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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 10, 2019

Kawhi Leonard

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 5

Golden State - 106, Toronto - 105

Q. The last play, is that what was drawn up or when you got double-teamed is that when you made the pass?
KAWHI LEONARD: Really didn't have nothing drawn up at that point. They got a turnover, and I got the ball at the top of the key, as you've seen, and the double team and swing, swing, just didn't get it off quick enough.

Q. Losing Kevin Durant for Golden State hurts them in terms of their basketball playing, but everyone we have seen in here there's been an emotional intensity to what they're going through, and if they rally around that emotion. Does this make Golden State less dangerous or more dangerous?
KAWHI LEONARD: They're dangerous. Obviously KD makes them a different team, they have been here before and that's probably a question you're going to have to ask them. I'm just focusing on our team and what we got to do next game.

But they played great tonight in the last three quarters after KD exited.

Q. Did you see anything different from the Warriors in this game than the previous four?
KAWHI LEONARD: No, other than KD, that was a big difference in the beginning. But they just pretty much, they played fast early on, trying to get buckets in transition early, and obviously they made 20 threes tonight, Klay and Steph hit some big ones late in the game.

Q. You guys are going pretty good, I think you had a 10-0 run and then Nick called the timeouts. Did you feel like it was a good time for a timeout? He said he wanted to get you guys some rest and then what happened coming out of the timeouts? They were able to get it going.
KAWHI LEONARD: At that time I felt that, like you said, he probably wanted to get us some rest at that moment. You never know, I mean, if we would have won the game, we wouldn't be talking about it.

Q. You guys grabbed the six-point lead late, how do you describe what happened in the final three minutes?
KAWHI LEONARD: I think they scored like nine points in a minute, back-to-back threes. They got some easy looks, Klay got a wide-open look twice. Steph came off a pin-down, got an open look and he hit the three as well. Pretty much we had a big turnover when we were up three. K-Lo tried to swing it back to Marc, he just wasn't there to catch the ball, and that was pretty much the ball game right there. They came down, hit a three, and another three and we weren't able to score.

Q. Given your journey to this stage, seeing Kevin Durant go down, I mean removing the basketball element from it, what's your reaction working so hard to get to this level and then to have something like that happen?
KAWHI LEONARD: Like what do I think about his situation? It's devastating. Like you said, you work so hard to get to this point, these are the last games, you see him try to come out and push himself, but obviously he tried to do a move -- and I feel bad for him. I've been in that situation before. I hope he has a speedy recovery, and just gets healthy and I hope that he's going to be okay mentally, just throughout the whole rehab process. Because like I said before, we work so hard to either play in the Finals or just play in the NBA, and when you're not playing, it's hard to wrap your mind around it. But I'm pretty sure he's going to attack each day and get better and come back strong.

Q. When Nick Nurse was in here earlier he told a story about how you guys lost Game 2, he said just try to win one in Oakland and you told him, "F that, let's go win both of them." Going back, Game 6, this is the last game in Oracle, what's the mentality going on the road, trying to close out, especially with all the emotions they're going to have about Kevin Durant and it being the last game in their arena?
KAWHI LEONARD: I mean, just try to come out and match that emotion and that drive. Come out and do the same thing, just be mentally focused, try to limit our mistakes, and be the aggressor. Just play hard 48 minutes and see what happens. Play confident.

Q. Take us through that final possession again. A lot of people on social media especially and a lot of us watching are wondering why you didn't take that final shot.
KAWHI LEONARD: Well, I mean two guys came up on me, I don't know if I could have got a shot off. It's hard. If you got two guys on top of you, you have to try to find the right play. We ended up getting a shot in the corner, but it just didn't go off quick enough.

Q. What kind of leader are you trying to be for this team? What did you tell your guys in the locker room to keep their confidence up?
KAWHI LEONARD: I was just pretty much fight through adversity. It's not going to be easy, stay confident. We know we can win and that's it. I'm not going to say everything, but those are the main key points.

Q. Did you guys execute to the game plan that was designed pregame? Started out kind of slow, I thought, maybe caught up in the fourth quarter. Were you guys getting the shots you guys wanted or do you think they changed the defensive scheme on you guys?
KAWHI LEONARD: I think a couple of us were playing a little bit too fast on the offensive end. But we scored 28 points in the first quarter, could have played a little bit better defense, like guys were getting open shots. I guess nerves probably settled down from there and we started to play a little better basketball.

But we're going against a great team and they weren't going to quit.

Q. Wanted to kind of touch on that point that you made, you specifically mentioned that you hoped KD can recover from this emotionally. As someone who has faced an injury like that, what kind of range of emotions were you going through, what kind of toll does it take on you when you go through that?
KAWHI LEONARD: I think he will recover from it. I was just saying like, I hope he's keeping his spirits up through it. I know he's going to get through it. He's a great basketball player and he wants to come back and be a great player, Hall of Fame player. But the simple fact that you're just hurt, like I was saying, and you want to get out and play, but you really got to just take your time and be patient and let the weeks and months go by.

I'm not sure what his injury is right now. I pray for him and I hope that he has a Godspeed recovery.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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