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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 13, 2019

Kyle Lowry

Oakland, California - Postgame 6

Toronto - 114, Golden State - 110

Q. Beginning of this season I know that you were still trying to figure out the decisions by your GM, Masai Ujiri, especially trading your close friend DeMar DeRozan. Now that you guys have won the title, where are you at with that? How do you feel now?
KYLE LOWRY: When he made the trade as a friend of mine, my emotions was there, but I understood that I had to go to work, and I still played for the Toronto Raptors. So I knew that that's my job, my job was to go out there and to be the best basketball player I could be. How I feel now is we won the championship. I mean it's a great feeling.

Q. You've on a been in this organization for a long time, this has been your goal for a long time. But your whole basketball career you felt undervalued, you felt like you never found a home until here. And even in your Toronto career, there have been ups and downs. Can you put into words what this means for you, for Kyle Lowry, after everything you've been through kind of your whole life?
KYLE LOWRY: Words can't explain how I feel. It's been a long, long time. 13 years of NBA basketball. Couple years of college. A couple years of high school basketball. And to be able to say I'm a world champion, it makes me feel great. And to do it with the group of guys that we did it with is amazing, like it's just kind of still surreal. Kind of, it hasn't hit me yet. I'm still kind of in this moment of just like is this real yet? And for me just at the end of the day, I work extremely hard on my game, I work extremely hard on myself, and I am extremely hard on myself. And I'm happy to be able to say I'm a champion and it's been a long time coming.

Q. Fred was sort of joking when he was talking to you about you being one of the most slandered guys in the league. Do you feel that that's sort of the case? Obviously it doesn't matter now.
KYLE LOWRY: People got their own opinions. They can say what they want to say. They always have. I hear them, I listen, but they don't affect my life. Everyone has their own opinions. And I go out there and I do my job to the best of my abilities. And the people that know, my teammates, the organization, they know what I bring to the table, and they appreciate what I do and what I've done. And I score zero points, people blah, blah, blah, I do this, I don't score. I understand what people say, I hear them. But if we win a game and we win as a group, then that's all that matters. Winning is all that matters to me. And I'm at the highest level winning right now.

Q. You had the ball in your hand a couple of times at the end of Game 5, and they ended up forcing a Game 6. Where between those two days did you make up your mind that you were going to come out and impose yourself the way you did offensively in the first quarter?
KYLE LOWRY: I took what the game was going to give me, but I wanted to be aggressive. I look back at every game we've played and that we've won I've shot double figure times. And I was more aggressive. The games, I think besides Game 1, but other games, all the other games we won, I was more aggressive offensively, makes or misses. But people thought that we were kind of be like oh, man, we gave away Game 5. But the group of guys that we have, we have been able to stay level-headed the whole time and understanding that we had a team that was going to come out here and play extremely hard, fans were going to be loud, and they were going to fight to the death. That's the one thing about that group, they fought to the death. And they got some great guys down there, great coaches, and we tip our hats to those guys because they, they're the definition of champions.

Q. What did you learn about Kawhi during the last two months that you didn't know once the from the regular season?
KYLE LOWRY: How tough, I mean it's a lot, he's unable believably good, he's been showing that all year. There's nothing you can -- he's shown us this all year. Yeah, he's a NBA Finals MVP again.

Q. You talked a bit before about the long NBA career, your college career, high school career, it's a long journey and length does not necessarily mean you're going to have one of these happy endings. Can you talk about the satisfaction because there are many great players that you know probably don't get to this point. You have achieved this and the thrill and the beauty of the satisfaction you have of being a NBA champion?
KYLE LOWRY: It's kind of crazy. There's a lot of guys that has this same journey and they haven't been able to get to this point. I'm just so happy to be able to be a part of it and to say I'm a NBA champion. I don't take it for granted at all. I know how hard it's been, how hard it is to get here. I know how hard it takes and it takes some luck also. And it takes some purified professionals just to go out there and keep going and working and trying to get it done. I'm happy to be a part of that fraternity now to say I'm a champion.

Q. Were there some times, I'm guessing you're human like everyone else, can you talk about now that you're on the top, were there some times when you said to yourself I wonder, I wonder should I keep the battle going?
KYLE LOWRY: No. I always wanted to keep working, I love this game, I love this job, I love my life. I just continue to grow, just continue to get better as a man, as a basketball player, as an individual.

Q. Two things. First, I noticed you weren't really in the fray too much in the locker room. What was sort of your celebration immediately after? And two, what are you going to do with all these balls you're collecting?
KYLE LOWRY: I don't drink, so I didn't want to partake. I did a couple sprays and I wanted to make sure that everybody, we all, I was in there a little bit. And for this basketball, I'll make sure that we'll put that one in the practice gym or somewhere and have it done up to say 2019 NBA champions. That one will be displayed somewhere in Toronto.

Q. You've been with the Raptors for a few years, must be a great feeling today. What do you want to say to the city of Toronto and the fans there?
KYLE LOWRY: The city of Toronto, the country, the country of Canada, we did it, we brought it home and we want everybody to celebrate, celebrate safely.

Q. When Kawhi was in here he told a story about how texted you shortly after the trade. He said he knew you were upset but wanted to talk to you. What did that mean to hear from him directly about that at that time? And then just kind of a last question, how does it feel as a team and a country to break the Drake curse?
KYLE LOWRY: When he texted me it was a quick text and just showed the type of person he is. Willing to reach out, understanding that this situation was a little bit sensitive. But he knew that he felt something could be done special with our group and I don't know nothing about the Drake curse. That's my homey, that's my friend, so I don't know nothing about a curse. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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