|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORSMay 19, 2015Steve KerrOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game One Q. Kevin was asked about you today, and his quote was, I like Steve a lot. Not now, but I normally do. STEVE KERR: That sounds like Kevin (laughing). He's a funny guy. He's always had this great wit, and I enjoyed working with him at Turner a few years ago. I like him a lot, too. But I'll like him a lot more a couple weeks from now. Q. It's been about a year since you got this job. Can you put this whole thing in perspective, first‑year coach, NBA record, with the wins, franchise record I mean, in terms of getting to the Western Conference Finals with this team? STEVE KERR: Well, I can't say that I expected it, but I knew it was a possibility. It's one of the reasons I took the job. The team has great talent. They were on the rise already, and I felt like we could make improvement, and we'd be right in the thick of it in the West, which obviously we have been. But things have to go your way. Health is a big factor. We've had really good health all year. We've had momentum. I think I probably took over the team at the ideal time. They were good but very hungry, having lost to the Clippers last year in the first round in seven. It's just all come together. But we've got a ways to go. Not a whole lot of time to reflect. Q. Is there anybody‑‑ I should know this but I'm not a sports person, is there anybody on this team who has this type of playoff experience besides yourself? STEVE KERR: Well, Leandro Barbosa has been to the Conference Finals with Phoenix several times, Luke Walton on our staff has won a couple of championships with the Lakers. We've got a pretty young group overall, but really you just play, and in the end it's still a basketball game. I may be able to share a few things with the team as we go, things that I've seen in the past or whatever, but in the end you're still going out and playing hoop. Q. There's been a couple times this season where Klay sort of maybe hit a bump a little bit and you've never failed to say I'm not worried about Klay, I'm not worried about Klay. Talk about his demeanor and why you don't really worry about what he does on the court? STEVE KERR: Well, Klay is just Klay. He doesn't say a whole lot. He doesn't change expressions too often. He's had a couple games where he's had these huge quarters where he gets this look in his eye. That's about the only real expression I see. It's not joy, it's just total focus. But when he's struggling, he doesn't get too down. He just plays, and he's got a good way about him in that regard. He's such a great shooter and a talented offensive player that if he has a bad game or two, you just kind of know it's going to come back. There's not a whole lot you have to do. Q.  The Andrew Bogut‑Dwight Howard match‑up, what's the strategy going in? Are you going to try to have Andrew get Dwight away from the basket, and for people watching that match‑up, how are you going to judge success for Andrew? What are you looking for him to do? STEVE KERR: Well, we're just asking Andrew to do what he always does, which is be smart, make the right rotations and reads and protect the rim. It's a difficult team to do that against because you've got Harden coming right at you to the rim and then you've got Dwight behind you looking for a lob, and that means everybody on the team has to be in sync defensively. Andrew is a big part of that because he kind of anchors our defense. He communicates what's happening, and he'll play Dwight, he does a good job on Dwight. Dwight is a handful. He's a great player. But we're lucky to have Andrew. He's one of the best defensive centers in the league. We'll see what happens. Q. Having played with an MVP who was going against the MVP runner‑up and the runner‑up who went against the MVP, also, I don't want to say it's extra motivation but a point of pride at all that you recall being brought into those kinds of series, prove a point or respond to the spotlight? STEVE KERR: Forgive me, I'm‑‑ my NBA history is‑‑ Q. Michael Jordan. STEVE KERR: Jordan and‑‑ who won it, Karl Malone won the MVP? Q. Yeah, and vice versa one time. STEVE KERR: I never worried too much about Michael. (Laughter). Q. He was known for using things. STEVE KERR: He did use things, but I'm not sure how it would apply here. Steph is pretty unassuming, pretty grounded. He had a couple tough games in the Memphis series and didn't seem to faze him, came back and had three great games in a row. Again, it's basketball. Steph is as level‑headed as anybody I think I've ever known, especially when you consider the amount of attention he gets both on and off the court. He just plays, he doesn't get too rattled, and I don't know why any of that would factor in just with James being the runner‑up. He doesn't get wrapped up in that stuff. Q. I'm trying to remember if you did a lot of small ball against the Rockets during the regular season, and if you did or you didn't, do you like the way that lineup played last year? You didn't do as much of it towards the end of the series, but do you like that lineup in the series generally? STEVE KERR: We feel like we can always play small. We played small against Memphis, and Memphis is without a doubt the most powerful interior team in terms of offensive post‑up stuff and putting pressure on a team. Houston is a little different. They're big and athletic. You worry more about the athleticism and the lobs. So it's a different look. To me the regular season means nothing. We haven't seen these guys since late January. I watched all the tapes the last few days. Every lineup was