to make a play at it. Just like in baseball. I mean, as a fan you get in trouble for reaching over for the home run or grabbing the ball when a guy has an opportunity to make a play at it. So we got to give the player a chance to get there, and I think the best bet is just move out of the way if you possibly can.

Q. Can you speak to where your confidence level is after last night's performance?
DANNY GREEN: I think it's game by game. We haven't done anything yet. I haven't done anything yet. It's just one game. It obviously helps to see one or two go in the basket. The first one it helps build a rhythm, so hopefully next game I can hit the first one again and get a good look. You know, Kyle found me in the corner. It was a pretty good look.

But we're taking it a game at a time. We haven't done anything yet. We have a lot of work to do still.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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