NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 23, 2020

Danny Green

Los Angeles Lakers

Practice Day

Q. Danny, I was just wondering what was the reaction from you guys when you heard about the indictments in the Breonna Taylor case, and were you in the meal room when you found out?

DANNY GREEN: We were on our way to having a meeting. Some of us were getting treatment. LeBron texted the group chat about the announcement made, and some of us said we weren't probably -- some of us were near a TV, some of us weren't, some of us were getting treatment and on our way to the meeting to do film and cleanup. But the responses that I saw and that I got and that I discussed briefly with my teammates before I got into the meal room and watched film, nobody was really happy about it. It was disappointing. I guess in a sense something was done, but it wasn't enough. Most guys thought it was definitely not enough.

We're still -- it's a tough one. It's a tough one. But we're still trying to make the proper steps, trying to -- we haven't had a chance to reconvene. We need more time as a group, not just our team but everyone in the bubble and outside the bubble to figure out how we can continue to get progress in these certain aspects, in these certain categories, in certain communities, because with what happened today wasn't enough. We felt, and I'm sure most people around the country felt the same, no matter, like I said, if I was in the same predicament or our communities. So yeah, prayers out to her family. We're still thinking of them, we're still seeking justice for them as well as many others, and hopefully this is a step -- it's a step, but we need a lot more progress made than what has been today.

Q. About a month ago the Jacob Blake news occurred and rippled throughout the league. Obviously you guys took a pause from actual games. There was a lot more teams in the bubble at that point. The teams that were in the bubble weren't a couple games away from the NBA Finals, so I understand it's a different situation, but what would be your suggestion or thought of -- you said you guys hadn't reconvened. What could you guys do next or what do you think you should do next even just to open up a dialogue?

DANNY GREEN: I think when the teams have a break like how Miami and Boston did, there's time to actually reconvene, and obviously there's time in between each round that we can take to reconvene and discuss. Hopefully we can continue -- obviously basketball is a small part of the bigger picture of what we're doing here, but hopefully we can continue to compete and make it to the next stage that we have still here to discuss it, but just got to take advantage of the days that we have and the time that we have that we're here together and use the platforms that we have to our advantage.

Q. Danny, as you mentioned, one of the missions of the bubble was to bring sort of attention and focus to some of these issues. Do you feel like that mission is being achieved? Do you feel like there's a sense that you get that you guys are being heard outside of the bubble?

DANNY GREEN: I think we're being heard, but obviously the goals that we're trying to achieve we're very far away from after seeing today's verdict. Like I said, it's a disappointment. We feel like we've taken a step back, that we haven't made the progress we were seeking. Our voices aren't being heard loud enough. But we're not going to stop. We're going to continue. We're going to continue fighting, we're going to continue to push, we're going to continue to use our voices. But yeah, after today's verdict, seems like every time we turn around and look at the news, it's always something disheartening or disappointing, and that's from all standpoints of what's going on in our country. We're not happy about it, but can't give up hope, can't quit, got to keep fighting and try to make things better, not just for us but for our future children, future grandkids. We want it to be a better place here for them to live.

Q. Danny, how did you sustain the finger injury? And you personally have opened each presser in the bubble demanding justice for Breonna Taylor; do you feel discouraged by this?

DANNY GREEN: Yes, I think we all kind of were a little disappointed -- more than just a little. I'm not a negative person. I've got to try to look at the positives. I don't try to get down or get discouraged too much. I try to do as much encouraging as I possibly can to everyone around me, which helps keep myself encouraged.

But the finger injury is very minimal. It's nothing major. I don't know what you were told. It's a small thing. I'll be fine. I’ll continue to play. I've got nine other fingers; I'll be all right.

Q. What have you seen from Rajon Rondo so far?

DANNY GREEN: Rondo has been great for us. He's been setting the table. Obviously it's hard to keep that up throughout the whole Playoffs at every game. You're going to have some games where you're not going to have the same type of matchups, the same type of cards dealt to you. There's going to be different types of rotations, different types of things teams will throw at you. Houston, he was great for us and even this series has been great, but game to game it's different. They went on a run -- we had some mistakes offensively and defensively.

I think what's hurting us more is our offense, which is making them be able to get out and run. If we don't turn the ball over, we'll be in better shape. Game 2 we turned the ball over so many times so they felt like they should be up 2-1. We kind of got lucky because we probably should have lost a game like that, you foul that many times and have that many turnovers. But last night's game, as well. Can't turn the ball over that many times, can't foul, and obviously we shot poorly, they shot well.

But yeah, 'Do has been great for us. He's been a floor general. He started off last night a little slow, but that energy in that fourth quarter was amazing to see that group out and running. We know how we have to play. We have to play with that sense of urgency for 48 minutes. We can't just wait until the last five minutes to try to pick it up and win a game. It's not going to happen like that especially in the Playoffs against a good team like that. They're a really good ballclub.

Q. Obviously you just said that you guys didn't shoot the way you wanted to last night, and you talked before about sort of the difficulty of getting over tough games in the bubble, in the bubble environment. Is it easier now to kind of push through some of those things now that you've done it a couple times and seeing bad games and gotten over them? Do you feel like you've grown in that specific way mentally?

DANNY GREEN: Yeah, I mean, so we're used to this atmosphere, used to this environment. But with any situation, the more you do it, the more you get comfortable, the more you get used to it; the more minutes behind the wheel, the more comfortable you are on the road. And same with certain teams and certain matchups. That's what we hope to do. If we don't get better then we'll probably end up going home. But the more you play a team, the more you learn them, the more you try to progress and get better at playing and doing things and being more efficient, so hopefully next game we can do that and to get better, stronger, more efficient and grow, because if not then we'll be sent home. But the team that does that and makes the right adjustments and grows the fastest or makes the proper rotations or proper execution, especially down the stretch, is the team that's going to be the last team standing, the one that can figure out each other better, faster. That's the whole idea and key to winning basketball games and in the Playoffs is the adjustments and growing and learning as you're playing, and hopefully winning games as you're growing and learning.

Q. I had a quick follow-up. Could you see -- you guys came together and had that big group meeting with every player that was in the bubble back after the Bucks' boycott happened. Could you see a similar sort of gathering, maybe not even just of the four teams still left but remotely of other teams to kind of discuss a collective action?

DANNY GREEN: I could. Like I said, there's a lot less teams here, a lot less coaches, so that meeting wouldn't be nowhere near as big as it was when we had all those teams here. It was before I think the first round was over, so every team that was a playoff team was here. I don't think anybody was -- maybe a matter of maybe one or two teams that were already gone. Outside of that, every playoff team I think was here, so if we were to have another meeting like that it would be a lot smaller group, but still could be very effective as long as the message gets relayed and passed down to everyone outside of the bubble.

We want to continue to have those guys, even though they're not here and on this platform, they still have their own platforms, own brands and in their communities and cities can use their voice to be heard, so we want to continue to pass that message along to everyone outside to spread the word and hopefully get some better progress.