|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 16, 2013Danny GreenSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Five Miami Heat - 104 Q.  Tony was in here early and said he can't believe this late in this series as many threes as you're making, you're still so wide open. What's your perspective? DANNY GREEN: First of all, I have to say happy Father's Day to you guys. And a special guy out there, Mr. Green, Danny Green, Sr., happy Father's Day. To answer your question, I've been getting lucky. I was moving around a lot. Our transition helps us, our pace. Tony penetrating and Manu penetrating, making the defense collapse is the reason why I've been getting open. Luckily a couple have dropped for me. Q. There's been a lot of talk of your three‑point makes in this series. Defensively you've been in a position quite a few times in transition against LeBron and Wade going to the basket, and you've been able to be there and make some stops. What's going through your mind in those situations? DANNY GREEN: Those guys are really good players. It's hard to just stop them one‑on‑one. You have to pretty much guess. You're not going to find out which way and try to go move for movement what they do. They are very strong, athletic, explosive players. You have to pretty much guess away and be aggressive with your guess, and hopefully you guess right and make them make a difficult shot. Q. Danny, at what point of the series do you believe you have to perform like this night after night to give your guys a chance to win? DANNY GREEN: As soon as the playoffs start. Playoffs you want to be healthy, first off. You want to build a rhythm. And you have to get a little lucky. You need a couple of guys to get hot, whether it's one series or another. But you need guys to be playing together, healthy, and hopefully somebody knocking down some shots. Whether it's this series or the last series or the series before in the playoffs, you need somebody to get hot and somebody to get lucky. Usually it comes from a random place. One night it will be Gary, the next night it will be Manu and the next night it will be me. Tony has been consistent, that's why he's our MVP, all year. Timmy has been consistent all year. We just need one or two guys to step up off the bench or in the starting lineup. Q. What's the pressure level for yourself in facing Game 6 there in Miami? DANNY GREEN: Every game is pressure. It's The Finals. Every game is a must‑win. We have to give it our all. We have to come out more focused, more intense and hopefully bounce back better from wins than we do from losses. Q. Danny, did you know you were getting close to the record? When did somebody tell you you were getting close to the record for threes? DANNY GREEN: I had no idea. Q. When did somebody tell you? DANNY GREEN: After the game today I found out. Lucky enough, blessed enough to have the opportunity to be on the stage. My teammates have done a great job of finding me and getting me open, and as I said, luckily it seems everything is going right for me. I'm feeling truly blessed right now. There's got to be a Higher Power. I owe it all to God. The basketball gods are in our favor right now. Q. Danny, from an individual standpoint after last year's Western Conference Finals, could you ever imagine doing this on this stage? DANNY GREEN: No. Western Conference Finals doesn't happen all the time. We were lucky enough to even get back there two years in a row. Now we're in The Finals. It doesn't happen often. You don't see NBA teams come back with the same group. Luckily enough we got everybody to come back. Teams change, coaches change. We had a lot of coaching changes. But we have the base, the foundation of our group come back, and mostly everybody come back. We've added one or two different guys. For the most part we stuck together. We knew we had a goal to achieve. Everybody came back for another year. Things worked out for us. So far we've taken advantage of it. Q. But from an individual standpoint, from what happened to you in the West Finals last year. DANNY GREEN: It was a slump. It was bad shooting. Lost a lot of confidence. It helped me to mature as a players. Whether I'm hitting shots or missing shots, I still have to be active defensively. Pop is always yelling at me, sprint back, rebounds, get on the floor, get the loose balls. So defensively be active, and offense will come. Whether I miss shots or not, I still have to be effective defensively. Shoot the next one as ‑‑ if I missed ten or made ten, regardless shoot the next one as if it's going in. Q. To piggyback on that, Manu started for you last year in Game 5 against Oklahoma City. Just kind of was that motivation for you during this season? And again, what's the feeling when you know that you and Neal and Kawhi are really contributing? DANNY GREEN: It's a great feeling. But it's definitely motivation for all of us. From an individual standpoint and from a team standpoint. We knew what we were capable of. We came back with a chip on our shoulder, with a goal to achieve and a point to prove. We came out. Luckily we've been healthy for most of the year. Manu is healthy now, and he's playing good basketball for us right now. Obviously you guys have been talking about and questioning his play. We know what he's capable of. We knew a big night eventually was coming for him. We needed it and he's doing a good job for us now. Q. How have you simplified your game since you came to San Antonio? DANNY GREEN: I think Pop has done a good job of doing that. Tony, Manu and Timmy make it easier for me. All I have to do is play good defense and run the floor and spot up, and they'll find me. A lot of times they'll penetrate, drag in some defenders. Sometimes I'll