different. No Prigioni, Terrence Jones was out, Dwight Howard was out, Josh Smith was only there for a couple of games, all the line‑ups were sort of‑‑ it was mix and match based on their injuries, based on some of ours, Bogut didn't play one game, Lee missed a couple of them. So I don't think the regular‑season record or the four match‑ups, I don't think they tell us a whole lot. Q. Along those lines, the Rockets are obviously a different team from when you faced them in the regular season. How are you guys a different team since you faced them, and in what areas would you say you've improved the most during the Playoffs? STEVE KERR: Well, the first time we played them in Houston, it was like maybe the fifth or sixth game of the year. We had 26 turnovers. I watched that tape. I don't recognize that team anymore, thankfully. We did win the game, but it was ugly. The ball was flying all over the gym. We've become much better, much more mature. I think our understanding of the importance of not only handling the ball but defending every possession, defending every play. We're at a much higher level, as are they, because this is where that growth happens when you get to the Playoffs. You're forced to play at a high level if you want to stick around. But I thought last week was important for us, dealing with a deficit. Against Memphis I think there was some internal growth for our team, and hopefully that will translate to this series. Q. What are your thoughts about the team making history and the history of this team, 39 years since you guys have made it to the Western Conference Finals. STEVE KERR: It's great. It's fantastic. I'm not going to be one of those guys who says we don't care about that, we're focused on tonight and tonight only. You have to enjoy all this stuff. We've had so many milestones this year. We haven't had an MVP in forever. Our coaching staff got to coach the All‑Star Game. We had the best record in the league. We're going to have all these different awards, guys are going to be on the all‑defensive team and Klay was an All‑Star, Steph was an All‑Star. This was important stuff. These are all important milestones for our organization because the Warriors, until the last few years, were irrelevant for most of the past two decades. It's great stuff. We're all very proud of the accomplishments, both as a team and individually for our players, but now it's time to try to do more. Q. Kevin was saying today that before you took the job he gave you some advice. You guys had a conversation. Without giving away the inside secrets, what was his message to you, whether it was from a front office perspective or building a team or making the right decision at the right time. STEVE KERR: Well, yeah, I was doing a couple Rockets games for TNT while I was going through the process. I think my name had been mentioned for the Knicks' job or something, and Kevin and I talked. He was the perfect guy to talk to because he went from TV into coaching and he had been a general manager like I had been, so he had the exact same sort of experience following his playing career. So he was great. He gave me really sound advice. It was mostly just about the lifestyle, what I'd be looking at, the highs and the lows that we can't possibly know about until we go through. But Kevin was a huge help, and he was a really, really good sounding board for me, too, in terms of just asking him questions about the transition. Q. What did you like about having the afternoon walk‑through instead of the morning shoot‑around, and is that something you'll continue with these early starts at home? STEVE KERR: If we win, yes; if we lose, no. I don't know, it's weird, 6:00 starting time is strange. If you want to have a shoot‑around, it's a quick turnaround. We just felt like it was better just to come in early and walk through. The season has been going on forever.  Our players know what we're doing. We had a good practice yesterday. We'll have shoot‑arounds on the road, obviously with the 8:00 starts in Houston, but obviously for now this is how we decided to start, so we'll see how it goes. Q. The Rockets have made it very clear that they are very different from what you have seen earlier this year, so despite being 4‑0, was it very difficult preparing for a team that is not the same team you faced on January 21st? STEVE KERR: Well, I agree with them. They are not the same team. I think there were bits and pieces from the tapes of those four games that we could take, and then there was a lot that we had to just dump out because of the personnel differences. None of that matters. It's 0‑0. Both teams coming in on a roll. They had to win three elimination games against a really good team. Pretty impressive what they did, and obviously we had a good turnaround in our series, and everyone is feeling good, so time to tip it up. Q. You got a number of technical fouls during the regular season, and you said early on in the Playoffs, you told your guys it was going to be calm on the sidelines. No technical fouls in the Playoffs so far, not trying to jinx you here. How hard has that been, or has it been an effort at all not to get that emotional? STEVE KERR: No, it hasn't been hard. One point in a playoff game is a bigger deal than one point in the regular season. It just is. This was my first year. I had to get a feel for how I had to conduct myself on the sidelines, when to maybe get one to motivate the team, that type of thing, but the Playoffs are different. I don't feel like there's ever a reason to try to motivate the team during the Playoffs. They're already pretty motivated. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|