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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: ROCKETS vs WARRIORS

April 18, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game Two

Warriors - 115, Rockets - 106

Q. I know you guys have played without Steph before but not in a playoff game. How much real concern did you have about this one knowing Steph wasn't going to be playing?
STEVE KERR: Well, I obviously when you lose the MVP you've got concern, but we believe in our depth and in our ability to win when we're down a man even if it is Steph. So very pleased with the effort. Obviously with the outcome. We had a lot of guys just step up and play extremely well.

For the most part I thought the effort was fantastic. We lost our reaching discipline from Game 1 for whatever reason we decided we were going to reach in on James and every time we reached we fouled him, and they were all fouls. But fortunately everything else we did was good enough to get us a win.

Q. Steve, specifically how good do you think Shaun was tonight replacing Steph? Also, what went through your mind when Andre got those first few three pointers from him?
STEVE KERR: It reminded me of The Finals. Andre has a knack for just kind of knowing when we need him, and he hasn't been shooting the ball all that well since he returned from the ankle injury, and he hits four threes in the first quarter, first half, anyway, but it doesn't surprise me.

He was brilliant. He carried our second unit while he was out there. He guarded James Harden. He controlled the game, I thought, when he was out there. And Shaun, they're very similar players, Andre and Shaun, long and active and smart. And I thought Shaun was brilliant, just kind of leading our attack and running the offense and getting things going.

Q. Does 2-0 as opposed to 1-1 factor in at all with what you'll do with Steph on Thursday, or does tonight not factor in at all having a series lead?
STEVE KERR: Well, that's a good question. I'd like to think if it were 1-1 and he was still not able to play, we wouldn't play him. We'd never want to put winning ahead of a player's career and his health. We've seen teams do that and paid for it. Players have paid for it in the past. So we want to make sure Steph is right and his foot is fine and healthy.

So we'll see how he responds the next couple of days, and if he's not right obviously being up 2-0 does give us more cushion if we decide to sit him. But it will be based on his health, not the series score.

Q. (No Microphone)?
STEVE KERR: It's really what the training staff says and what Steph says about how he's feeling. He didn't feel it during warm-ups, so he tried to see how it would feel, and he just tried to push off on it, it was tender, so we weren't going to take a chance.

Q. Following up on that a little, it looked like Steph's warm-up session wasn't very pleasing to him. What was the conversation like between you and him?
STEVE KERR: I didn't even have a conversation with him. He made the decision. I think I was in here doing media when he was out on the floor, so I went back to the locker room, and the other coaches told me that he was out. So we'll talk to him tomorrow and see where he is. But fortunately we don't play until Thursday and he's got some time to get some treatment.

Q. Klay how much did he consciously look to be more assertive tonight with Steph out, do you think?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, Klay I think all the guys knew they had to be aggressive with Steph out. The best number on the stat sheet is 16 free throws for Klay. 15 for 16 from the line, and that's eight times we can get our defense set up, basically. We're not a high volume free throw shooting team, normally. We don't get to the line that often. But in a game like this, it's important to do so to get your defense set up and keep them out of transition. So I thought Klay was fantastic tonight and came up big.

Q. You described Steph's injury as a foot injury. Just to clarify, is it a foot or an ankle problem?
STEVE KERR: I don't know, honestly. It's both. I mean, I'm not sure I know the difference. It's the back of his foot, it's underneath the ankle. It's something down there.

Q. Ezeli only played briefly. Was that an injury thing?
STEVE KERR: No, that was just match-up. When we got to the second half we wanted to get Mo out there. We felt we needed scoring and so we gave Mo those minutes and then got Bogut back in the game. Bogut was brilliant tonight. Every game's a little different, and Festus will still find plenty of minutes during playoffs. He's going to help us. But tonight the game dictated going a different way.

Q. Also you said before the game you wanted 30 minutes for Livingston, 30 minutes for Iguodala, 29 for Livingston, 33 for Iguodala, you were close. Were you really monitoring that? Was that a tough thing to try to keep on top of?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, it was tough with Shaun because he had played 17 and change at halftime. That was too much. He was playing so well, it was tough to take him out. But we know with Shaun that if we can keep him under 30, it's just better for him long-term and over the next couple days. That's why he wasn't in the game at the end of the game. We went with Brandon to try to give Shaun more rest.

It was good that we had that lead and we were able to do that and keep him under 30 minutes. He was very sick too. I don't know if you knew that. His effort was fantastic and hopefully he'll be fine and in the next couple days get some rest and be ready to go Game 3.

Q. James Harden got 13 free throws in the first half, but he only got two in the second half. So what happened to the Warriors defense?
STEVE KERR: We only reached one time in the second half, so Klay reached in and fouled him. We reached four or five times in the first half. Every time you reach on James Harden, he's going to draw a foul. He's the best in the league. As Shaun Livingston says, he shows you the candy, right? He shows you the candy, you reach for it, and he draws the foul.

He's smart and we have to be more disciplined. We were disciplined in Game 1. We didn't reach one time. Tonight we reached six times, maybe seven, and we've got to get back to what we did in Game 1.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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