Isiah Thomas x Draymond Green Breakdown GM2 | Warriors Interviews | Game Analysis | May 4, 2023

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May 5, 2023
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What a game that was.
That is a way to respond after you lose in game one
on your home floor.
You do what needs to be done.
You get work done.
And that is what the Warriors did tonight.
That's exactly what they did.
Came out.
Got the win.
Game two.
Did what they needed to do.
Not only did they do what they needed to do in terms of
winning the basketball game, but Sam also, minutes played.
When you look at the minutes played, you know,
Steph only played 29 minutes tonight.
Clay, 31 minutes.
So, they got their rest.
So, that was a good win tonight.
Yeah, if you're a Lakers, you darling him.
You're happy you got the split, but you got to be concerned.
This lineup change that Steve Kerr asserted tonight with
Jermichael Green, they crushed the Lakers on the glass 55-40.
We're going to have to rethink this because if they can match
the Lakers' physicality and their size by changing their lineup
and playing this way, we may have a semi-game series.
Well, the small lineup gives them movement.
It gives them more movement.
And, you know, movement and spacing creates more rebounding opportunities
and more foul shooting opportunities.
So, when you have movement and spacing, you know,
you get a chance.
Little guys like myself, Sam, we get a chance to get in there
and get a rebound, you know.
But when you just have the lane compacted,
that's when big guys can really control it.
But when you have all that movement going around and then you have
spacing along with it, little guys can shoot in there,
get rebounds, and take advantage.
I don't think the Lakers could play at this pace.
Both of these teams shot about 95, 96 shots.
That's a lot of shots in the NBA game, especially a playoff game.
And I think Darwin Hamill is going to have to go back and say,
okay, we got a little drunk off game one.
You're not going to look.
And I say the same thing about Boston last year.
You're not going to out-shoot Golden State.
You may do it one game here and there, but over the course of a series,
you're going to have to slow this game down, play inside-out basketball,
because you're not going to out-quick them, out-run them, out-shoot them.
So the Lakers are going to have to go back and hit the reset button
and then think about how they want to attack this team.
Golden State figured things out tonight.
They made 21 threes in game one, but that wasn't working for them
because it was all free throws.
It was all paint points for the Lakers in that first game.
Tonight, the Warriors, once again, 21 made threes.
But like you said, they were just more physical.
They played with pace, and those were big difference-makers.
You see they were able to even out free throws, points in the paint,
and that was the difference-maker tonight because, like you said, Sam,
when you're making shots like Golden State does, making threes like they do,
they're hard to beat when they combine all of that together.
Yeah, the physical part of the game is getting to the free-throw line.
The team that gets to the free-throw line has always got a huge advantage
because also the other team didn't foul trouble.
So that means your starters can't be as aggressive.
Every foul, the team is getting rewarded by going to the free-throw line.
So it really upsets how physical you want to play, how aggressive you want to play.
Yeah, I mean, when you talk about movement, speed, quickness, that negates size.
And, you know, trust me when I say this, right?
They couldn't hit you, little fella.
Yeah, if you got speed and quickness, that negates size.
And what you saw with Golden State tonight, they have speed, they have quickness,
and therefore they was able to spread the floor.
And you saw they were able to get better shots, wide-open shots, layups, dunks,
everything you wanted because of that speed, that small lineup in the shooting.
Before tonight's game, though, guys, we were talking about if you've got a LeBron James
and you've got Anthony Davis doing what he did in Game 1, they are hard to stop.
But that has been the problem with AD that we've seen before, just the inconsistency.
We saw it again tonight.
He had 30 points in Game 1, and tonight he had 11.
So what do we need to do?
How do we need to figure out?
How do the Lakers' Darvin Hamm need to figure out what goes on with AD?
If he doesn't get out to a quick start, he just disappears, and they can't have that.
Again, when LeBron James has to be the best player, it's trouble for the Lakers.
