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GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCEMay 24, 2019Steve KerrOakland, California Q. Did Andre do any work today? STEVE KERR: Andre did not practice today. Rick will tell me when he's ready to practice, and we're going to take Sunday off, so we've got one more practice before a day off and then we'll reconvene on Monday, and Rick will let me know. But Rick does not seem concerned about Game 1 for Andre, so it's more -- more right now a matter of maintaining the rehab program and making sure we don't do anything silly. Q. The scrimmage today -- STEVE KERR: That was perceptive, wow. Q. DeMarcus has a jersey on. How much of a part of the scrimmage was he? STEVE KERR: DeMarcus? He scrimmaged along with most of the other guys, Andre and Kevin obviously did not, and pretty much everybody else scrimmaged. Q. Contact -- STEVE KERR: Yeah. Q. How did he look? STEVE KERR: Good. Q. There's obviously been a lot of attention on Draymond's defense and his impact and you as a team raising your defense. How much does Klay and his ability to neutralize Lillard and the big scorer on the opposing team, how much has that lifted your defense? STEVE KERR: It's a huge part of our defense and there are multiple layers to it. Maybe the biggest layer is that Klay's, I don't know, 6-7,220, whatever he is, pounding ball hand letters, and then the way we play, he often switches on to a low post guy. And for a guy to be able to switch on to a center, and hold his own down on the block and chase the best guards in the world around, it's almost unheard of. What that does for Steph, allowing Steph to guard off the ball, preserving his legs at the other end, so it's hard to quantify the value of what the play does for us defensively. I mean, I'm glad he was recognized in the all-defensive team. But it goes beyond what most people would even consider. There's just multiple layers to it all, and I think in many ways, Klay and Draymond together, each of their ability to switch and guard guards or bigs that, versatility is, in my mind, a key to what we do. Q. What was the process like for Steph getting out of some of those hiccups against Houston? STEVE KERR: The process? He's just Steph Curry. He has a couple bad games, he's probably going to have some good ones. This is also the playoffs. You know, it's like everybody overreacts to everybody. In the regular season, if you have a couple tough shooting nights, nobody cares. But in the playoffs, it's totally exposed. There's national stories, and then the flipside happens, right. Guy turn it is around and all of the sudden he's the greatest player of all time and we go back and forth. Not that any of you guys do this; this is other media members. Q. I do it all the time? STEVE KERR: Oh, you do? All right. That's what makes playing in the playoffs really difficult as a player, is the magnifying glass is on everybody, and so you're exposed. You're lauded. You're destroyed. Then you rise again and it's like this and when you do that for two months, it's exhausting. So you've got to find a way to just play through all that stuff and not worry too much about it. Q. Some of the guys have talked about how supportive Kevin has been in film review and all that. How have you seen him handling the time off? STEVE KERR: Well, he's in the training room a couple times a day with Rick, and been really diligent about his work in the weight room and the training room and he's been very supportive of his teammates and he's doing everything possible to get back out on the floor. He's been part of this group for three years now. Everybody is dying for Kevin to come back for the team's sake and for his sake, and he's trying to make it happen. Q. What's triggered the improvement -- seems like he's taken another step up? STEVE KERR: I just think more opportunity the last few games. Obviously with Andre being outlast game, we relied on him for heavy minutes, and a game before that, he hit probably the biggest shot of the game from the corner in front of Portland's bench. But he has not done anything differently. It's just bigger opportunity and then you know, the ball goes in a couple times and you know, you get your name in the paper. Q. Seems like his offensive rebounding is giving you a valuable dimension? STEVE KERR: It does, but that's been the case all year. That's one of the reasons he made the team is the offensive rebounding that he showed in the preseason. It is clearly a skill that set him apart from a lot of other players. Q. Do you watch the Eastern Conference Finals as a fan or as a coach -- STEVE KERR: Both. Both. I love watching games as a fan. It's incredible basketball. Some of the best players in the world. You know, when the stakes so high, the level of play is so intense and it's been fun to watch, but of course, I've got my eye on what each team is doing, and trying to figure out how we would play each one of them. Eventually we'll have an opponent, but not yet. Q. How impressive what Kawhi is doing? STEVE KERR: He's been great. I mean, he's -- not surprising, though. He's got his Finals MVP a few years ago. One of the best players in the league, so he's been great. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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