move around a little bit and they'll locate and find me. When they get stuck or they don't have an open shot, they'll find me and give me an open look. Q. Danny, you're doing this across Ray Allen, giving he has most, if not all, the three‑point records. To overtake him in this particular aspect of having the most threes in The Finals, what does it say about that for you? And how nice is it to have that against another shooter like Ray Allen? DANNY GREEN: It's an honor to play on the same floor as some of these guys. Growing up I used to play against them all the time. I didn't know I would break a record of his. It's amazing. Very surreal. He's a great player. You have to respect him. As a shooter you have to make sure‑‑ the biggest key is make sure defensively I stay more attached on him. I did a bad job‑‑ there was a stretch he had a couple of open looks. That's when they got back in the game. Regardless of when I'm making shots, you have to find those shooters and make sure they don't get off as much. Q. Is it fun to shoot a three‑pointer knowing that he's right there next to you guarding you? DANNY GREEN: I usually don't look at the defenders as much when I'm raising up. If you look at a defender when you're shooting, you probably have a lower percentage of making it. It is fun for it to go in and see the team's reaction sometimes. It's fun depending on the time and point of the game. If we need it and it gives us a boost, we need help or it puts us on a run, it definitely feels good to give our team momentum. Q. What kind of a boost did it give you guys to see Manu come through? You guys have all been behind him through these struggles, and then when he's playing like that, does it have a trickle down to the rest of you guys? DANNY GREEN: Definitely. I think everybody feeds off everybody when it comes to making good plays and making shots. Manu gave us a great boost tonight. But I think more importantly gave himself a boost confidently. He's more confident now. I think he'll come out the rest of the series in Game 6 a lot more confident, a lot stronger and be able to help us. We're going to need that from him and everybody else to step up as well. Q. You scored 81 points in 2010 and 2001 combined. You scored 9 in The Finals. On top of that you defended really well with both Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Do you feel you're a completely different player then or just the opportunity you're getting? DANNY GREEN: I think it's a little bit of everything. Definitely matured so much as a player being in this organization, being around Pop. Timmy, Tony, Manu, those are true professionals. And also the opportunity. Pop gives us young guys a great opportunity to show what we can do. Our developmental coaches have done a great job with each individual players working on some of the weaknesses and strengths and get stronger. My percentage was raised by working with Chad Forcier every day, working on the techniques. Just keeping the fundamentals fresh and sharp, and that's what makes me be able to stay mentally tough and mentally ready for every time somebody kicks the ball out to me. Q. LeBron and Dwyane Wade said they're missing some lay‑ups. What are you guys doing especially in transition to stay in front of them and make them miss those plays we see them make all the time? DANNY GREEN: Like I said, you have to kind of guess sometimes. Get lucky. But for the most part, just try to make them make difficult shots. They obviously are all stars. They're not going to miss too many of those. We have to do a good job of trying to keep them out the paint, a better job of team defense and getting to their shooters better. The biggest key for us is rebounding and not turn the ball over. Tonight I think we did a decent job rebounding, turning the ball over, not so good. We'll make some adjustments and hopefully fix those in Game 6. Q. Danny, Tim said he hopes you don't wake up in the next couple of games. Has it hit you yet how well you've been playing on the stage? DANNY GREEN: No, I don't want it to. We'll reflect back and let it hit us when it's over. We still have a lot more work to do. There's still some business to be done. We have to carry it out and finish it. Q. What kind of offensive and defensive effort as a team will it take to close out Miami on Tuesday? DANNY GREEN: It's going to take everything we've got. We know how good they are. We now how aggressive they come back, especially from a loss. You guys know how they bounce back. The whole world knows how they're going to bounce back. They're going to come out aggressive. It's going to be tough, especially in their home building. We have to be on point. We have to be sharp. We have to not turn the ball over. We have to give ourselves a chance, not make any mental mistakes and just match their energy. Q. Danny, have you ever been this hot before? Do you remember in AAU basketball, CYO, college, shooting the ball so well? DANNY GREEN: I've had some heat flashes in my day. I don't think for long stretches of a period of time. But this season has been a pretty good shooting season for me. I've had a couple of games. Most of the games back‑to‑back where it's been carried over. Right now everything is working well for me. I'm feeling truly blessed right now. Q. Are you surprised you're so wide open at this point in the series right about now? DANNY GREEN: I don't think many of my shots are that wide open. Some of them, yeah, I'm surprised. Tony, Timmy and Manu are doing a great job of sucking in the defense. Us pushing the pace and be able to move the ball and give us open looks. When that happens it gives ourselves a better chance to score offensively. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|