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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: ROCKETS vs WARRIORS

April 27, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California, Game Five

Warriors - 114, Rockets - 81

Q. With this game maybe wrapped up in that start, it seemed that start kind of jet fueled you guys. Was that kind of the tone of the game right there?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, 37-20 at the end of the quarter that got us off to the start we needed, got the crowd into it and we just played a solid game. I mean, ten turnovers, 30 assists and ten turnovers, that's a phenomenal stat line. We did the best we could on Harden. He's impossible to guard. He had 35, but we took care of the three-point line and didn't let anybody else get going, so it was a great effort.

Q. A convincing win tonight, a convincing win in the series. What's this do for the mood just two or three days after you guys got hit with the Steph Curry news?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I think it's good. Obviously, going into the next series which will be more difficult, it's good to have a few games under our belts without Steph, so we get a feel for it. The rotation is much different, obviously, and the way we play is a little bit different.

We just don't have the fireworks that Steph provides. So we've got to make sure we're more solid, which we have been, last couple games in particular. But it's good for our guy's confidence. I think what pleases me the most is literally every single guy on our roster contributed during this series. McAdoo, Ian Clark who made big plays, and the second and third games, and for third and fourth games, I guess, and tonight I went to Anderson instead of Mac, and I thought Anderson was ready. He was a plus-11 in 7 minutes and change.

So lot of guys had great series, but everybody contributed, so it's very a very gratifying win.

Q. Could you talk about Shaun Livingston and the game he had and the start he contributed to?
STEVE KERR: Well, we are blessed. We are really lucky. You lose your point guard, you lose the MVP, and to be able to put Shaun Livingston out there, he's a fantastic basketball player, a great teammate. He had a terrific series. I don't know what his shooting percentage was for the five games, but -- 58? Yeah, he was awesome offensively, he took care of the ball, and he and Andre basically shared the point guard responsibilities now with Steph out, and I thought they both had a terrific series.

Q. Obviously, a score like this is not going to happen all the time without Steph, but what from this performance realistically can carry over from game to game? What are the things that you want to see continue?
STEVE KERR: The turnovers, that's the main thing. We don't have the margin for error that we have with Steph. We don't have the five or six threes that he's going to make. So we have to take care of the ball, and we did that tonight beautifully. The minutes are going to be different from one game to the next, but it is very nice as a coaching staff to be able to put a guy like Brandon Rush in the game who hasn't played much in the series and be able to count on him or Varejao. I mentioned Barbosa came in and played well.

So we've got a lot of people who can play, and they're all contributing. We just have to keep the turnovers down and keep the defense up.

Q. From this morning Klay seemed to want to take it to another level and really make a statement. Did you sense that? And also what was it like on the bench next to Steph, and how animated he was during this series?
STEVE KERR: Klay had one of those games where you could sense it coming. He makes one and you could kind of see it in his eyes, so he had it rolling, and I thought Klay had a fantastic series. Despite the fact that he didn't shoot the ball particularly well early in the series, he was moving without the ball so beautifully, cutting behind the defense. Even when you don't make shots, if you're taking the defense with you like that and forcing people to react and adjust, you're helping your teammates out. That was on top of having to guard James Harden, so Klay was terrific.

And for Steph, he was just joking around, having a lot of fun. It was obviously a game with a lot of joy, a lot of good plays from various people, and Steph was having a great time.

Q. I wanted to follow up with Livingston. What is it about his demeanor that he's able to take on this role, replacing the best player in the league? He had six turnovers in the entire series playing 135 minutes.
STEVE KERR: Yeah, he's an incredibly smart player. People may forget, if it weren't for the knee injury, Shaun was heading for a superstar career. I mean, he was going to be a multiple-time All-Star. I have so much respect and admiration for him because of the way he came back from that injury. It literally took him several years to really come back and he's been with ten teams or so.

There's something about him. Maybe it's the experience he went through with the injury, or maybe it's just who he was already. Just an incredibly mature person, great teammate, and very, very smart basketball player.

Q. Coach Bickerstaff said that he can't be mad at his team. That he was just coaching a team that wasn't as good as the Golden State Warriors. He went on to say that the Warriors are a top two team even without Steph on the court. Do you agree with that assessment?
STEVE KERR: I have no idea where we lineup with the rest of the league without Steph. It's not my job to do that. That's your job. But we do feel confident that we can win games without him, but we don't really want to have to. So hopefully Steph will be back soon. In the meantime, we'll have to continue to hold down the fort.

Q. The efficiency of play in Draymond, just talk about what you needed from them and what you got from them?
STEVE KERR: Well, Draymond, we need everything from Draymond. We need defense, we need ball handling, we need decision making, we need rebounding, and occasionally we need shooting too. In the last couple games he's made his threes, and I thought his threes in Game 4 was really the key to the game. It kind of seemed to break their backs.

But the biggest number for me with Draymond is zero turnovers. I think he also had zero in Game 1, maybe one in Game 2. There was a little blip on the radar screen in game 3:00, but we'll forgive him on that one.

But when Draymond keeps it simple and just does what he does, I mean, he's brilliant anyway, but it helps our team dramatically when he cuts his turnovers down. I think you throw everything else in there that he already does, when he's making great decisions, it makes us that much tougher to beat.

Q. Before the game I happened to walk by Draymond and he was way up emotionally. We know Draymond's always up emotionally, but did you sense on the court he had a look in his eye? Did you sense there was something unique about his attitude in this game and he was taking some personal responsibility for this game?
STEVE KERR: No, this is usually how he is (laughing). The guy's as competitive as anybody I've ever seen, and he brings it. He brings it every night. The only time he gets himself in trouble is when he tries to do too much. Sometimes that's a result of his passion and his energy, and it's tough to fault him for any of that.

But as I said, when he can bring it like he did tonight and make great decisions with the ball that's when we're at our best.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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