	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 7, 2017

Steve Kerr

Cleveland, Ohio: Postgame

Warriors - 118, Cavaliers - 113

Q. What can you say about both just Durant's final three minutes and your defense, in particular the final three minutes?
COACH KERR: Well, obviously K.D. made some huge plays down the stretch. I thought Klay's defense on Kyrie was amazing. Overall, it was just an incredibly tough, resilient performance. It wasn't our smartest game that we have played all year, but it was maybe our toughest in terms of our ability to just hang in there.

And nothing was really going our way, but we were still there. And we just had to kind of stay with it, and I thought our guys did a really good job of that.

Q. Defensively did you do anything different? They were up 113-107 with about three minutes to go. Did you change anything defensively down the stretch?
COACH KERR: We didn't change anything. We discussed making some changes in the timeouts, but we didn't want to change anything. We just felt like the way they play, Kyrie and LeBron had it going the whole game, but that's pretty taxing to go one-on-one the whole game. Both those guys were amazing, 38 and 39.

But that takes a lot out of you. We just kept telling the guys, they're going to get tired. Stay in front of them. Force them into outside shots, if you can. Fatigue will play a role. And I think when you get guys playing 45, 44 minutes, basically attacking one-on-one the whole game, it's -- you hope eventually it's going to take its toll. I wasn't sure after awhile, they just were going nuts.

But I think that we just stayed with it, and our defense finally kicked in.

Q. Can you talk about rebounding, which would have been an advantage for the Cavs, and today actually you outrebounded by seven and Curry actually out rebounded both Tristan Thompson and actually outrebound Smith and Irving combined?
COACH KERR: It's been a big factor for us. Zaza's done a really good job putting a body onto Tristan. Love I thought changed the game midway through the third quarter when he got like three straight offensive boards, but wrapped around that was a really good job by us on the glass for most of the night.

Q. Can you sort of describe Kevin's demeanor in the fourth quarter? He went real quiet for a while, and it seemed like he just took over there in the last minute and a half?
COACH KERR: He did, he took over. You can tell, he knows this is his moment. He's been an amazing player in this league for a long time, and I think he's -- he senses this is his time, his moment, his team. When I say his team, I mean it's not literally just his team, it's we got a group around him that can help him and create space for him with the shooting and the play making, and I think he's having the time of his life out there.

Q. You guys knocked down 60 percent of your threes in the first half, about 50 percent for the game. Just what was your thoughts on your ability to knock down those shots at the right time?
COACH KERR: It was huge early in the game because we knew Cleveland was going to bring that force, we knew the crowd was going to be into it. K.D. and Klay hit early threes, Steph hit a couple. I thought the three-point shooting was critical just to keep our head above water while we were trying to get some traction in the game.

Q. You guys kept your composure all throughout that fourth quarter and even pretty much throughout the game. Do you attribute that to what happened last year; that you guys definitely learned this time around that you are not going to give up on any point in this game?
COACH KERR: I just think I said before the game, I think we're a better team partly because, obvious reasons, we have Kevin Durant on our team, but I think we're better from our experiences. You win a championship, then you lose one in heartbreaking fashion, you've pretty much seen everything at that point.

So you get down in the fourth quarter, it's a five-point game with six minutes left, you don't say, oh, man, we're down five, you just say there's a ton of time left and let's execute. And I thought our guys did a good job at hanging in there.

Q. You talked about Kyrie and his night, but that third quarter, what were you thinking kind of just watching him being able to just attack so much and finish the way he was?
COACH KERR: Didn't surprise me. This guy's one of the best players in the league for a reason. He's probably the best finishing guard in the league. We knew at home he was going to play better. He didn't have his best games in Oakland, and we just felt like we just had to do our best that we could on him. But it didn't surprise me at all the kind of night he had. That's who he is.

Q. Anything specific that you took from Game 3 last year, because you came in kind of a similar situation after beating or winning the two first two games at home, and in a nice fashion, and then last year you got blown out here. Anything?
COACH KERR: Just the circumstance. Not so much anything strategic, but more circumstances. You're up 2-0. It doesn't mean that much. You have to win on the road to really seize control of the series. And last year's game we got blown out. So we were more ready emotionally. And as I said, we're a better team, obviously, with Kevin, we have got a way to attack.

What I remember from that game last year was their defense pushed us out to half court and they were grabbing and really being physical on our shooters. Well, it's a little easier to attack that when you've got Kevin Durant, obviously.

Q. Was there a sense with the team in that last stretch where you just saw that the Cavs couldn't exactly capitalize on some when they got some stops, and then you guys got some second-chance opportunities, too, and really kept kind of swinging?
COACH KERR: Again, the only thing I saw was that I thought fatigue was an issue because the game was so hard fought. I think Kyrie and LeBron both played the entire second half. Maybe they got a few seconds' rest, and that's a hard thing to do.

That's kind of what I think makes our team who we are is we have got a lot of guys who can play off the ball and make plays and take some pressure off of each other, and I thought that was a factor down the stretch.

K.D. looked fresh, Klay was all over Kyrie. I just felt like we just stayed with it, and eventually our defense kicked in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297