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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: NUGGETS v WARRIORSMay 2, 2013Stephen CurryOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Six NUGGETS – 88 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Stephen Curry. Q. What is going through your mind when you're watching that lead going down and you had to hang on? STEPHEN CURRY: Each possession, It can't get any worse than this. Then it does. They were trapping all over the court, pressuring. A different look than they played the whole game. Their sense of urgency was heightened in that situation for them obviously, with a win‑or‑go‑home situation. We gave them every opportunity to get back in the game. We just got to keep our composure in that situation. A lot of miscommunication. A lot of playing on your heels. But we got to learn from it. I'm pretty sure that scenario hopefully won't happen again as we move forward. Q. Steph, what is the scene in the locker room immediately after? STEPHEN CURRY: You're excited, obviously. For me, my first playoff series win, first for the organization in a while. Everybody is relieved to kind of get it done. It's still a hazy kind of feeling because of the way the game ended, it going down to that last possession. Just a sense of relief with the way the game finished. Q. What is it about that third quarter that you really seem to get it going? STEPHEN CURRY: I don't know. I mean, I'm trying to be patient. The way Denver was defending me, they're trying to run me off the three‑point line a lot, blitzing, a lot of pick'n rolls, trying to get the ball out of my hands. You try to be aggressive. I don't want to force any possessions. Third quarter I tried to find my rhythm. Bogut set some good screens on the high pick'n roll, off the dribble, knocked down my first three. Then things started to click from there. If we stick to our execution, at some point things will open up for us. Q. Obviously it seemed like they bottled you up and you were able to break through. Why do you think that is the case? STEPHEN CURRY: We had a lot of guys on the court that can definitely make plays. There's no way you can trap at halfcourt and on the backside leave a four‑on‑three advantage for us. We're going to execute and exploit that. I think late in that fourth quarter, they got to us just because they were the more aggressive team. For the most part, during the course of the game, Draymond Green had a phenomenal game making open shots they gave him, just attacking the rim when he had the ball in his hands. Bogut played huge for us making points in the paint. You got to pick your poison. Q. Now that you've had 10 minutes to reflect on this whole series, what was it like battling through all the things you had to? Eyes, bruise, name calling, what did you learn from all that? STEPHEN CURRY: This is what the playoffs is about. Every game takes a meaning in itself. You're playing injured. Not going to be feeling 100%. You're going to get tired. It makes it all worth it when you can look back after Game 6 of a series we weren't supposed to win and feel a sense of accomplishment, I think. We have a lot of young guys in that locker room that haven't experienced this before. We're learning on the fly, enjoying the whole experience. But the attention to detail and persevering through certain injuries definitely makes it worth it. Q. You and David Lee have had kind of a partnership as leaders of this team throughout the season. What did it mean to have him make an appearance and the possibility of him playing the next round? STEPHEN CURRY: It's huge. I called him Lazarus. I was joking with him in the locker room. Obviously an unfortunate situation for him after Game1, waiting eight years to be in a playoff series, him being out with a torn hip flexor. Obviously he only played a couple of possessions. You can tell the energy he brought to the crowd, and even us, it inspired us. We've seen him battle this injury for the last week and a half. He's kept a positive attitude in the locker room, been present even though he's not on the court with us. I know it means a lot for him to have that kind of an impact on the game for the short amount of time he was in there. We'll see what happens going forward. Q. Steph, have you thought about how this feels compared to the tournament (indiscernible) in terms of post‑season success? STEPHEN CURRY: I was trying to explain it to somebody earlier. It's different because you're playing the same team over and over and over again. In a tournament, NCAA tournament, you prepare for a team, you beat them, you keep moving, you prepare for another team. It kind of goes a lot faster. This is more of a grind‑it‑out situation, where you're facing that same team every single night, having to find different ways to win. My first series, I don't know how to compare it, I don't know which is better, but right now this is a lot of fun. Q. Talk about how the franchise was (indiscernible) and what he went through and how he feels now? STEPHEN CURRY: Night and day. My rookie year, some of the changes he thought were necessary to make from top to bottom, the whole organization. He went under some scrutiny during a certain point, obviously with the trade, different things that were going on where some of the fans didn't like the changes. But for him to stick with his vision for our team, where we are now, I'm sure he's excited and enjoying the whole process. You thank that guy for all he's done, bringing in Coach Jackson, who definitely has changed the identity of our locker room. Bob Myers, our GM, doing a great job. There's so many different changes he's made in the course of these last two years that have made an impact on us winning a playoff series. Still kind of surreal from my rookie year to now. It's so much different. We're just enjoying the whole experience. I was trying to explain to some of our rookies now how nice it is now to be in a playoff series, get a win. They didn't have to wait very long for it. So enjoy it. Q. Steph, you and Andrew before this playoff series had only played 