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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 9, 2019

Shaun Livingston

Toronto, Ontario - Practice Day

Q. What's it like to be 3-1 right now?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: We have been on the right side [of 3-1] and been on the wrong side. The main thing I think is just drawing from experience, being able to put that into perspective, knowing not to panic. It's not about being a hero; it's about putting our head down, grouping together and not panicking. Staying poised and staying in the moment. Knowing that it's just going to be a game at a time right now.

Q. Do you think at all about an elimination game? Does that even come to mind?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: More so from an urgency standpoint. 48 minutes, playing every possession like it's our last. You look at it as obviously the opportunity. You want to keep playing, and if we don't come out with that mentality, that sense of urgency, it could be it. So more so using it as fuel to bring us together.

Q. How much can one game swing momentum in a series, because all of a sudden you win tomorrow you're back at home with a lot of experience on your side?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: That's it. One game, one quarter, one possession can swing the game. It's just get that momentum going. Especially at this stage, you got some of the best players in the world playing. You get confidence, you get a feel and then from there it's just downhill.

Q. You mentioned that Oklahoma City series earlier. Is there any specifics you can take from that experience or is it a whole different ball game playing this Raptors club?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: A little bit of both. You take the experience of where our mindset was when we were playing Oklahoma City. But Toronto is a different team. We're also playing for a championship, so the stakes are a little higher. But more so just trying to draw from that experience.

Like I said earlier, just not panic. You just want to stay poised but also play with that intensity, that sense of urgency.

Q. On Kevin Durant's potential return.
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: I would like to think he would make a difference. Again, it's just any time a player of that caliber comes back or goes out of the lineup, it's going to be felt certain ways. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully he comes back, but at this point we prepare like he's not playing because he hasn't been playing.

So we don't put that pressure on him. It's really his decision, the training staff's decision to make.

Q. As one of the leaders of the team, do they look to you, especially in these sort of crunch moments, when it's a do-or-die sort of situation?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: I think we draw on the experience from each other. The five, six guys that have been playing this late in the season the last couple years, we're all kind of distributing leadership throughout the team with maybe the guys that haven't been here, maybe the bench guys, and just banding together that way.

Q. I know you had a chance to look at the tape and review it. What adjustments do you want to make going into Game 5, especially being on the road?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: We haven't looked at the tape yet. But again, to me, it's going to be won on the defensive end of the floor. We probably didn't score as much as we would like the last two games, but we got to leave it all on the floor defensively.

Q. What's the biggest challenge for this team this playoffs? There have been 10 different starting lineups.
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Yeah, I would say the inconsistency of the lineups, just because it throws off our rotations and it's just hard to get a rhythm all the way through. But it's the playoffs. Everybody is playing injured. Everybody is playing with some sort of injury. So we just have to adapt. I think we have done a good job of adapting so far, but at this point it's just about wins and losses. So we don't make excuses for that.

Q. This is obviously the fifth year you guys have been here and been able to keep this same core intact, which is unheard of in this era of player movement. But this summer there are a lot of moving parts. I know you've hinted that you may retire. Is there a sense that this is it, that this might be it, that you got to take advantage while you still have it and that nothing is given in terms of next year and keeping this same core together?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: I think we have had that same mentality since we started the playoffs. Looking at it knowing whatever may happen this summer, it happens, but being in the moment, right? Trying to get to the top of the mountain. Trying to get to where we are now with a chance to win a championship. That's our goal. That's our mentality. That's our perspective.

Again, nobody is a mind reader. Nobody can predict what's going to happen. But we kind of leave it out there, right? Leave it out there and try to enjoy this journey where we're at right now.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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