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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORS


May 23, 2015


Stephen Curry

Draymond Green


HOUSTON, TEXAS: Game Three

Warriors – 115
Rockets - 80


Q.  Steph, you had another monstrous offensive game, but your most impressive stat was that offensive rebound against Dwight Howard.  Can you talk about how you were able to box out and get that rebound and what it did for your team?
STEPH CURRY:  I was just in the right place at the right time.  I don't think he expected anybody to jump in front of him and put a body on him and there was a good balance right in front of me so I was able to get a little bit of leverage and grab it with one hand.  I think I surprised him because he didn't see where I came from.  Just a good‑‑ like I said, right place, right time.

Q.  Steve Kerr, who was a heck of a shooter in his time, said the NBA has never seen a shooter like you, especially with the ball skills.  How in the zone are you specifically?
STEPH CURRY:  I always have confidence, and it's obviously nice to see shots go down, but even if they weren't I still have the same amount of confidence.  Just finding a great rhythm, I have a lot of great guys setting great screens.  The ball movement tonight was the best it's been all series, so when you get a few to go down early in the game, it just builds your confidence even more, and thankfully I was able to knock down a lot of shots.

Q.  Coach Adams, Coach Kerr, even some of the guys in the locker room, constantly strive for excellence.  The first half when you hold them to 29 percent shooting, 15 assists, 1 turnover which was kind of questionable, talk about what it takes to reach that level of play at this stage of the season?
DRAYMOND GREEN:  I think everybody in the locker room strives for excellence.  That's one thing that we said we wanted to do from day one, so that's everyone.  You know, it takes a certain focus level, level of focus, to do that.  When we struggled all series with turnovers, I think one game they probably averaged 20 points off turnovers before today, and we said, coming on the road, in order to win this game, we knew we couldn't turn the ball over.  It fuels their crowd and they'll get threes off turnovers and that fuels their crowd, as well.  Coming into that game and not turning the ball over was key, and another thing that allows us to so is set our defense, and when we can set our defense, we've got just as good a defense as anybody in the league, and that's important, but if you're turning the ball over they're getting run‑out lay‑ups and you can't defend those, so that helps our defense out, as well.

Q.  You have the best defense in the league.  Is this the best you guys have played in this postseason defensively?
DRAYMOND GREEN:  You know, I think this was definitely, definitely up there.  I think it probably ranks up there with Game 4 in Memphis where we knew our backs were against the wall, that we had to come out and turn it up defensively, and we did, and one thing Coach talked about before the game, he said, hey, we need to turn the defense up like we did in Game 4 in Memphis, and we were able to do that tonight.  I think this definitely had to rank right up there with that if not better.

Q.  Steph, what's it like to be sitting here one game away from the NBA Finals?
STEPH CURRY:  I mean, we understand it's a special moment, it's just we're wrapped up in our day‑to‑day grind of preparing for games and going out and exerting all the effort we need to make this story happen, so it's kind of hard to remove yourself from those emotions because that's what's consuming us day in, day out.  But we understand the moment, and I think I do appreciate just how much work has gone into this.  Hopefully I'll be able to talk more about it in a couple weeks.  You've got guys like him who haven't really experienced what it's like to miss the Playoffs, let alone be here.  There's a reason for that.  It is special, but we have a lot of work to do, and it's hard to remove yourself from that in the moment.  I think that's why we're staying as consistent as we are.

Q.  Steph, some of your three‑pointers, the made ones, seemed to silence the crowd, but at the same time it seemed like you could maybe interact with some of the people in the front row and hear some of the things they said.  I'm just curious about those interactions and what it was like dealing with the crowd tonight.
STEPH CURRY:  That's the fun with playoff basketball on the road.  You've got hecklers and guys up close that paid a lot of money for those seats that want to get their money's worth.  It's fun.  You know, those are kind of just genuine reactions.  I think one in the corner, a guy said‑‑ I can't remember what he said, a four‑letter word I can't repeat.  But that's the one I turned around and kind of just said, sit down.  Just having fun with him, go about my business, get back on defense.  If they want to talk, hopefully they can take some back in my fashion.

Q.  In that big run y'all had in the second quarter, midway through the second quarter, you led the way.  What do you think was working best for y'all and what was the key to that big run that kind of put the game away?
STEPH CURRY:  Draymond talked about it, just mostly our defensive effort.  We got stops, we got rebounds, and being able to push in transition and put them on their heels defensively, and we didn't turn the ball over, so that's how you keep the momentum on your side.  If you keep getting stops and rebounds and then come down and give them a couple lob ball turnovers that they can turn it into fast‑break points, it's kind of all for nothing, but we kept control of the basketball, got to the paint, got to the free‑throw line.  The crazy thing is we played so well defensively and took care of the ball but we still didn't shoot particularly well as a team.  We can take another step, which is what we're going to try to do next game, now that we've seen that we can go through a half and have zero or one turnover and play solid basketball.

Q.  When you guys are in this position, what do you want to do on the off day?  How do you prepare for Game 4, staying focused and trying to finish this off?
STEPH CURRY:  We've got practice, and we'll keep our same routine of watching film, trying to get better, make a couple adjustments and learn from what we did tonight, see what the weather is like, and then go from there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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