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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

May 30, 2019

Steve Kerr

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 1

Toronto - 118, Golden State - 109

Q. There were a lot of times throughout the game that it looked like you guys were playing in mud.
STEVE KERR: Playing in mud?

Q. Yeah. What do you think contributed to the overall execution?
STEVE KERR: Well, their defense was great and it wasn't our best night, but we just got outplayed, so simple as that. Move on to the next one.

Q. How is Andre doing?
STEVE KERR: I think he's doing okay, but we'll have an update tomorrow.

Q. What in particular made Siakam and Gasol so effective against you guys tonight?
STEVE KERR: Well, Siakam was brilliant, he was hitting shots from everywhere. He hit four threes. He had been struggling from the three-point line in the last couple series, so he got that to go and I think -- actually I'm wrong on that, he had two threes. But Gasol we left a couple times early in the game and didn't rotate, we just gave him a couple of dare shots and he knocked them down.

So there's going to be some openings. Those guys made their plays, made their shots. The biggest thing for me was our transition defense was just awful and that's the game, that's the No. 1 priority when you play Toronto, you have to take care of their transition and we gave up 24 fast-break points, we turned it over 17 times. So that's the game, really. The other stuff guys are going to make shots, miss shots, they're going to have good games, they're going to have bad games, but it's kind of the key points that you can take care of that are the most important, and we didn't take care of that transition.

Q. I know you guys have been through long breaks before and with all credit to the Raptors defense, of course, did you feel like rust was in any way a factor for you guys tonight, not playing for a week and a half?
STEVE KERR: It doesn't matter one way or the other. So if we had won, then the story would have been that we were well rested. So but we lost, so we were rusty. So it doesn't matter.

Q. What did you think of DeMarcus and his first game back? And is there a possibility you're thinking about maybe increasing his playing time moving forward?
STEVE KERR: I thought DeMarcus did a really nice job, made some great passes, we could run some offense through him. It's so early in the process for him. He played eight minutes and I thought his minutes were good, but it's a huge adjustment to play after a six-week, seven-week absence, especially at this level in the NBA Finals against a team that is pretty fast already.

So I thought he did really well and we'll look at the tape, and we'll see what we decide to do with his role going forward.

Q. You play against these guys, you know how long and athletic were they are but was it a little bit of a shock to the system for your guys offensively to play against that kind of length? And do you think maybe you figured some things out or found some more space as the game went on?
STEVE KERR: Well, I think that the biggest thing coming in is we really didn't feel like we knew this team very well. Obviously we only play them two times a year, and this year's team is different with Kawhi, and the two meetings that we had with them a lot of guys were missing, including Kawhi in Oakland. He didn't play. And then I think Steph missed the game up here. Other guys were missing. So it's going to be really good for us to have a game on tape where we can really pick it apart and see what we can do better.

I thought we made a good effort in the second half, got back in the game. Our guys did some good things, but made too many mistakes to actually go ahead and win the game.

Q. Kind of jumping off that question, what problems does Toronto's defense pose that you haven't seen in this post-season run and even in the last four Finals runs that you've been on?
STEVE KERR: I don't know that I can sit here and compare them to every playoff team we have played, but they're very long and athletic, they're tough, they get after you and they play well together. They got a lot of versatility. I think they're actually a lot like our team, they can switch and guard different positions and that sort of thing.

So I thought they did a really good job. They made some big shots. Danny Green's three at the end of the half contested right in front of their bench was a big one. Siakam made a three out top right down the stretch. So the game went from I think two or four to 10 at the end of the half, and then they made a couple other big ones in the second half. So give them credit, I thought they played a great game, they deserved to win and we got to play better if we're going to beat them.

Q. Early on when they were kind of -- they were not giving Klay any open looks and they were really sort of making life difficult for Steph, how much does say a Kevin Durant floater or a Kevin Durant spot-up jumper change the offensive dynamic at that point for you guys?
STEVE KERR: Again, I'll go back to my earlier answer, it doesn't matter until he's out there. So if he's out there, he's pretty good, but if he's not out there we play with the guys we have and we have got enough. We have won the last, whatever, six games without him, five, six games. So we have enough, but you play with the guys who are healthy and you go. So we'll see what happens.

Q. To that point about having enough, you went I think 11 or 12 deep pretty early in the game, some of those lineups in the beginning of the second quarter, beginning of fourth quarter kind of fits and starts maybe because of DeMarcus coming back, what did you see out of your depth today? Do you feel confident that this is another series where you can and will need to play a lot of guys?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, our bench was great. Jonas hit a couple threes. Quinn Cook came in, did a nice job, and the way we have played our bench, we have, since Kevin and DeMarcus have been out, we play a lot of guys, but they don't play big minutes. So we're trying to find combinations, we're trying to find guys who can step out on the floor for a few minutes, make a shot, make a play, and I thought the bench did a fantastic job tonight. They were really good, they kept us in the game.

But again, give credit to Toronto, they played a great game, they made a lot of shots, difficult shots, and our transition defense and turnovers, that's stuff that's really hard to overcome, especially on the road. So we got to get better with that.

Thanks, everybody.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Steve.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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