Gary Payton II says “absolutely not” for Steph Curry dunk, backs up Draymond

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Steph Curry and Gary Payton II transcript below. I liked how Gary backed up Draymond Green on the ejection, which GP2 called “unnecessary”. I detailed why on the Utah game livestream, 1:01:45 mark (see Comments):

…maybe I’ll do a follow-up edited video later on this.

00:00 What kind of got you going in the third?

00:09 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME UTA-GSW: Just got some clean looks and then understood what they were trying to do defensively and taking advantage of switches. And then we played great defense for most of that quarter, which gave us some transition opportunities, too. And I was able to run, beat the defense where they get set up so that usually plays into our hands. Thankfully shots went in and gave us a lot of momentum and that group that started the fourth did a great job to capitalize and holding the 18 in the fourth. No matter how many points you score, you’re gonna win a lot of games that way.

00:48 This is the third time in the past couple weeks that Draymond has either gotten ejected or left a game early and you guys played really well after each three. How do you square that?

01:01 We won the game. It’s all we care about. All he cares about. I know he’d rather be out there. I don’t know what he said to the ref, but I didn’t think it was, or the consensus in the locker room, was there wasn’t enough to get thrown out.

01:19 Without Draymond, what were some of the adjustments you guys made at halftime to mitigate the his loss?

01:25 I just ran a lot of pick and roll, kept it pretty simple. Like I said, I understood what they were trying to do defensively, whether it was a contained blitz or they were just gonna switch and put the big on me and you’re able to have a predictable offense that way. It was less chaos than off-ball action with me, so necessary adjustment with him out.

01:52 Steph, we know what Melt can do defensively, but how nice was it to see his three-point shot going early as well?

01:58 We know he can shoot and there’s no worry about that. You realize how much time he’s had off and his injury. It’s a matter of time for him to get his rhythm and the one thing about him, he’s gonna keep shooting. That’s the best part of a guy that understands who he is, what he can do and don’t let misses linger in your head. You just keep shooting.

02:18 Personally, do you like the look-away three or the logo three more?

02:23 They’re both great. They’re both great.

02:27 Steph, you and your dad passed the Schayeses officially tonight for most games.

02:33 Who?

02:34 The Schayes, Dolph and Danny.

02:35 Oh yeah. Yeah, that’s, yeah, I heard what you said. Just keep going.

02:39 What does that one mean to you out of the things that you’ve accomplished already?

02:50 One, I’m mad at Raymond (Ridder). He didn’t tell me that when I left the court, so I could be prepared for that answer because I didn’t know that was a thing, but it is cool, just longevity and the family business being in this game at my brother’s points, it’s even better. So, pretty special for the Curry family as a whole, knowing that he played for 16 years. I’m in my 17th year still trying to do it and, yeah, dream come true to be honest.

03:25 Next game, you’ll be two games ahead of them.

03:27 There we go. There we go.

03:31 So in that third quarter, after 17 years in the league, does that count for you as a dunk at this stage in your career?

03:38 I was joking with the whole bench because last year in Philly, I said that was my last dunk. And then I surprised myself when I got in the air that I was high enough and then I made my mind up at the end. I was gonna try to turn it over, so I’ll won’t count it, just because who knows how many chances I get, but I’ll have to ask the locker room if they agree with me or not.

04:00 Steve was pretty upset with a few of the turnovers tonight. It’s not like it was some crazy turnover night, but that aspect of the game seems to be wearing on him a little bit. How much do you just view that as the biggest problem that you guys continually need to solve?

04:16 It’s been a talking point for a decade. The way that we play, we know that there’s going to be turnovers because we like to pass the ball. We have a lot of organized chaos with off ball movement and all that type of stuff. It’s just the type of turnovers to — you’re gonna have some. You never want anybody out there second-guessing or playing passive or timid to make a play, but it’s the ones that are mindless or just lead to easy uncontested points on the other end that kill momentum. And no matter how great a defense you play, if you do that three, four, or five times, it’s hard to overcome, so we had maybe three or four of those where there’s no resistance from the defense. We were just turning the ball over. Those are the ones that are always gonna get him red in the face, but overall, I think we’ve been doing a lot better the last couple weeks, even if the numbers are still relatively the same.

