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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 24, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Game Four

Game 4

Oklahoma City 118 - Golden State 94

Q. Did you think this game was another competitive issue, or did you think it was maybe broader than that in this one?
STEVE KERR: Did I think it was with what?

Q. You said last game was largely about competing?
STEVE KERR: No, I thought we competed tonight, but we didn't play very intelligently. Way too many turnovers, careless passes. This is probably the longest team in the league that we're facing, and we are continuing to try to throw passes over the top of their outstretched arms. It's probably not a great idea. So 21 turnovers, many of them unforced, and then, of course, they're taking care of business on the boards. We're forcing stops, we're getting stops, but we're not going and getting the ball, and we have to be able to chase down loose balls and long rebounds. Otherwise they're getting just way too many possessions compared to us.

Q. They had an overwhelming advantage on the free throw line. Is that them just being more aggressive or just your defense is playing a little more with hands than their feet?
STEVE KERR: We did commit some silly fouls tonight, but also they were very aggressive.

Q. You guys really kind of kept Andre Roberson in check the first couple games. They kind of switched their schemes. Why has he been able to get loose for a career high 17 tonight?
STEVE KERR: He's a pretty active player, so he got some offensive boards. He snuck behind our defense a couple times and we did not guard him correctly. He snuck behind for a couple lay-ups in the first half. I think another one in the third quarter. So those hurt, but he played a really good game, so give him credit.

Q. I had the same question, but I'll ask you about Steph, because not the Steph that we're used to seeing. Wondered if there was anything other than just not shooting it well tonight, Steve, or is there an injury issue?
STEVE KERR: He's not injured. He's coming back from the knee, but he's not injured. He just had a lousy night. It happens, even to the best players in the world.

So tough night for Steph, and he'll bounce back.

Q. Another Steph question: The mobility from him just wasn't the same and he was missing shots tonight in the paint, missing in the restricted area. How much did the length from that Thunder team hurt him tonight?
STEVE KERR: Hurt who?

Q. Hurt Steph.
STEVE KERR: Oh, Steph. Yeah, their length is impressive at every position. Some of the open shots that we're used to getting, they're not quite as open. So they did a great job defensively. We did have some open ones that we missed, but I give them credit.

Q. Russell Westbrook had a triple-dribble tonight, but what about his performance tonight troubled you most, and mostly what do you need to turn around to negate some of what he's doing out there?
STEVE KERR: We're trying to keep him out of the paint and keep him out of transition. So when you have 21 turnovers, it's going to be pretty hard to guard Russell. So we've got to take care of the ball better and that will help our defense.

Q. Draymond seemed out of sync, especially early, lot of turnovers, unforced errors. Do you think the last two days affected him any or was he just not into the game?
STEVE KERR: Just wasn't a good game for him. He's had a couple in a row, and that's very rare. Normally when Draymond has a bad game, he bounces back and plays extremely well the next game. So couple bad ones in a row. He's got to bounce back; we all have to bounce back.

Good news is we go home. Obviously we play well at home. The idea now is to go home and get one win and do that, we put some pressure on them, and we see what happens.

Q. How gratifying was it before things got away to see Klay step up again? Flip side of that, how much did his foul trouble hurt your team tonight?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, Klay was tremendous. He almost single-handedly got us back in the game in the third quarter. The fouls did hurt, but that wasn't the determining factor, obviously. We had to get him out, but there were other issues that were a lot bigger than that.

Q. Did you think about keeping Klay in the game? He's scalding hot, you're narrowing the lead and keeping him in despite the four fouls?
STEVE KERR: We debated whether to take Steph or Klay out. We had to take one of them out. We're not going to play them both 48 minutes, so we usually stagger them. So we debated. But given that Klay had four fouls and the game was actually, we had it in a manageable spot. I think we were down 8 or 10 when we took him out, we just figured with his four fouls, it made more sense to take him out. He looked a little bit tired, and then we brought him back to start the fourth.

So that was our decision, but it was something we debated.

Q. Do you think your guys are feeling any extra weight, the 73 wins, going back to back? And do you want them to feel that there is a responsibility to be the team everybody talked about all season?
STEVE KERR: No, I don't think that's the case. To me they're two separate issues. We had a tremendous regular season. Our guys competed every single night and did something nobody's ever done before and we're proud of that. In the playoffs everybody starts 0-0. So there is no extra pressure. Whether talking about defending our title and trying to back up the regular season, you just try to win.

Everybody, when you get deep in the playoffs, everybody's good. This team is outplaying us right now, and we've got to come up with some answers, and it's as simple as that.

Q. Coach, your team hasn't faced a whole lot of adversity the last two seasons. This has been about as bad as it's been. Do you get a feeling on how your team will respond here down 3-1?
STEVE KERR: I think we'll respond well. Like I said, we go home, lick our wounds a little bit and we play very well at home. The idea is just to take it a step at a time. So we'll bounce back. We'll play much better in Game 5, and we'll see where it all goes.

Q. You guys are usually the team that's able to go small and get out running. The Thunder kind of found a lot of success doing that. They had a lot of success in Game 3. What is it that enabled them to find success, just getting out, running against you guys?
STEVE KERR: They have really good players.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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