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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: TRAIL BLAZERS VS. WARRIORSMay 17, 2019Steve KerrPortland, Oregon - Practice Day Q. You said yesterday you guys stole the win. Do you see any value in that moving into Game 3? STEVE KERR: I mean, yeah, any win is a great win in the Playoffs. But I think winning that way is almost more helpful than a blowout win because you can point out all the things on film that we didn't do that got us in trouble, and then you can point out the things that they did to pull the game out. So there was a lot of both. So I think the film session is probably more productive after a game like that. But you have to, you just have to move on to the next one and keep getting better. Q. You went away from Andrew Bogut in the second half. What was the thinking there? STEVE KERR: Just to be a little more aggressive on their pick-and-rolls. They were hurting us in the first half, and we needed a spark. So we just decided to go to Looney right away. Q. Looney and even Bell were challenging all the way up to the half-court line. Was that what you wanted or were they instinctively doing that when you were telling them to press up a little bit more? STEVE KERR: Some of each. We wanted to be the aggressor. That was the main message at halftime was that they were the aggressors in the first half. They were putting us on our heels, and we needed to do that to them, and sometimes that means getting out and trapping and blitzing and flying around. You know, we have our game plan that we want to execute, but sometimes the best adjustment is just playing harder, and I thought that's what we did in the second half. Q. We obviously got the update on Kevin Durant last night. How is he doing emotionally, missing this time now? STEVE KERR: He's doing well. You know, he's in the training room every day. He's around the guys. He's actually recovering well. He's doing well with his rehab. You know, I probably, what did I say last night, that it was a little more serious than we thought? The right way to put it would be with a calf injury, there's kind of a wide range of how long a guy is going to be out. And so he's had them in the past where he was out a week or 10 days. But right from the beginning, Rick [Celebrini] was telling me that you really can't put a number of days or weeks on this, that it's -- there's a big range of how long it could be depending on how he responds and how bad the strain is. This one is taking a little bit longer than the ones he's had in the past, but that's okay. He's coming along well. If he continues to improve at the rate he's improving now, we're confident that he'll be back. We just don't know when. Q. Is it a grade 2 strain? STEVE KERR: I'm not going to get technical with that because I'm not sure it's that simple. The MRIs aren't always perfect. So there's definitely some gray area with any injury, but with a calf injury like that especially, and it's just going to be how he responds to the treatment and how his body recovers over the next days and however long it takes. Q. As you know, you've won a road game in 21 straight -- STEVE KERR: Yeah, Raymond [Ridder] tells me that all the time. Q. But in this Playoffs I think you won all three in LA and then obviously closed out the Rockets on the road without Kevin. What in the Playoffs is accentuated? There's always more challenge on the road, obviously, than at home, but in the Playoffs is it magnified, and in what way, noise, mistakes? STEVE KERR: Is what magnified? Q. The challenge of playing on the road. STEVE KERR: Well, it's the Playoffs. You're playing a better team. You're playing against the best teams in the league in the Playoffs, and the stakes are high. You're never going to catch anybody off guard. Sometimes in the regular season you can catch a team on a tough schedule and they're tired and they're not ready to go or vice versa. But in the Playoffs everybody is ready for everything, and pretty much well rested. But our guys enjoy the challenge of going on the road. I think they genuinely -- they like the feeling of going on the road and playing well and winning a game. You saw their reaction after Game 6 in Houston. It's a tougher challenge but a more gratifying one if you can succeed. Q. During the regular season there were several games at home where you guys got blown out, like Oklahoma City got blown out and home and you blew them out on their court. Why do you think that happened often during the regular season where you seemed to play some teams better on the road? STEVE KERR: Well, it never used to happen. But I think when you do something over five years, actually even longer, this team has been good for seven years now, but long playoff runs now for the last five, the wear and tear adds up, and it's just physically impossible to bring the level of energy and focus and intensity every single night that you saw three, four years ago. It's just not going to happen. So there were some natural let-downs. But now that the Playoffs are here, you're not seeing those let-downs. I think there's a big difference between regular season focus and playoff focus. Q. Moments after the final buzzer we got to see Quinn Cook out there shooting. These guys take a lot of pride in staying ready, but you also mentioned the other day you talked to the team that, okay, this is going to be a series where everybody gets a chance most likely. Is that a good strategy, that even though they are staying ready, to say, hey, you are going to be used? And it's paid off, they've all been contributing? STEVE KERR: Yeah, well, the best thing is that when I say it they know I mean it because I was them 20 years ago. I had plenty of playoff runs where I didn't play for five or six games, and then all of a sudden I get thrown into the mix. It's a hard job, but you have to be ready for it, and that is your job. So the way to stay ready is to stay engaged and to get shots up, whether it's after the games like Quinn or before practice like Jonas. Guys all have their own routines, but part of being a real pro in the NBA is being able to deliver when you haven't played for a stretch. We've got a lot of guys who are doing that right now. Jordan Bell was terrific last night, Jonas, J.B. We threw Damian out there for a couple minutes last night in the middle of a tough game. He hasn't played in months. So they can all play or they wouldn't be in the NBA, and we trust them to come in and deliver. Q. What makes Portland's environment more difficult compared to others? STEVE KERR: It reminds me a lot of Oracle. There's an organic energy that comes from a fan base that loves the game, that loves their hometown team, and it's just naturally really loud and people are excited. Having played there for a season, I remember it well, and it's one of my favorite buildings to play in for that reason. Q. I think this is going to be the first playoff series with no shoot-arounds for you guys. Do you kind of like that? STEVE KERR: It's tricky. 