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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: ROCKETS vs WARRIORS

May 8, 2019

Steve Kerr

Oakland, California: Game Five

Warriors - 104, Rockets - 99

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Steve, in light of Kevin, what is the general mood around the team?
STEVE KERR: The mood of the team?

Q. Surrounding Kevin's injury.
STEVE KERR: Well, we're all obviously disappointed for him. We're excited about the win, but concerned for Kevin and disappointed for him.

He's been on this incredible playoff run. I'm proud of our guys for pulling the game out. We'll see how Kevin's doing tomorrow.

Q. With Kevin out, if he is out for an extended period of time, how much onus are you looking at Steph going forward?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, if Kevin is out, then what you saw in the fourth quarter is what you're going to have to see going forward. We're going to have to find a way. But got it done today.

I don't know if you're a soccer fan, but Liverpool yesterday came out with just one of the great wins in soccer history. After the match, their manager Jurgen Klopp said, The young kids in Liverpool are probably asleep by now, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it, but our boys are fucking giants, that's what he said.

I know how he feels. I apologize to my mom who is probably watching, but our guys are fucking giants. That was an unbelievable victory tonight.

Q. (No microphone.)
STEVE KERR: After dark, yeah. I'm a different guy right now. Sorry, mom (smiling).

Q. Were you able to talk to Kevin?
STEVE KERR: Yeah.

Q. How is he doing?
STEVE KERR: He's disappointed, but he's excited for our guys and for our victory. We'll see. Like I said, we'll see what happens the next couple of days.

Q. When in the moment you see Kevin goes out, do you have to fire your guys back up, how do you focus that emotion?
STEVE KERR: Such a weird game because we played so well in that second quarter. Probably should have gone in at half up 20 or more. Missed a bunch of shots at the end of the second quarter, open threes. I made a mistake not getting Draymond out of the game on that last play, picks up his third foul. All of a sudden they start the third quarter. It's a game again. It felt like it was slipping away.

I think our guys, they've been here so many times, have been through these battles for the last five years. They got a lot of guts. They just pulled together and got it done. There's no speech necessary. They knew what they had to do.

Q. How do you think your guys responded after Kevin went out with the injury? Do you have to adapt how you play, per se, when he leaves the game and he's not coming back?
STEVE KERR: Well, they responded beautifully. Yeah, we have to play differently because he's such a huge part of what we do. I think you saw Steph go into a different mode when Kevin went out. He knew he had to be the offensive fulcrum. He knew things were going to run through him. He took over that fourth quarter.

It wasn't a great night for him until that point. He was brilliant in the fourth when we absolutely needed it.

Q. When Draymond got the technical, hits the three immediately, then Klay, how big of a sequence was that? Could have been a momentum shift the other way.
STEVE KERR: Yeah, huge time of the game. Draymond gets the T, then hits the three, brings the house down. Pretty much summarized Draymond in a nutshell right there. It's who he is. Unbelievable competitor. He makes big shots when we need him to, makes big plays, gets the crowd into it.

I thought Klay's three that followed was fantastic. I believe that came off of another offensive rebound from Kevon. Kevon was the unsung hero tonight out there. He was tremendous. He made some huge plays for us, including that save in the corner near the end of the game when Klay ended up getting the lay-in to seal the game.

Q. Steph seems like strangely out the sorts in the first half. What sort of clicked? Was it Kevin's injury that got him back to being Steph?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I think so. I think when Kevin went out, Steph just went into a different mindset. Kind of reminded me of four, five years ago before we had Kevin, we were heavily dependent on Steph generating a lot of our offense back then. He doesn't have as big of a burden on his shoulders now.

He's fully capable of taking on that burden when necessary. Tonight it was necessary in the fourth quarter.

Q. You've shortened the rotation a bit for this series. Will fatigue and injuries force you to go deeper than you have?
STEVE KERR: With Kevin out, it changes everything. We'll have to reconfigure the rotation. We'll have time to do that on the plane tomorrow with the staff. We'll figure it out and try to go from there.

Q. Obviously the dynamics changed with Kevin going out of the game. Talk about the first quarter, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, you came out with a force. Was that the force you were looking for?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, we came out like we needed to come out: protecting our home court, taking control of the game early. We had a great first quarter. That's kind of what you have to do in a series like this. The home team has won every game. You have to protect your home court. We did that tonight. It started right from the opening tip.

Q. There was concern about it being Kevin's Achilles. That has been ruled out?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, no, it's not the Achilles. When I walked into the coach's office after the game, the replay of the play was going on. I thought the same thing because he kind of looked back like he had been kicked or something. I've seen that before with guys who have hurt their Achilles. That was my first question. I was assured it's a calf strain, not the Achilles.

Q. You talked about Draymond. When you have an injury like this, how important is it to have a guy like Draymond from an emotional standpoint?
STEVE KERR: Draymond is critical to us whether Kevin is here or not. He's always been our emotional engine. He's the guy who just gets things going. He stirs the pot. He's just right in the thick of everything constantly.

We needed every bit of his effort tonight.

Q. How did you see Klay use patience and poise in his game tonight?
STEVE KERR: Well, Klay had a phenomenal game. I thought he was aggressive from the start. That's what Klay does. When he has any struggles at all, he's not going to hold back. So I thought his start was really aggressive and a concerted effort to get himself going. He had that brilliant first quarter and that set a tone for us.

Q. It also felt like you cranked up the defense in the fourth quarter there. Different personality with KD out?
STEVE KERR: We put Looney out there. He's one of our best players. When you have injuries, you try to put your best players on the floor, figure it out from there.

Andre had to play 33 minutes. We went back to him. We tried to get him some minutes early in the quarter, and we did. I think he played the final eight minutes or so. He did a great job defending James and keep the ship moving forward.

Q. You mentioned Looney. When he came into the game, he brought a lot of energy. Now going forward without Kevin, does this mean more minutes for him? What does he bring to you?
STEVE KERR: He's a really, really smart basketball player. He understands the game just innately. He's in the right place at the right time. He took two shots all game, but had a huge impact with the offensive boards. Made a couple big free throws down the stretch. I think it was coming off an offensive rebound or a lob underneath I guess.

Loon is a not a 35, 38-minute guy. Don't expect that with Kevin out. He's going to play a big role.

Q. Game 6 coming up, how do you view this possibly closing the series out in Houston?
STEVE KERR: We'll take a look at the film tomorrow, prepare on the plane to Houston. We'll figure it out then. Right now I don't really have many thoughts on Game 6. Thinking about Kevin and about how gutsy our guys are, how fortunate I am to coach them. Hopefully we can do enough to win one more game in this series. That's the plan.

Thanks.

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