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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 21, 2014Danny GreenSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Two San Antonio – 112 Q. Tony said that there's nothing to be happy about at this point. Can you assess just the mindset right now going into Game 3 after these two big wins? DANNY GREEN: Well, I agree. I agree. We've been here before in the past against these guys, and they've won four straight against us. We know how dangerous they are, what they're capable of, and Game 3 has got to be even more intense and more focused than these past two games. Q. They shot 10 free throws tonight. Defensively is the mindset to keep, especially Russell and Kevin, shooting jumpers and keep them out of the lane? DANNY GREEN: Yeah, contested jumpers. We want everybody to shoot contested shots. We don't want any open looks, and not give them easy baskets at the rim and on the free‑throw line. One of the keys is play good defense without fouling, and that's been our emphasis all year. Not just with them but with everybody that we play against. Q. Your confidence tonight, you just were pulling up, jumping and shooting, and Pop said that you've grown in the confidence department. Did you feel that tonight? DANNY GREEN: Yeah, a little bit. A big part comes from my teammates. When I'm running down the floor, I hear Tim for some reason, I always hear Tim yell, "light it," when he's coming to set a screen and I kind of get excited a little bit, and it gives me more confidence to take the shot because I already know he's behind me and he's ready for me to shoot it. So every time I look up, run the floor or dribble up the floor, I look for Tim and look for a screen or to see how the defense is playing me and try to find the rim. Q. The Thunder's offense wasn't horrible in the first quarter. It had some things working. The last three quarters you guys totally shut them down. What happened the last two‑and‑a‑half, three quarters of the game? DANNY GREEN: Well, lucky for us, they stopped making shots. I'm sure that won't happen next game. They came out hot, KD hit a lot of pin‑down jumpers, Russ hit a couple pull‑ups and got to the rim a little bit. They got to the free‑throw line. They were doing pretty much everything they wanted, the things that we didn't want them to do in the first quarter. Lucky for us, we changed some things, tried to show them different looks, but they started missing some shots. We started contesting harder, being more aggressive, and trying to limit them to one shot, not to let them get second chances and offensive rebounds. But we expect them to come out more aggressive next game and probably make more shots than they did after the first quarter than they did tonight. Q. In the 2012 situation they also had Serge Ibaka and James Harden. It's a different team and seems to be a different level of frustration that you guys have handed them. DANNY GREEN: Possibly. I don't know what's going on in their locker room. All I know is what's going on in our locker room, and our mindset is they're dangerous regardless if Serge is there or not. He has an injury, we don't know how serious it is. Harden is not there, but they still have guys that come off the bench and that can score, and even with their two all‑stars. They're very capable of winning games. KD is MVP, and for a reason. He's capable of winning games by himself. We've got to do a good job of containing him and Russ and also finding their shooters, their other role players, and not letting them get hot. Derek Fisher got hot last game. I think we did a great job of finding him and getting to him on the three‑point line tonight. Q. Danny, the play coming out of the timeout in the second quarter where Manu hits you with the cross‑court pass, that's a play you guys run often. I'm curious, did you expect to be so wide open on that? DANNY GREEN: We run it here and there. I didn't expect to be that open. I didn't expect him to get the pass there. They kind of blitzed him in the corner, he was stuck further away than I expected and I didn't think he was going to throw it. He still threw it because he's Manu, and it was a curve ball, and I got it. Timmy set a great screen, and I just let it fly and tried to hold any follow‑through. Q. Was it really spinning like a curve ball? DANNY GREEN: Yeah, it's hard to tell watching from TV or from the stands, but when you're in the game, when Manu throws it, it's coming from all types of angles and has a lot of different curves on it. Q. The way you guys are winning games inside, outside, defensive, just the different facets and ways that you guys can win, how much confidence does that give you guys? DANNY GREEN: A great deal of confidence. I think it has a lot to do with our bench and how deep we are. Game 1, we got a lot of points in the paint. We expected them to try to take that away from us, so it's my job as well as all the shooters, with Beli and Patty, to space the floor and knock down shots. Luckily tonight I made a couple early and opened up the lane and we were still able to get some points in the paint and some perimeter shooting, as well. Q. When you're on a roll like you were tonight, do you have flash backs to the Miami series? DANNY GREEN: No, it wasn't a series‑‑ I had fun with the series, but it wasn't a series that we like to remember too much. It's always something in the back of our minds that keeps us focused, keeps that chip on our shoulder. But I try not to think about the past and how well I've shot it, how poorly I've shot it. I know sometimes you'll shoot it great, sometimes you won't, depending on your rhythm and how the game goes. Luckily tonight, I got rhythm going early and making some shots. Q. And after that do teams defend you differently or regard you differently this season? DANNY GREEN: Of course. You're any type of basketball coach, you're not going to continue to let shooters shoot or guys that can get to the lane get to the lane. You're going to try to take away their strengths and play to their weaknesses. I've had a lot of ups and downs this season, so has everybody else. Shooters do, due to the fact that teams have a pretty good scouting report on everybody now, since watching us, we played in The Finals last year, they're not going to let me, Beli and Patty shoot threes the whole game. They're going to get to us and make us do something different. So we try to take advantage of it as much as possible when we have the opportunity to find ourselves open at the three‑point line. We're pushing the pace in transition and moving the ball is when we get our looks. Q. Talk about the importance of staying close in Game 3. Manu said tonight was a dangerous win. How do you see it going forward? DANNY GREEN: I hope that with this experienced group, with the foundation we have that, we're able to stay very humble and not take this victory to head in any way, shape or form. We know what's at stake. We know how important it is. It's the Playoffs; every possession, every game counts. We want to kind of treat every game like it's a Game 7. I think that Dallas series kind of helped us and pushed us to take things and every possession as serious as we need to take it and just be aggressive. From Game 7 from Dallas on, I feel like we've taken that step forward as a group and been more aggressive, offensively and defensively, and kind of valued the ball and valued every possession and every game. Q. A lot of talk about two years ago and that series. I know it was a little while ago. Do you remember the way it felt after that Game 2 and whether or not you guys felt like you had them at that point? Are you learning from that lesson in terms of changing the mentality after this game? DANNY GREEN: Yeah, I remember the series very well. It's a series that I won't forget. We won, it wasn't‑‑ it was close games. We were confident, but at the same time we knew that it was going to be tough going into OKC, which it will be again this time around. It's a tough place to play. Their fans are very loud. They get them going. They're great at home. You know, at that time at that moment we knew that we had‑‑ we didn't win as big as we won tonight, so as Manu said, it's a dangerous win. But I believe in our group. I believe that we have the maturity, the character and the experience to stay focused and not take this win to head. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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