That final score once more, they win it big, 127-100.
With that, we're going to be joined by Draymond Green.
Draymond, can you hear us okay?
Yes, I can.
Hey, Ashley Schaumeter here.
Congrats on the win.
I just wanted to ask, I know you guys made the necessary adjustments,
big difference from Game 1 to Game 2, but in your eyes, what was the biggest change
that led to just such a dominating performance?
Thank you, Ashley.
Thanks for having me.
I think for us, it was the level of physicality, and our defense was much better.
We did a great job of making them play in the crowd,
and I think that's important when you're playing against a team like this,
especially when not every day nowadays do you see the most dominant part of a team
is what they do in the paint, and that is this team.
You know the pressure LeBron's putting on the rim.
AD puts a ton of pressure on your defense.
D'Angelo puts a ton of pressure on your defense.
Schroeder getting downhill, and so we know what those guys wanted to get to,
and I think we did a better job of defending tonight.
Draymond, when you talk about your defense, this is Isaiah,
when you talk about your defense, in the second and third quarter,
you held them to 47 points, but you scored 84 yourself.
So 84 to 47 in the second and third quarter.
What did you guys do in the second and third quarter to give you such an advantage?
I think we really rebounded the ball well.
We didn't give up a lot of second chance points when we were forcing the misses.
They got some offensive rebounds last game,
and what that allowed us to do was get out in transition
and not have to play against their defense every time down the floor.
We fouled so much last game when we put them on the line.
We shot six free throws.
They shot 29.
You can go there and you can blame the ref
and say the referees were doing this,
or you can go look at what you were doing wrong and try to make those corrections,
and I think we took the latter as far as our approach went.
We didn't complain or, you know, the refs were against us.
We were fouling, and we did a better job of defending without fouling,
and that helped our offense a lot.
Draymond, Sam Mitchell here.
You talk about the things that you were asked to do,
and Coach Kerr talks about you.
One night you got LeBron.
Next night you got A.D.
It seems like after a game like tonight, you're going to be the primary defender on A.D.
What is it that you have to do early to try to get him off his spots,
to get him off his rhythm?
Because you know I played that undersized power forward,
so when them 6'11 guys see us, they start thinking mouse in the house.
What do you do to negate your size advantage, your lack of size,
against these big guys to kind of get them off their spots?
Sam, nothing pisses me off more than when people think they can just take advantage of me
because of my size.
It really, really upsets me.
But, you know, I just really try to use my advantage, you know, use my quickness,
you know, get underneath them and not just let them play comfortably.
A.D. is an incredible player, man, as you know.
Future Hall of Famer, NBA 75, all of those things.
We know the guy that he is.
So I just try not to let him get comfortable and get to the spots that he wants to get to.
Try to make him play on my terms.
You know, when you have a great player like that and you allow them to play on their terms,
you're dead because their terms is going to finish with 30 and 23.
And yet, you know, you can play that same defense and he can get it going.
So I don't make too much of it.
Just try to make them take tough shots and live with the results.
You know, Draymond, what's impressive about, you know, your guys' run over the last, you know,
years is that all of you have still found a way to be thirsty and hungry to win.
How have you managed to do that and stay insatiable about winning?
Isaiah, that's a big word, and I'm not sure I know what that word means.
But I think for me, man, I've had the honor of 11 years playing with two of the most competitive guys.
And I know I get a lot of credit for that.
But Klay Thompson and Steph Curry are two of the biggest competitors that I've ever been around.
You add in a coach in Steve Kerr, who is not only one of the biggest competitors,
but one of the best winners the NBA has seen in the last 40 years.
And we just try to feed off that, man.
I've been pulling more stuff away from Steve this year in these playoffs than I ever have.
Just trying to learn from him, man.
And we've been collaborating on stuff, and it's been absolutely incredible.
But when you have an opportunity to go to war with guys like that and a GM like we have
who's always in the war with us and Bob Myers and that core group of guys,
Andre, Loon, it's special to go to work every day.
