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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: CLIPPERS v THUNDERMay 9, 2014Blake GriffinChris PaulLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three Thunder – 118 THE MODERATOR: Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. Q. Chris, Doc talked about this game being lost on the defensive end. Do you agree with that? CHRIS PAUL: No question. We've been a team regardless of how the first three‑quarters, the first part of the fourth quarter, we relied on stops down the stretch. Tonight we didn't do that. We obviously scored enough points to win. Russ hit a big three when they were up one, KD hit one on the wing. We're used to getting stops in those situations and we didn't tonight. Q. Chris, you're not playing like you're hurt. Are you slowed at all with that hamstring? CHRIS PAUL: No, I'm cool. Q. Thunder went with a small lineup most of the fourth quarter. You got it into Blake a bunch. When they do that, they're good on offense, but susceptible on defense. Did you take enough advantage of their small lineup in the fourth quarter? CHRIS PAUL: Somewhat. But, you know, Caron hit a couple big shots there down the stretch. But we did what we wanted to as far as on the offensive end. We had a lot of good looks, a lot of shots that went in and out. It came down to the defensive end. We didn't get stops when we needed to. We never really made them feel us. Q. You had a terrific Game1 victory, but now lost two in a row. That might make you down psychologically a little bit. How do you overcome that? CHRIS PAUL: Just come out ready to play. It's a tough one here. But we need to get Game4. It's like a must‑win for us, a big game for us. We knew that we were going to have to win at least one there, and now we're going to have to win two there. We're going to have to start off with a Game4 win. Q. Is there one thing in particular? CHRIS PAUL: First of all, I have to keep Russ in front of me. He's tough because he's sort of all over the place, coming downhill a lot of the time. You never know when they're going to call a foul on you, stuff like that. We have to not even worry about that. I have to defend him better, try to keep him off the free‑throw line, him and KD. Q. Is this as good or under control as you've seen Russ as far as only 14 shots, 13 assists tonight, just as a pure point guard? CHRIS PAUL: I don't know. It's not up to me to judge him, you know what I mean? I play against him. I could care less what he does. So for me, I just go out there and compete, do what I'm supposed to do. Q. (Another question about Russ.) CHRIS PAUL: I don't know man, I don't know. Q. Caron has 14. Reggie Jackson had 14. How do you cut the other guys off like Serge? CHRIS PAUL: I'm sure that's something we'll talk about. We're used to seeing those guys put up a lot of shots, but they found a way to get their teammates involved. Got to be one or the other or just control everybody. We'll go back to the drawing board and figure it out. Q. (No microphone.) BLAKE GRIFFIN: We didn't come up with shots, scrambled around too much on our rotations. Q. Is there one thing you need to shore up or anything like that? BLAKE GRIFFIN: Early I thought we allowed too many easy baskets, you know, dunks, layups. I think we got to do a better job on the boards. We got to win the battle on the boards offensively, defensively, all that. Q. Blake, you got hit pretty hard in the nose. You were bleeding. There was no foul called. What did you see or perceive? BLAKE GRIFFIN: I got hit, took an elbow to the nose. When I asked him about it, he said I ran my face into his elbow. So I got to be careful where I put my face. Q. It's hard to be happy about anything with a loss, but you had a much better game personally. Does that give you some hope for the future of this series? BLAKE GRIFFIN: Just being aggressive, attacking early, facing up, trying to be the aggressive one. It doesn't really mean much if you don't get a win, you know. Q. Blake, Chris called Game4 a must‑win game. Do you view it the same way? BLAKE GRIFFIN: Yeah, I mean, it puts us in a tough hole. I mean, got to even the series up. We went there and got one. Obviously they got one here. We need to come out and have a good showing. Obviously it's not a must‑win in terms of if you lose you go home, but that's the way it should be in our minds. Q. Blake, you were out‑rebounded again for the third straight game. Is it their quickness after they shoot? What is it? BLAKE GRIFFIN: I thought we just did a poor job of putting a body on people. Rebounding is really about just going and getting it. I mean, sometimes there's rebounds here and there where it's a bad bounce, but for the most part it's about going and getting it. We got to do a better job with that. Q. They've gotten quite a bit out of Steven Adams, even though he hasn't played a lot of minutes. How do you assess his game, what you need to do with him? BLAKE GRIFFIN: Be physical, keep him away from the basket. Pretty much it. Keep him off the offensive glass. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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