NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 12, 2022

Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors

Practice Day

Q. This seems like maybe the most emotional we've seen out of Andrew Wiggins. Usually he's pretty straightforward guy. But he's like staring down guys more, being more expressive on the court. How much do you feed off of that energy that he's providing?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, he's a very mild-mannered guy, but he's taken a leap in these playoffs in terms of his impact on the game defensively, on the glass. You saw it the other night, 16 rebounds. I think because the games are obviously so meaningful, there's more emotion from him and from everybody.

The biggest thing is he is a two-way player. You've got to have two-way guys to make it this far and to succeed. He has just grown by leaps and bounds over the last couple years. It's really fun to watch that growth.

Q. Your team talks about coming out and having to play with force and having to have the right energy. You did a better job with that in Game 2 and Game 4 than you did in the other games. As a coach, early in the game, what are the indicators that you look for to see that you're playing with that necessary force?

STEVE KERR: Boxing out is one of them. Ball pressure defensively. Rotations. You can just tell, are you a step early or a step late? I think that's pretty much a common theme throughout the playoffs and every matchup.

I mentioned watching the Miami/Boston series. It was almost like automatic, whichever team lost, came back and punched the other team in the mouth the next game, and it kept going back and forth.

I just think that, especially as you get deeper in the playoffs, teams are so evenly matched, and the games are physical and intense. Even the slightest edge in terms of that force and energy makes a big difference.

Q. Tomorrow is the three-year anniversary of your guys' elimination against Toronto and also of Klay's ACL injury. Wondering if you can just remember your emotions that night, not only about being eliminated but also the devastating injury and just the perspective, here we are, three years later and you've got a Game 5 on the same day?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, that seems like a long time ago. It was a really strange time for me because I obviously was just devastated for Klay coming on the heels of Kevin's injury. It just felt like we got wiped out just in back-to-back games, and we were already really emotionally tired at that point from the five-year run.

I also felt this immense pride in our guys' effort, and almost sending that series back to Toronto to a Game 7. So there were all these emotions, but the overriding factors were the injuries to Klay and Kevin. It was just devastating and really hard to see them suffering.

But yeah, that was a long time ago. Good to be back here.

Q. So you made a lineup change the other night. Did you see what you wanted out of Otto? And Looney seemed to dominate coming off bench. So is this something you stick with?

STEVE KERR: I'm not going to give that away. I don't like to talk about starting lineups before games.

So part of this series for us, and part of the whole playoffs, frankly, has been trying to figure out rotations. We didn't have our whole team together until Game 1 of the Denver series, and then Gary got hurt. Andre got hurt. So it feels like almost every series, we have had to search a little bit for combinations and for substitution patterns.

So I'll leave it at that. But yeah, it's very different from teams we had in the past where there might have been one decision to make -- are we going to play JaVale McGee or Zaza Pachulia, but kind of the core minutes, the big minutes were going to be played by the same guys.

This feels a little bit different this year. There's been a little bit more mixing and matching. Really proud of the group, everybody, for staying ready and staying prepared and not allowing that to sort of change and alterations from game to game to bother them.

Q. Through the course of the day-to-day with Steph, what jumps out at you about his conditioning that allows him to be in tiptop shape?

STEVE KERR: His routine, it's like a metronome. Every day, it's the exact same thing. He's in the training room, he's in the weight room, he's on the court. It's clockwork.

But there's also a sense of joy and energy within that work. He enjoys it so much. He loves the process. I think that's one of the things that ties all great athletes together, like talking about the superstar athletes, the Roger Federers of the world, the Steph Currys of the world. There's a routine that not only is super-disciplined but it's really enjoyed each day.

There's a passion that comes with it, and that's what sustains it over time. When you love something like those guys do, you work at it, you get better and you just keep going.

I might have told you this before, but we actually met Federer a few years ago in China when we played in Shanghai. He came and spoke to our locker room, and Draymond asked him, he said, "How have you been doing this for 20 years?"