And we know we have a lot more left in the tank, and we want to continue to try to hang banners in here.
Well, not knowing what the word means, you answered the question.
It just means never satisfied.
That Michigan State education, baby.
Oh, wow, that's dirty, Sam. That's dirty.
You're never satisfied, you know.
You should have went to Mercer, Draymond.
That is crazy, man.
Even if I went there, I wasn't taking some language class or something, man.
Don't worry, Draymond. I feel like you're doing this all the time, Isaiah.
You've got a good vocabulary there.
I got one more question for you, Draymond.
Now you're going to L.A.
In that environment, you know home court advantage is a thing,
so how do you just bring that same thirst?
What word did you use?
Insatiable.
Insatiable energy to L.A.
Well, we know what it takes to win on the road, especially in the playoffs.
Going into a tough environment like the Crypto, Lakers fans have been excited.
When you're watching those games, you hear through the TV how loud they are.
You've got to embrace it, though, man.
That's the big stage.
You're in L.A., all the stars will be out, and you've just got to embrace the environment
and go in and play with the same focus level, maybe even higher because you are on the road.
Same physicality or take that up a couple more notches and go down there and try to get a win.
Thanks so much, Draymond.
We appreciate it.
Congrats on the win.
Thanks, Draymond, for your time.
Insatiable.
We appreciate you.
Insatiable.
I appreciate y'all.
Thank you.
Because we learned from him.
He's learning from us.
I learned from him.
Look, I done learned from him.
Look at you, walking in the dictionary.
What am I talking about?
Encyclopedia.
You're right.
You done educated me on politics, residency, the Civil War, everything.
We don't just talk basketball here.
Not at all.
Not with Professor Thomas up here.
Oh, I heard y'all talking in the back about what y'all was talking about.
Y'all was talking the doctor talk.
Y'all had the whole body worked out.
Yeah.
So I was like, okay.
A hell of a bounce back from the Go-To State Warriors.
Y'all scored at Lakers 84-47 in the second and third quarters.
And they improved to 33-11 since 2013.
In game number two is, of course, for the 16th straight time when the home team loses game one,
they bounce back to win game number two again.
That's 16 straight times.
And the Warriors roll over the L.A. Lakers.
They even this series at one game apiece.
And we welcome everybody to Warriors Post Game Live, presented by Toyota.
Live at the Gatehouse.
We got a full squad.
We got enough for a basketball team right now.
We got the one big offensive Zazili.
We got JTA as our four.
Juan Toscano, Anderson, D-Wright can shoot the three.
We got shooters.
We got shooters, baby.
So that means you got to play point guard.
Well, I don't know.
There's somebody out there that needs to play point guard.
But I'll handle the ball.
We got Wooley here.
Look, Warriors bounce back into Major Ray D. Wright.
We knew that the Warriors would make the proper adjustments, and they did.
All five starters scored in double figures.
What a night for the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State Warriors did a great job with coming out, attention to detail.
The ball movement was impeccable, 38 assists.
I thought Steph Curry did an amazing job with getting the basketball out of his hand,
making the proper basketball play every single time.
And then Clay Thompson, 8-4-11 from three, shot the lights out tonight.
Yeah, I thought it was great.
We always talk about, you know, setting the tone.
And I feel like the game was really won in the second quarter.
I feel like that's when the Warriors set the tone.
They sped up the game.
The Lakers tried to play at their pace.
Rui hit a few threes, you know, to keep them afloat,
but I don't think the Lakers can sustain that type of play.
So, you know, coming out in the third quarter, then the floodgates opened up for Clay.
So, you know, that's the Warriors for you.
This is the Warriors basketball that we love so much.
And what I said before the game is you can't foul this Lakers team
because when you foul, you stop the fast break.
The Warriors were able to run out of the fast break.
They rebounded the ball.
Draymond Green, I knew he was going to come out and respond in this game.
