	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 6, 2019

Fred VanVleet

Oakland, California - Practice Day

Q. (No microphone.)
FRED VANVLEET: I think it started last year for the playoffs, just really learning the margins of error and how mentally locked in and just the excellence it takes to win in the postseason. One possession can change a series, and with those type of stakes it takes a different level of mental focus and physical performance.

I think just being engulfed in the excellence that it takes to keep winning at a high level for a long time -- the postseason is about two months long, so you have to be playing at a really high level for a long time. That's been something that I just try to keep in mind the entire time.

Q. Obviously 3-1 is dangling out there. Is the key then not to get ahead of yourselves?
FRED VANVLEET: Yeah, we haven't got ahead of ourselves the whole year. We haven't gotten ahead of ourselves in the playoffs, and it's not going to start now. We're up 2-1 and we're on the road and we just want to try to get another win. We're not thinking about the rest of the series. We're thinking about Game 4, trying to get a win against the defending champs.

Q. What was your reaction to learning that it was a representative from the Warriors and your reaction now that you've had a night to think it over?
FRED VANVLEET: It's disappointing. It's very disappointing that that's where we are in our game. It's just funny because I literally just watched the Ron Artest show on Showtime a few days ago. They did a great job with describing that stuff. Ron and Ben had their thing, but it really started from a guy who threw a cup, right? You can't have that. You can't have that in a game. It sucks that we have to take the high road all the time, but that is what it is. It's unfortunate that some people feel like they can do things like that.

Like we said last night, just grateful that it was Kyle and not somebody else who may have reacted differently to somebody physically putting their hands on you. And I know a lot of us, me especially, how we grew up and how you're raised, everybody has a different philosophy, but somebody puts hands on you, you got to defend yourself. Not that it was that extreme, but that's not the point. It's unacceptable. It's uncalled for. I know the NBA has been great with stuff like that, so I'm sure that as time goes on we'll try to figure it out. I don't care who he is.

Q. (No microphone.)
FRED VANVLEET: If he had a billion dollars or zero dollars, there's no room for that in our game. We have a great game and we have to protect that. I know what the consequences will be if it was a player doing that to a fan. So we hope that we see that reciprocated on the other end.

Q. On Kyle Lowry's reaction:
FRED VANVLEET: Yeah, there should be some type of bonus or something when you don't react. Kyle should get some type of bonus for not doing what every human wants to do in that situation.

I was on the court at the time, so it feels like it was a guy who he fell on who was kind of pushing him off. But then you go back and look at it and he went way out of his way to do that. You just wonder all the other scenarios that that could have been and you got to give Kyle a ton of credit for being professional and handling that the best way that he could and going to Marc Davis and addressing it and going to the NBA security. We're in the NBA Finals. We have the greatest game in the world. Our game is a global game now and this is what we have to talk about. So it's unfortunate that it happened. We obviously support our teammate. I don't think it's an indication on NBA fans or Warriors fans, but just this guy is acting out. He's not the only one in the NBA like that, but he decided to make a bad choice and hopefully the NBA will react to that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297