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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 18, 2018

Mike D'Antoni

Oakland, California: Practice Day

MIKE D'ANTONI: We always talk about having a short memory, especially in bad times, but you have to have a short memory also in good times. Play with the same desperation. Play with the same force that we played offensively and defensively, knowing that they'll have more of a force on their side. But we have to control what we can control, and make sure we're aggressive.

Q. Is that easier said than done?
MIKE D'ANTONI: No, it shouldn't be. If you want to get where we want to get, it can't be. So whether it is or is not is besides the point.

Q. I know you all want to get on the road, but what are the challenges of going to a place like that where they've won 15 straight playoff games?
MIKE D'ANTONI: The challenge is you're playing Golden State. That's why they've won 15 in a row. Not because of the building, but because they're good. I mean, everybody, all these players are used to playing in hostile environments or loud or whatever. I mean, it helps a little bit. Sometimes you feed off the energy also from the other crowd. So you try to take them out as soon as you can and take out the crowd, but they're a good basketball team.

Q. Understanding that Steph [Curry] could go off at anytime being who he is, are there things that you felt were done very well defensively that made that more difficult, that you want to do? What are the keys to defending him?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think the switching and getting up, and making sure that we get matched up in transition, try to -- you know, we try to not give them any open looks whatsoever. If they're getting hard twos or lay-ups, acrobatic lay-ups and stuff like that, we'll live with it. But we've got to make sure that mentally we don't have lapses where we don't communicate, we don't get back, of that sort.

Q. Which would be true of almost anybody?
MIKE D'ANTONI: It's true against anybody, but you better be really good against this guy, because one guy you might be able to make a lapse and dodge a bullet; you don't dodge any bullets with these guys. You make a lapse, they're scoring. So we've got to make sure we're -- and you're going to make some. The first game I think we had a stat up there like we had 35 miscommunications or whatever.

Now we knocked it down to about 20. So you're just trying to get it better as the series goes on and just make it tougher.

Q. When you guys talk about miscommunications, is it all about yes switch or don't switch on different things?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Almost a hundred percent. Yeah, about a hundred percent is switching, and being in the right spot. Having faith that your teammate will cover you and being able to talk it out quicker and recognize the situation.

Q. When you were saying the other day that you switch so much because of several reasons. One of which you said was the rule changes. Were you referring to the defensive rule change?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Rule changes, did I say that?

Q. I think so.
MIKE D'ANTONI: You better check. Well, I don't mean the rule changes on that. I don't know why I would say that.

Q. Well, Steve [Kerr] said it too though?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Did he? He's smarter than I am, so it's probably true. Maybe that's where I picked it up. I don't know.

Q. But I assumed it meant to be able to switch off the ball.
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, here's the deal to me, it's because they're so good and players have gotten so good that any kind of -- you start chasing them, they come off picks, I don't think it's humanly possible for me to get around the pick in time that Steph, Klay [Thompson] and company, Durant, can get a shot altered. It's not there.

So now what can you do? You can anticipate that you have to switch, anticipate trying not to get them the ball or rely on the catch, because if you're a split second late, they're knocking it down. That's why we always thought that eventually we'll have to go to switching to be able to combat what they do.

Q. Mentally does it help to know that you can win out there?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Maybe, at my age, do you think I can remember that far back? That's a long time ago. You know, we've won everywhere. Like I said, at any time if we play our best game, we can beat anybody. So we're confident enough, but I think we have the right amount of fear that they're a great team.

Q. That right amount of fear, James [Harden] said you guys talked about it. You knew it was going to be that way in Game 1.
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, we just didn't have it, and it happens. For whatever reason. Who knows. It's hard to say why. But we did have it in Game 2. Now we know kind of the formula that we have to do and see if we can repeat it.

Q. Do film sessions following -- is the process a little bit like trying to anticipate what adjustments they might make?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, you know, again, if we do what we do, they might make some adjustments. But most of the adjustments now will come from maybe playing one guy longer in rotations. It's a little bit different.

But they're not going late -- like I said, they're not going to change their offense. They're going to do what they do. They'll just try to be more efficient in what they do. We'll try to get more efficient.

Q. You mentioned rotation, you've shortened it by one, and then by two in the second half. Is that the plan going forward?
MIKE D'ANTONI: We'll see. We'll see. That's the biggest thing is we know that now we're going to play. After Sunday it's going to be every other day. So to be aware of that at the same time, we've just got to make sure our guys are going to have something going down the stretch.

Q. Do you want Luc [Mbah a Moute] to get some more time and see if he can work his way out of it?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I've looked at a lot of factors, but, you know, we're watching and we've got two good days of practice here and we'll figure it out.

Q. You guys did some team building stuff last summer that the guys kind of do on their own. I know it's been a while, but Vegas, Summer Leagues, these guys don't have to come out for that stuff but they do. And then the Bahamas trip. If you look back, chemistry was good the previous year, but if you look back, how much of a role can that play to building what you kind of have now?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think it plays a big role in the sense of can I criticize a teammate because we've been together and we know, in a good way, of being able to get on somebody without somebody being offended or taking it the wrong way.

Q. Because you have the foundation?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, the foundation, they're friends, they know it, they talk all the time. So now in a timeout you don't have somebody trying to kill somebody. I think, hey, we talked about this, and this is what we need to do. We have guys that are Chris, PJ, James, everybody, Trevor, everybody has something to say from a good place. Everybody knows we're from a good place.

No matter what happens, our chemistry is built, and it makes a big difference. Usually that works over years. First, that's why teams that are just put together, it takes a little while to build that trust up and that camaraderie. Except these guys wanted to get it done quick and they're doing a good job of it.

Q. How hard is it to have a short in-game memory?
MIKE D'ANTONI: How hard is it to win a championship? Pretty hard. But that's what it takes. It takes a championship mentality.

A lot of this is going to come down to just how gritty and tough and feisty and mean and spirited are the games that we play? We've got to have it. You've got to have that championship edge. You can't go to the super market and buy championships. They don't do that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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