Almost a triple-double, one assist short of a triple-double for Draymond Green.
Steph Curry did an amazing job, one of those masterpieces from Steph.
But this team really came out, and they set the tone from the beginning.
And responding in the second quarter, like you just said, Juan,
was incredible for the Golden State Warriors.
This is Warriors basketball at its best, 38 assists, 50% from the field.
You love to see this.
Yeah, Steve Kerr made his adjustment,
put Jermichael Green into the starting lineup.
So that added physicality, a three-point threat,
which stretched the Laker defense out.
They doubled Steph continually when he had the ball.
And Steph played off the dribble more than he did in game one.
They got him the ball in the backcourt, and he worked the ball into the frontcourt.
They doubled him.
He made the easy next-right play.
Draymond almost had a triple-double.
D. Wright mentioned Klay Thompson, hot, got great looks all night.
So now the Lakers are going to have to adjust.
Once again, I thought the fact that all season long,
players have played in different roles.
We've had DiVincenzo starting.
So now Jermichael Green didn't play much in the Sacramento series.
He came up huge tonight.
He's a big weapon because he's physical.
You don't give up anything on the inside, but he can stretch the defense,
and he can really function well with Draymond Green,
who almost had a triple-double tonight.
Jermichael Green, 15.69 shooting, including three threes,
and he was wide open.
And he nailed them.
Steph Curry with a double-double, 20 points and 12 assists.
But let's go back inside the Chase Center with the great KB.
Kareth Burke standing by with Moses Moody.
Moses, you guys took a 30-point other starter,
supporting pretty quickly.
What's it like when you see your opponent surrender in a playoff game?
It's a good feeling, you know, to get it done early.
I got to get some rest, chill out for a little bit.
Three-point shooting was on in this game.
Klay Thompson had eight threes.
That's the most of any player in the postseason so far.
What's it like watching Klay cook?
That's the right player to do it, you know.
A lot of people, a lot of players can tell you
or coaches can tell you when your shot not falling,
keep shooting, keep shooting, shoot and shoot.
But he personified it.
Make or miss, he think every shot going in, that's the mentality to have.
And as a young guy on this team, it's the perfect thing to look up to.
And you had a pair of three-pointers too.
And I'm curious in this game, you are guarding LeBron sometimes?
Yeah, I mean, we're in the postseason, so at this point in the season,
every player is every player, so we got to get out there
and do what we got to do to get the win.
Hey, your college coach was in the house, Eric Musselman.
What's it like playing in front of him?
Yeah, it's cool.
I think – no, he came to a game last season,
but one of the first times he didn't see me on this stage
since I was running up and down the court for his team.
So, a good coming of age, a good opportunity for him
to check out his product.
He must have been proud of you when you were a champion.
Oh, yeah, most definitely.
I topped it up with him before the game.
Very good.
Thank you very much.
Onward.
In game one, when they were trying to guard Draymond and Kevon Looney
as the Warriors did to Montes Sabonis, the counter was,
we're going to drive the ball to the paint to draw the defense
and kick out for open shots if it's a scorer.
And Draymond, Looney, and Jermichael Green,
I thought the fact that all three of those guys were aggressive
really messed up the Lakers' defensive strategy.
Now it's up to them to make adjustments.
And again, the Warriors outscored the Lakers 84-47 in the second
and third quarters.
They were a 30 in the fourth quarter and due to Klay Thompson,
who had a great night.
The reason why he's able to get these open shots is because
they're moving the ball, they're doing all the things,
but they're also getting stops.
You talk about them starting the third quarter with a, what,
12 to 13 to 2 stop?
14 to 2 run there.
14 to 2 run.
You've got to get stops to be able to run.
That is the Golden State Warriors basketball at its best.
And you've got to give the whole team credit.
They came out this game and they were sharp and they really were
focused, really ready to respond after the game won.
And great balance to Klay's game.