And his answer was just simple, yet profound. He said, "I love my daily ritual." He said, "I get up, make my kids breakfast, drop them off at school, go train and I've figured out the right training methods to keep me in the best position at my age. I love competing." He said, "But every single day, I put my head on the pillow at the end of the day and think, man, what a great day."

So I think of Steph a lot when I think of that story from Roger Federer. Very, very similar just sort of zest for life and just joy for the process.

Q. I know you don't want to talk about the specifics of Mike Brown and Kenny Atkinson leaving, but has there been any worry, sort of distraction on the staff leading up to these huge games coming up? And secondly, knowing you have coaches vacancies and knowing you have coaches who always get promoted, do you think it's going to be, not easy, but you're going to have tons of answers to fill those spots with guys applying?

STEVE KERR: Honestly, the answer is we've barely given it any thought just because of business at hand. We know that in a week or so, we can get to all that.

I won't comment on anything until the teams involved are going to make comments. So I guess we can have that discussion after the series is over.

Q. Has there been a disturbance to the process of putting game plans together?

STEVE KERR: No, no, the guys -- we're in the Finals, so everybody is just locked in. We'll deal with that when we get to it.

Q. How well do you know Brad Stevens, if at all, or a relationship that may exist? And he did the opposite of you, coaching to the front office. What lifestyle differences are there between the two jobs? What lifestyles specifically might be more palatable than the other?

STEVE KERR: I actually know Brad pretty well. We connected when I was in broadcasting and he was at Butler. We had lunch. He wanted to pick my brain about the NBA. I wanted to pick his brain about coaching. I was thinking about getting into coaching. I had done a couple of Butler games for CBS.

And so we've built a relationship over the years, just great respect for him. He was an amazing coach, and I think he's done a phenomenal job as GM. The moves he made this year, adding Horford and Derrick White, brilliant.

So yeah, he's somebody I think who has figured out what he wants at this stage in his life. That's what we all have to figure out in this business. I was able to hold off on coaching until my kids were pretty much done with high school, and that's the way I wanted it. And I think he was sort of the opposite. While he was coaching, his kids were pretty young. I know he's got a lot more time with them now, which is important for him.

You just have to figure out your own existence and what you want within that, and I think he's done a good job of that.

Q. When you look at video of the previous games, how do you feel about the quality of shots you guys were getting, especially in the halfcourt?

STEVE KERR: A lot of good ones and some bad ones. That's kind of what we spend when we go through our offensive stuff and our adjustments. We're trying to create more good ones.

But we had a lot of good looks the other night. I saw the stat -- I can't remember what it was, but on our uncontested threes, we actually didn't shoot the ball that well, We got a lot of them, and that was a good sign.

But there are some things we can do better, for sure, to try to create open looks.

Q. I know Draymond doesn't typically need any motivating necessarily, but have you challenged him in any way ahead of this next game?

STEVE KERR: Nope. Draymond is Draymond. He's going to bring it every night. I think the thing that maybe got lost the other night is how good he was down the stretch. He ends up in the game with four steals. He was brilliant defensively. He did what we needed to do to win the game.

Everybody is locked in on his scoring. Scoring has always been kind of the last thing that we need from him. We need his defense, his energy, his force, his competitiveness. Down the stretch of the game, he made huge plays at both ends.

Q. On the offensive end with him, this is obviously a difficult matchup -- the shot blocking, the length, how they are playing him. What ideally do you need from him offensively, better?

STEVE KERR: Well, there are some details. Things that we've seen on tape that we feel like we can do. And obviously not going to say them here, but I think there's an awareness and a respect for their defense, just like Memphis, with all the shot-blocking Memphis had.

There's a similar theme in that we can't play in a crowd, and as a five-man unit, we have to figure out what that means. How do we create spacing and where do we need to be, where does each guy need to be in order to thwart some of that shot-blocking and congestion in the paint.