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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS vs WARRIORS

June 6, 2018

Steve Kerr

Cleveland, Ohio: Game Three

Warriors - 110, Cavaliers - 102

Q. You got another fantastic game out of Kevin Durant, but it seems that these games are coming down to guys like on -- in Game 2, it was McGee and Livingston, and then your production from those two. Can you speak about the performance Jordan Bell had in just 12 minutes?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, we're not playing our bench as many minutes in this series as we have in the past, at least in the last few years. But we're getting really good production from -- Shaun's had a tremendous series. Jordan Bell was really good tonight. We needed his athleticism and his ability to guard multiple positions, and JaVale gave us great minutes as well.

You know, we've got a lot of depth. We've got a lot of guys who can play, and they're all chipping in. But we should probably go back to Kevin Durant, shouldn't we? That was amazing what he did out there tonight. Some of those shots, I don't think anybody in the world can hit those but him. He was incredible.

Q. What did you think of Andre Iguodala's performance?
STEVE KERR: Andre was really good. He gave us much-needed minutes. I didn't expect to play him 22 minutes. One thing with Andre is that he's not like most players in terms of needing rhythm and needing minutes to get his conditioning back. He just never gets tired, even when he's been out two and a half weeks and hasn't really been running much at all. He's still able to play through all of that.

He's at plus 14, typical Andre line. You might look at it and go, yeah, he had 8 points and whatever. But he gives us another guy to guard LeBron, and he gives us another guy to settle us down and keep us on the right path.

Q. Can you just talk about what exactly happened when he went back to the locker room right before the first half, and how he's doing?
STEVE KERR: Oh, how Andre was doing? I think he banged his other leg. So I don't think it was the knee that had been injured. That was the word I got.

Q. Piggybacking on Kevin Durant's unbelievable performance. Given the fact Steph Curry was 3 of 16 from the floor, 1 of 10 from three-point range, just how important was Durant's night given those numbers from Steph Curry?
STEVE KERR: Well, this is the beauty of this team and the luxury that we have of having multiple big-time scorers. There's going to be nights like this for all of them. Steph was 3 for 16, 1 for 10, but as usual he hit a big one. He always finds a way to make big plays even on his toughest nights.

But we've got a lot of guys who can score and fill it up, and they lift each other up if one of them is having a tough night. Yeah, it's pretty nice, a pretty nice luxury as a coach, that's for sure.

Q. At some point did you just switch and say, Kevin, we're going to initiate everything with you, and maybe, Steph, get in the corner there, and let's see what Kevin can do here?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, we're obviously running a lot of screen and rolls, and Steph was not making his shot, but Kevin got it rolling. So we just flipped it around and we had Steph set a couple screens for him. But we basically just tried to initiate with Kevin and he made so many great, difficult shots, but he also had seven assists and he's moving the ball.

I just like the way he's attacking. He's not waiting around. He's attacking right away on the catch, and it's devastating to have to guard that.

Q. Kevin Love really hurt you guys in the first half rebounding and shooting. Seemed like second half the team did a better job against him. What changed?
STEVE KERR: I think our attention to detail on the glass got better. I think they had ten offensive boards in the first half and only five in the second.

The way we are built and the way Cleveland is built, they've got an edge there, so our guards really have to get back into the play. It's not enough if you look and you see somebody has Tristan Thompson boxed out one-on-one. That's not enough. Our guards got to go back and crack down and put another body on them, and same with Love. Did a better job of that in the second half.

Q. To keep going on the first half for a second. Given the way that Steph and Klay had shot, I know K.D. hit the big three late in the half, but how fortunate did you feel going down only 6?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, we felt very fortunate to only be down 6. I think we were down 12 early in the game and they were getting every rebound and we couldn't make a shot.

Kevin was the story in the first half, just keeping us in the game, and then he was the story in the second half as well, closing it out.

Q. You talked about JaVale a little bit in there, but he hasn't played this much since, I think, the San Antonio series. What has he been for you guys, not only in this game, but how has he been when he hasn't been playing and all that?
STEVE KERR: Well, he's been great. Just like the rest of the guys. I mean, we've got a team full of guys who understand that sometimes their number will be called, sometimes it won't. Zaza has been tremendous throughout the postseason in terms of being a leader and keeping guys on edge, keeping them motivated.

JaVale's been in and out of the lineup. He started against the Spurs the whole series in the first round, and didn't play much the next two, but he stayed ready. He got his work in with the rest of the guys during those weeks, kept his conditioning up, and he's giving us a huge lift now.

Q. I was wondering if the way Durant rebounds, especially early in the game, indicates to you what type of night he's going to have? I think he had seven first quarter rebounds and was active on the glass.
STEVE KERR: That's always a good indicator when he's active defensively and on the glass. It's a good indicator that he's going to have a big night.

His overall game tonight was, I mean, ridiculous. The passing, the rebounding, the scoring. It wasn't just the number of points, it seemed like every time we needed a bucket, he got it for us.

Q. Again, in game -- just like in Game 2, it seemed LeBron got his triple-double, but it seemed like you guys really made him work for everything he got tonight. And you threw a lot of bodies at him. Could you talk about the way you played against him, and did you think he kind of wore down there toward the end?
STEVE KERR: I don't think he wore down, but it definitely helped us to have Andre back tonight and have another body on him. It helped us stay fresher. I thought that was the big difference. LeBron's going to do what he does every single night, we know that. But having Andre out there for 20-plus minutes gave K.D. a little bit of a rest and gave Draymond a little bit of a rest and Klay.

So I think we were able to stay fresher over the course of the game with Andre back.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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