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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: SPURS vs WARRIORS

April 16, 2018

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game Two

Game 2

Warriors 116, Spurs 101

Q. What changed in the third quarter? You had, what, four turnovers in the second half, I think one of those four was late after the game had essentially been decided but what was the change in that third quarter?
COACH STEVE KERR: I thought we just met their level of physicality and force. I mean, they just took it to us the whole first half. They were tremendous defensively. That's I think the second best defense in the league statistically and they showed it in that first half. They got after us. They took away everything we were trying to do.

So in the second half, I thought we matched that effort level, that physicality, and we're able to get the upper hand and obviously we had a lot of guys do some great things out there.

Q. How is David West doing?
COACH STEVE KERR: He said it's not too bad. So that's a good sign. We'll see what happens.

Q. I know you kinds of regularly talk about how you don't care how Andre shoots because he does other stuff, but when he hits four threes, three threes in the first quarter what bonus does that provide?
COACH STEVE KERR: Well, teams are going to take away certain things from us and they are going to make us beat them in other areas and that's one of them. Sometimes they will leave Andre open or Draymond, so when those guys hit threes, it just opens the game up for us.

Q. In the middle when you get Draymond and Iguodala together and watching them and the things they do on both ends of the court, how special is what they do, especially the intangible stuff?
COACH STEVE KERR: Well, they are two of the smartest defensive players I've ever seen. They both are able to see the chess board, and they are constantly switching and talking and bumping guys off and creating -- getting rid of a mismatch on the weak side. So they are amazing in what they do and they work beautifully together, as well.

Q. Steve Durant had the ball in his hands a lot, especially the first quarter. Did you kind of move to take it out of his hands, and did it flow better when he and Klay were both working off the ball?
COACH STEVE KERR: I thought in the first half they took us off everything and so our default when we are not running our offense is to go to KD because he's our best player. I give them credit for taking us out of our offense. You know, we got disjointed there but I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We only had four turnovers and the ball started to move and I thought we just stayed with it and really hell of an effort in the second half.

Q. Kevin's numbers and Klay's numbers speak for themselves, but how would you compare and contrast how they built their rhythm through the game?
COACH STEVE KERR: Well, Klay didn't seem to have much going in the first half. I thought he hit a couple big baskets for us at the end of the first to keep it to a 6-point deficit. He hit a three in the corner and then he hit kind of a runner.

But his second half was just an explosion. KD was just methodical as always. He's amazing. Kevin, you just sort of look up at the end of the game and he has, you know, 30-plus points. Just happens every night. That's how talented he is.

He kind of kept us afloat when we needed him to, and when Klay got going in the second half, that gave us that burst we needed.

Q. How impressive has Klay's shooting been these first two games and are you surprised that you haven't really noticed any kind of -- or maybe you have, any after effect from the injury since he's comeback?
COACH STEVE KERR: In fact, the injury may have helped him a little bit. He finally got some time off. Klay has to defend the opponent's best guard night-in, night-out. He never misses a game. He's been in the league seven years, and I don't know how many games he's missed but not a lot. So I think in hindsight, probably wasn't the worst thing for him to get a few weeks off because he looks really, really fresh and sharp right now.

Q. How hard was it to defend Aldridge tonight and were there times it seemed like whatever you threw at him wasn't going to work?
COACH STEVE KERR: Yeah, I thought the Spurs did a great job of countering the way we defended in Game 1 and they beat us on a lot of plays, a lot of actions. We're going to have to look at that and reevaluate how we're going to guard them. So he's a load. I mean, I've said it many times: I think he's the best low-post scorer in the NBA. What makes him tough is that he can also step outside and shoot the jumper. He had 12 free throws tonight. They hammered us inside quite a bit but we stayed with it.

Q. To get that stretch from David in the second quarter to keep you guys close going into halftime, I think he scored on three straight possessions. How important was that?
COACH STEVE KERR: Yeah, David was big for us. I mean, he gives us a scoring threat at that 5-spot, both from the perimeter and inside. He had a really nice night tonight and I was concerned with that sprained ankle. We'll see how he's doing. We need him, but he told me he was doing okay.

Q. Did you have to challenge them at halftime to match their intensity that they showed in that first half?
COACH STEVE KERR: I didn't really have to say much. They knew it. We've talked about it for the last two days. We knew what was coming.

But you know, this is the NBA. Those guys are talented. They are great players. We handled them in Game 1. So this is what you expect. This is what a Game 2 feels like when Game 1 goes relatively smoothly. I've seen this a million times. Game 2s are always really difficult. For two days Pop's been all over them; the media's been all over them; our guys are feeling great, and next thing you know, we're down and they are dominating the game.

So no surprise, but I'm proud of our guys for staying with it and playing a great second half.

Q. You talked about their defense in the first half causing all the turnovers. How much, though, did your players just take care of the ball better, just be more conscious of that?
COACH STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, they were in us on every cut, every pass, and so we had a few mistakes that were unforced but I think most of them came because of their pressure and they were getting into us and we just couldn't find a rhythm.

So you know, to finish the game with 32 assists and 15 turnovers after having 11 turnovers in the first half, shows you how well we played in the second half and we needed to because we played a team that came out and really took it to us early, and I thought played a great game.

Q. What was the explanation given on the Draymond flagrant and is there a concern, given he just picked up his first flagrant point?
COACH STEVE KERR: I didn't ask the official. We just kept going. We'll hear from the league, I guess. Just got to go with it.

Q. Back to Aldridge. You guys aren't a big double-team team, and you went to it, at least in that first quarter, back-to-back-to back possessions, did not score against it. How hard is it to go to a double-team and how effective do you think this one was maybe to stop his rhythm?
COACH STEVE KERR: Well, they were much more aggressive tonight. Game 1 was easier to help and to send double teams and tonight they did a good job of being more aggressive and taking us out of some of the things we wanted to do defensively.

So it's tricky. You want to double-team but you don't want to give up threes. You don't want to give up easy buckets, so you have to pick and choose. It's not that easy to figure out when to go, when not to, and so you know, we're trying to keep him off rhythm and they are trying to keep us out of rhythm defensively at the same time. So it's just kind of, you know, a little chess match going on as far as the doubles are concerned.

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