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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 4, 2015Steve KerrOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game One Warriors – 108 Q. Coach, what made you switch to the small lineup when you did, and how do you think it worked, because clearly it worked well? COACH KERR: Well, we put Festus in to jump the overtime tip to try to get possession, but I put Harrison‑‑ I told Harrison you're going to get him in the next dead ball. And then there wasn't a dead ball for two minutes, and Festus did really well. So then he had a couple of defensive plays and a couple of boards, so we were debating as a staff, do we still want to go small. We decided to do it just to change the look a little bit, spread the floor. You have to kind of try to keep doing some different things with LeBron because he's‑‑ I mean, he's just so talented and can score in so many ways. So we just decided to change the look a little bit. Whether that worked or not, I mean, it worked on the scoreboard. He may have missed a couple shots that he had been hitting earlier, but it was just something we did. Q. You've talked many times about Andre and his defense, but when you get some offense from him, what kind of contribution is that? Also, LeBron obviously put up huge numbers tonight, but what did you think of Andre's job on LeBron tonight? COACH KERR: I thought he was fantastic. Andre is one of the smartest defenders I've ever seen. I mean, he understands angles, he understands where everybody is on the floor. You know, it's funny to say when a guy gets 44 points that the defender did a really good job, but I thought Andre did extremely well. Made LeBron take some tough shots. Then offensively, you know, he got going. He made a big three in the corner late in the game. I think it was mid fourth quarter or so. But Andre has been fantastic all year. The numbers don't always show it, but he's a great player for us. Q. You've had a few anxious days over the weekend when you didn't know what Klay's status was. How did you think he played tonight? It looked like a little bit of a slow start for him. Didn't really get a rhythm in the first half, and then he got going a little bit. COACH KERR: Yeah, it was a slow start for all of us. You know, I just felt like the first quarter we looked nervous. Klay didn't get anything going for a while, but I thought he was great in the second half. You know, he got to the free‑throw line, he defended well. He made Kyrie work really hard. Kyrie was great. He had a stretch there where he was really tough to stop, but I thought Klay kept after him and, as I said, gave us some offense in the second half. So it was a really good effort from Klay. Q. Can you just talk about, I know this is a dream overtime for you when everything was going well. Describe what it was like when everything's going that well? And how would you describe that overtime? COACH KERR: I don't know. It's you just want to keep going play by play. I mean, I didn't even think we were going to have overtime because I thought Iman's follow was going in. It looked good the whole way. It was right on line. It was maybe a few inches short. But I thought the whole bench thought it was going in. So we were lucky to get overtime. I do believe in our depth. You know, we played ten people. Mo Speights was fantastic tonight. We play a lot of people and we feel like over the course of a game and maybe in overtime we can keep fighting and good things will happen. Q. LeBron only had six assists. He wasn't as involved as a passer despite playing 46 minutes. What do you think went into stopping him from facilitating? COACH KERR: Well, he did have 44 points (laughing). It's pick your poison with him. He's a great player. I mean, everybody knows that, and he does so many things for them. You know, he's difficult to stop. They're posting him up a ton. I think when Kevin Love went out they had to change some things based on just the geometry on the floor. So they're going to him a lot on the post. He's gotten really good down there, and he's tough to stop. But you pick your poison, and you see what happens. Q. First of all, medical question, how close were you to getting a heart attack in that Shumpert shot last second? COACH KERR: I think I was okay. I think I maybe held my breath for a second, but no heart palpitations. Q. Secondly, how did it feel for you first game of a first final as a coach? COACH KERR: It was great. This is so much fun. This is what we all dream of in the NBA, to play in The Finals, to coach in The Finals, to be part of all of this, two great teams. The crowd was fantastic. It's obviously more fun to win than it is to lose. But to be part of it, to feel it, I think all our players are excited about what's ahead here in the next couple weeks. Q. Coach, can you talk about that 72‑second sequence to open the fourth quarter? Three possessions, finally getting that big bucket that breaks the tie? Up to that time with the exception of that 24‑7 run in the second quarter, that evened the game up. It was just a slow, a slog, just a plodding affair. But that one seemed to ignite the team to some extent. COACH KERR: Yeah, it's always a game of runs. Our team, we like to play fast. We try to rely on our defense to get stops so we can get out and run. And there are going to be runs both ways, especially when you get to The Finals. You're going to be playing against a great team. So you just have to stay with it. You just keep staying with it and the runs will come as long as you continue to fight and compete and execute. I thought for the most part it wasn't our best game, but we did a lot of things well. We only turned it over 12 times. After that slow start, we started to move the ball better. And we fought. That was the biggest thing. We just competed and stayed with it. Q. Did you come close to maybe trapping LeBron or trying to take the ball out of his hands? I know that's not what you normally do. But was there ever a thought of we've got to change it up to take the ball out of his hands? COACH KERR: If I tell you, would you promise to keep it between us? Q. Absolutely. COACH KERR: You're always debating things on the bench as a staff. What do we do here? What do we think here? Whether it's a rotation, who is going to guard whom. So there is always debate going on, and we chose to stay with what we were doing. Like I said, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Q. Kyrie looked like he was pretty healthy until all of a sudden in that last minute when he got hurt again. How much does this series change if Kyrie's hurt and isn't able to go or is less than a hundred percent? COACH KERR: Yeah, it's something I hate to see. I never like to see anybody get injured on either team. I want everybody healthy.  And I hope he can play. I mean that. You probably don't believe me, but I mean that. You want everybody healthy. You want everybody playing. This is the dream of every player, to come to the NBA Finals and perform and compete. So I hope he's okay. As far as what happens, obviously there are injuries all the time and everyone adapts and you just go from there. But I hope he's okay for the rest of the series. Q. You know, Iguodala was the guy that you chose at the end of the game and quite a long time to be the primary defender on LeBron. Why did you choose him? And at 6'6", 215, how does he manage to even stay in the game against a guy that strong? COACH KERR: Well, Andre is‑‑ as I mentioned earlier, he's one of the smartest defenders in the league, and he's stronger‑‑ or he is very strong. He's not stronger than LeBron, but he is very strong. He may not have the same weight. You know, he's giving up 50 pounds or so. But Andre knows what he's doing. A big thing guarding LeBron is angles, right? It's trying to figure out where he's going, because he's looking for teammates. He's looking to score. There is a lot going on. So we have several guys who are capable of spending time guarding LeBron, whether it's Draymond or Andre, Harrison, Klay. So we've got some options, but we feel like Andre has guarded him the most. He's been in the league for 10, 11 years. He's guarded him an awful lot, so we stayed with him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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