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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 21, 2017

Mike Brown

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. Maybe the toughest thing to do besides win Game 3 in the other building is close it out in Game 4.
MIKE BROWN: Yeah, you know, and again, I've been saying this the whole time, this team is not just going to lay down for us. The building is going to be energized. The group is going to be ready to play. So we have to make sure that we come out and we play the right way. Just like I'm sure they were, we weren't happy with everything that we did on the floor last night, but we did do some good things, and hopefully we can do even better things tomorrow night.

Q. KD [Kevin Durant], probably the reason you brought him here, like last night, 19-point third quarter when a lot of guys were off last night.
MIKE BROWN: Yeah, he had a phenomenal third quarter, but what we liked more than anything else is he came down, he scored in the pick-and-roll some, but his movement off the ball, when he gave it up a couple times, he made the right cuts and sometimes he'd go screen away and then he'd slip, it was phenomenal basketball. We talked to him about that today, and last night we felt was one of his better games with moving without the basketball even though he scored a lot with the ball in his hands.

Q. You said before the series that Patty Mills, taking his motor away was going to be a critical priority, and Klay is chasing him off the three-point line and really doing it. How have you seen that defensive effort really just stifle what that backcourt can produce?
MIKE BROWN: Well, you know, we've said it a couple times already, they were 40-4 when Patty scored over 10 points during the season, and he had a huge impact we thought in the Houston series. We wanted to make sure it was a point of emphasis for us to try to make his life as tough as possible and not give him any clean open looks, and he's had a few, and when he has, he's knocked them down. You've got to give Klay credit first and then the rest of our team credit after that because they've helped out in a lot of different situations, but we're asking Klay to chase around a guy like that that constantly moves, it takes a lot out of you on both ends of the floor to have to have that type of assignment. But Klay has taken on the challenge, and he's doing a fantastic job of it.

Q. He was able to do that last night and still produce offensively. How did you see him get into that rhythm?
MIKE BROWN: Yeah, we're not ever worried about Klay's shooting. We know that he's a great shooter, if not the best in the world. He's one of the best in the world. But from time to time guys miss, and we felt he was getting good looks and he was just missing. You can't leave him open for long because when you do, he'll definitely make you pay, and we thought that he was terrific making shots last night, but he's been great the whole Playoffs at driving and kicking the basketball. He was fantastic against Utah especially, getting his teeth into the defense, making plays for others, and even last night he made some great drive and kicks.

Q. What went into the decision to keep Steph in with three fouls last night?
MIKE BROWN: Just a matter of knowing that I could trust a guy like that. We've done it before. We've trusted certain guys on the team in certain situations. So I just felt like I took him out with four minutes to go I think in the first because he had picked up his second, and I didn't want to break his rhythm that bad. You've got a player like Steph, and yeah, he's more than capable of going crazy and getting time off eventually, but I felt like to take him out at that point would disrupt the rhythm not only for him individually but for the team, too. I trust him, and he came through.

Q. In your mind has he been the same player in this postseason that he was the past two years?
MIKE BROWN: I think so. I think he's playing at an extremely high level. I don't know what his numbers are exactly. I know they're very, very good. They're probably close to being at an historical level right now, but he's doing a lot of things that are really good for us besides scoring and shooting the basketball. I mean, defensively he was fan -- I just told him, hey, on the weak side of the floor last night, you were fantastic. Not good, but he was fantastic. He made some plays on the weak side of the floor where he came up with some steals and/or some deflections that were instrumental in us breaking out the other way. He's rebounding. He's gotten into the mix and come up with some big rebounds for us and hasn't turned the ball over. He's done a nice job setting his teammates up, so his all-around game has been, in my opinion, phenomenal.

Q. How do you think Andre [Iguodala] did, especially physically?
MIKE BROWN: I thought he did okay. He'd been out for a couple of games, and we haven't really practiced him. You know, in terms of scrimmaging and stuff like that. I think last night might have been one of his first times having contact, so it was more or less, I think, a rhythm thing for him, and I think going forward the more he's out on the floor, that the more he'll get his rhythm back.

Q. In your coaching career have you ever had the kind of center spot like this one where you could get short bursts from guys --
MIKE BROWN: In my coaching career I've never had anything like this, center, forward, small forward, two-guard, shooting guard, no.

Q. Particularly in the center spot.
MIKE BROWN: The interesting part about it is they're all different. When you talk about the four guys that we play at the center position, it makes it easy on us to be able to figure out how to attack different match-ups not only offensively but defensively, too, because they each bring something different to the table, so it's a luxury that we have as a staff, as a team. But more importantly, I think our guys individually feel great about being able to contribute in different ways based on what their skill set is.

Q. Any Zaza update?
MIKE BROWN: No Zaza update. Still the same.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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