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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORSJune 9, 2019Draymond GreenToronto, Ontario - Practice Day Q. It's rare that the Warriors are considered an underdog. Are you kind of embracing the back-against-the-wall moment? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think you have to embrace it. When your backs are against the wall, you got to go out and show what you're made of. Being down 3-1, obviously the odds are against you. But we just got to go out and win one game and take it from there, one game at a time. Q. Steve said that Kevin is going to practice today. How do you feel that he's progressing? DRAYMOND GREEN: I don't really know how he's progressing because we're in the middle of The Finals and we really haven't had much time to practice. When we do practice, it's at an arena. So it's not like you see the typical rehab progression as if it's in the regular season and everything is normal. But obviously for him to be practicing today means he is taking steps in the right direction. We'll see what that means for tomorrow. Obviously hopefully it means he's able to play and give whatever he can to the team. Q. You guys have talked about taking it one game at a time. You won Game 2 up here. So what's it take to get the win again tomorrow? DRAYMOND GREEN: Well, obviously it's tough to come and win any road game, let alone a closeout game where they're going to come out and try to give their best shot and the fans are going to come out and give everything they have. It's a tough environment. But nonetheless we played in tough environments before. You just have to come out and go possession by possession. Try to play mistake-free basketball and trust in the results. Q. I know after Game 3 you were quoted as saying that you were hoping that you guys would be able to win your home game, win Game 5 in Toronto and come back and close it out in Oakland for Game 6. Obviously things have changed. How are you feeling now? DRAYMOND GREEN: I feel great. We still have an opportunity to go out and win a series and that's all you can really ask for. Q. You've been down 3-1 before, though obviously not in the NBA Finals. Is there anything can you take from that experience or is it a complete different ball game? DRAYMOND GREEN: Every series is different. It's not necessarily that that series wasn't in the NBA Finals, but every series is different. It takes on a life of its own. But most importantly the same message that was applied then should be the same message that is applied now. Like I said before, let's take it one game at a time. You go out, you play every possession like it is your last and understand what's at stake. You give everything you got and you live with the results. Q. What makes a difference at this point? You guys know each other so well. You've both made adjustments to each other. What makes the difference? DRAYMOND GREEN: It's just about who is going to play harder, who is going to get the 50/50 balls, who is going to defend well and do the necessary things that it takes to win a game of this magnitude. Q. It seems your defense took a step back in the last two games. What can you do better as a team defensively? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think we got to take everyone else out. I think Kawhi has been playing great, and when you're playing against a great player like that, very rarely are you going to completely take them out of the game. You just try to make it tough on them. But everyone else is playing well and I think that's what we have to do a better job of. You do what you can on Kawhi and try to make it as tough as possible, but you can't let everyone else play as well as they have been playing. Q. You said after Game 1 that there was kind of a feeling-out process with this team because you guys haven't played each other full strength. Do you think that process is over or are you still trying to figure things out? DRAYMOND GREEN: Every game you're trying to figure something else out. That's just the nature of a playoff series. It's a chess match. You're always trying to do something to get an advantage. You're trying to figure something different out in every game. That's never going to change. Q. What have you seen the challenges that present you guys with the center spot, given that there's been so much fluidity with DeMarcus coming back and Kevon being out for a game and coming back? How have you guys tried to adjust with all these different circumstances? DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, it is what it is. You play the cards you were dealt. You adjust however, any way that you can. Obviously, they've been pretty consistent in their lineups and who is at the center spot. We have been kind of trying to figure it out with adding DeMarcus back in and then Loon going out. But nonetheless that's no excuse. It is what it is. Q. Have you seen the chants from the Raptors fans after the Game 4 at Oracle Arena, and how does it make you feel knowing it's maybe the last time that the Oracle holds a game? DRAYMOND GREEN: I really have no feelings about it because I don't personally think it's the last time. So, yeah, I didn't walk out of there like, Oh, man it is my last game at Oracle. So, yeah. It's a little different for me. Q. This is your fifth year here, been able to keep the same core together, which is like unheard of in the era of player movement. But you got a big summer. You got a lot of moving parts. Does it feel like that this might be it? DRAYMOND GREEN: It's not really something that you focus on during The Finals. The Raptors are a tall enough task to focus on rather than sitting and worrying about, Is this it? There are a lot of things going on, a lot of things that you got to focus on. That's not really something that you sit and worry about. Q. Historically you've been known as a transition-offense team, being able to push the basketball. A lot of people say that you're the stimulus behind that. Is that the sort of thing that you want to do and you feel like you need to do in this Game 5? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think we definitely have to get the pace to where we want it on both sides of the ball, which means stopping them in transition but also having some transition opportunities of our own. We always say we're at our best when we're getting stops and pushing the tempo. That's what's worked well for us over the years, and in Game 5 we have to make sure we do a good job of that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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