31 games together. How much is your rhythm still evolving? STEPHEN CURRY: It's going to continue to get better. Like you said, that's a short pool of games to get out there and find the chemistry. But he doesn't miss a beat when he's healthy and able to have an impact on the game. You can see how much better he makes us with his presence in the paint. The numbers he had tonight, 21 rebounds, dominating the paint. We need that. Obviously he was a little hurt, banged up, Game5. Game4 and 6, he was our difference‑maker. It's easy for me to find him in the paint, rally around him on the defensive end when he's making plays. We really need his presence out there. Q. I was telling Coach Jackson how much of a privilege it is to watch you become a superstar. It seems there's a time where you just go off. It seems like a deliberate thing. What is it that goes through your mind before you just start bombing? STEPHEN CURRY: You got confidence. I mean, no matter what happened before that period of the game, I think I was like 1‑6 in the first half, 1‑5, something like that, just wasn't getting any good looks offensively. You have the utmost confidence in the next play, in the next play. Especially at home, you start to feel the energy of the crowd. With every move you make, every time you lift up for a shot, they're holding their breath, excited to see that shot go in. You just have confidence and try to make an imprint because the opportunity is huge right now, it's a big stage. I appreciate the opportunity that coach has given me to go out there and make plays for him. I have to live up to it. Q. You got the Spurs now. Do you think this is going to be a similar series to what you just played? How do you approach yourself mentally for the next series, knowing it's a championship season? STEPHEN CURRY: I don't know. I don't have any expectations right now. Just fresh off this win. I'll study the film from the four games we played them during the regular season to see how they played me. They're a savvy, veteran team with a great coach that will have some schemes. But for right now, you just worry about getting healthy and studying what we were successful at during the regular season against their team. We'll make adjustments as we go. Game1, we'll have a game plan, stick to it, see what happens. Q. You're known as a team that's a high‑flying offensive squad. How is it to win this clinching game, slow‑down playoff game like this? STEPHEN CURRY: Each game is different. You have to find a way to win. We played great defense for three and a half quarters. That put us in position to weather that ugly finish. All year, we found different ways to win, different guys have stepped up in different situations. Like I said, Draymond Green came in huge tonight. And even Ezeli who has been out for five games, going by committee, and guys are making game‑winning plays. That's the sign of a good team. Hopefully that will continue as we move forward and play the Spurs. They're a smart team, as well. They're going to come out ready to play because they have a mission, just like we do. Q. You had that breakout game in New York. Can you talk about what that meant to your confidence. It was almost like your game went up another level from that point on. STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, I'm still developing my game, still trying to get better each time I go out on the floor. From the start of this season, it's been a huge thing that I've been healthy. I've learned a lot as the season has gone on. When you go on the stage, like you said, in New York, for me, it was trying to figure out how to turn those big performances into wins. We lost that game, the Indiana game before that, lost a Lakers game, I had a huge game there. You got to find a way to get those wins. Now that we're on this big stage in the playoffs with a team that knows you inside and out, it's just another opportunity to continue to get better, to develop and rise to the moment. Q. What was going on there at the end in the last few minutes? STEPHEN CURRY: It's hard to put it into words. When the first two turnovers happened, it's like, All right, we'll get it right. Two turnovers happened, they started making threes. The lead starts to dwindle down. I don't know if we played on our heels. We did play on our heels, we had some miscommunication that put us in some awkward spots. Coach just told us, Hey, we got this 18‑point lead, we've played well the whole game, we're going to figure out how to win this game, get out of here. That's what we did. Like I said, I promise that won't happen again. Kind of inexcusable at this point. Q. At what point tonight did you know that David Lee was going to be active? When he came in the game, was that a surprise to you? Do you expect him to get minutes come the second round? STEPHEN CURRY: I'm not sure what happens going forward. Haven't been able to talk to him about how he felt when he was out there. He's been present in the locker room. Been as vocal as even when he was playing. I didn't know. He had his warmups on before the game. I didn't know that was going to happen tonight, what coach was going to have a plan for, his minutes. You heard the crowd when they showed him on the Jumbotron. That was a big moment for him, especially in light of the injury. Just having a presence for our team in this playoff series because he's a vital part of what we do, both on the court and off. Q. Were the Nuggets talking to you like they were in the last game? STEPHEN CURRY: No. It wasn't as feisty as the last game. Just talking about basketball, playing basketball, just worrying about on the court. No time for the extracurricular stuff. Just happy to get the win. Q. Do you think maybe the way you played, maybe you won't hear that any more? STEPHEN CURRY: Not worried about it. I don't know. I mean, can't control any of that. Can just control how you play, what you do on the court. A lot of that other stuff will take care of itself. I'll just leave it alone. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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