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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 13, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game Five

Cavaliers 112, Warriors 97

Q. You had 41 points to Kyrie, 41 to LeBron, a ton of points. Is it just too simple to say Draymond Green was the absence there?
COACH KERR: Yeah, I mean, it's too simple to say that. We weren't very good defensively. We obviously knew we were without Draymond, so there's no point in harping on that. We had to play better, and we didn't. Both those guys played terrific games, shot the ball well. I thought our defensive communication was lacking. We had some plays where we didn't pick up in transition, and we had some cross matches that we didn't identify and they got free, especially Kyrie, and made a lot of shots in transition where we just weren't there.

Q. Did you think the defensive energy was there? I mean, what was lacking specifically?
COACH KERR: Communication. Just not picking up the correct man, not talking on our switches, that kind of thing.

Q. You did say before the game the place you would miss Draymond most was on defense, and that's what it turned out to be, didn't it?
COACH KERR: Yeah, I mean, they shot 53% and scored 112 points. So, yeah, the defense was the issue for us. We had a good offensive first half, made some shots, had 61 points, and then kind of got bogged down in the second. We tried a lot of different things, and nothing seemed to work. It was one of those nights.

But give them credit. They played a great game, and they earned it.

Q. You've spoken before that Draymond's energy, his fire helped make him a great player. How do you find that balance where maybe the energy and passion and fire where you go over that line maybe hurt the team?
COACH KERR: We're not talking about that tonight. Draymond wasn't here, so we played without him. We didn't play well enough to win. I'm not going into all that stuff.

Q. Do you have an update on Bogut, and what did it do for you after he went out? We saw McAdoo at center a little bit there.
COACH KERR: He's getting an MRI tonight on his knee. I think it's his left knee. So we'll see how that turns out.

It didn't affect things too dramatically because we were playing so many people at that position anyway. It would have been nice to have him available, but we played, I think, what, four, five different people at center, just trying to find something that would work.

It's unfortunate. Hopefully he's okay. We need him. We'll see how he's doing.

Q. You were 3 for 21 from three-point range in the second half. Were you getting good shots and missing them or was it something the Cavaliers did that affected that?
COACH KERR: I thought we got a lot of good ones. We had some that were rushed. I thought there might have been a couple times in the game where Steph got into a little bit of a hurry.

But for the most part, a lot of good looks. Sometimes they don't go down, and that's the way it goes. And you've got to make up for it in other areas with defense and rebounding in particular to get some more possessions.

So one of those nights. Shots didn't go. We've got to play better, obviously, and I'm confident we will.

Q. You've mentioned a couple of times your team seems to play best with adversity. How much adversity are you prepared for them to have to deal with going back to Cleveland when you could have closed it out here?
COACH KERR: Well, it's the NBA Finals. You have two great teams, and I kind of like our position. It would have been nice to win tonight, but we didn't win. We didn't play very well. They played well.

So we go back to Cleveland and tee it up again. But I like our position a lot better than theirs.

Q. As a follow, you mentioned mismatches as it relates to Kyrie. Was there anything in particular, like players that they were running that you were running at him, or was it just getting cross-match confusion that you were referring to?
COACH KERR: We tried a lot of different people. Klay was on him quite a bit and Steph. Obviously a lot of switching was going on. But he just had a great game.

Q. Klay had the hot hand for a long time there, and then there were long streaks in the second half where he didn't have the ball in his hands. Were you trying to find ways to get him the ball, and what was going on there?
COACH KERR: Well, they did a good job defensively. And we don't call a ton of plays, sets. We want to play out of motion and get the ball moving. And they were doing a good job denying him. But I thought he had a great game. Klay was fantastic and obviously had a big night shooting the ball, scoring the ball.

But, yeah, I mean, it's all part of the game. You want to get your guy open; they want to defend him. They did a nice job.

Q. The players often talk about your ability to say the right thing at the right time. What was your message to them tonight? What will it be tomorrow?
COACH KERR: Well, we're in the same place we were last year, up 3-2 heading back to Cleveland. If you told me this before the series, I would have taken it. So we're in a good spot. We're disappointed we didn't win tonight, but, like I said, they outplayed us. They deserved the win. And we'll go back to Cleveland and we'll play a better game for sure.

Q. There have been some games in this series where LeBron and Kyrie were pretty great early in the game but looked a little worn down towards the end. They had the ball in their hands a lot, obviously a lot of minutes. Are you surprised that they stayed so strong in the fourth quarter? You weren't able to wear them down a little more tonight?
COACH KERR: Well, again, our defense wasn't nearly as good as it's been. So when you don't play great defense for the first three quarters, your opponent isn't going to be worn down in the fourth.

Q. I saw that Iguodala played 41 minutes; Curry, 40 minutes; Thompson, 40 minutes. How much of an impact did that have on those guys?
COACH KERR: You mean like were they tired?

Q. Yeah, the amount of time they played.
COACH KERR: Well, the minutes aren't really that different from what they've been. Guys have been at 38, 40, 42. That's kind of what you do with your star players. Look at the stat sheet, same thing for their team.

We're just mixing and matching and trying to find anything that would work. Generally speaking, you're going to stay with your best players as much as you can. But it just wasn't our night and we didn't get anything going. We couldn't find any combinations.

Again, they beat us. They outplayed us. They deserve the credit, and we'll bounce back. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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