NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 16, 2022

Kevon Looney

Otto Porter

Golden State Warriors

Game 6: Postgame

Golden State Warriors 103, Boston Celtics 90

Q. Just wanted to know how you guys feel for Klay after all these years, the tough moments, now a champion once again when he returns, how do you guys feel?

KEVON LOONEY: I'm excited for him, man. Seen all the work he put in, and all the dedication and all the hard work he had, dealing with all the injuries and all the ups and downs he had.

And for him to come back, middle of the season, and to help us win this championship and be a vital part in people doubting him and they didn't know what he's going to be like when he came back, but he came back better than ever, on a mission, and he helped us win a lot of games and helped us win this championship.

Credit to him. He's a hard worker. He's the ultimate professional, and he's somebody you can always rely on. So I'm just proud to be his teammate and be able to be with him this long.

Q. Throughout this journey with the Warriors, what has Coach Kerr meant to you personally? And, Otto, what is this moment like for you winning a title with this group?

KEVON LOONEY: For me, Coach means the world to me. Had a lot of ups and downs in my career since I been here, being drafted here and to be able to be here for seven years and be able to learn from him, and he's a guy, he always told me, "your opportunity is going to come, just take advantage of it when it does."

Sometimes I didn't even deserve the opportunity and he gave me one and he stuck with me and I give him a lot of credit for that. My hard work has paid off and he's a great mentor and coach for me and the whole team. Steve deserves a lot of credit.

OTTO PORTER, JR.: For me it's an amazing moment. I dreamt about this as a kid and to be here on this team, this dynasty team, it means the world. I can't describe it, what I'm feeling. It's amazing.

Q. Steve Kerr was just in here talking about how essential defense was to this championship, and pretty much every championship, and he pointed to Draymond as the leader of that. What is it about his leadership style, what is it about his personality in terms of the defensive end for you guys that makes everything work?

KEVON LOONEY: Draymond, his personality and his energy, his imprint is all over our team. We kind of play with that same energy that he brings on the defensive end. He's able to do a lot of stuff on the court, and he's able to explain it to guys at a high level, too. He makes a lot of plays.

And we always talk about Stephen on offense, and we kind of compare Draymond on defense the same type of way. He does a lot of things for the team that don't show up in the stat box. He's a great leader, and he knows how to push buttons and know how to make guys play harder.

Since I've been here, he's been the leader for this team, and he's won Defensive Player of the Year and done a lot of things. He's an all-time great defender. He says he's the best ever, and when he does things like he did tonight and throughout this whole year, he kind of proves it.

Q. You've been around Steph. Can you talk about the influence he's had on the game and the way it's played and the way it will be played in the future?

KEVON LOONEY: He's changed the game. I think everybody knows that. We call him the greatest shooter for a reason. He's single-handedly changed the center and the power forward position just the way he plays the pick-and-roll and the way he plays in space.

And since I've been here, he's done something amazing every year. I got to see him win a unanimous MVP, got to see him break the three-point record. I got to see him win three championships and win back-to-back MVPs.

He's had a long list, he has a great résumé and he's considered one of the best ever for a reason. He's impacted the game. And when I go back home to Milwaukee and watch my AU team play and practice, everybody want to be Steph, everyone want to shoot threes, and I'm like, man, you got to work a little harder to shoot like him. I see him every day.

It's an honor to be able to play with him and call him my teammate. I learn so much from him and got to experience so much just being on this team, so I want to thank Steph for that.

Q. Do you gentlemen want to share with the class what was being chanted during that champagne shower back in the locker room?

KEVON LOONEY: You can tell them [laughing].

OTTO PORTER, JR.: Basically we were saying, [expletive] you Draymond. That's what we were saying. But it was fun, though. It was just a fun moment for us.

KEVON LOONEY: Fun moment. Draymond been yelling at us all year, too.

OTTO PORTER, JR.: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's our joke, too. [Laughter].

Q. Talk about Dray a little more, big picture, you talk about a guy who we all know he runs hot and we all know his passion is incredibly important to the group, and you have all this history between Draymond and Steve and Bob and Steph. Just speak to his value, and also the roller coaster ride and the idea that you take the good with the bad and you get results like this?

KEVON LOONEY: You can say it's a roller coaster ride, but it's never been a moment since I've been here where things get tough and he don't show up.

He lives for the big moments. We’re always talking, we do like big, small. We’re always talking trash. He always say I'm 90 percent in clutch. We always say when it's a close game, he's going to be in the action and make something happen.

When you have somebody you can rely on like that and count on, it gives everybody a confidence boost. He's our leader, and we need him to be on edge. Him and Steph have really different leadership styles, and they balance each other out.

When you have Draymond out there putting his body on the line, he can be the villain, whatever you need him to do. He's going to go out there and do it for the team.

We can't give him enough credit for what he does for us. We're able to play so many lineups and do so many things because of the way he plays and how he's able to cover up for a lot of guys on defense and do a lot of different things.

A lot of credit goes to Draymond. I've been learning from him my whole career, I learned so much, and he helped me in my career to be here seven years. And to be able to watch somebody like that and see the things he do is special. He doesn’t get enough credit.

Q. When you guys think about everything that you've gone through this season with the injuries, I think you guys were projected to win only 37 games or something like that at the beginning of the season, everything you guys have overcome, does that make this moment just a little bit sweeter?

OTTO PORTER, JR.: Hell, yeah. It makes it way more sweeter. We knew what we had coming into training camp from day one. We knew our goals, what we wanted to do. We didn't really care about the outside influence. We just stuck together, you know, the whole year. We kept working and kept the main goal at hand. And we have a saying, just us, because it's really just us out there, and, you know, it's us against the world.

KEVON LOONEY: Yeah, great year. You know, started off the year hot and he had some injuries and got back to the lineup, losing guys every other week, and for us to get it together for the playoffs, we peaked at the right time.

It's just an amazing feeling that I don't think nobody had a belief in us, but us, you know, coming into training camp, we knew what we had. We knew we had a special group. Even when things were rocky we never lost that faith. We always had faith that we could do it.

OTTO PORTER, JR.: Right.

KEVON LOONEY: When we got to the playoffs and we got down to this series, we didn't care, we knew we had the best team in the league, got the best player in the league. And when you have that going for you, you just have the ultimate confidence. And we've been doing this for a while, and it showed.