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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 23, 2018

Steve Kerr

Houston, Texas: Practice Day

Q. Can we get an update on Andre [Iguodala]? Did he do anything today?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, he's feeling a little better today. He's out on the floor. Not doing a whole lot, but making progress.

Q. How about Klay [Thompson]?
STEVE KERR: Klay is moving around really well. I think Klay is going to be fine.

Q. Next 24 hours for Andre in terms of treatment and things like that? I don't know if you're going to have shootaround tomorrow?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, we'll have shootaround. He'll just continue to get treatment, and hopefully he'll continue to heal. He is making progress, so we're hoping he can play tomorrow. But we don't know yet.

Q. What is your sense of the team's mood the past 24 hours?
STEVE KERR: The team is in good spirits. We're disappointed we didn't win last night, but we're right in the middle of a great series and we feel good about our prospects going forward. We know we have a lot of things to clean up. That was a hell of a battle last night. Both teams really competed.

I thought the Rockets did a better job executing in the fourth quarter than we did, and that's something we've got to clean up. But we've been down this road before many times. So we're excited to be here.

Q. KD [Kevin Durant] said that he wished he had that last possession back. When you looked at the video, did you see anything that you thought you second-guessed yourself or your guys at all?
STEVE KERR: Oh, yeah. Every single game that I coach I look back at the tape and second-guess myself, but it's exposed during the playoffs because the stakes are higher. So I didn't sleep very well last night. There were some things I could have done better. Our players feel the same way.

We played hard, but I didn't think we got the game to where we need it. I think it was more of a Houston-style game. They controlled the tempo. It was more of a wrestling match than what we like to play.

Q. Draymond [Green] said that he thought that you guys kind of got away from the game plan a little bit. What do you think he meant by that?
STEVE KERR: Well, I'm not going to tell you that. But I think pace is part of that. They're a team that's very physically strong. Their guys look like they could play football -- a lot of them, right. So they're getting into you and turning it into a physical game. That's what they want. We're a team that likes to play with pace. I think the results of the four games have really been dictated by which team has brought its own identity.

I use the term force. I know Mike [D'Antoni] uses that term too. I think force is just another way of saying really imposing your will and your own identity and your own style. I thought we got away from that last night. I thought it was more of a Rockets-type tempo.

Q. Were you a little surprised that Draymond was named to the Second Team All-Defensive Team?
STEVE KERR: I don't really pay attention to that stuff. I'm always really happy for my players when they get acknowledged. I think if you asked every coach in the league, you could have any five defenders you want, I guarantee you Draymond would be one of those five.

The fact that he didn't end up on the first team, I don't know. It's just stuff like that happens all the time. Michael Jordan probably should have won MVP about 10 times. LeBron probably should have earned it more than -- I don't know how many has he won?

Q. Four.
STEVE KERR: Maybe he should have won more. It's just stuff. It's voting.

It's trophies. It's awards. I don't think Draymond is going to be too upset.

Q. Do you think his defense is as good this season as it was last season?
STEVE KERR: I think this year, given that this is our fourth year trying to get back to The Finals, I think our whole team had lapses this year where we didn't have quite the same level of play, same level of energy. I think Draymond has even admitted that to you guys. So what you're seeing right now in the playoffs, yeah, that's the real Draymond. That's what we're excited about, because he controls games with his defense and his rebounding.

Q. What did you think of Kevon Looney's play last night? If Andre's not 100 percent, it seems like Kevon is even more crucial?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, Looney was good. He helped us get off to a great start with his defense and rebounding. He's one of those guys who pretty much every night you kind of know what you're going to get. He's just solid. He understands how to play, and he's going to be smart. I thought Jordan Bell gave us some good minutes as well. Obviously it was a game where both teams cut way back on their rotation, given the circumstances and how the game played out.

So it's kind of been interesting how this series has unfolded in terms of which players are out on the floor, who is playing, what combination, that kind of stuff.

Q. How about the foul trouble with Looney? Is that concerning at all?
STEVE KERR: The foul trouble? I was concerned with our fouling in general. I thought we reached too much early. Second quarter, they went to the line too often. I thought we didn't do as good of a job of defending without fouling as we did in the prior games.

Q. Looking at the film, does it still look like you guys were pretty fatigued in that fourth quarter? What do you think that was rooted in? What would you point to?
STEVE KERR: I thought both teams were fatigued. They played six and a half. We played seven and a half. Down the stretch neither team could really make a shot the last few minutes. So there is no question both teams were gassed. But I think, as I said, they did a better job of executing. They made a couple big shots. Chris made a really tough shot in front of our bench.

There were a couple plays defensively that we'd like to have back where we made some mistakes and gave them open looks. But all in all, it was a classic NBA playoff game between two great teams. I give them credit. They earned it. We didn't give it to them.

Q. Rotation-wise, do you think about lengthening it at all until you know Andre's situation?
STEVE KERR: It all just depends. You guys have seen this unfold. First couple games, Nene was out there, Ryan Anderson was out there, David West played significant minutes. The game has kind of gone smaller the last couple of games.

Both teams, obviously, are very concerned about guarding the perimeter. You've got four or five of the best perimeter players on Earth in one series, and it's hard to stay in front of those guys. Both coaches are kind of trying to corral the opposing team's best players. You have got to mix and match, and then you've got to weigh the risk with that.

If you want to go deeper into your rotation, that's an option. It's an option we definitely have.

Q. Did you wrestle with getting Draymond a quick blow in the second half or were you thinking he was going to go the full half?
STEVE KERR: No, I did. It's just more difficult, obviously, with the circumstances without Andre. Then Klay's injury kind of took us out of sorts a little bit too. I just didn't feel comfortable taking him off the floor.

Q. If you had to name one thing your team has to do tomorrow to win, what would it be?
STEVE KERR: Gosh, I have a really snarky answer that I'm not going to use. I don't think it's that simple. I just think that if we can play our style with more pace, then we have a good chance of opening up the game like we did in Game 3, and Game 1 also. It's a contrast in styles. We know we've got to play a lot better. That's the main thing.

Q. Obviously, you guys haven't taken them lightly. But is there anything about what we've done in the last game or this series that's surprised you?
STEVE KERR: No, not really. They won 65 games this year. They're the 1 seed. They're a great team. They've got great players. So nothing should be surprising about what's happened at this point.

Q. How would you weigh the pros and cons this season of having six centers on your roster? I know you guys could fill in and do different matchups during the season. They could absorb minutes. But now you're sitting in a situation where you can't play a ton?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, well, some things happened that we didn't anticipate. Now that we've got two guys injured with Patty [McCaw] and Andre, we're obviously thin there. The injuries forced us to let Omri [Casspi] go so we could sign Quinn [Cook] because we needed point guard help. Yeah, it's been a different season in that regard where we have a little bit of an imbalance on our roster.

It's not anybody's fault. It's just kind of the way things have come together, and we've got to make do with what we've got. That sounds stupid, because we have a great roster, so I don't mean it that way. But, yeah, we're a little shorthanded with the injuries. That's the main thing.

The thing that's tricky about that, though, is it's easy to say, yeah, we're overloaded there. But if we had one less center and we had another wing, would that wing be good enough to play in this series?

Houston has a ton of wings that aren't playing.

When you get to this level of playoff basketball, it's not just about having guys on your roster. It's about having guys who can stand up to this level of play, and who match up well in the series. Both teams provide very, very unique challenges that really limit what the other can do in terms of manpower.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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