NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 5, 2022

Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors

Game 2: Pregame

STEVE KERR: Before I start I want to congratulate Mike Fratello for winning the 2022 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Mike and I worked together in broadcasting for many years, and he's a great friend and thrilled for him. Great coach. He's contributed so much to the game, and we've had a great friendship over the years. So really happy for Mike, and I know he'll be in here at some point, but I wanted to congratulate him before we got started today.

Q. How is Andre feeling and what is behind the decision to shut him down tonight?

STEVE KERR: His knee swelled up on him yesterday afternoon and so yeah, he'll be out tonight and day-to-day.

Q. I'll try not to ask you specific strategy questions but Steph has mentioned, there are six games left and everything should be on the table and do whatever necessary. When you have played Steph extra minutes, which you have done in some series, do you notice anything, like some games he can do it, four games he can do it, anything like that?

STEVE KERR: No, I think in general, when we've gotten to the Finals, we've bumped up his minutes a little bit. Probably around 40. We were on pace, I think, for him to play 40 the other night and I took him out at the last minute. So I think he ended up about 39.

So ideally, he could get a couple of rests each half, and I think that's helpful. But you know, we've got to do whatever we've got to do to win. We'll see how the game goes.

Q. What's been your approach with managing the highs and lows of the playoffs in between games, and how does that compare to the other years?

STEVE KERR: It's the same. The approach is always the same. You treat the game with the respect it deserves but also the perspective. I think I was lucky enough to play for Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. They both were masters at finding that balance.

We want to come in here every day and work as hard as we can and win as many games as we can and win a championship if possible. But with full awareness that there's a lot more important stuff going on in the world.

So if you can achieve that balance and your players can find that balance, then that's when you're at your best. You can't be so tied up like, oh, my God, this is the most important thing that will ever happen to me in my life and I've got to play well. You start going in with that attitude, it's easy to get tight.

And at the same time, you can't be too loose. You've got to be locked in and finding that sweet spot is really important.

Q. When you think of Mike Fratello as you know him, his teams, his coaching style, even maybe idiosyncrasies working with him as a broadcast partner, anything pop to mind?

STEVE KERR: I think the perm in the '80s was the first thing.

Mike has a great sense of humor, so working with him in the booth, he was, you know, always in a jovial manner. Just willing to laugh at himself, laugh at Marv, laugh at me. We always had a really good time together. As a coach, incredibly well organized and thoughtful and it showed in his broadcast, just the way he explained the game and the nuances of the game. He's very technical as a coach, like really well schooled defensively. His teams were always very disciplined.

I never played for him but working with him as a broadcast partner, you could see that great balance between humor and detail.

Q. When we're around you guys for open practice, it's pretty clear Gary can't get into the shooting drills, but you guys have said he can at least shoot a three, if needed. Is he on a pitch count, basically, I guess, out there? And if you put him in tonight, are you guys fine with him lining up an open three and shooting it?

STEVE KERR: I think I mentioned yesterday that I didn't feel comfortable in Game 1 playing him because it didn't appear that he was healthy enough to play. He was cleared to play, which meant there was an understanding with the training staff with Gary.

Special circumstances, we need one stop at the end of the game, at the end of a quarter, play him. But it's literally been a day-to-day thing, and he's made some improvement the last couple of days and I anticipate getting him out there tonight.

Q. It's probably not that long ago that we used to think of a big run in a game as like 15 to 5 and now we're seeing like 50 to 20s happen all the time and these huge discrepancies in quarters and other stuff. Is it just because of the threes or is there something else as a coach you can point to and say, this is why when the snowball starts rolling, it tends to get really, really big really, really fast?

STEVE KERR: I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about that. I get asked the question a lot.

I think it's the three and I think mainly it's the fact that many teams employ five players at a time who can shoot the three. And so in my mind, it's never been more difficult to defend in the NBA than today because of all that ground you have to cover. That's why everybody's after the 6-8 athletic guy with a 7-2 wingspan who can guard five positions and also shoot a three. That's the most coveted player out there these days, and if you can get a bunch of them, then you're in business. It's the easiest way to cover up -- to cover all that ground, to be able to play big, switchable lineups. We've had a lot of those here over the years, and it's been hugely impactful. That's what everybody around the league is trying to do.

Q. Steph said he lost sleep after Game 1, and if you don't feel like that, then you kind of don't care. I'm curious, how did that lost affect you personally, and what did you do the last couple of days to recalibrate heading into tonight?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, I didn't sleep very well either. I never sleep well after a game, anyway, but particularly a game like that where you feel like you had a chance to kind of put it away, and you let it slip.

But the last couple of days, we've just been watching the tape over and over again and reevaluating things and preparing for Game 2. So pretty simple.

Q. What are your thoughts on the decision to go with the orange shirt [End Gun Violence] today?

STEVE KERR: Well, both teams are wearing the shirts. I think we feel very strongly as a league that it's time for people to take notice and to take part in what should be a nationwide effort to limit the gun violence that's out there. And there are ways to limit it. There are proven laws that are waiting to be passed, whether it's background checks or what have you. There are things we can do that would not violate people's Second Amendment rights, but would save lives. The idea behind wearing the shirts for both teams is to make people aware that they can contribute to different gun safety, gun violence prevention groups.

The biggest thing I think is to vote. What I understand is that a lot of races, congressional races that are out there, despite the fact that the majority of people in this country want gun safety measures put in place, a lot of those races are decided by people who aren't so much for any kind of gun safety measures. And so people got to vote, and if you feel strongly about saving lives and possibly even someone in your own family, get out and vote. That's the only way to convince the people we need to convince to start implementing gun safety regulation prevention laws, things that we can do to help.

Q. I'm not sure, did you see Pop yesterday go to that gathering in support of the Uvalde victims and talk about gun violence? I was wondering what you thought about that, and is that maybe the next thing that you and Pop and other people like that are going to have to try to do, besides just talking about the message and wearing the shirts, but having to try to do even more, what would that be?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, that's a good question, and I think we're all kind of trying to figure that out now. Some of it is working with the groups that are out there that know what they are doing. You know, whether it's Brady or Giffords or March For Our Lives or LIVE FREE here in Oakland. They all do great work. So people can get involved, either donating or being active.

I did see Pop's speech. It was fantastic. Captured a lot of people's anger that was out there.

Again, comes down to convincing politicians that things like background checks are really crucial, and things that don't impact people's Second Amendment rights. We know there are things that can work and we have to convince people that those things are important enough to go to the ballot box and cast a vote.

Q. I hate to transition back to a question about tonight's game but this is the first time you're in a 1-0 hole in the postseason and Klay Thompson talked yesterday about playing with desperation in that kind of sense. What do you think the mindset of the team is going into tonight's game, and do you like that they are embracing that desperation?

STEVE KERR: Of course. I mean, that's what the playoffs are about. And you feel that in the playoffs all the time. It doesn't have to be down 1-0. We felt it earlier in the Memphis series. We lost a game by 40 points. You'd better believe there was a sense of desperation.

But that's what brings the best out of you. You've got to have that edge about you. Watching Game 1, I thought we had our moments but there were too many times in the game where we had breakdowns. It didn't feel like we were locked in and on it. So part of being down in a series is responding appropriately with your physicality and your focus and your edge, and making sure you're really competing and doing your job, and that's what we're going to try to do tonight.