NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: WARRIORS VS GRIZZLIES

May 9, 2022

Steven Adams

Kyle Anderson

Memphis Grizzlies

Game 4: Postgame

Warriors 101, Grizzlies 98

STEVEN ADAMS: I thought we did a lot of good things leading up to it. Really locked in, doing all the small things, small details, the effort was there. Just a couple plays, we could have had it a different way, it could have been a different ballgame.

Yeah, it's not too complicated the fixes, though, so it's actually -- for what it is, it's actually pretty reassuring. We could easily make these simple fixes, and yeah, get ready for the next game.

Q. Kyle, what do you think was the difference there in the last minute of the game?

KYLE ANDERSON: They made shots. They got to the line. We didn't. That's the name of the game. You've got to play 48 minutes well against this kind of team. They're really good, obviously. I think we played -- I think we played all 48 minutes hard and well. We just didn't make shots at the end; they made shots at the end. Simple as that.

Q. Steven, you mentioned that there's some easy fixes. What are those in your mind?

STEVEN ADAMS: I can't disclose that information, mate. Keep it under wraps. But it's not like a complicated thing. Like it's not -- it's not something that we can't do; put it that way. You know what I'm saying? I know I gave you nothing, but make those words work, all right, mate?

Q. Steven, defensively you guys seemed to be flying around the perimeter pretty well as a unit. What did you see was working on those plays when you were kind of deterring their threes and disrupting their jump shots?

STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, the name of the game as far as the whole year, it's scramble. Just second effort, multiple effort, third, fourth, fifth, just constantly scrambling and covering for each other. Yeah, that's what it looks like, dude. We've been doing it all year, just flying out, try and discourage all the threes and whatnot or make it a tough three at least. Yeah, that's just what we do, man.

Q. Kyle, emotionally how do you kind of unpack a loss like this where you did so many things well but then in the last 45 seconds, last minute it slips away? How do you deal with that and not let it run into Game 5?

KYLE ANDERSON: Yeah, it's tough. You know, it's hard. I felt we should have walked away with the win, but you can't hang your head for too long. I think we'll get together and watch some film tomorrow, figure out where we've got to be better, and try to go win a game on -- what is it, Monday or Wednesday?

Yeah, it's obviously tough, man, especially against a team like that where we played hard and we did our job and we just didn't come out with the win. It's tough.

Q. Going down 3-1 does make it difficult going back home to Memphis in front of the fans there. Your feelings about Game 5 at home?

KYLE ANDERSON: Yeah, we're excited to get back in front of our fans. It's a big game for us. We're going to go out there and fight, try to take it one game at a time, take it one day at a time, and just be ready to go. I know our fans are going to have our back and be great for us.

STEVEN ADAMS: One of those things you don't pay attention to the series. Whether you're up 3-1, down 3-1, it doesn't matter. It has to be game by game. Nothing changes in terms of the mindset for us.

Obviously we went out there tonight, did our best, and next time we're going to do exactly the same, try like hell, and yeah, hopefully it goes our way, man. Do everything we can.

Q. Steven, you're a big guy; I'm curious if you could just kind of speak --

STEVEN ADAMS: What do you mean by big, mate?

Q. You're very large.

STEVEN ADAMS: Are you saying I'm fit?

Q. No, never.

STEVEN ADAMS: Wanker, watch yourself.

Q. With Jaren specifically, he covers so much ground on so many possessions where he'll contest on the perimeter, come back to the paint, contest there. What makes him so good at being able to cover that much ground at his size and alter all these different kinds of shots?

STEVEN ADAMS: He does his work early. A lot of those things, right. For a big it's tough. If you react to -- if your reactions are too late then you won't do any of what you just said. Name of the game, especially for him, is anticipating, try and anticipate the play, where the breakdown might happen, what you can see in terms of their body language, the offensive player's body language, what it looks like. I think he's doing a really good job at reading those shorts of things and coming over early and positioning himself correctly and stuff like this. He's a good lad.

Q. Of course you didn't have Ja out there tonight but you played without him for a bunch of games this year. Was it like getting the band back together again with you back in the lineup and Tyus was at the point and what was it like not having Ja out there?

STEVEN ADAMS: What was it like getting the band back together?

Q. All you guys had played together when Ja was out for 25 games, I think, and you had a really good record.

STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, the coaching staff and Taylor has done a really good job with the system. We've seen it throughout the years, just you can insert players, take players out, and the system itself is very efficient, so it's not -- obviously it's a big piece, Ja is a big piece. But again, the players are ready. They're not doing something that they're not used to, that they're uncomfortable doing. Everyone is doing what they want to do and comfortable doing, covering for each other.

That's pretty much it, man. Everyone wants to win. We're hella competitors in there. We've been showing it all year, and nothing changes like that, brother.

KYLE ANDERSON: Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one. Whoever is out there, we don't really think about our record with or without Ja or who's in the lineup. I think we're all professionals. We all care for each other.

Whatever the five that goes out there, we trust the coaching staff, whoever the five out there we cheer for, we want them to do well, and if our number is called we know our teammates have our back. That's not really anything we think about. Whoever goes out there, we have the utmost faith in, utmost confidence in, and we go out there and do what we're supposed to do.

Q. Kyle, a lot of times I see you being one of the vocal guys on the court. Throughout this game was there any message to Dillon Brooks when he was struggling shooting from the field?

KYLE ANDERSON: Keep shooting. We live and die with him taking and making shots. We have confidence in him that he's going to knock down shots. He's done it for us all year. You can't get upset at him when the ball doesn't go in for him because when it's going in for him we're a really good team. We all just let each other know to keep shooting; we want him to stay confident and keep being aggressive.

Q. Kyle, you mentioned how you guys missed shots down the stretch ultimately and that was the difference. Did you see anything happen offensively, like did you feel like you guys got bogged down at all? Did you like the shots you got and they just didn't go or how would you describe the last two, three minutes?

KYLE ANDERSON: I've really got to watch the film. It's all really a blur. But the guys that were out there put a lot of work in in the summertime, we put a lot of work in every day, so anybody that's out there ready to take and make the big shot, like I said, we've got confidence in them. Like I've got to watch the film. Maybe we could have got better looks, but we all trust each other, and whether it's Des, Tyus, Trip, me, Stevo, whoever it is, Dillon, we trust them to take and make the big shot.