NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CLIPPERS VS. SUNS

June 21, 2021

E'Twaun Moore

Phoenix Suns

Practice Day

Q. Nice way to get back on the floor. Obviously, you hadn’t really seen a lot of action yet in the postseason. How was it getting back out there and being part of the win yesterday?

E'TWAUN MOORE: It was fun. Any way I can contribute. Any way. I want to try to win. We're at the highest level in the Western Conference finals. We dream about this. It's what we work hard for. My thing, it's help the team and just try to get wins.

Q. To bounce off that question, you get welcomed back to the Western Conference Finals, and not only that, but guys like Beverley and Rondo, who are just going to hound you up and down the floor. What's your approach as a ball handler when guys like that just press up on you immediately as soon as you get the ball?

E'TWAUN MOORE: My job is to keep everyone in position. Get everybody set up and try to get us the best shot, the best possession possible. Those guys, I know them pretty well. I know how they play. I got some advantages also. I'm a big guard and using my body, changing plays, just not letting them try to affect or change the play.

Q. Two-part question here. The first part I just want to ask about your experience. You've been in this league for a while now. A lot has been made about these guys, a couple of these guys getting their first taste of the playoffs. How valuable is that for this team to have someone like you to be able to step in when a guy like Chris Paul is out that has this kind of experience?

E'TWAUN MOORE: It's good. From a leadership standpoint, just talking, communicating, just the presence of keeping everybody together on the court and maintaining poise. I'm not sure if you've seen all the games, but maintaining 20-point leads, 15-point leads in the fourth quarter. One thing I try to do is try to help everybody stay poised and try to keep us all together. I think that's definitely helped a lot.

Q. Can you talk about Coach's mentality of getting to the paint, getting to the paint. It seems like the guards were really aggressive in getting to the paint and distributing, whether it be to Deandre Ayton and guys on the wing. Also, when you see a guy like Devin Booker starting to heat up, how nice is it to be able to give it to him and something's going to happen?

E'TWAUN MOORE: Devin, he's special. You don't find guys with that mentality or that skill that often. Like I always say, this is us playing team basketball, us getting out here and seeing the ball. They're a very good, long defensive team. So you've definitely got to be aggressive and play together.

Q. For people like me who have always just kind of watched Devin from afar, he's always carried himself as a very confident basketball player. I'm curious how much of that confidence do you think has spread to some of the other young players that have been with him here now for a few years? When you signed, did you know this team was this ready to win, I guess? Or how quickly did you know that this team was ready to win?

E'TWAUN MOORE: When I first got here, Coach he started texting me like, man, I think we're a championship team, and I was like yeah. He acted like we were that team. We've just got to believe and put the work toward it. From the beginning, I definitely believed and Coach also believed that we had a championship caliber team. We just put in the work every day and just grinded up until this moment.

But our team, we've got a lot of great young talent mixed in with some good veterans. It's been great. James winning executive of the year, that was pretty cool. He put us all together, and it's been a pleasure. Everyone is enjoying sprinting hard and being with each other. Like you said, it's definitely contagious when you see everybody working hard, seeing everybody with the grit, with the toughness. It's definitely contagious with everyone.

Q. Coach and your teammates have been so complimentary of you and the leadership you provided, same thing for a guy like Langston. What are, I guess, maybe the biggest pieces of advice or biggest words of wisdom that you've tried to share with guys during the playoffs or even going back through the grind of the season?

E'TWAUN MOORE: Basketball has its ups and downs all the time, and it will humble you at any point. The main thing is trying to tell us to keep everyone steady, not getting too high, not getting too low. Just keep working, keep grinding through the ups and downs. Basketball definitely humbles you. Yeah, it's a long season. We get in some bad places, we'll just stick together, you know what I mean? There's some great times also, but just knowing that, if you keep working hard, you can stay up there. Just try to keep everyone on a level plane.

Q. Guys talk about being ready, that concept of always being ready. Whether it's when Chris hurt his shoulder and you're thrust in there right away, or with this situation where you had a little time to think maybe I might get some minutes. What is the key for you to staying ready and making sure you're ready to go no matter the circumstance?

E'TWAUN MOORE: Just watching the game. As you know, point guard position, you've got to know everything that's going on. Offense, you've got to see everything. You've got to help direct traffic and everything. So me just being a student.

It's my tenth year. There's always new challenges. The game changes also. The game now from when I first started is different. Just being a student, watching even at times I'm not playing, just trying to put myself in position. If I was, what would I do? And just staying locked in.

Q. What is the collective mentality that you guys have in terms of Chris' situation? How do you guys, kind of not knowing what the deal is, what kind of mentality do you guys have as a team? Also, to follow up on that, how good was C.J. Paul at barking instructions during the game?

E'TWAUN MOORE: I would say, with Chris' situation, I don't really know 100 percent of the timeline, so just try and stay steady. Just know that's when you need the full team. You need everyone. Every little thing matters. So I think we just stay together as a team, and we've got to keep going. We've got to keep pushing. When he comes back, it's going to make it even greater and even sweeter.

From the sideline, anything that helps. If he helps us with wins, we'll take it. However he can help us out.

Q. What do you think was the challenge yesterday with the defense against the Clippers especially at the perimeter? Which take-away do you have for tomorrow?

E'TWAUN MOORE: Oh the challenges against the Clippers, their defense? Their defense is pretty good. They're pretty long. They're very active. We've just got to keep playing fast and keep playing together. Any time you let space in, that's what they want you to do. They can get good on defense. Just got to stay moving, play fast, and keep playing with guts.