NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 13, 2022

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

Game 5: Postgame

Warriors 104, Celtics 94

Q. Everyone on Twitter at least was talking about the three-point drought for you, but I feel like you got the win, and that was so important. For you, does it bother you, I guess, about the shooting tonight, and how can you get better going into Game 6?

STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, of course it bothers me as a shooter. You want to impact the game that way. But thankfully that's not the only thing that you do out there on the court.

I remember the first game of the year, against the Lakers, I had a very similar shooting night, but impact the game other ways. And I remember I said, I played horrible, but I had to redefine what that looked like in terms of make the right play, keep things simple.

And the fact everybody stepped up -- Wiggs, JP, Klay hit some big shots, Draymond found his life and his spirit and the way he impacts the game. We could withstand going 9-for-40 as a team and me 0-for-9, and still come away with a win.

Obviously, track record says I shoot the ball better the next game. Looking forward to that bounce-back.

Q. I have two for you. One is about your T-shirt. I can't read the final part?

STEPHEN CURRY: Ayesha Curry Can Cook.

Q. The other is you guys are one win away from winning another championship. Been there, done that. How much is the excitement of going to Boston, and how much is it you still need the win to finish the mission?

STEPHEN CURRY: I think the fact that we have an opportunity to win one more game and accomplish the task, it's exciting. We know it's not going to be easy. We know that that building is a different environment. We had a great win in Game 4. Had some solid moments in Game 3, but couldn't get it done.

We understand what we need to do. It's just about going out and executing, trying to bottle up your emotions, knowing how hard a close-out game is. We've had opportunities in prior series, that first time, to try to close a series out and struggled a little bit.

But I think our energy, and especially these last two games, has been amazing on both ends of the floor. That's all you want, is an opportunity to play hopefully the best game of the year. Doesn't have to be perfect, but play the best game of the year, in terms of our intensity, focus and execution and knowing what more one more win means.

You can talk about it, embrace the challenge and a lot of the guys in our locker room have been here before, but just got to go do it.

Q. When you get to Game 5 of the Finals, how much of this becomes a slog and struggle, as opposed to a freewheeling type of game? And in the fourth quarter, could you see them unraveling and losing their poise and composure?

STEPHEN CURRY: I think at this stage, two physical teams, two great defensive teams, there's a lot of adjustments from game-to-game. The deeper you go in the series, you just know each other so well. Things become a little harder for both sides.

I feel like you embrace the fact that even if it's not pretty, you can still win the game, and that's all that matters. There are a lot of guys, like I said, you could point at that made an impact in those moments during the game where we really grabbed momentum and responded to their runs and all that type of stuff.

Yeah, might not be the most free-flowing situation or the prettiest high-level skill out there, but it's just grinding it out. That's what the Finals is all about.

Q. So much of what you guys have accomplished is about being your best in the best moments, the most significant moments, the toughest moments. How impressed are you to see Wiggins take it even another level up in these playoffs games? And even as this series gets deeper, he's only getting better?

STEPHEN CURRY: He's embraced the challenge of consistency and what he's capable of doing on both ends of the floor. The fact that there's opportunity for him to do what he's doing because of the way that we play and because of the way that we've embraced him from day one. Try to paint a picture of what his skill set can do for us to reach the highest level.

Bottom line is he's just having fun playing basketball. That's the biggest thing. Everything he's been through in his career. All the talk about him as the No. 1 guy, No. 2 guy, No. 1 pick, all that type of stuff, I'm sure he's enjoying this more than anything else he's experienced in this league. That's kind of what it's all about.

Q. You and Draymond and Klay now have 20 Finals wins together, and that's the second most since 1970 when Kareem, Magic and Michael Cooper, they have 22. And is that pretty remarkable to you when you think about that number, and what does it say about what you three have done together?

STEPHEN CURRY: I think the way you asked the question contextualizes it very well in terms of how historic it is. We want to have one more to show for it and one more win, and really embrace what we've accomplished to be back on this stage.

Obviously making six Finals, you have a lot of opportunities. You enjoy every single one of them. So, you know, this series is no different. And one more win, just got to figure out a way to get it done.

Q. As someone who has known Draymond his entire basketball career, what's the difference between when he's walking that line, like the good Draymond, and the bad, Game 3, and what you've seen since? What defines those differences as you've watched him grow over the years?

STEPHEN CURRY: He's just being able to adapt and show his basketball IQ. I think when he first showed up on the scene, the talking point was, oh, you don't have to look at the stat sheet. You just know he's in the right place at the right time. He makes winning plays. He impacts winning. He's a winner. All those sound bites, his reputation preceded itself from college, and he was able to carry that into the league.

And ever since then, he's just continued to grow and elevate his game and his skill set. Obviously, with his defensive mentality and identity.

But in a situation like this series where things are not as smooth and you have some rough patches, he finds a way to respond with the right energy and approach and toughness that, if you're watching the game, you notice him at all times because he's kind of everywhere.

