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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 10, 2019

Stephen Curry

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 5

Golden State - 106, Toronto - 105

Q. You guys just had one of the guttiest wins in recent memory here in the Finals, yet nobody's really celebrating. Can you just speak to like the family-like connection that you guys have. It was striking to see Bob Myers and Klay Thompson and Steve Kerr feeling so somber after such a great win. Can you speak to that, please.
STEPHEN CURRY: Everybody gets so wrapped up in chasing championships and the greatness that you see on the floor, but life is more important in terms of caring about an individual and what they're going through on a daily basis. And you see the commitment and the challenges and just the what's been thrown at KD this whole year, really. And he gave us what he had, he went out there and sacrificed his body, and we know how it turned out.

So a part of our mentality and the experiences, the shared experiences we have as a team and what we have all been through, that's way more important than anything that happens out there or long-term anything that happens on the court. I just feel so bad for him, to be honest, like that's nobody should have to go through something like that, especially with this stage that we have.

Q. What did you say to KD after the injury and what did he say to you?
STEPHEN CURRY: Honestly, I don't know. It was kind of an emotional moment all the way around. Something told me just to go back there. I really don't know what I said or what he said, it just sucks, man. Like I don't really know what else to say about it. So that's it.

Q. Bob Myers was in here and he said, "The people that question whether he wanted to get back were wrong. Kevin is one of the most misunderstood people. He's a good teammate and I'm lucky to know him." What do you think Bob means when he says, "He's one of the most misunderstood people"?
STEPHEN CURRY: When you're on this level of greatness and everybody's kind of poking and producing trying to narrate your story and tell you who you are, who you should be, what decisions you should make constantly over and over and over again, it's part of what comes with this territory. But it's just, when you get to know somebody and see how genuine they are and how committed they are just to playing basketball and having fun and living life a certain way, you root for those type of guys. And like he said, whatever his outward appearance is or whatever he says to the media or whatever, like at the end of the day the people that know him, know what type of guy he is and know how special of an individual he is.

So all those emotions come into it when you see him go down like that, where he's giving us everything he has. It's not even about this series, it's about long-term, his mindset and being able to get back to the player and the person that he has shown consistently over the course of his career.

Q. You touched on it a little bit, but out of all the players that walked Kevin Durant all the way back to the locker room, you were the only one that was still in the game at that time, and at the NBA Finals stage where your timeouts are limited and seconds are going by, you guys got to get a play up, why did you feel it was so necessary to kind of go at that point?
STEPHEN CURRY: Sometimes the spirit tells you what to do. You don't really make decisions, you just act on it. So I can't tell you what went through my head, it just felt right.

Q. Are you able to put into words the challenge of regrouping after something like that? Is it more something that's said or is it just based off instinct?
STEPHEN CURRY: I don't know. I mean, it's going to be a rough go in terms of just trying to recalibrate. We have been up -- until this point it's been about our hope that he could play and our hope to stay alive in this series, the emotional roller coaster what tonight was. Get on this flight tomorrow, go back to the drawing board when we get home, and I think the biggest thing, the biggest advantage is being at Oracle Arena one more time, where our fans can really get behind us, and we're going to have to will ourselves for another 48 minutes to stay alive. And whatever it's going to take from every single guy in our jersey.

So I don't know really what -- if there's going to be a speech in the locker room, if there's going to need to be words at all. We understand the moment and I think we can rally, considering how the second half went tonight.

Q. After Kevin went down the crowd almost cheered. Can you maybe give some of your reaction to that?
STEPHEN CURRY: I've been in this city for -- I've lived here, I really enjoyed the people and their passion and excitement for not only the game, but just when you come into town they just enjoy life and they're nice people. Very confused around that reaction. It's not my experience with the people of this city, and I commend obviously Danny Green and Kyle Lowry especially I think they were the ones that were kind of signaling to the crowd, like, let's check ourselves a little bit. You understand this is about an individual, a human being and not, oh, shoot he's out, he's hurt, we won the championship. Like that was probably their initial thought and you hate to see that when a guy's going through pain like that.

So again, that's not my experience with this city and I just hope that ugliness doesn't show itself again as we go forward in this series.

Q. What kind of statement was made tonight about the character of this team? And also about the mindset going back to Oracle and Klay said you're going to keep fighting for KD now.
STEPHEN CURRY: We made a lot of different statements over the course of these five years. Win or lose, I don't feel like we need to prove anything anymore. It's just about can we get the job done or not.

Obviously like I said, tonight was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish, and we have another game to play on Thursday. So we'll be ready for it, but there's no more statements needed to be made about who we are as a team and our heart and our competitiveness and whatnot. We want to win this championship, we're going to give everything we got, but I think we're done with proving people wrong or making bold statements with our play, people know who we are.

Q. Even though Kevin was hurt, he went to Instagram and he said, "Dub Nation going to be loud as F for Game 6, I'm hurting deep in my soul right now. I can't lie, but seeing my brothers get this win was like taking a shot of tequila. I got new life, LOL, #Dubs." How does that make you feel even though he's hurting that he's still thinking about you guys, thinking about Game 6, still being a leader and trying to let you guys know that even though you guys feel so bad, that he's going to be right there with you?
STEPHEN CURRY: I think it goes back to what Bob was saying about him being misunderstood in terms of what's important to him. Playing basketball is important, being a good human being is important, selflessness of, like you said going through a situation like he's going through right now, he has the initiative to go speak to an entire fan base and to hype us up as his teammates and his brothers.

So I would expect nothing less or nothing different in terms of how he responds to this, although he's going to go through some challenges through this process, whatever, however, long it takes, but we're going to be there for him, for sure.

Q. You hear a lot of times players talk about a guy who goes down who inspires them. It's clear what your feelings are about this player and this guy. How much can Kevin Durant's spirit still lift this team in a spot like this?
STEPHEN CURRY: I think just in terms of the opportunity we have in front of us in two days, we'll be suiting up in front of Oracle Arena and like you said, with the amazing atmosphere and opportunity to play for him, and to kind of honor the sacrifice, I guess, he made in terms of putting his body on the line tonight.

We're going to give everything we got. I would like to say I would guarantee the win, but who knows how it's going to end up, but we're going to give everything we got. We're going to fight, we're going to compete, and I know if we get a chance to talk to him the next two days, that's what he would expect. So I'm excited about that proposition in terms of what we have to do on Thursday, but at the end of the day I'm still heartbroken for a guy that gave everything he had for us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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