NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 3, 2022

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

Game 1: Postgame

Boston Celtics 120, Golden State Warriors 108

Q. You guys have not trailed in a playoff series this season until now. What is the confidence level and the way it happened to give up a pretty big lead in that kind of avalanche in the fourth quarter?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's not ideal, but I believe in who we are and how we deal with adversity, how we responded all year, how we've responded in the playoffs after a loss.

So learn a lot from that fourth quarter. Obviously they made a lot of shots. Seemed like, I don’t think they missed until deep in the fourth. When you have a team that just finds a little bit of momentum like they did and they keep making shots, so it's tough to kind of regain that momentum.

And the guys are making shots, obviously, Al, Marcus, Derrick White, Jaylen early in the fourth. They played well.

We know they are a good team. So are we. We have to respond on Sunday.

Q. Dallas was obviously very thirsty to shoot threes at all times. Boston maybe doesn't operate that way. But do you feel like just defensively maybe coming off the Dallas series, you guys sagged off more than you should, believing you weren't facing that type of attack? Or what do you think happened with all those wide-open threes?

STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, rotations might have been a little slow. You obviously have to pick and choose where you send attention. Jaylen and Jayson have the ball in their hands a lot, and they try to create confusion with pick-and-rolls, putting a lot of different people in them.

Al was spaced most of the game. When he's making shots like that, and you're slow to rotate, it's just another threat that you have to worry and about. Obviously, 26 points, 6-for-8, that's tough, and even Derrick scoring 20-plus and five threes.

Those two guys are key. You hope they don't stay that hot, but also you've got to do something about it, and we have to figure that out watching film tomorrow and Saturday.

Q. You started this game pretty aggressively. You scored 21 in the first. What tone were you trying to set going into this series?

STEPHEN CURRY: Just playing aggressive, knowing -- playing the way I know how to play. I think I found a lot of space obviously in the first quarter and just was trying to ride that wave as long as I could.

And they are obviously a good defensive team, but we created enough good looks offensively to win the game tonight. Just couldn't get enough stops. You know, let the lead melt away in the fourth.

There's a lot of bright spots in how we played. Got to get over the tough feeling of letting one slip away.

Q. What did it mean to have Otto back and just Andre's influence to give you guys some reinforcements there, and two key people in your rotation?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's huge to have options and to have our guys back. That's the benefit of finishing the series like we did. They both made their presence felt at times throughout the game.

Again, it's how we do things, and it's nice to have them out there. I think we all as a whole understand there will be different lineups out there, different than last series. So we've got to continue to try to blow that chemistry and understand what we are doing on offense, especially, when things kind of slowdown a little bit.

Q. Jordan has obviously had some really good moments in this postseason, but maybe tonight was not one of them. What do you think his game was? I think Kerr mentioned that they were playing him pretty physically. Did you see that? Did you see him getting a little bit off his game?

STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I think, I mean, you're comparing the numbers that he's capable of and the way that he can play-make and all that, and it's tough when you're switching series to feel out how a team is going to guard him, and just making the right reads and slowing down a little bit.

It's his first Finals game, and there's a lot of adrenaline, a lot of nerves and all that. But he'll settle in, and we all will play better Game 2 and, like I said, respond.

So we've done it before, and got a lot of confidence we can do it even based on how tonight went.

Q. Boston's had a tougher roll with getting to this point, seven-game series against Milwaukee, seven-game series against Miami. Do you feel they were prepared to be resilient coming into tonight? You had the early flurry, they came back; you got to the third quarter flow; they came back and took over the game in the fourth?

STEPHEN CURRY: I'm sure those experiences helped, but they also have a lot of veterans that have been around a good amount and had some testing battles.

You know, it's also kind of when you look up and the way the game had went from the start to the beginning of the fourth quarter, they went on like a little 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter, and look up and it's only five points, and none of those guys have been in the Finals before. And we have been on the other side where you and we look up, and, oh, we are in this game. And their confidence is contagious, and they started making shots.

Those are little momentum swings that you can step on the gas and take a team's confidence away. You have to capitalize on that. We didn't do that in the third quarter, that last minute or so, and then to start the fourth quarter. And then you just live and die by the shots that they can make. They got us tonight on that. I'm sure those experiences helped, but we can do something about it.

Q. You guys had a couple of droughts, second quarter, fourth quarter scoring. Did it become tougher to create shots after they switched whatever they were doing on you, giving you a lot of space in the first quarter?

STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, a little bit. Obviously made adjustments. But it was also we got a little rushed. And I don't think we were smart enough in some of those situations to try to find the right matchups and try to create the right shots.

And then it's also tough because you're taking the ball out of the basket the way that they were shooting the ball. So it was combination of both.

We obviously scored enough to win. It's just they make 21 threes, and some guys who had career nights shooting the ball, that was really the difference, based on how it felt on the court. Obviously, we'll watch film and see where some of those offensive mistakes or droughts happened.

But scoring ain't enough to win. You've got to get stops.

Q. When you start off that hot, is there an urge to say, hey, I want to roll that into the second quarter, I want to roll that into the fourth quarter, or is it just trusting the rotations and then trying to get that rhythm back when you can come back in?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's the latter. But it's also understanding how the series develops, at most, we got six games left. Make the necessary adjustments.

Like I said it's about winning four games by any means necessary, and for 42 minutes, we did enough to win a game tonight, and that's not how basketball works. I think everything starts to come on the table when you look at trying to get ourselves back in the series on Sunday and taking it from there.

Q. To the point that you made earlier about how you like how the guys handle adversity, what do you think have been the key things you guys have done after losses this season that can apply to this upcoming game?

STEPHEN CURRY: Just being honest about what went wrong and holding each other accountable and coming out with another level of effort and desperation that we need to protect our home court on Sunday and gain some momentum in the series.

So obviously our core, we have been through this a couple times. You know, you lose in the first game of a series but we have obviously had some tough losses in the series and you find a way to bounce back. You have to rely on that experience but it's also just making the necessary game plan adjustments and coming out with a focused effort that everybody can kind of feel like they are going to impact the game at some point.

Q. Robert Williams had four blocks. He's had that last two games against you guys. What makes him a tough defender to drive and score in the paint against?

STEPHEN CURRY: That's his skill set in the league. He's an amazing rim protector. Especially when he's off the ball, he can roam a little bit. He comes out of nowhere. He can contest shots to the rim. It's also just feeling him in space, too, because I think he blocked one of my threes at one point. Just you kind of underestimate his length.

That's the beauty of this series and looking forward to playing a team like that and a guy like that; the adjustments of how you would have felt like out what the looks were, where we got in trouble a little bit, and making the adjustments for the next game. Usually in the regular season, you'll see that at some point. It's a different experience. We'll be ready for Sunday.

Q. With this series getting extended out, you have two days before the next game. But the way this game ended for you guys, would you much rather get back out there after a day, or do you feel like you need this two days in between to get ready for Sunday, just based on how things ended?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's actually both because the feeling sucks and you want to get back out there. But the adjustments that we need and coaching staff, players all get on the same page about what we need to do on Sunday, you can definitely take advantage of the two days of preparation.

So I mean, obviously that's what it is, but it's a tough feeling for sure. Like nobody wants to sit on that for the next two days and just sit and wait knowing how big Game 2 is going to be for us. But stay locked in, stay focused and stay confident in who we are and what we can do, and the fact that this series is just getting started.