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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 26, 2018

Mike D'Antoni

Oakland, California: Game Six

Warriors - 115, Rockets - 86

Q. Mike, without Chris Paul, I'm sure you realize that turnovers could be a problem, but did you expect them to be this big of an issue, and what did you think going into that?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, little bit of them, little bit of us. Little carelessness, little tiredness, whatever. Bottom line, we can't turn it over, and we need to do a better job. But we knew this was hard. They're champs. They're going to come back fighting, and they did. They did their part. You know, I saw a lot of things I liked out there. I like where we are. I don't know exactly where we are.

No, you know what, we were in the Bahamas, I think it was in July or August, with the guys, and someone told us we've got the seventh game on our home court against Golden State, would you sign up for it? Yeah, we'd sign up right there.

So we've got what we want, now it's up to us to go get it. It will be rocking, and H-town will be fired up. It's up to us to knock them out.

Q. You played great defense in the first half. Did they start slipping three? What happened?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think the turnovers got them going. Then once you get them going and they get out of the box -- we didn't communicate really well two or three times, and then they just got on a roll. You get these guys on a roll, and they can hurt you. They've done it a couple games now. So it's going to be up to us on Monday to knock them out, like I said. They're not going to go away easy.

Q. Do you feel your team got tired?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, I'm sure they did, but so did they. You know, probably the minutes there, top three or four, like our top three or four. It gets complicated when we turn it over. Got a little deflated. They got on a roll. Lot of things added to that. It's all good. This is the playoffs, and some guys are going to get tired, but we're going to fight through it.

Q. Can you talk about Klay Thompson.
MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, he got on a roll. He hit some big ones too. They hit some shots, they go up 10 or something. I think they started the second half with a couple threes, and that helped them. Then [Kevin] Durant had something covered, and it just started clicking.

That's probably why they won three or four [two] championships of late. So I think we know what we have to do. We'll find out (indiscernible) with our crowd, and it should be a great game.

Q. Obviously some of the looks in the second half didn't go that were going in the first half, but fewer of them. What made it so much more difficult to sort of execute and get the shots you wanted in the second half?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think the turnovers were the biggest problem. Probably didn't get in transition as much. Because they were scoring and walking it up every time. First half they were missing and they were running it up, so that's a big difference.

Kind of goes hand in hand between getting good offense and having the stops. We've got to get back, get the stops, not turn it over, and take care of business.

Again, it's a little bit normal. We shot 50 percent from threes in the first half. 50 percent the whole game. We ended up, what, 15-for-30? I can't even read. 15-for-39. That should be good enough. Our defense just kind of let us down a little bit. And we turned it over. That caused the defense to let down.

Q. Was the Joe Johnson sighting somewhat of a plan for Game 7, testing something out? What do you envision with the rotation knowing that Chris Paul is kind of in limbo?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, we'll have to figure it out. I know I'm real hopeful, but I don't know. I don't know yet. I'll let you know game time. But, yeah, I was looking at a lot of guys. Trying to find that seventh guy that's a little bit more comfortable that we can be comfortable with. I mean, I have my ideas, obviously, and we'll work toward them.

Q. Kevin and Steph [Curry] are obviously such superstar players that you always have to have your main focus on them. When Klay does erupt the way he did tonight, what are you trying to do there? What are you telling them in timeouts when he gets look after look after look?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, I mean, there's nothing. We know how we have to guard him. A lot of those looks were Klay Thompson. Talking about two superstars, well, they've got three superstars, oh, they've got four superstars. They've got a lot of guys. Klay Thompson, what did he have, 60 in a quarter or something? That's an elite status, so, I don't think it's surprising to anybody. They've seen this time and time. So it's up to us to do a better job.

We will, we won't turn it over as much. We'll do a few things.

Q. Are you any more optimistic that Chris [Paul] might be able to play after the two days of treatment?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I'm not thinking about it because I don't know. I have no idea. I was pre-med, just to let you know. I'm pretty good, but I have no idea.

Q. Secondly, what was it like having him on the bench, and what was his energy level like?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I hate it. On the bench? He needs to be on the floor. He needs to be anywhere near us. He needs to be out there. No, he's great. He's a winner. I think he was more uncomfortable than we were. Obviously, having him there was great in those circumstances. It probably killed him more than anything sitting over there with us. So, he's just getting his taste of "I don't think coaching is for me." He wants to be on the floor. We'll get him there soon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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