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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: CLIPPERS v ROCKETSMay 10, 2015Blake GriffinDeAndre JordanLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Four Clippers – 128 Q. D.J., what were your thoughts on taking 28 free throw shots in the first half and they started it so early? DeANDRE JORDAN: I didn't really know how many I was shooting. I was just trying to make as many as I could for our team, and on the other end just try to get us as many stops as I could in a row. In that stretch they scored a little bit, but we were able to get stops and cut their lead a little bit in the first quarter. Q. In all three victories you guys have really blown the game open in the third quarter. What is Doc saying to you and what are you saying to each other? DeANDRE JORDAN: I think it's just being able to pick up our defensive intensity. Every time that we've gotten the lead and went on a run we were able to get stops and limit those guys to one shot and get out and run and do what we want to do, and we were able to convert. Q. DeAndre, Chris was asked a second ago about being one game away from making Clippers' history and going to the Conference Finals. He said it's not about Clippers' history, it's just about the guys in the locker room. But a year ago the guys in the locker room had a whole different feeling. You had all kinds of instability. To have this opportunity now, what does it say about your team? DeANDRE JORDAN: It's a great opportunity, but that's not what our ultimate goal is. That's not what we want to achieve. It's just making the Conference Finals. We want to be able to win nine more games. Q. Blake, when your team is beating other playoff teams by 20 and 30 points, is there a sense of you're unstoppable at this time? BLAKE GRIFFIN: No, it's a good win. In the first half we didn't play that well. We were sloppy on defense. We scored 60 points and we were only up by six at halftime. The best part about today's game was how we responded after the half, came out and did such a great job of defending and getting out and getting easy buckets. Q. DeAndre they started fouling you three minutes and 40 seconds into the game. What was your thought at that point? DeANDRE JORDAN: (Smiling) I just tried to stay focused, and we executed. (Leaves stage.) BLAKE GRIFFIN: You guys are welcome. You're welcome. Q. You guys have had kind of a year to practice being in this situation. Maybe not three minutes and 40 seconds, but where teams have been fouling you. Is that a skill to be able to kind of weather that and still find rhythm? You guys still scored 60 points despite the stops and starts of the first half. BLAKE GRIFFIN: It's a good thing to be able to weather that. I mean, it just slows the game down so much. Anybody that shoots 28 free throws in the first half, that's just crazy. I've never witnessed that or experienced that. For us to just kind of maintain our composure, he hit shots, he hit some free throws, we got stops. We just grinded it out, and I think that's a little demoralizing to be up six at halftime and the team to be putting somebody on the line 28 times in the half. It's a good sign for us. Q. Going back to last year to this year, how have you improved through this postseason? What did you learn from last postseason which obviously ended without the goal? BLAKE GRIFFIN: Our team or me individually? Q. You individually. BLAKE GRIFFIN: You know, it's just‑‑ I think every year you just kind of learn a little bit more. Every year you kind of figure something new out. You understand the highs and the lows of the Playoffs. I think that's the biggest thing for me is like you can't just get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. The thing that I thought was most impressive about this team is after we won Game 3, we were saying to ourselves and even our coaches, and our players even said it before our coaches said it, we were in this same position against San Antonio, and we came out and we wanted to make a statement Game 4, being the road team, and we didn't allow that to happen. We locked in and did our job. I think that shows a sign of growth as a team, to not be too excited about just winning Game 3, but to be greedy and get both games at home. Q. You've been through a lot of highs and lows with the Clippers. On Tuesday you guys have a chance to move on to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. What does that mean for the team? BLAKE GRIFFIN: It's an accomplishment, but it's not like our goal. I mean, it is a goal on the way to the bigger goal, the biggest goal. I don't know, we're not really like‑‑ it's not like a thing where we're like, we did this and it's Clippers' history. That's not really our thing. It's an accomplishment, but it's not our final place where we want to be. You know, we need to take care of business and do what we have to do, but we can't rest on that. Q. You're no stranger to hard fouls, obviously, in your career, but it seems like in this series they're making a point to hit you hard, and every time you're just walking away keeping your cool not letting it get into you. How are you able to kind of keep your emotions in check? BLAKE GRIFFIN: You know, I don't know. I mean, my entire career everybody says I need to punch somebody. I never have. The Playoffs isn't any different. I'm definitely not going to do something like that. Hard fouls are a part of playoff basketball, and I think that's how basketball should be. I don't take those fouls personally. My job is to go hit some free throws. We have to keep in mind what the bigger picture is, and that's ultimately winning. Q. What does it say about DeAndre that he can take all those fouls and then come out in that third quarter, he had like 14 points, eight rebounds in that spurt where you guys went ahead. What does it say about him to keep his composure when they're coming after him that way? BLAKE GRIFFIN: It's huge. But we don't give him any choice, to be honest. I mean, we tell him every day, every game, him going to the free‑throw line, missing some free throws is‑‑ his impact on the game goes way beyond missing free throws, missing some free throws. He could have missed all those free throws tonight, and as far as we were concerned we'd still be in that game and we'd still have a chance to win that game. We tell him that. I said to him at halftime, look at everything that happened, look at all the things they did to slow the game down, and we're up by six. That was our message at halftime, and that was my message to him. We don't really give ourselves any choice but to just keep going, and that's the thing that I think is awesome about this team. Q. Blake, it's already been a fairly physical series to this point with a close‑out game looming on Tuesday. What are you expecting from them? BLAKE GRIFFIN: I expect a good fight. I expect an intense game. Their crowd is going to be great. They're going to be ready. They're going to be up for the game, especially playing at home, but we just have to do a good job and come in focused, weather the storm. We've been down at their place early by 11, 13, 11 in the first game and came back and won, 13 the second game and got the lead. So we just need to do a good job, stay with our principles and stay with our formula and just execute. Q. Since that Game 7 win over the Spurs, it seems like you and the team‑‑ just the team is playing with a new confidence or a swagger. What did that series, going through all that, teach this team? BLAKE GRIFFIN: I think it kind of just gives you a sense of being a little battle‑tested. When you play a team like the Spurs in the first round and come out like that, it kind of gives you that feeling of accomplishment to the point of like being down 2‑1 early on the road, winning two games at their place. It just kind of gives you confidence as a team, but really the whole season has led up to this point. I think we realize as a team what we're capable of when we play the right way. It's just a matter of coming out and playing the right way. Q. Throughout the year the bench was kind of up‑and‑down but it seems like they've found a rhythm. How big have the contributions been from those guys? And getting Austin as a second scorer, how important has that has that been to your success? BLAKE GRIFFIN:  That's been huge. Austin has been huge, but not just Austin. Obviously always Jamal. Jamal always brings a punch for us, Spencer has played great minutes, Big Baby has played huge minutes in this series and the Spurs series. I know he's a little banged up but when he's out there he changes the game with his energy and his presence. It's great to see guys kind of getting outside of themselves and just saying, I'm just going to do whatever it takes. It's really shown. Even games like‑‑ even if the bench doesn't come in and outscore a team by 2‑1. It's their presence and their spirit on defense. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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