NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 15, 2022

Kevon Looney

Golden State Warriors

Practice Day

Q. What have you been through the last couple of days mentally, physically?

KEVON LOONEY: Just trying to get ready for what's coming in Game 6. Enjoying the last game for what it was, but have to move on quickly and get on the road, get here, get your body ready. You know it's going to be a war. It's going to be a tough game to win, but we're excited to get out here and play.

Q. How hard is it to finish what you start in a series like this?

KEVON LOONEY: It's extremely hard. Close-out games are always the hardest games to win. Especially on the road. I don't think we have had a close-out on the road this playoffs yet, so it's going to be tough, but we feel like we have the formula, we have the talent to do it. We just have to go out there and execute and play our style of play.

Q. How tough is it to be extra focused in an environment like you have here in Boston?

KEVON LOONEY: It isn't tough to be focused. We know what it takes. The crowd can help us kind of lock in, and it's just going out there and being able to provide that energy, provide that force. And when things aren't going our way, the crowd is getting into the game and being able to respond to the adversity. That will probably be the biggest challenge. We've done it before once this series, but we have to try to do it again.

Q. With how well their defense plays, especially in the half court, how important has forcing not only turnovers but these live-ball turnovers that give you fastbreaks been?

KEVON LOONEY: It's been huge for us. It's been huge for us all year, all playoffs. We're a team that likes to make teams turn the ball over. We live in transition.

We have shooters like Steph and Klay and JP and Draymond pushing the ball. We have a lot of options. That's been our best offense all year.

Especially against a team like Boston, when their defense is set, it's pretty hard to score. When we are able to turn the ball over and play fast and play loose and play our style, we're pretty tough to beat.

Q. What do you think has allowed you to force so many turnovers, especially over the last couple of games if you have retaken the lead in the series?

KEVON LOONEY: Just our defense. Our defense has been great all year. People don't talk about it as much, but we've been top five in defense pretty much the whole year.

A guy like Draymond has been a perennial First Team All-Defense player. You have Klay and Wigs. Just our ball pressure, our force, our speed, it causes teams a lot of problems. After Game 3 it's something we wanted to lock in on is being able to play faster and being able to pressure the ball, and that really has made a difference for us.

Q. Any difference for your preparation in terms of coming off the bench and starting, maybe look at film on some of the second unit guys a little more? Is there anything different with that?

KEVON LOONEY: For me there's not much difference. When I'm coming in off the bench, kind of want to just change the pace of the game.

When you are in the first unit, everybody is trying to feel each other out, trying to see how the game is going to be called, trying to feel out how it's going to be played.

When you come in on the second unit, it's a change of pace, bring a lot of energy and up the physicality, and that's what I try to do when I come off the bench.

Q. Fourth quarter defense has been so good in this series. Kind of generally as well. What have you done in order to have success and also to create the amount of turnovers you guys have?

KEVON LOONEY: In the fourth quarter we just -- when the game is on the line, we really try to lock in on our keys and our game plan. The guys are flying around. Our speed has been pretty good for us all year. Us being able to scramble and get guys off the three-point line and try to make guys uncomfortable as possible.

Then we have guys that just have great on-ball defense. Klay and Wigs and Draymond are some of the best guys on the ball on defense. When we have guys like that in the fourth quarter and they decide they're not letting nobody score, we're pretty tough to score on.