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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: PELICANS v WARRIORSApril 18, 2015Steve KerrOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA Warriors – 106 Q. What do you make out of the first three quarters versus the fourth quarter tonight? COACH KERR: Well, obviously, the first three were a lot better than the fourth. But it was good for us, good for us to feel that. It's good for us to have to deal with the feeling in the building, especially as a favorite, when a team starts to come back. You have to feel that. That's all part of it. I thought we did a great job defensively down the stretch. Davis got a couple of putbacks, but then Gordon made a really tough shot. But for the most part, our defense held up well. We missed a lot of free throws, which made it a lot closer than it needed to be. But the playoffs, you've just got to get it done somehow. We're up 1‑0. That's where we want to be. Q. Talk about Steph's play tonight, and today, and also, obviously not the fourth quarter, but there were a couple charges that the Pelicans made where Steph seemed to make some plays that got you guys back going the right direction? COACH KERR: That's what he does. Steph's our engine. Everything we do starts with him. We brought him back earlier in the fourth, obviously, because of the slow start. But he got it done. He came in and made a couple shots and extended our lead and got us back to where we needed to be. Q. Steve, could you talk about your interior play, particularly Bogut? You guys controlled the boards pretty well. They only had one offensive rebound for probably the first three quarters, I think? COACH KERR: Yeah, they got a lot at the end, but I thought Bogut and Draymond were brilliant. We went small some with Harrison at the four as well. That was effective. But, yeah, Bogut, there is a reason he's one of the top defensive players in the league and same with Draymond. They were really good tonight. Q. Some of their run came when Bogut was on the bench. Were you sitting him just because he played more minutes than usual, or what was that about? COACH KERR: When are you talking about? Q. Fourth quarter? COACH KERR: Fourth quarter. We were going back and forth between Bogut and Harrison, and it's all circumstantial, what we need. We felt like we needed to guard the three‑point line, so we were switching everything. Because I think we were up 10, 12, so at some point you're going to give up some twos, and obviously, some of those offensive boards came with Bogut on the bench. Then down the stretch, we went with Bogut the last couple minutes too. Q. (No Microphone)? COACH KERR: No, no. But all these guys are going to play a little bit more. You can see. We never had a box score like this in the regular season, but this is how it works. You do what you have to do. If we had taken care of business in the end of the third quarter, it would have been a lot easier in the fourth, and we could have played some people a little bit more. I thought that was a key stretch of the game in terms of it ending up being tight. The last minute of the third quarter we were up 24 maybe, 25, 25, turned it over twice, gave up two quick threes, and the turnovers were lazy. Just not difficult plays. If we take care of the ball, and even if we don't score, but we don't give up transition threes, if we go into the fourth up 24 instead of what was it, 16, 18, I guess, so we would have been in much better shape, but that's the way it goes. Q. You didn't get much out of your bench. Other than Iguodala you didn't play your bench very much. Especially Livingston seemed to struggle. What do you think was going on with Livingston and your bench generally? COACH KERR: It wasn't an individual thing. It was any time you have a group on the floor, they have to collectively execute.  Both the second and fourth quarters, we didn't do a good job of getting good shots for each other. So that's why I went back to Steph earlier. I kept Shaun in the game for much of the second quarter with Steph and Klay because I like that combination too. But in the fourth we just kind of stuck with Andre and Klay and Steph in the back court. Q. Did Bogut kind of extend his defense out a little bit? He was out challenging shots from the three‑point line in the corner? COACH KERR: Yeah, yeah, he sure did. He was great. I think he blocked a shot on a potential three‑point shot. You have to get out to Davis. He was on Davis quite a bit. You have to get out on his shot. I thought, as I said, I thought Bogut really did a terrific job of it. Q.  What did you think of Anthony Davis overall tonight? COACH KERR: He's great. He's a great player. He obviously is a lot to deal with, and he had a good game. Q. There was that play late in the second where Klay, not Klay, I'm sorry, where Steph, and Anthony Davis was kind of trailing on that play. What do you remember from that play right there? COACH KERR: Oh, yeah, I couldn't believe the ball went in. It didn't look like from my angle it was going to go in. I thought Steph was trying to put it off the glass, so the ball just seemed to drop out of the sky right through the hoop. One of those plays that very few people can make, but Steph seems to do it pretty often. Q. How would you describe your defensive game plan on Davis? Do you think you mostly executed it today? COACH KERR: Yeah, yeah, I thought we were good on Davis. He got to the line a little bit more than I would have liked, but great players are going to do that, made him take some tough shots, and he scored a lot down the stretch when the game was kind of in a frantic mode. But great players are going to get their points. That's one thing we talked about before the series started. We're not worried about Davis scoring a lot of points. We're worried about making sure we cover other areas. The three‑point line, not fouling, not reaching, that kind of stuff. Q. Did you guys come in thinking you could attack the middle like you guys did, expecting that it would be open for you? COACH KERR: Sure. We were second in the league in points in the paint. So it might be not an unconventional way of doing it because it's a lot of open‑floor penetration, spread the court. We don't do a lot of posting up. But I thought the game went small there for a while in the third quarter. We ran a lot of high screens. We hit the roll man and got right down the lane. Those were good possessions for us. Q. Your first quarter the defense was really ferocious early on. How much of that do you think was a team ready to get out there and ready for a postseason game, and how much do you think was your brilliant coaching? COACH KERR: It was a hundred percent the latter (laughing). Q. Do you feel like there were any nerves from your players? Obviously, they did get off to a great start. But was there a little pressure feeling the No. 1 seed and needing to fulfill all of that? COACH KERR: Sure. And I think the first game of the playoffs is a little nerve‑racking for everybody because it feels a little different out there. There is so much more energy and intensity. So I thought when I played, every first playoff game felt like this. We did get off to a good start. We settled in quickly. Look, for the most part, we played a really good game. If you go into the fourth quarter up 18, you've done a pretty good job. We'd like to close it a little better, make some free throws, keep guys off the foul line, that kind of stuff. But if you win, you get better the next time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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