NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 2, 2022

Kevon Looney

Golden State Warriors

Game 1: Postgame

Boston Celtics 120, Golden State Warriors 108

Q. What do you think guys can do against Horford?

KEVON LOONEY: He made a lot of threes today. Got comfortable early in the game. Made the game easy for him as the game went on. He's a good shooter and a good playmaker. You have to kind of pick your poison with him. He's a good right-hand driver.

Just mixing it up and make him uncomfortable early. I think he got settled in and made shots early and kind of had a rhythm the whole game.

Q. You guys haven't trailed in a series so far in the postseason. What's the confidence level and what's the locker room like?

KEVON LOONEY: Everybody's upset that we lost, but I think the confidence is still there. I thought we played a good game for about 43 minutes, 42 minutes. And down the stretch, they hit a lot of shots, started turning the ball over a little bit, started fouling a bit more than we did earlier in the game.

We know what we need to do to win. Just try to go out there and execute better.

Q. Did you see a difference in the rhythm they were able to get into offensively when they were playing bigger versus smaller in this game?

KEVON LOONEY: No, when they both -- it was kind of consistent the whole game. They just made shots. They pretty much made shots the whole game. They shot 50 percent from three. Whatever lineup they had in there, the guys were making shots.

Credit to them. Derrick White hit a lot of shots, Al Horford hit a lot of big ones. And down the stretch they made more shots than us. It didn't really matter. They kind of played two bigs the whole game, and I thought we did a good job with our rotations. And we wanted the guys who we wanted to shoot, they just didn't make shots today.

Q. With the fourth quarter specifically, obviously they were making shots, you guys weren't. I think you had like a five-minute scoring drought in there. During that time did you feel like there was maybe a loss of focus or maybe you guys got into your heads a little bit?

KEVON LOONEY: I wouldn't say we it was a loss of focus. I would say they had us kind of on our heels. Their defense had us stagnant. They was able to put it in transition and get it to the paint and kick it out.

For most of the game, we were the aggressors who was able to play with force. I think in the fourth quarter, had us on our heels, had us backpedaling and had us scrambling in our rotations. They were the good team. They made shots. Just a battle of will, and I think they won it in the fourth quarter.

Q. Usually in first quarters in these playoffs, if Steph goes off, you can pretty much cruise to a win. Were you surprised by Boston's resilience? You guys ran away from them in the third quarter, and they came back in the fourth.

KEVON LOONEY: I wouldn't say I was surprised, no. Been watching the playoffs all year, you kind of know that's their team. They get punched in the mouth but they always stay around and they make runs and they might even lose the game and you think the series might have changed and then they come back and kind of win. They don't really get down you know on themselves. They always keep fighting and playing their style of basketball.

So we wasn't surprised. It's the Finals. It's going to be hard. None of these games going to be easy. It's going to be a hard-fought battle each game. We wasn't surprised. It was good to see Steph get off to a good start and kind of set the tone for the series and set the tone for the offense for the whole game. I think we did a good job on the offensive end for the most part. We just have to finish it better.

Q. You guys have lost playoff games this year, and during the title runs, what's the process of what you guys do to in between games to course correct and how can that apply for this upcoming game?

KEVON LOONEY: Just watching a lot of film and see where we went wrong at, seeing how we can make some adjustments, how to keep them guys off the three-point line, how to keep guys from getting to the paint. Different things we talked about before the series started but now that we have a good feeling, the first time playing them, we have a good feel for what they do, the force that they are going to play with. We just have to go out there and make some adjustments.