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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 20, 2017

Mike Brown

Oakland, California - Postgame

Warriors - 120, Spurs 108

COACH BROWN: Late in the game it was sloppy for us, and early in the game it was sloppy for us, and we found ways throughout the course to go on runs. K.D. was big for us especially in the third. He was huge for us. He hit shot after shot after shot. Put him in the pick-and-roll. And when David West came in, they had a nice rhythm in the two main games, and big game for him. And Pat McCaw, didn't call his number in the first half. Kind of threw him out there early in the second half and he played well for us in the minutes that he was on the floor.

Q. Mike, just break down that third quarter with Kevin and that run. I believe it was a 13-0 run that he had.
A. He was huge for us. Literally, we didn't do anything tricky. He got hot, and we just wanted to keep him in the middle of the floor. Attacking downhill, and pick-and-roll situations. That's what we did. You know, as the quarter went along, we started to slow down with our pace a little bit. But other than that, he was terrific. He made the right play every time down the floor, and obviously he made shots. He is who he is. It wasn't anything tricky or anything like that. He made tough shots. Some of the shots he was able to break loose and they were easy. But he made play after play after play.

Q. David West helped with some of them too?
COACH BROWN: Well, again, we're playing a little pick-and-roll just between those two guys or whoever our big was. David would pop to the elbow, and K.D. got double teamed, so he'd throw a little bounce pass back to D. West, and K.D. being 6-11, if he gets double teamed, it's easy for him to throw over the top of any double team because he's a good shooter from 15 feet in that free-throw line area. As soon as the ball went back to David, K.D. made the right basketball play because he was overplayed. He cut back door. I think he maybe got two or three backdoor lay-ups during that time with David on the floor. Just good chemistry between the two guys.

Q. What made you, I guess, turn to K.D.? It looked like you put him at the point. He was taking a ball up and for a stretch there it was his show. Was that predetermined or did you see he was feeling it?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, he got into a groove. We have a couple of plays where he's off the ball, and we'll get him the ball once we get into the half court and then he can play pick-and-roll. But, you know, with the groove that he was in or the rhythm that he was in, there was no need to. He could handle the ball like a point guard. So we just said, K.D., you bring it up, everybody else get flat, we'll play pick-and-roll and see what they do to stop it.

Q. You mentioned Klay's defense. By Klay's standards, he hasn't really gotten going offensively, mostly in the postseason, definitely not in this series. But he had moments tonight. Is this the kind of game that you think might swing him a little bit offensively?
COACH BROWN: It definitely could. I thought he not only did he shoot the ball well, I thought, I thought his drive and kick game was tremendous for us offensively. Not just tonight, but for most nights his drive and kick game has been good. He's kept it really simple. Made the right play. Obviously once he gets back to shooting or once he gets in a groove, it's light's out when he's cooking too. So great night for him, especially defensively.

Q. A lot of guys consider Manu one of the toughest guys to play the game. At his age, to put up a gutsy performance like he did today, is he a guy that you just have to respect?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, man, everybody around the league has the ultimate respect for him. He's been playing a long time. Only positive things happen when he's on the floor. I can't imagine doing the things that he's doing out there at his age. Looks like he can play a couple more years. I don't know if he wants to hear that, but the way that Pop treats his team and helps all his players out, the longevity, in my opinion, is there for Manu.

Q. You talked about Steph's defense before the game, and then he goes out and gets six steals. Was that just a matter of him gambling a little bit to get those steals? What did you see in him to get to that number?
COACH BROWN: Well, without watching the tape, it looked like he was in the right position quite a bit, especially on the weak side. I thought he got a couple of passes that were tipped, too. Our on-ball coverage was pretty good. We had active hands, our stick hands were really good, tracing the ball when guys try make passes. Might have gotten deflected a little bit. He was just in the right spot at the right time defensively on the weak side. And came up with a couple of steals that way. He's great at what I call digging the ball out. When the bigs have the ball around the rim or there is a loose ball or somebody tries to take the dribble, you know, Steph is not only crafty offensively, but defensively from time to time he'll sneak in there and come up with a steal when a big's not looking off a potential double team.

Again, he's been great for us defensively. I thought when he picked up his third foul, he went a stretch of, I don't know, eight minutes or so without picking up another one. And we went on a 24-to-8 run during that time. I just attribute that to maturity because he could have easily picked up his fourth foul at that time in the second quarter, which would have caused us some concern in the second half, but he didn't.

Q. I know Andre [Iguodala] played, but it looks like he went with [Pat] McCaw instead of him in the third. Was there any limit with Andre? Was there any reason why maybe he kept his minutes down a little bit?
COACH BROWN: No. I threw Pat in there at the beginning of the third quarter, and I thought Pat was playing well, so I went back to him instead of Andre. But, you know, he's fine. At least I didn't hear anything from our training staff.

Q. A lot of lines have been written, not by anybody in here, obviously, but anybody could kind of coach these guys. You could roll out a ball and these guys are so good. Talk to us about the challenges of coaching this team, and the challenges you've faced about being thrust in this position and how are you reading this?
COACH BROWN: Steve Kerr has done a fantastic job laying a foundation. He's our leader. He's our head coach. He's done a tremendous job laying the foundation down the right way, giving these guys ownership. We have a veteran team that's very talented, and they have taken on the ownership the right way. You know, with the staff that Steve has assembled and the players that we have, I mean, yeah, you want to be able to have a team at this point in the year especially that can figure some things out on their own out on the floor.

I tip my hat off to all these guys that are doing that. They've been great the whole year and they continue to be great in the postseason. My job is to kind of help put them in spots from time to time when we're going sideways, so that's what I'm here to do.

Q. JaVale had 16 points in about 10 or so in the first half minutes. Is he scoring in bunches this season when the defense ignored him? Did you see something in pre-game prep that you thought they would defend him that way?
COACH BROWN: No, Steve was the one that suggested we start JaVale when we knew Zaza was going to be out. We've started JaVale before in Zaza's spot. JaVale has done a terrific job when he did start. What tends to happen with him, you've got K.D. out there, you've got Klay out there, you have Steph out there, and like you said, I don't know why, but teams tend to forget about him and/or leave him. And we've got a ton of playmakers out there with him, especially with that starting group. He knows what his role is. He kind of finds his way to the spot or right around the rim. As soon as his man steps up to help on any dribble penetration, he's at the rim to throw that lob dunk. On top of that though, too, I've got to give him credit. He did a heck of a job running the floor. He forgot his size. He's very quick. And he got up-and-down the floor and got a couple lay-ups in transition, and a couple of putbacks just because of his effort, his length and his athleticism.

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