Yes, he had the eight threes,
but just saw several times in driving the basketball under control,
the nice little pull-ups.
But 8 of 11, a lot of catch and shoot plays for Klay.
Wide open.
So now the Warriors in two games have made 42 three-point shots.
And the Lakers have made 16.
Wow.
I'm not quite sure mathematically how you can justify that
and actually come out and win.
Well, think about that.
21 made threes.
That ties a franchise record for most threes made in a playoff game.
They've done it four times in franchise history.
They've done it two times in a series already.
So that has to slow down, yet the Lakers got to figure out
what they want to do with that drop coverage.
Defense wins championships.
Two runs, Miley.
They scored two points.
42 threes.
Well, Steph Curry, man, don't forget about Steph.
Look, he had a nice controlled basketball game tonight.
He basically made the right play every single time with the basketball.
Between Steph and Klay, they got guys doubling them
and doubling and forgetting about everybody behind them.
And Steph did a great job getting the ball out of his hands.
He stretched out the defense and then threw it back to Draymond
to go make a play.
12 assists there for Steph Curry.
This is Steph Curry at his best.
I mean, he has 20 points on 13 shots.
This is Steph Curry efficient, coming out, making plays for his teammates
and also using that defense, all that pressure that he's getting,
using it against that other team, making sure that his teammates
get open and get open shots.
I think this is the Warriors at their best.
This is why I keep saying that.
Yeah, and coming into the game, Steph knew they were going to double him.
And like all the great players, he welcomed that double team.
Actually draw it out more towards half court and really opened up the entire floor
for Draymond either to score or have assists.
Got wide open threes for Klay.
So again, took not only what the defense gave him,
but really opened up the floor for his teammates.
So again, I think the Lakers are going to have to really rethink
who they have on the floor.
Because if you have those big players out there,
now all of a sudden the Warriors have got you in a bind.
You try to double Steph.
He gets 12 assists, and he has the efficiency of getting 20 points.
So he did everything tonight.
I remember he was saddled in foul trouble the second quarter,
so a nice performance from Steph Curry.
We saw in the Sacramento series where Steve split up Kavon and Draymond's minutes.
Now tonight you get Jermichael Green to the mix.
All three bigs had huge impact on tonight's win.
Yeah, I really like the way Jermichael Green played,
and I like the way Draymond Green bounced back.
When you have a winner like that on your team, you're always confident going into battle
because you know he's always going to be ready.
It's more important that he's self-aware.
He comes on the podcast, like you said, and says, I have to do better.
I cannot be in foul trouble because my team will not function properly
if I'm in foul trouble.
Yeah, for sure.
Just to piggyback off what Festus said, true professional, great leader,
accountable, holding himself accountable,
knows what he needs to do to win games like this.
Like I said earlier, he's been here many, many times on all different levels.
So that's a guy I probably wouldn't bet against in a game like this and a must win,
knowing what happened the night previously.
It was exciting to see him match up with A.D. as well.
That's a great matchup.
I would love to see that a lot more.
Two dogs.
Very talented offensive player.
Draymond Green, who's a great defensive player.
So I'm looking forward to seeing that matchup much more in this series.
I thought he did a great job with setting the tone early.
He got into Anthony Davis.
He made him uncomfortable.
You kind of told him where you're going to go.
You're going to take these type of shots, and when you're a good defensive player,
you can kind of control what the offensive player does,
and I felt like Draymond Green did a great job of that.
He filled all the stat sheet and did a great job.
Yeah, 11.7 rebounds and four hits for Anthony Davis tonight.
Did not have that impact.
A great game.
That's all five starters for the Golden State Warriors.
Score in double figures, and they even up the series at one game apiece
as we head down to L.A. for game number three.
Dante, the talk coming into game two was about adjustments,
and you guys had the same number of threes as the last game,
but 20 more points in the paint.
So how did you guys balance the offense better in this one?
I think, you know, our being assertive, being aggressive,
I think that was the mindset.
