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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

May 29, 2019

Shaun Livingston

Toronto, Ontario - Practice Day

Q. Could you ever imagined Golden State being a free agent destination when you first broke into this league?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: When I first broke into this league? Yeah, it was a long way off. A long ways off. A long ways off, but over the years the "We Believe" teams, Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, all those guys, Matt Barnes, you know, showing what the Bay was capable of. I think the last time they won a championship was the '70s, maybe, so I wasn't around, you know, a lot of us weren't around. So seeing what the fan base -- see them come alive and then obviously Steph gets there and Klay and the whole nine, it was all history. So the potential was there.

Q. Success is one thing, sustained success is another.
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Correct.

Q. In your mind what has allowed the sustained success to continue for this organization?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Sacrifice. It's a word I've been using all day but just looking back throughout this journey, last five years you see guys down the line just sacrificing. And this would not have come together if there was no sacrifice.

Q. What's it take to come into a hostile environment and get this win?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Poise, I think we rely on our experience. Experience is crucial in this type of environment, coming on the road and focus our focus, our concentration, attention to detail is huge, attention to detail. Being on the road, playing in a hostile environment. I played in this building. It's one of the loudest buildings in the league by far, so attention to detail is crucial because there's so many distractions happening and the game's a roller coaster, but sticking to the game plan.

Q. Bob Myers shared a pretty cool story about when you first signed. When you met him you said, "Hey, how can I help the team?" Going back to that whole sort of theme of sacrifice. Just how did you develop that sort of team-first mentality and how much does that permeate through the locker room?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: That's really just been who I am. Not a humble brag or a brag or whatever. I mean, honestly I came in this league a pass-first point guard. So I obviously like to see other guys getting involved, just playing as a team, that's how I grew up, that's how my high school teams were, so when I came in the league, that's who I was through and through, so my injuries, history, my situation taught me a lot, it humbled me a lot as well. So just trying to make a mark in this league, I was trying to get to the next step and the next step. I was coming off the playoffs in Brooklyn, and coming to Golden State with the opportunity to go back to the playoffs and duplicate success. That was my angle, that was my way in.

Q. Is it execution, is it communication, is it game plan, what does "attention to detail" mean?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Yes, all those things that you mentioned. Communication, paramount. It's loud. It's going to get loud in here. So we got to be able to hear you. Focus. Poise. They're going to go on a run; it's part of basketball, it happens. Our body language, all those things are paramount to playing 48 minutes and coming out with the victory.

Q. You mentioned the hostile environment, a lot has been made of Drake on the sidelines. As a player is he annoying?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: No. I wouldn't say that. Maybe to fans or people that don't like him, or don't like his music, whatever, I don't know, but it's not annoying to me. I think it's part of the game. For him he's having fun with it, right? And it sounds like he gets the fans into it and the crowd is good for the game.

I'm sure the league likes it. But it's just part of the game. I mean, he's not wearing a jersey on, so we can't get distracted by that.

Q. What do you think it's going to take as a team to continue to hold the fort down for however long Kevin's out, just give the unique challenges with Toronto?
SHAUN LIVINGSTON: It's just going to take our togetherness, again, relying on our past experiences being in these type of situations. We got great players, great guys, that have been in this situation before, so relying on our leaders and also staying together and then our communication from top down, knowing what we're trying to accomplish and continuing to hit that home throughout these next two games.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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