We need that grit. We are not in the Finals without him playing at such a high level all year long, the first three series. And we all have been in a situation where you don't necessarily meet your standard of every game, but you keep coming back and finding ways to help the team win. That's why we have had so much success -- me, him, Klay, Andre, all those guys that know how to do this.

Q. Amidst your abnormal shooting night tonight, how do you determine, through the course of the game, now is the time to lean on other parts of the game to make an impact or now is the time to rely on your teammates? How do you navigate those things?

STEPHEN CURRY: I knew there were going to be some adjustments in the way they were trying to guard the pick-and-roll because I got a lot of clean looks, and they were a little bit more aggressive, a little higher-up on their pick-up points.

So, I didn't get as many attempts up. Obviously, I didn't make any. But the rest of the time, it's just using that aggression against them. Getting into the paint. The fact, you know, I don't know if I have more than five assists the first four games, and that total goes up, and we still left a lot out there because we have different ways to attack you, even if it's not me just trying to hunt shots.

And using gravity, using ball movement, all that type of stuff to do kind of normal Warriors basketball. It's a feel thing. And obviously not losing your aggressiveness even though you're not shaking shots like you normally do.

Q. Draymond was looking at the stat sheet when you were 0-for-9. He said knowing you, you'll be livid, which will be good for the Warriors entering Game 6. But this is the longest streak -- you own the two longest streaks, but this one was 233 straight games with a three-pointer. What is your mentality or emotions usually after a game like this? You have them so rarely.

STEPHEN CURRY: Keep shooting. Very simple. Like you said, like there's never -- I'm not afraid to go 0-for-whatever because I'm going to keep shooting and taking shots that you normally feel like you can make. And I've responded well when I've had games like that from the three-point line.

But I've never -- I don't think I've ever been happier after a 0-for-whatever type of night, just knowing the context of the game, the other ways you tried to impact the game and the fact that, you know, you had four guys step up in meaningful ways to help us win offensively.

So all that stuff matters. Yeah, there's a fire burning and I want to make shots, but the rest of it is about how we win the game, and we did that.

Q. Like you just talked about, you had eight assists, Steve Kerr was in here earlier and said your defense was excellent. Do you feel sometimes like your all-around game is not appreciated when the threes are not falling, and how much pride do you take in the fact that you are the greatest shooter of all time, but you have an all-around game that's not just shooting threes?

STEPHEN CURRY: I know that's the thing people notice at first, consistently, how well I shoot my ball, how I shot my shots, that flair. I can't control the narratives however people talk about the game. When you watch the game, it's not just about that. You respond to how the teams are guarding you, defending you, and the way that we try to create good shots. And I know I have a huge part in that, and usually good things happen, whether I'm making or missing shots.

There's a lot of confidence knowing you don't really have to force it too much in certain situations. Sometimes you do, but like you said, the rest of the game has to show up so that you can still make an impact and still draw enough attention offensively even if you're not making shots, and I do take pride in that consistently.

Q. You guys lost a lot of your size and your wing defense from the dynasty days. As you guys continue to reconfigure the roster over the last few seasons, did you doubt -- were there times whether you doubted you could have a championship-level playoff defense?

STEPHEN CURRY: Not really. I think there's enough versatility to mix-and-match lineups and still maintain a strong identity. Obviously following Draymond's lead on that front.

Mike Brown has been amazing in terms of reestablishing the importance of that side of the basketball, from training camp to now, and not letting anybody slip up in terms of accountability on that end of the floor.

You know, we've tried a lot of different things over the course of year, traditional man coverage, all the box and one, zone stuff that we can kind of sprinkle in from time to time.

But at the end of the day, it's just effort and intensity and kind of relentlessness on that front. We've done a really good job of maintaining that for the most part throughout the year and trying to plug in where there's a little -- I guess you call it deficiencies compared to teams of the past.

I think we are No. 2 defense for a reason, so it's pretty cool.

Q. You guys were not whole, obviously, all season until the playoffs. Just wondering, when did you feel it really click in with Andrew and the rest of the guys together on both sides of the ball, and also, have you seen him change, grow in confidence or happiness or intensity over the course of this 26-game playoff run?

STEPHEN CURRY: Absolutely. I think we talked about it before Game 1 of the Denver series. Like we didn't really know what it was going to look like because Draymond, I know he only played nine minutes or something like that. In the regular season, we don't really know what our rotation would look like. We had some guys that had not played in the playoffs before and were going to have meaningful minutes, Wiggs at the top of that list.

We wanted to peak at the right time and keep building and keep getting better every single game. You talk about it and you hope it's going to work, and thankfully it's gotten us to this point. We've got one more win.

I think I talked about it, when I was talking about Wiggs earlier, he's definitely enjoying the fact of what he's capable of doing on the floor and the way he prepares his mind and his body to go out there and hoop, that it's leading to success at the highest level. I'm sure for him, that's been a pretty cool journey to understand what that feels like and what it looks like and how fun it is to go out there and be in those type of environments.

Hopefully we can get this next win and really celebrate what it took to get there.