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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 9, 2019

Klay Thompson

Toronto, Ontario - Practice Day

Q. We all know about "Game 6 Klay," but there might not be a Game 6. Are we going to say a "Game 5 Klay" instead now?
KLAY THOMPSON: You're going to see me and you're going to see me being myself and you're just going to see a resilient Warrior team. We have had our backs against the wall before with this same group. I mean, even last year, being down 3-2 [against the Houston Rockets]. Obviously, it's a little more daunting being down 3-1, but usually when our backs are against the wall, we respond the best.

So hopefully I'll add another part to whatever legacy you want to carve out for me tomorrow -- Game 5 Klay, whatever. But if I compete to the best of my ability, I'll be satisfied with the results.

Q. Just going off of your comment about resiliency, what do you think the biggest key to being resilient is?
KLAY THOMPSON: The biggest key? I think there are two of them - it's focus and passion. The talent side, the skill, putting the ball in the hoop, that will take care of itself, especially when we play with more passion than the other team, when we play with a great focus. That's when you see the best type of basketball in the world from us. It starts with our leaders tomorrow, including myself. We'll come in the arena with the right mindset.

Q. We spoke with Kyle and Steve and they particularly spoke around their adversity and their life, not around basketball, and that's what keeps them focused on the present. For you, how do you particularly stay living moment to moment?
KLAY THOMPSON: Well, that's a great question. I just try to enjoy the journey. It's been a very long one since we have been on this championship run. It started way back, 2014. You wish to have no end in sight, but everything that's great always comes to an end. So whether that's tomorrow or four years from now, you never know. That's the beauty of life. You just got to go out and enjoy every minute with the group of guys you got, because in professional sports nothing is ever guaranteed. You can look back on any professional league and see that. There are so many examples in the history of the sport. So that's what keeps me in the present moment.

Q. Can you just give us an update on how you felt immediately after the game and how you're feeling now? And you had said that you would play at 80 percent. What percent do you think you're going to be at tomorrow night?
KLAY THOMPSON: I did not feel good after the game.

Q. Sore?
KLAY THOMPSON: Oh, I mean a little sore, but just more mentally and emotionally just kind of -- it sucks losing at this stage. Any Finals loss is hard, so you got to digest that. But physically, I feel great. Like I said, I was like 80 percent the other night, so I'll be inching closer to 90, closer to a hundred hopefully by tomorrow.

Everyone is banged up out there. I'm sure the Raptors have guys who aren't feeling well. You just got to rely on your Will and your teammates, and you'll get the job done.

Q. Coach Kerr just said there's a chance KD might be back. What did you see in him in these days that he's been out? And as a player just back from an injury, how do you live those moments in which you can't help your team?
KLAY THOMPSON: The hardest part about being an athlete is going through injuries, especially when your team is playing for a championship. It sucks. I feel for Kevin. I know what type of competitor he is and we obviously miss him dearly. But whether it's tomorrow or Game 6, we just have to do everything in our willpower to help him get back, If that's win a game and be patient, then we got to go do that.

But he will be very welcome, I'll say that much. I think it's pretty easy to realize we obviously miss him out there and he's propelled us to two championships in the last two years. So it would be pretty storybook if he could come back and help us do the same.

But injuries are the hardest part of sports. You just got to play through them -- not play through them, but manage the injury. It's tough. I mean, I went through it. Kevin's is much more serious than all of ours, and I know how badly he wants to be out there. He's one of the best competitors I've ever been around.

Q. You guys were down in a similar situation in the Conference Finals against Oklahoma City a few years back. How much did that experience help you in this and what is the difference between this situation and that one?
KLAY THOMPSON: What I remember from that is just the same I'm feeling now. It's just basketball and you just got to go get one to start. I'm using the motivation of bringing one back to Oakland to help. We feel like the city of Oakland deserves one more game at least. So if we want that to happen, we got to go out and take care of business tomorrow.

And I was also on the other side, 3-1, losing a lead. So I'm trying to reference that standpoint of how I was feeling back then. I don't know if the Raptors are feeling this, but you feel very confident; all you got to do is win one. So you see both sides.

And how is it similar? I mean, both teams, that OKC team and this Raptor team, are very similar as far as their length, athleticism, star power. Just got to take it one game at a time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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