|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 5, 2015Steve KerrOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. You mentioned last night you played ten guys and you believe in that and you believe it keeps you guys fresh. Where did you start thinking that? Was that when you got this team or was it something that you thought maybe in your philosophy for years now? COACH KERR: I think every team is different. I thought about it as soon as I got the job looking at the roster, and in fact the first meeting of the season the night before training camp, we had a team dinner, and that was a big theme was strength in numbers. We're going to try to use our depth throughout the regular season and in the playoffs, and that's been a big part of our team. Q. Can you just talk about the impact that Kyrie had on the game last night and your thoughts about his injury? COACH KERR: He was great last night. He made some brilliant individual plays. He made a big defensive play down the stretch against Steph. As I said last night, I hope he's healthy. I hope he's playing. I hate seeing anybody get injured. This is a dream for every player to play in The Finals. I know from my own experience how disappointed I would have been to get this far and not be able to play. So there's definitely a feeling amongst our whole team that we want everybody out there. We want everybody playing. Let's tip it up with the best of what everyone has. Q. Just a follow‑up on that previous question. How hard is it to stay disciplined in keeping some of your back‑ups out there on the floor and Steph sitting for how many minutes that he sits? Do you ever second‑guess yourself while the play is going on? Is it tough to keep to that plan? COACH KERR: Not really, because as we've seen throughout the playoffs, it's oftentimes our second group that gets the ball moving and gets our team going, not just last night, but we've had several games where that's been the case. Sometimes our starters get a little bogged down, and we go to Shaun and L.B. and Andre. Last night Mo with his return, and the game can change. Sometimes you just need a different look. And I do believe that there is a certain chemistry that comes with relying on a lot of people too. Q. What kind of impact has Dr.Chris Johnson had on you guys? If you could explain your philosophy bringing him in, especially considering his background? COACH KERR: Am I allowed to talk about him? Chris has been great. I think the psychological side of sports is a really big deal, getting in the right mindset both individually and as a team. So we brought Chris in just to help us in that regard. We've had a lot of interaction with him. I'm not going to go into much detail about the things that we've done, but he's made a big impact. Q. When you look at‑‑ obviously you guys had the first quarter nerves and everything, and now Kyrie is going to be limited or maybe out, whatever, is it hard not to think last night was the best shot they would have against you guys and you withstood that and now things are going to be easier? COACH KERR: The minute we start thinking that way we're in big trouble. That never enters our mind. We have to do what we did last night, only better. We have to compete like we did last night, but we've got to execute better. I think that will come. I think the nerves are natural early on in The Finals. I thought as the game went on we started to do a better job of moving the ball and trying to get better shots and that kind of thing. Yeah, we aren't going to allow ourselves to go down that path, that's for sure. Q. Steve, I know you've been asked some variation of this question throughout the course of the year, but now that you've reached The Finals and you're facing Kevin Love in The Finals, knowing how his name was mentioned of course in rumors throughout the entire summer last year, the move that you didn't make, how has that impacted this team, and the fact that you held on to these younger guys and the way they've grown this year? What impact has that had on this team? COACH KERR: It's a hard question to answer, because, I mean, this is the NBA. Stuff is discussed all the time. The only thing I would say is the feeling with this group was that we had a pretty good team already. This team has been really good. As an organization we wanted to see how good we could become. You always listen and that kind of thing. But in the end, if you want to be good, you've got to have continuity and you've got to have organic growth, and we want to keep this core together for a long time if we can. Q. A couple years ago when you were on the broadcast side, you said the philosophical change on the three‑pointer came with coaches realizing that shooting more open threes and not the quantity of threes was the big difference.  Do you still feel that way, or has your thinking on that evolved since you've coached this team? And maybe where's that fine line between shooting the right number and shooting too many? COACH KERR: Yeah, I know this is like all the rage right now in the NBA talking about the impact of the three, not just in makes but attempts and all that. I'm probably somewhere in the middle on that argument. We don't just shoot them for the sake of shooting them. I want open shots. I think to me the whole point of the game is to get as many open shots as you can, whether it's a two or a three. The fact is the three, the threat of the three can get you open twos, and that's a big part of what we try to do. We're not a huge post‑up team, but we have three‑point shooting, we have spacing. We play with pace. So if we can push the ball ahead and pump fake and create a driving lane, then I'd like as many of those as possible. So I never go into a game thinking we've got to shoot X amount of threes. But I like the threat of it, and more than anything I like open shots. Q. Coach, you started the overtime period with Festus Ezeli. I was wondering what you liked about that match‑up over Bogut? And could you have used Bogut if you needed to during that overtime period? COACH KERR: I could have. The truth is I just put Festus out there for the opening tip because we wanted possession of the ball, and I figured he had the best chance to win the tip. I planned all along to put Harrison in at some point, and Festus did a great job on the glass. I think he got a couple rebounds and made a couple of good defensive plays, so we kept him out there. And then the first dead ball I think came maybe three minutes left, and that's when we went with Harrison. But there is never an exact formula with all this stuff. You put guys out there, you have a hunch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The good thing with our team was we had a lot of guys who can play. A lot of possible combinations. And usually we find some guys who are clicking because of our depth and because of the continuity. 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
|