NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CLIPPERS VS. SUNS

June 20, 2021

Cameron Payne

Phoenix Suns

Game 1: Postgame

Phoenix Suns - 120, Los Angeles Clippers - 114

Q. How exciting and electric was it to go out there, and obviously not having Chris Paul is huge, but what was it like to step up in this big moment and have a game like you did.

CAMERON PAYNE: It was actually fun. The atmosphere was crazy. I really just feel like -- I missed playing. We took a long little break and it just felt good being out there, back there on the court and getting the W. Still praying for Chris. Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible. But I'm glad we got that W for him and just looking forward to getting him back.

Q. With the second half of the game, like in the second quarter, you really started seeing the passing lanes. As a point guard and just finding those openings, how would you assess the game as it went on?

CAMERON PAYNE: Honestly, it was just getting into the paint. I had to find a way to get into the paint and once I came to the paint, that really helped a lot. I had a couple quick baskets, so they were coming over to contest those lanes, and I see, in the corner of my eye I just see a big black jersey and I'm throwing it to him. And those plays were just opening up for us every time I got in the paint, so I just tried to keep doing that, just kept trying to be aggressive.

Q. In Devin's triple double in his line, it may get overlooked, he only had two turnovers in 44 minutes. What's that say about him and how he played in a game where they were coming at him a lot with double teams?

CAMERON PAYNE: He played outstanding. One of our keys today was take care of the ball. We know the Clippers are good defensively with their hands, and one of the things we talked about, me and him talked about before the game was, man, we got to take care of the ball. No turnovers, try to keep the turnovers down, as if Chris was in the game, as if Chris was here, and we knew from the jump that if we took care of the ball, we would have a good opportunity, a good chance tonight in the game.

But, man, Book played outstanding. He kept us poised. He got to his spots and he did his thing.

Q. When did you start getting comfortable tonight? It looked like early you weren't playing like you normally do but as the game progressed it got better.

CAMERON PAYNE: I would say probably right around that second quarter that you talked about. But one thing during the game, I came out at like five minutes and I came back in the second quarter, I just sat down and watched the game like I normally do in the situations and kind of felt out how they were really playing. And coach was, like, man, be aggressive. Get in the paint. Get in the paint. Get in the paint. And he kept saying get in the paint. Get in the paint. He was like, man, it opens up the floor for us.

So when I came back out there, I was, like, man, let me just see what happens. Get in the paint, try to get some layups, try to find some guys on some open threes, just try to get everybody going, and I ended up getting myself going doing that. So it's really a give-and-take type of situation when I'm out there. But just, honestly, it's just playing freely by playing aggressive. And, I mean, I was appreciating Monty. That's amazing, amazing coaching. Still my Coach of the Year. But, like, it's amazing to be able to have those type of conversations for the backup and it just shows he believes in all players on the team and that's big-time.

Q. (No microphone, inaudible question)

CAMERON PAYNE: Honestly, I was really little. I was way smaller than what I am and I had to find ways to score when I was little and that just came with my game. Coming here and playing for Monty, his thing was get into the paint, get into the paint, and I just found I had to start finding ways to shoot layups.

Q. I know Book has a couple of favorite all-time players, one of them being Kobe, and Kobe told him to be legendary. And Chris Paul has got to be another one of his all-timers. At times in this game, I was seeing those two guys come out of Book. What was it that he did to channel his two favorites in this ball game?

CAMERON PAYNE: Honestly, I feel like it all comes together when he has the will to win. When he has the will to win, he don't really think about it. He plays. And that's what we like about him. If they come trap, he'll get off the ball. We have a great team. We got 15 guys who can come out there and get to it. He trusts everybody and that's what makes him good. He gets off of it when he has to, and he'll knock the shot down when he got to. Just like you said, you can see both. He just goes out there, plays with a chip on his shoulder, no one giving him nothing, no one still showing him love, so he comes out there and just trying to prove people wrong every night and that's big-time for him.

But collectively as a team, we all got his back. We all got his back. We got to. He going to keep doing his thing. They're going to try to take away things, but he always finds a way to make stuff happen.

Q. Can you take us through kind of this week, where I know it was a different process with Chris not knowing whether he could go or not. But just having to prepare to say, yeah, I might be starting this week and maybe having to sort of calm yourself down or approach this without putting too much pressure on yourself about starting a game and all that?

CAMERON PAYNE: For real, I didn't look at it -- I ain't look at I was starting until yesterday. I was just like, man, I'm holding it down until Chris get back. I still got that mindset. I'm just trying to hold it down until my man back. And I really didn't do nothing out the ordinary. Tried to get a lot of extra workouts in, but outside of that, follow the game plan and just, like I said, hold it down until Chris get back.

Q. You guys have played with without Chris this post-season, but how different was it just not having his presence there in any capacity, not even having his voice in timeouts and things like that? And then I know that he's stayed in contact with everybody closely. Did at any point you find yourself maybe reciting in your head something that he was telling you heading into the game?

CAMERON PAYNE: Oh, he said the game going to be hectic, like, keep your poise. That was the first thing he told me. He called me yesterday and he said, The game going to get hectic. Don't worry about it. Be poised. He was, like, I know y'all ain't played in a long time. The crowd going to be crazy. He was like but be poised, get on to the next play. That's the thing about Chris. It's not so much him out there hooping. His communication is outstanding and we sit down and listen to him. He’s been here before. He's Hall of Fame. We got to listen to him, he got the knowledge. So we sit there, listen to him. That's, the only thing I, honestly, today we missed. He wasn't talking. We didn't have him on the bench talking today. We didn't have him on the court talking, in the timeout talking. That's probably the craziest thing, because he talks so much. Man, it's crazy. He talk on the court, off the court, in the timeout, in the huddle, no-huddle, screaming, running down the court. It's just something. And to not have that voice, it was kind of weird, not even -- the fact that he can't be at the game is kind of weird. But like I said, we just going to hold it down until Chris gets back.