05:21 You guys are 6-2 in the last eight. Does it feel like you’re generating momentum?

05:28 Yeah. Obviously, last night was rough, Toronto game was rough, but you do have to remember where we were a week and a half, two weeks ago and what’s ahead, in terms of opportunity to string wins together. But I think our morale is pretty high and we’re playing hard and competing, but we’ll see what happens after this game in LA and this home stand we have.

05:58 Steph, here on your right. You’re 17 — you played nearly every second of that third quarter, and you had 20. You got the vibes going, but what do you — are you running on fumes at that point? How do you feel after a quarter like that where you play basically the whole way and do you like Steve letting you play basically the whole quarter?

06:15 Yeah, it was a great feel tonight. Sometimes, he has to make a decision looking at time to score, looking at rotations and Draymond out and all that type of thing. It is really all mental, pretty resilient, able to adjust to how the game is going. Even though you’re giving everything you got, you can still pace yourself, recover during timeouts, all that type of stuff. So I never really worry about it too much. I do love to keep going. If I got a hot hand, that’s what every player wants, especially if you got a rhythm like that, then managing the game in the fourth quarter, knowing that they were gonna try to take me out of it, but just play it under control, finish the game, and I knew I did enough in the third to get us to the win.

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07:08 It was night and day between yesterday and tonight. Obviously, getting the stars backs helps, but from your perspective, what was different out there?

07:22 GARY PAYTON II: 32, 3 and 10.

07:25 How — when Steph gets on one of those flurries like he did in the third quarter, how much easier is it for you guys? How much does it open up you guys’?

07:32 Game easy. Give him the ball, let him work. If he wants a screen, he’ll point at you, come set it, get out the way. Simple.

07:40 And then for you personally, I mean, you just add so much energy from steals, alley, going back door and getting different dunks, things like that. Just talk about what you bring as far as the energy, the hustle guy to this team, to this squad.

07:53 Just that spark off the bench. Get in, get my guys open, give ‘em space to work and just be an outlet for ‘em, if they get in trouble. It would help if I could make some layups, but other than that, just bringing energy and effort off the bench.

08:10 How would you just describe that game overall?

08:15 it was a slow start, shaky start. We settled down. Believe it or not, Dray sparked us, what happened with him, so everybody had to turn it up a notch and make up what he does and what he brings to the team. I think after halftime we came out with a little bit more spark, less turnovers, and got out in transition and run and got our shooters open shots.

08:40 How did he spark you guys? And it was two quick techs. Were you surprised that it was that quick and he was gone?

08:48 Yeah, it’s a tricky sensitive subject with that, but maybe they be trying to go after Dray. I don’t know why, but we It’s just what, 13, 14? No, 16, 15. You guys know how Dray is, so let’s not be too sensitive when he starts to ask him questions and stuff, but it’s just what it is. But after that he sparked us. We knew we had to back up, have his back and make up what he brings. After the halftime what we did and we got to a good little run.

09:27 You’ve seen the Steph Curry flurry in the third quarter countless times. What do you like more, the lookaway three or the logo three?

09:35 Yeah, a bit of both. As long as they drop, let’s get back and get another one and give him a ball so he can see it again. I like it. Oh.

09:47 A couple things. Speaking on that third quarter, speaking on Steph Curry, we asked him earlier whether you guys are counting that as a dunk at this stage in his career.

09:53 Absolutely not. We gave him one last year. This one, he let it go just a little and grabbed the rim. I talked to him about it after that. I’m not gonna allow that one, so he’s gotta try it again. It’s the best part.

10:07 Noted. Noted, but going back to Dray — Draymond ejection, do you know what he said or do you know what he was?

10:16 I don’t.

10:16 What he was looking for there?

10:17 I don’t, I forgot what the play — what happened, but it was unnecessary. Unnecessary. You guys are great. Enjoy your weekend.

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