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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 18, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game Two

Golden State 118 - Oklahoma City 91

Q. (No microphone).
STEVE KERR: Take care of the ball and rebound, then we should be able to keep them from so many clean looks, and I thought that was why he [Kevin Durant] got going in the first half. We turned it over too many times and he really got into a good groove. So it's going to be hard to keep him from getting shots, but we're just going to try to do our best.

Q. I know you wouldn't have had any angle on the play itself, but when Steph went over that first row of seats in the first quarter, were you able to look down and see that he was on the ground for a while? And what's going through your mind at that time?
STEVE KERR: I didn't see him land. I just saw him go over the top and just hoping he didn't, you know, bang into a chair or somebody's knee or something. But, yeah, we were just waiting to see him get up, and he got up and looked fine and we all kind of breathed a sigh of relief.

Q. I think you said the other night that you don't even expect to outrebound them, but you just want to keep it close.
STEVE KERR: Yeah.

Q. You had a plus-9 advantage tonight. What did you see from your guys in terms of the effort and being able to get after it on the boards and being able to get at it defensively?
STEVE KERR: Well, I rescind that statement that I made. No, we just did a much better job of trying to be active and get bodies on people. Sometimes the ball bounces your way a little bit more, which I thought it did tonight. But mainly just a good activity level.

Q. I wanted to ask how pleased you were with the contributions from your bench tonight? I also wanted to ask if you've seen a more acrobatic shot than what Iggy [Andre Iguodala] did to close the first half, that no-look lay-up?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, the bench was great. Andre was fantastic. Festus gave us really good minutes, as did Anderson. Yeah, the Andre lay-up was kind of the shot of the game, I guess. He's capable of that stuff. He's so athletic and was just somehow able to spin the ball off the glass.

But that was a great effort by the bench to really give the starters enough rest and to help them out. I mean, it really does take a full team effort against Oklahoma City because they're so talented and difficult to guard.

Q. I wanted to talk about the third quarter run you guys made and Draymond's ability -- does he have a special ability to facilitate those kinds of runs when you guys go on them and he doesn't even score that much?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, Draymond is a great defender. Obviously I thought he made some big defensive plays in the third quarter, deflections, and that allowed us to get out and run. Oftentimes he becomes kind of the ball handler in transition with Steph and Klay running the wings. So there were some plays there where we broke free and Steph was able to get some looks and get going.

Q. Speaking of that, did it seem that Steph got a little angry there? He went to the ground and maybe wanted a call, pounded the ball down, got the timeout. Then that's the burst. Is it almost a Steph gets angry and then gets going sort of thing?
STEVE KERR: I didn't notice. I didn't see him getting angry, but I just expected nothing less from Steph. He's the MVP for a reason and he knows he didn't have his best night in Game 1, and he came out and played exceptionally well.

Q. Did you think the energy level was up? Did you notice anything different that way in him tonight as opposed to Game 1?
STEVE KERR: I don't know. I thought our energy as a team was really good early. I thought we made some turnovers but we were well-intentioned in terms of our trying to make the right plays, and Steph was a part of all that. He had a couple turnovers trying to pass to guys, but I just thought our guys played with a lot of energy and played together and stuck with it.

Q. You've seen a number of these Curry little flurries over the course of the year for a couple of years. What stood out to you about tonight?
STEVE KERR: From Steph?

Q. Yes.
STEVE KERR: Nothing (laughing).

Q. Business as usual?
STEVE KERR: Business as usual. This is what he does.

Q. At halftime you guys had a pretty good lead, but what was the tone or the message you had at halftime to the guys or did you have much to say at all?
STEVE KERR: Our main message was to continue to do the job we were doing on the glass and just to take better care of the ball. As I said, I thought our intentions were good, but our execution wasn't great. In the second half that cleaned up quite a bit. Part of that was we were getting stops and getting out and running, but overall it's going to be the same message: Fight like crazy on the glass, take care of the ball and see what happens.

Q. Back to Iguodala, he missed his first five shots in the first quarter, but I think he closed it out in the second quarter with the nine points. What type of lift was that coming from him? Because I think the Thunder went up by one point when he took over at that point.
STEVE KERR: Yeah, Andre is one of our best players. As you know, he's The Finals MVP. He's seen everything. He's not fazed by starting 0-for-5. He's going to keep shooting. He's going to keep making plays. We're asking him to guard KD, so he's got a big responsibility, and he played, I thought, extremely well and was a big part of the win.

Q. You used Draymond a lot to guard Roberson in Game 1 and in the second half and kind of have him as just a helper in the paint. In the second half tonight you used Bogut in that role a little bit. I was just wondering what you saw in the differences between the two of those guys playing that role and if you saw something different?
STEVE KERR: Well, a lot of times it's just how the matchups kind of materialize in transition, cross matches, that kind of stuff. But they do a good job of helping one another. They've played together for a long time now, and they have a good feel defensively for where each other is and how to help and recover and that kind of stuff.

So I thought we did a better job of that tonight than we did in Game 1.

Q. Didn't seem to bother him in the third quarter, but do you have any concern about that huge knot on Steph's elbow?
STEVE KERR: I did not even notice the knot on his elbow, so I have no concern over it (laughter).

Q. Russ, I think, had 12 assists so he helped in that way, but for a second straight game his percentages are down. What are you doing to him, Steve, defensively?
STEVE KERR: We're not doing anything special. We're just trying to stay in front of him. Everybody knows he's the most athletic point guard in the league, maybe the most athletic player in the league. He and LeBron, probably.

But you just have to try to stay in front of him as best you can. He's so explosive, and if he makes shots, as long as you can try to contest them and make it as difficult as possible. And I thought we did that the other night but he made a couple of big threes that really changed the game, so sometimes they're going to go in, sometimes they're not. But I don't think it's anything exceptional that we're doing.

Q. How big was the run at the end of the quarter? They had taken the lead by one and you go up on a 9-0 run capped by Draymond. How much does that help you from a momentum standpoint going into the half?
STEVE KERR: That's kind of the key stretch of the game, mid-third quarter. They were playing well, they had some momentum. I don't remember exactly what happened. I just know that we made some stops. Steph really got loose and that's, as I said, that's what Steph does, and when he can find some space and get a few threes to go down in front of our home crowd, it's a huge boost.

Q. You said that when Stephen Curry went off in the third quarter there was nothing surprising or unusual about it. When it's happening, how do you experience it, what do you see, what do you think when he's going through a stretch like that?
STEVE KERR: I feel great joy (laughing). It's true.

Q. You've talked in the past about your team having the appropriate fear and sometimes not having that. Clearly you guys had that tonight. How do you maintain that coming off of a blowout win when human nature sometimes complacency sets in?
STEVE KERR: That's a Gregg Popovich term. It's not my phrase. But I remember it well from my days in San Antonio, and it's a great expression. Obviously being down 1-0, we had that fear. We knew we needed a win tonight badly, and we responded well. Now we've got to go there and win a game. We know it's a tough place to play and we're playing a great team. So I don't think there will be any problem getting that appropriate fear from our guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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