NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAVERICKS VS. WARRIORS

May 24, 2022

Steph Curry

Golden State Warriors

Game 4: Postgame

Mavericks 119, Warriors 109

Q. Did it perk you up that if they could do this, we could probably get back in this game?

STEPH CURRY: Probably JK's three in the corner. I don't know what the score was but it was a different feeling. Had kind of nervous energy in the building and our guys were just out there hooping. It was fun to watch.

It was fun to watch them just compete, find a little rhythm, a little chemistry and give us some life. That's what they are out there to do. It was just awesome to watch.

Q. Steve said that he was talking amongst the coaches and did he ask you, like, hey, do you want to come back in? Do you feel okay coming back in, or did he tell you? What were those conversations like?

STEPH CURRY: It wasn't really much of a conversation with us. I'm sure they were having it, as we were climbing into the lead a little bit. I think I mentioned something to Q at one point, that I'd be fine to go in whenever. And when he made that call at the timeout, I was fine physically and all that.

It's kind of crazy to think we had an opportunity there and we had even a little bit of life, and it's credit to those five guys out there that made that possible and made Dallas work down the stretch, which hopefully in a playoff series, all that stuff matters over the course of each game.

Q. They had 20 threes. What did you think was going on with you guys defensively?

STEPH CURRY: A lot of that was just great shots by them. The way they play, we talked about it Game 1, they were heaving from everywhere. They were missing a lot of ones they probably thought they should've made. Game 2 they were hot, we figured out in the second half how to cool them down, climbed back into it and got that one last game was kind of average-type game.

Tonight, you're playing, it was almost like an ego win. You come out and you really have nothing to lose, so that confidence started early. We didn't really do nothing to slow it down. And then that's when the avalanche starts. So it's a good lesson learned. You tip your hat to them because they made a lot of shots. We had a couple breakdowns in our zone that gave them easy looks, and they made us pay.

We knew to close them out, it's going to be tough. So you've got to strap up on defense. When we go home, Game 5 and figure out how to slow them down, especially in the first quarter.

Q. Steve mentioned he didn't think you guys were alert. Were there any specific breakdowns that come to mind on some of the threes?

STEPH CURRY: They tried some stuff against our zone, trying to overload one side and force us to rotate and we were just a step slow. They obviously have a lineup where they can put five shooters out there, and then they switched it up, I don't know if it was end of the first half or second half but they put Luka off the ball in the zone, so he was the one catching with a live dribble and making us make a read.

Playoffs are fun. It's a game of adjustments, and you've got to figure out, if you can't do it on the fly, and you have a game like you have tonight. These next 48 hours, get prepared and come out with another level of focus on what they did to win the game like they did tonight.

Q. After Steve’s pregame press conference, you shared a handshake with him and no words were necessarily exchanged. Did you watch the pregame press conference and what was the unspoken message you were trying to share with him about his emotions after today's shooting?

STEPH CURRY: I appreciate his leadership. It was on everybody's mind coming into the game. It's kind of hard to stay focused on going out and playing basketball knowing, you know, what happened in this state. I got kids. Send them to school every day. Drop them off. And you feel for the parents that are going through what they are going through.

I can't even imagine the pain for Coach to say what he said, and every word he said was powerful, was meaningful. I accept that challenge of trying to figure out a way to, again, use my voice and platform to hopefully make change, and you can tell what it meant to him, come up in front of y'all and use this microphone to say what he said.

Appreciate his leadership on that. He's been doing that since he -- since I've known him.

Q. Was it difficult to get your mind right for the game, and how did you do that?

STEPH CURRY: In life there's ways to balance. It's hard. You come in, the perspective is, you know, this is what we do. So you know how to kind of use your routine to get you ready, and obviously your mind wanders from time to time. Especially in the moment of silence before the game and all of that.

It's tough, but it reminds you how blessed we are to be able to do what we do. We can get lost in a basketball game for two and a half hours, you know, even though it is difficult and know what's going on in our country.

Q. For a team obviously still led by veterans with you, Klay, Draymond, how impressive is it to see two 19-year-olds with Moses and Kuminga being part of that rally in the fourth quarter?

STEPH CURRY: It was great because they had an opportunity to go out there and make their presence felt, impact the game, build some confidence and some experience in this series and what it feels like to be out there.

So with Otto being out, GP being out, there's minutes available, and for us to close this series out, Game 5, I'm sure they are going to be out there playing some minutes.

Carry that confidence back home with us and hopefully perform the same way.

Q. I know you didn't shoot the ball well as a team from three tonight. Did you like the looks you got or was it just they didn't fall?

STEPH CURRY: I think the first three games, I would consider -- I would say we haven't shot it as well as we wanted to based on, you know, the shots that we got and the way that they were defending us.

Obviously tonight, I only got up five, which is kind of weird, and I'll figure out exactly what they tried to do to take those looks away.

But you know, we can probably create a little bit more volume but I think the looks that we got were pretty solid. Just we were taking the ball out the net or taking it out the free throw line -- or off the free throw line because we were fouling a little too much to start the game, and we couldn't really create a flow like we're used to.