Not letting them hit first.
I think we needed to hit first, touch the paint, you know, kick out,
but also touch the paint and, you know, challenge the rim blockers sometimes.
I think we gave them a lot of respect the first game,
and we had to challenge them early this game to see how they adjusted
and see how they handled it.
I think role players are huge, especially in the playoffs,
and Jermichael Green coming into the starting lineup,
and, you know, especially after two hours before the game,
you get news that Kevon Looney is ill.
Jermichael Green was huge tonight for this team.
Talk about the importance of staying ready
and what the role players mean to this team.
Yeah, you know, playoffs is way different than the regular season.
So you never know what your minutes are going to be.
You never know what the rotation is going to be or the matchup.
So it's a credit to J. Mike.
You know, he's a vet.
He knows what to do.
And then also, you know, Looney to battle out there
and give us everything he had during the minutes that he was out there.
It shows that, you know, we all have one goal, and it's to win these games.
You guys out-rebounded the Lakers 55 to 40,
and that's with Looney sick.
That's with him only playing about 12 minutes.
What was the team effort on the glass to have the edge there?
Just to hit them first.
You know, they're big, they're athletic,
and, you know, they're aggressive getting to the offensive rebounds themselves.
So we had to hit them first.
And, you know, if the ball drops and as long as your man doesn't get it,
somebody else will come in and clean it up.
Well, my biggest thing and my biggest takeaway is the fact that, you know,
there's a big adjustment going to the paint this time.
And so for the Warriors, that's a big part of this offense,
getting the easy buckets.
What is it about this offense that where you can get threes,
but you also really it's underrated how much twos
and how many easy buckets we get here in the goal state?
I think when we push the pace under control,
I think that's when we're at our best.
You know, when we're getting paint touches, easy ones at the rim,
they have to, you know, meet us at the rim,
and that's when we get the kickouts, that's when we get the extra passes.
And also, I think we did a good job tonight of turning down good shots
to get great shots.
And I think that was the biggest thing for us tonight,
and we got to carry that into game three.
Yeah.
It's a knotted up series.
It's different now.
It goes to L.A.
What are you looking forward to, you know, being in Hollywood?
You know, just, you know, it's 0-0 basically.
You know what I mean?
Series is even.
Just go in there and, you know, try to steal one on the road,
especially game three.
Just come in there and hit them first again
and then go from there and see how they adjust.
That's good.
Thanks for the perspective, Dante.
Absolutely.
Congratulations.
Thank you, guys.
All right, Dante DiVincenzo, eight points, four assists, four rebounds.
I thought he was active.
He let the three ball fly.
Look, he was just two of eight.
But I love his aggressiveness of shooting it.
Steve, this was a different game for you guys in the paint.
Twenty more points in the paint tonight compared to what you had for game one.
What was the biggest change that led to that difference?
I think just overall the aggression from our guys.
They knew they had to pick up the intensity and the force,
and they played really hard right from the beginning.
I think J. Mike was really a good tone setter, too.
He did a nice job of knocking down some threes and spacing the floor,
and that allowed our guys a little more space in the paint, too.
I mean, J. Mike, he got three DNPs in the first round.
How important for you is it to have guys that are so versatile,
to be able to stay ready?
Guys like Moses Moody, Draymond Green coming off the bench,
Kevon Looney coming off the bench,
giving you that same production as they do in the regular season
or when they're starting.
How is it important for you as a coach to know that you're game planning
but you have these guys who are going to be ready regardless of the situation?
You know, we try to tell the guys all year that the playoffs are so different.
Every matchup is different.
From one team to the next, sometimes from one game to the next,
you might need something different.
So tonight J. Mike obviously played great.
But Dante and Moses both got additional minutes.
We knew that we needed more spacing against the Lakers defense.
They were really packing the paint in game one.
I thought all those guys just came in
and were really ready to go and played really well.
