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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORSJune 4, 2019Marc GasolOakland, California - Practice Day Q. Do you have a confidence to win Game 3? MARC GASOL: Of course. Q. Cousins had six assists last game. What particularly does his playmaking at the center spot do differently for them? MARC GASOL: Cousins has always been a great passer. Their spacing, having those two guys getting so much attention. The lanes get so much bigger. But we have to do a good job of pressuring and making them catch in different places. Have to move through and put more pressure on them and do a better job of staying connected to our guys. Q. How much different is the way they pass and cut and move than the teams you played previously in the playoffs? MARC GASOL: Obviously there is. Two great shooters coming at both sides, you have to be really good on them and the guy helping. If you help a little too much too early or not communicate well enough, the basket is going to be wide open and it's hard to guard down there. So you have to do a good job of ball pressuring and doing all that stuff and communicate and help one another and be physical. And even with all those things, they're going to make some tough shots and they're going to score the ball. So don't overreact and get your offense going quick. Q. The box-and-one you guys went to the other night, when Steph was talking about it postgame, he described it as janky. What was your reaction to that? MARC GASOL: What does janky mean? How do you define janky? Q. It's sort of like lower quality, run down a little bit. MARC GASOL: I don't know what he meant by that. I normally don't comment on other people's comments because you don't get the whole sense. You just get a little bit of information. So it's hard for me to comment on it. It's something that it's been in basketball forever. It's not something that we just saw in that game. We've seen it before for many years. So if you're that good of a player, I'm sure that he might see it another time. Q. You had a pretty small sample size against the Warriors this season. Now that you had the chance to go up against them in this Finals situation a couple times, what's your assessment of them? MARC GASOL: They run free and get to the actions they want. They obviously are very dangerous -- their passing is in rhythm, their screening is in rhythm, their slips, everything. It's like a domino effect for them, and one action triggers another. It's pretty quick reads for them and their spacing is really good and they space out for a reason and with a meaning to every possession on the floor. So you have to fight for every possession on the floor defensively. It starts with your shots. As soon as you take a shot or you don't get the rebound offensively, you have to get back and start communicating. Q. You played against Kawhi for years and now you're teammates. Defenders seem to bounce off of him because he's so strong. Now that you're a teammate and you got to see it up close, just how strong is Kawhi? MARC GASOL: He's a strong player. If you want to win at a high level, no matter how strong you are, you have to play like you're really strong and that you have to win every physical battle. When you're on the ball, off the ball, the successful players, they might not be the strongest ones, but they act and believe that they're the strongest ones. I think Kawhi does a great job of imposing his will when he needs it. And, yeah, I guess he is strong. Q. Is there anything different you've noticed about Kawhi now that he's your teammate? MARC GASOL: I didn't analyze [before]. I don't analyze him now either. I try to help him as much as possible and help the team as much as possible on both ends and seeing the coverages that they're throwing at us. Obviously, we haven't been together that long, but it is what it is. We are confident we have the right mindset as a team. We communicate. We talk about the hard issues that happen on the floor. We don't take things personal. So that's always good to see. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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