6:00 [PT] start is kind of strange because it's right in that gray area of do you have a shoot-around or not. So what we're doing is we're having optional shoot-arounds. The guys who need to go shoot will shoot, and the guys who are better off sleeping in, they'll sleep in. Whatever is their individual choice, whatever best prepares each guy for the game, that's what we're encouraging them to do. Q. Do you do separate film stuff to recap a game or? STEVE KERR: We just did that now. We'll do that tomorrow. We'll have a breakfast meeting probably 11:00, 11:30 where we'll go through film and go through the scouting report, and before that there will be some gym time where some guys will go over and shoot and other guys won't. It's just individual preference. Q. Based on what we saw from the release last night, it sounds like DeMarcus might be further along than Kevin. Wondering what have you seen from him and what do you want to see from him before he's able to go out and actually play? STEVE KERR: Well, he's working really hard, and he's been in the training room religiously over the last month, and now he's getting out on the court. And so he is ahead of Kevin in terms of the ability to get out on the court and run and really get a good basketball workout. He's a big guy, so conditioning is tougher for big guys than guards, so he's got to continue to work on the stuff he's doing, which is the bike, going hard on the bike, getting sprints on the floor, and when he's ready, we'll know he's ready. Q. Is he able to get back on defense? STEVE KERR: Well, that's what he's got to do, so that's the plan. Q. In what ways have you seen Draymond step up and assert himself on the court in Kevin's absence? STEVE KERR: I don't know that there's any difference in the way Draymond has played in the last five years. This is what he does. He steps up no matter who's out there. He's an incredible defensive player. He becomes our play maker when teams decide to trap Steph, which you saw last night, and he plays with great emotion, great passion. But he's been doing that for a long time no matter who's out there. Q. How does he see the court so -- in those closing minutes where he had that bounce pass in there to Iggy for the dunk and then an assist to Looney maybe the next possession, how does he just know? STEVE KERR: He's just got feel. Draymond has got great feel for the game, like Andre. Both guys are just really good at seeing the whole floor, understanding where the chess pieces are, and thinking a move or two ahead. And then he's aggressive. You know, he's quicker than most of the guys who guard him. He's just -- he's got a very unique combination of speed and strength at that position, and it allows him to get to spots to make those plays and make those passes. Q. How have you guys had to adapt your game plan without Kevin? Obviously without tipping your hand too much, but you guys have played well, 3-0 without him. Of course you're a great team with him, but how have you had to adjust everything since he's been out? STEVE KERR: Well, we're playing more people. We're not relying on one person to replace Kevin. We're relying on three or four. The bench has done a great job. Without Kevin, we need Quinn Cook's shooting, we need Jonas Jerebko's shooting and defense, we need Jordan Bell's rebounding and shot blocking, and then everybody just is playing together like they've been doing for years. Q. Seems like last night showed the screen-and-rolls up high for Steph. As many shots as he made Game 1, a lot of it was who was screening for him. Draymond is, I imagine, kind of the ideal partner for that. STEVE KERR: Yeah, Draymond is -- that's what makes him so tough in the screen-and-roll is that if you bring your big up like they did last night, then he can become the play maker because now you've got two guys, two defenders on the ball, and if Steph can get Draymond the ball, now it's four on three on the backside, and that's where Draymond really thrives. That's why there's no simple answer to defending our team. We've got a lot of weapons. We've got a lot of play makers, and that's why I'm always encouraging the ball movement, because if you just move the ball on to the next guy, inevitably it's hitting the hands of another guy who can pass and make a play. I thought last night was a really good example of that. Once we started really playing in the second half, the ball was flying around and we ended up with 30 assists. It was a beautiful offensive night in that second half at least. Q. How much did you enjoy the live ball turnovers in the first half, and were they trying to do too much? What was the cause in your mind from what you saw? STEVE KERR: I just didn't feel we had the level of focus, and that's what we talked about at halftime. Portland came out like we knew they would, with a lot of energy and rage, and they wanted to get back into the game or into the series, so they needed to come after us, and they did, and I thought they played with more of an edge, and we were a little careless with the ball. Q. Following up on Kevin and DeMarcus, how difficult probably more from DeMarcus's perspective is it going to be if he can play to plug him back in and reintegrate him into what you guys have been doing? STEVE KERR: Well, I think the great thing about all these guys is they just want to win. Whatever that takes, whatever that means, depending on the match-ups, depending on how the game is going. It's the Playoffs, so we'll just do whatever we have to do to win, and DeMarcus has helped us win a lot of games this year, and he can absolutely help us. You know, Kevin is Kevin, best player in the Playoffs until he got hurt for sure. So these guys are immensely talented players, it's just up to us as a coaching staff to sort through the issues, the injuries, the match-ups and try to make it all work. But I know they're all committed to the same goal. I'm confident it'll work. Q. Is Steph's finger a lot better? STEVE KERR: Yeah, I think so. I think so. Q. Do you have any favorite memory of a road win, some obstacle you guys conquered away from home in a tough environment this year? STEVE KERR: This year? Well, the Houston Game 6 was a prime example of overcoming Kevin's absence and relying on everybody. There's been a lot of those wins over the years. That's why this team has confidence no matter where they go. Oklahoma City Game 6 a few years ago, our first title in '15 winning Game 6 on the road in Cleveland. You know, those are all games that our guys can rely on and remind themselves of because they've been in the toughest of situations, and they have come through over and over again. So that's why last night, as difficult as it was, it didn't surprise me because I kind of expect our guys to respond the way they did. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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