Clay basically declared how excited he was to play the Lakers.
How were you seeing that in his shot selection and maybe playing to the crowd?
Yeah, Clay was great.
I mean, the quote I noticed was he said his dad was going to cheer for the Lakers,
which is, I mean, come on, man.
Isn't blood thicker than water?
I can't imagine cheering against my child.
So that's not happening in our family.
But apparently in Clay's family, dad's going to root for the Lakers.
So that gives Clay a little extra motivation.
Anthony Davis comes out the first game, 30 points, 23 rebounds.
Draymond Green pretty much declares that he's going to come out.
He needs to be better.
What did you see from Draymond Green tonight in this game?
Draymond was great from the beginning.
You know, he's such a competitor.
I mean, you know him well, Fezzy.
I mean, he's just a gamer.
And he was, I think, disappointed, almost embarrassed about game one
because he didn't play well.
We didn't play well.
And he took that personally.
And he came out on a mission tonight.
I thought Draymond was brilliant.
And when the Lakers wave the white flag, because you guys build a 32-point league,
they sit their starters.
You can sit your starters in the fourth quarter.
How far does that go when the teams are playing every other night?
Yeah, I think both teams actually got enough rest tonight
where everybody should be fresh for game three.
You know, I think Davis played 33 minutes.
I think Klay got to 31 for us.
Otherwise, nobody in the game even surpassed 30 minutes.
So that's something that both teams have to consider
and try to achieve is getting enough rest with the series being every other day.
Okay, last question is, you know, how do you feel going back on the road?
I mean, it's a different season here in the postseason as opposed to the regular season.
This Warriors team is showing that they wake up in the postseason.
How do you feel now going to L.A. for the road games?
Well, I'm discounting everything that happened in the regular season, honestly,
because I feel like we're a different team now.
You know, we went through the gauntlet with Sacramento,
and we won the last two road games.
We went through the fire, and we're a different group now.
We're a different team than we were two weeks ago.
So I think that will help us in L.A.
We know it will be a tough environment, but we're ready to roll.
Thank you, Steve.
Okay, thanks, guys.
Steve Kerr told us that Kavon Mooney fell ill about two hours before tip-off,
and he said he planned on using you more.
Going into the starting lineup is a different animal.
How did you take that news?
I was getting treatment.
He came to me and said, you know, you'll be starting tonight.
You got to start.
So just didn't think much of it.
Just tried to stay ready.
You know, once you get to overthinking, you kind of take yourself out the game.
It's really important that the whole team plays together,
and part of it is, you know, people sacrificing.
Time, time on the court.
How's that process been like for you?
Because tonight you came out, you were ready.
Yeah, this year, you know, it's been tough.
But I don't want to be selfish.
I want to let the team know that I'm buying into whatever we got to do,
and I'm just here to help.
You know, I just want to help win.
You know, they kept telling me stay ready,
and make sure I kept getting to work in so I can be ready when my name is called.
Draymond said he wanted to have a better game, too.
He was one assist shy of a triple-double.
But on the defensive end, how did you see him bring that, especially against AD?
It feels like cats.
You know, we always discuss it, me, him, and Lone.
30 and 20, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
So, coming in, we knew it was going to be more physical,
and we had a chip on our shoulder.
You guys both made, this game and last game, you made 21 threes.
But the difference, I feel like, was going inside to the paint.
What was the difference for you from your perspective?
What did you guys do differently?
First game, we was just worried about him blocking shots, AD.
So, coming in tonight, just knew we had to get in his body.
You know, couldn't shy away from the rim.
You know, keep the game honest, and I think we did a great job that night.
I know you guys felt like game one was a winnable game.
You backed it up in game two.
So, a tied series now heading to L.A.
How do you keep the momentum going?
Man, just stay locked in as a team, and just make sure we keep that physicality.
You know, we got to hit them first, and can't let them hit us first.
Good game, Jermaine.
Appreciate you.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
