NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 9, 2022

Gary Payton

Golden State Warriors

Practice Day

Q. We're talking about a guy like Al Horford, all the international guys. Do you have an opinion of the international guys and Latin America specifically?

GARY PAYTON II: They're great. Great basketball players. There are basketball players everywhere. We have a guy named Juan Toscano-Anderson on our team that's doing wonderful things. First Mexican in the dunk contest. He's putting on for his people. I love to see it. I just hope we can continue to get more guys from overseas to come here and play good basketball.

Q. Do you think a good defensive player is born, or do you have to learn? Do you feel the defense, like you have to learn more than the offense, or you have to have some will?

GARY PAYTON II: A little of both. You got to have a learn for it, have an itch for it to get better and to continue to grow from it. Then there's another part where it's just like feel and instincts about it. You kind of mix those two together and you see what you get.

Definitely you can get better on defense.

Q. What's the percentage?

GARY PAYTON II: Mine? I'm going to go straight down 50/50.

Q. How anxious are you for Friday?

GARY PAYTON II: Can't wait to get back here tomorrow. Try to throw away Game 3, regroup and come back out here with the force and energy that we know that we have and get it done.

Q. Glad you're playing tomorrow and not Saturday?

GARY PAYTON II: Yeah, quicker is better. Let's just get back to it. Anxious to get out there. Those three days, pretty long three days in between. I'm glad we only got one day so we can get back out there tomorrow.

Q. How would you characterize how playoff basketball is so different from game to game?

GARY PAYTON II: Possessions. I think possessions matter. Every possession matters when it gets to the playoffs, especially when you get down to the Finals. Every possession matters. Sometimes games come down to one possession.

In the regular season, you kind of not not care for the possession as much, not try to get them, but 50/50 balls and possessions matter at times like this.

Q. Is there a sense of you understand what you have to do?

GARY PAYTON II: Absolutely. Absolutely. We still take it one game at a time. It's a long series. We're going to have some ups and downs. Every game's going to be different.

We go into Game 4 like we did Game 2.

Q. I've spoken to your father a couple of times. He's such a character. He talks smack to me all the time. He barely knows me. I'm not sure if he's spoken to you after last night. If so, what did he say?

GARY PAYTON II: I haven't talked to him. He's in Spain right now, doing some stuff in Spain. I'm sure I'll hear from him, not today, but probably tomorrow after tomorrow's game.

Like you said, he calls me talking smack always. Doesn't matter what it is. Especially games.

Q. He goes to the media and talks so lovingly about you, then calls you and still talks smack?

GARY PAYTON II: Yeah. It's like a love/hate type of thing with Gary (laughter). More love than hate.

That's him. I understand it. I respect it, though.

Q. You were expecting them to come out strong, I'm guessing, in the last game. What makes it so hard to match that same intensity and energy when you start the game?

GARY PAYTON II: I would say probably the home crowd. Each homestand, they get behind you. They got behind them yesterday. We heard 'em. Loud, rowdy. But we got to rally it. Come back, rally it, try to quiet them. These homestands, big difference.