NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 8, 2022

Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors

Game 3: Pregame

Q. You've won a road game in 26 straight series. What do you think it is about this core group and then yourself that has allowed you to have so much success in really tough road environments?

STEVE KERR: We've had great talent, and we've had great players. As they've gained playoff experience over the years, they've found a formula, and they believe in themselves. There's a lot of grit to the group.

That's what it takes to win on the road, and our guys have that.

Q. I was hoping to get the updated statuses on Andre, Gary and Otto.

STEVE KERR: They're all good to go.

Q. I have this Associated Press story in front of me that the 2024 Olympic organizers are thinking about moving most of the basketball tournament way outside of Paris, 130 miles, I think it's farther away than the 2020 tournament was from Tokyo. I'm just wondering if you've weighed in on this or USA Basketball has weighed in on this, and just how having most of the tournament that far out of the city, how that impacts the team and just the experience?

STEVE KERR: It's the first I've heard of it. Yeah, I don't really have a reaction until I know more about it.

Q. There's a picture going around on Twitter about the basket height being off or something. Have you heard about that or seen it?

STEVE KERR: Tonight? It's a good thing the game starts at midnight. We'll have plenty of time to fix it. [Laughter.] I assume they're fixing it then, right?

Q. Yeah, they're fixing it now, but I didn't know if you heard anything as you were walking in.

STEVE KERR: No, it happens every once in a while. Players have a really sharp eye for that. Players can tell. I imagine somebody went out there, looked at it, didn't look right. So as long as they take care of it, then everything is good.

Q. With the turnovers you forced in Game 2, was that sort of an adjustment to something you saw in Game 1, anything you did specifically to try to ramp up the pressure on them, speed them up?

STEVE KERR: Nothing that we saw. It was just our own need to play a lot harder and more aggressively defensively, and we did that. That's what we're expecting from them tonight. So it'll be very important for us to be strong with the ball.

Q. You've told the Bogut-Iggy story a million times about the subs in 2015, but I just wonder because it's the Finals, how much shorter is the leash on trying something radical and different, even though you've game planned it and thought about it and argued about it and thought that it might work?

STEVE KERR: I think every series is unique, and a coaching staff's job is to figure out the best way to win, the best adjustment to make, but every opponent is different. I don't really look at it as in the Finals you have a longer leash or a shorter leash. I think it's just whatever you've got to do, you just do.

Q. You just kind of made a joke about the start time tonight, but what does a 9:00 p.m. tip do to your guys' preparation and the sequence of your day?

STEVE KERR: It's just a long day. It's a long day. We've been through it. This has been the pattern for years with ratings and everything. East Coast start times are tough. But make sure you have a shootaround and get out of the hotel and then it's a long, long wait from there.

Q. We had Game 1 where the Celtics got hot. Game 2 you guys got hot. As a guy who was a shooter, can you explain the phenomenon of that contagious shooting where everybody gets going or everybody is kind of cold at the same time.

STEVE KERR: Yeah, that's kind of the beauty of the game. It's a five-man game and players have to work together, and when there's a rhythm and a flow to the game and a group gets going, there's a real feeling, a real beauty to it. It's not easy to do in the Playoffs when you're playing the best defensive teams and the game is at its most physical. But at the same time, your opponent brings out the best in you. When you play the best, it forces you to be your best, and I think we've seen stretches in the first two games where both teams have really been playing at a high level, and that's the whole idea -- competition, two teams bringing the best out in one another.