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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 16, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game One

Q. This may be a little unfair for Bogs [Andrew Bogut] if he's not ready to go out there, but what are your expectations for him?
STEVE KERR: I think we'll play him, but we'll see. I think he's going out there right about now. But he's made good progress the last few days, and we'll see when he gets off the floor in whatever, 20, 30 minutes.

Q. Coach Kerr, I know you've dealt with Kanter and Adams. What do you see in your eyes that the Warriors have to do to maintain (no microphone)?
STEVE KERR: Well, they're good players and they've got a lot of skill around the basket. They're good offensive rebounders and they complement Russell and KD really well, set good screens, get offensive boards and all that kind of stuff.

This is a talented team. They've got not just the All-Stars, but they've got a lot of good, complementary players and they seem to have found a good formula here.

Q. Given the size you just talked about, even if Bogut is able to play, how big a role do you see Ezeli playing? He seems like he would be even more important in this series.
STEVE KERR: Festus will be important, so will Mo [Speights]. You can see we're going to have to use a lot of bodies. We're going to have to deal with their size and strengths and fortunately we've got a pretty good stable of centers ourselves. We don't use them together, but each circumstance will dictate something different, and we'll try to find the right combinations.

Q. Steph mentioned yesterday that maybe the knee, it's just a pain tolerance thing now. He was hoping it would be close to a hundred percent by tonight and maybe that's not the case. But how do you see him dealing with pain and getting through this series?
STEVE KERR: Well, he obviously played really well against Portland when he wasn't 100%, and we've had, I guess, four days since that last game. So I'm hopeful that he'll be feeling a little more comfortable on it. Whether he's a hundred percent or not, he should have more of a level of comfort based on the fact that he's played a couple of really good games on the knee.

Q. What are your thoughts as you enter the last round going into The Finals?
STEVE KERR: My thoughts? Well, it's good to be here. When you show up to a playoff game and there aren't any other games on TV, that's always a good sign. So we're happy to be playing.

Q. In your undefeated Game 1s, I know you want to win every game, is there a specific mentality that you take into Game 1? Do you have any idea what is different about approaching Game 1?
STEVE KERR: Not really. I mean, every series brings its own set of challenges, and you try to prepare for Game 1. You want to get off to a good start. I think the main reason we have a good record as far as Game 1s is we have a good team and we're playing at home. We've had, I guess this would be our seventh Game 1. The first six have been at home, just like this one, and we've got a lot of good players, and we've been able to just handle our business. But no special formula.

Q. You obviously have a traditional center in your starting lineup. You've had a lot of success, obviously, going with Draymond at center. Is there a sense though that you want to kind of see if you can beat these guys playing the normal way, conventionally and hold the ability to go small in abeyance in case things don't go the way you'd like them to?
STEVE KERR: We just want to win. It doesn't matter whose playing. We just want to find the right combination. Usually we throw a lot of different combinations out there. Throughout the playoffs, we've played 10 or 11 people consistently, so I imagine that will continue. Every game's a little different. Every opponent is different, and you have to try to figure out the right combinations that will work. So you'll probably see a little bit of everything.

Q. Klay Thompson mentioned the other day that he feels like he's really focused and been really focused this postseason. Do you think giving him such challenging defensive assignments helps him on both ends of the court?
STEVE KERR: It could be. He's used to guarding the opponent's best perimeter player during the year. So it's not something that's different. But I think if anything, what locked him in more was Steph's injury. When Steph went out, we knew we had to rely on Klay for big minutes and we needed shooting, and he came huge in a big way in both series so far.

No matter what it is, whether it's the defensive assignment or Steph's injury, whatever, Klay's been brilliant and we hope he keeps playing this way.

Q. Can you comment on Coach Billy Donovan? He's done extraordinary things in his first year in the NBA.
STEVE KERR: Billy's a great coach. I got to know him when I was doing NCAA Tournament games at TNT, and I did a few Florida games and had a chance to visit with him. We actually stayed in touch before he took that other job in the last couple of years, just on random coaching thoughts. If either one of us had any possible coaching positions that we were looking at, we tended to call each other.

So I have a lot of respect for Billy. He's a hell of a basketball coach and really good guy.

Q. What are the special challenges of guarding Westbrook as opposed to Lillard? How are they different?
STEVE KERR: Well, Lillard is going to shoot from anywhere, like Steph. I think Russell is just going to attack from anywhere. So it's not so much that you worry about picking him up beyond the three-point line so you can keep him from making threes, but you have to pick him up wherever he is because he's so explosive that he can attack from that position, that spot.

So it's really more about trying to find the right angles and the right help. And it will be something our players will have a feel for and hopefully improve upon with each game of the series. But he's an incredibly unique talent. Maybe the most athletic player in the league, period. But he can be a one-man wrecking crew that we've got to be ready for.

Q. Are first games of the series different? Are they unique from other games?
STEVE KERR: There is a little bit of a feeling-out process in Game 1 that goes away after Game 1. As soon as Game 1 is over, one team's going to be desperate coming into Game 2. Then as each game comes along you've got kind of a different approach to each one, based on where you stand in the series, what's been happening. Sometimes you're frustrated. Sometimes you've got guys who get tired of guarding each other by Game 3 or Game 4 and get some dust-ups.

But Game 1 is usually kind of a feeling-out process. You're trying to get a feel for what the other team's doing, and then it seems to change dramatically after the first one.

Q. In an instance like this where you're not sure whether Bogs is going to be able to start, and you know Festus has to start, if he can, does Festus have to take a different mindset not knowing when he's going to start or not?
STEVE KERR: The only thing Festus or anybody else can do is prepare to play. Be ready to play. We have our scouting reports. They've got their iPads with their clips of all the guys they could potentially guard. They've got their playbook. Everything that we give to them, it's up to them to kind of understand where they will fit in that, who they might be guarding, and be ready for whatever challenge comes.

I thought Festus did a great job of that last series. He didn't play, I think, in the first game against Portland, and he was the main reason we won Game 2. He's always done a good job of staying ready, and I know he'll be ready for this series.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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