NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAVERICKS VS. WARRIORS

May 20, 2022

Jason Kidd

Dallas Mavericks

Game 2: Pregame

Q. Jason, there were some reports last night and this morning about Luka perhaps being sick; can you address those?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, he's fine. To my knowledge, he was good this morning. He was good this afternoon. I don't know if he was sick or not sick, but I think he's doing fine.

Q. You said yesterday that you were happy with the shots you got. I wondered in terms of do you think that you got enough rim attacks? You got a lot of open threes, but do you think you got to the rim often enough?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, we didn't get to the rim enough. They did a great job of protecting the paint, and so we have to be aggressive. But we did get great looks in that first half. They just didn't go down. If we get those same looks here in two halves, hopefully we can make some. If we can make some, then that puts us in a better seat.

Q. By and large, the rebounding for you guys has not been particularly sharp in the Playoffs. Why has that been such a constant problem?

JASON KIDD: Small. Small ball.

When you say the overall Playoffs, we did start off without Luka, who was our best rebounder. But just being small. Sometimes we'll give up the rebound to take advantage of the offensive side, but when we do win, we rebound the ball, and we have to do a better job of that. We didn't rebound the ball well here in Game 1.

Q. You've been with Luka for a full season and some Playoffs now; what sense do you get about how he approaches things after he's had a rough game as he had the other night? Does he get quiet? Is he relaxed? What's his demeanor in the days that follow? What's your read of him?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, I think he stays in character. He doesn't get down. He doesn't go too low, doesn't go too high. He just understands it was one game. He pushes forward.

I would say not knowing the exact number or percentage that the bounce-back game normally he plays at a high level and he puts his team in a position to win. Not playing to his standards in Game 1, I would believe that he's going to come back and have a better Game 2.

Q. Jason, in a series like this that y'all expect to take several, several games, what's the value of time when it comes to Luka? He said there was a point in the Charlotte game, that there's just different defenses constantly. Does the value of time give him the ability to see all the defensive possibilities and be able to break those down as the series go, or are there stuff possibilities that can could keep him off balance for a while, if that makes sense?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, the Warriors are great at not having to call a timeout to change their defense. But Luka is a different beast. Once he sees it once, he understands what he has to do.

The box-and-one, the zone didn't really affect him. He just didn't make shots.

We had turnovers. That's the other thing. We've got to take care of the ball, because the Warriors, once you turn the ball over, they're gone, and a lot of times it's an open three. Steph made a couple lay-ups there with the turnovers. But they took advantage of our turnovers and us not getting back in transition. But for Luka, he's great at understanding what they're trying to do, and he can move the pieces on the go. He's had success this season doing that.

Q. When you look at the first game and obviously the ball movement and the player movement that the Warriors are known for, does it take a while to get adjusted to that given the way that they like to move with and without the basketball and what the speed of the game looks like for them on the offensive end, and how does that look adjust going into Game 2 tonight?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, well, we got to see it up close in Game 1. Steph is the best conditioned athlete in this game, and he never stops moving. Klay is right there with him. They understand, they've played together for a while. When you look at Draymond as a quarterback. So, they're constantly moving. This is a different situation than Utah or Phoenix, and we have to make those adjustments to their speed offensively.

But defensively we've got to put a little bit more pressure and a little bit more into the game if we want any chance of winning.