NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 10, 2022

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

Game 4: Postgame

Warriors 107, Celtics 97

Q. How is the foot feeling? And secondly, a performance like that tonight, how meaningful was that for you and how did it feel to come into Boston and tie the series up?

STEPHEN CURRY: It means everything knowing the sense of urgency we had to have tonight to win on the road and keep some life in the series, get home-court advantage back and try to create some momentum our way.

It was a hard-fought win. I think the first quarter really set the tone. Even though we were down one, it was a night and day difference between Game 3 and Game 4 how we came out defensively, and that just gives you enough life to withstand some rough patches. And then, you know, find some runs. We get some stops, get out in transition, guys get involved. And you give yourself a chance to win it down the stretch.

Proud of everybody in terms of our physicality, our focus, perseverance throughout the game. 2-2 is way better than 3-1 going home. Job well done tonight.

Q. Klay says he ranks this as your No. 1 Finals performance. Do you agree with that? And Draymond said he could tell by your demeanor the last couple days that you were going to bring some extra fire. Did you feel something brewing the last couple days since the loss?

STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, again, it's kind of how we wanted to start the game. We rely on Draymond bringing that energy and fire throughout the course of the season, and year after year. Felt like we just had to let everybody know that we were here tonight. Whether that's their crowd, their team, our team, whoever wants to see that energy and that fire, we feed off of that.

Yeah, I think it helped us just get settled into the game because, obviously, our experience, you can want it so bad, you kind of get in your own way a little bit and everybody feels a little bit of pressure, and it can go the opposite way. I wanted to try to leverage that in a positive direction for us to start the game.

I can't rate my performances, though. Just win the game.

Q. That was clearly a golden performance by you. I was wondering – [laughter].

STEPHEN CURRY: And he's back. [Chuckling].

Q. I was wondering, have you ever gotten into, like, the crowd, like, that early in the game? You yelled at them, you know, you were flexing? You've done that before, but like normally later. What made you do it early, and how difficult was it to sit those first couple of minutes in your golden performance?

STEPHEN CURRY: First [couple of minutes] -- the fourth quarter?

Q. Yeah.

STEPHEN CURRY: I want to take that as a good sign of how I feel physically with my foot and just the load, intensity of the game, that I wanted to be out there to start the first. Just I felt good. I had a rhythm. Didn't feel tired at all.

So I wanted to maintain that over the course of the rest of the series. But kind of same answer as before, just we needed something to settle into the game to start the game better, and finding some momentum, and just change the tone of how physical they were in Game 3 and how we needed to respond Game 4.

It wasn't a perfect first quarter, but we gave ourselves enough life, and that fire was me just trying to show that we are here tonight and we understand what the task at hand is, and thankfully we found a way to get it done.

Q. For you is this something that coming into the game a day or two before, is that something you want to make sure that you send that message at that point? Did you come up with that plan going into the game, or is it what you feel is going on on the floor and with the crowd?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's both for sure. A lot of it is how hostile the environment was, the fans chanting and doing all their shenanigans and all that, Boston knowing how big of a game it is for them. If they get the win, they take control of series.

So it's all that mixed in, and the experience of knowing how fickle momentum is in the Finals. We've been through it all, so try to rely on past experience to understand how important that was.

Q. I know that you guys trust Steve and that Steve trusts you guys, but when you come out in a got-to-have-it fourth quarter, and you don't see Draymond out there, was there any part of you that went, huh?

STEPHEN CURRY: What part -- I don't even know what part of the game.

Q. Fourth quarter.

STEPHEN CURRY: To start the fourth quarter or in general?

Q. Yeah, and he was out for four or five minutes there.

STEPHEN CURRY: I think it's an understanding of how things can change in a series. And like you said, there's so much trust in how we do things and decisions that Coach makes and responsibility falls on us as players; that Loon went in there, dominated the paint, got us some big rebounds, created a presence. Draymond came back in and had some juice and some life on the defensive end.

So, you know, we obviously understand it's just about winning. At the end of the day, all decisions are, you know, predicated on that being the goal. And I know we've all been on the side where it doesn't go your way from the top all the way to the bottom. It's not fun. It's not something you readily accept, but you understand the big picture, and obviously especially when it pays off.

So it's more so the trust in Loon and what he's able to do than any kind of like situation with Draymond.

Q. Exactly how much pain were you feeling in that left foot? Were there any certain plays or movements where you noticed it, and how were you able to play through it?

STEPHEN CURRY: Great rehab, medical staff hooking me up the last two days, getting me right. I think for the most part, I didn't think about it. Like I don't know how to explain the pain. It's more so just when you're out there, you don't compensate or you don't -- it doesn't take up too much mental space in terms of feeling like I can do whatever I want to out on the court.

So hopefully that continues with these next two days off and get ready for Game 5.

Q. It's felt at times in this series that you needed more help offensively. What did you think of Andrew and Jordan, particularly in the fourth? Seemed like they just kind of got big buckets when you guys needed it.

STEPHEN CURRY: Klay hit a big one, too. Everybody stepped up, and I think we were much more composed in the fourth quarter of trying to figure out what we, you know -- what shots we were trying to create.

And I think I had the one turnover right when I got back in, and then after that, we just settled in and used their aggression against them. You know, finding the open man, making the simple play, and every guy you named stepped up.

We are going to need more of that, obviously, to get two more wins. And you know, with JP, Wiggs, Klay, all those guys are more than capable of creating no matter what moment of the game it is, and thankfully they did that tonight.

Q. You obviously always carry a major load offensively. Do you feel the need in the situation to assert yourself even more than usual?

STEPHEN CURRY: I think it's kind of constant throughout the game just trying to put pressure on their defense and keep your foot on the gas pedal.

There are times where you feel like you have to kind of be more aggressive to score, just based on flow of the game and how they are guarding us and where I can see some advantages. But also we understand they are a great defensive team that you can't -- your normal sets are just the normal flow. Probably isn't going to be there for the meat of the game just because that's what they are good at and how they dominate games on that end of the floor.

Those are the times where you can be a little bit more aggressive, try to, let's say, force the issue a little bit. That doesn't always mean shoot, but it means just, you know, attacking, being aggressive and finding lanes, doing it over and over and over again.