NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: LAKERS vs WARRIORS

May 2, 2023

Steve Kerr

Media Conference

Los Angeles Lakers 117, Golden State Warriors 112

Q. It was said in pregame that you had advantage because of rhythm but the quick turnaround, do you think that took a toll on your guys?

STEVE KERR: No, I thought we were the fresher team down the stretch. You saw the run we made. They decided to play their guys in the fourth quarter, and I understood that decision. They have had more rest and were thinking, push the envelope -- played their starters and I thought in the last four minutes we were the team with energy. Just couldn't quite get over the hump and our guys made an incredible come back to tie it and they made a couple plays at the end.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed like AD down in the paint was a deterrent. Obviously he's a run protector but he especially down the stretch seemed to have discouraged some of the players down there, especially altering their shots a little bit, and of course they weren't knocking those down. What is the remedy to figure out, just camping out in the paint?

STEVE KERR: You always have to feel the game, the first game of the series is a feel-out game. You can go through tape and you can talk about strategy but you have to feel the game and the personnel. I thought AD had a great game. Obviously he dominated and he got blocked four shots and altered some others.

That's what this team has been doing now for the last few months. They have been one of the best defensive teams in the league for a reason and he's a huge part of that. So he had a great game, and we'll watch the tape and we'll see where we can find better ways to attack.

Q. The free throw discrepancy is quite large. How do you guys do about remedying that and trying to get to the line?

STEVE KERR: I thought we commanded some fouls that we didn't need to, especially in the first half, we had I think three where you know, on a jumped shot, I think we hit Davis, fadeaway, 17 footer, we fouled a couple times when they were in bounds and we didn't need to. They are going to shoot more free throws than we are, I think they were No. 1 in the league and we were the last or next to last. So not a surprise but that is a huge disparity and we need to bring that down.

Q. You referenced running -- after you went small what triggered that decision to go to that small lineup and what did you like from it?

STEVE KERR: We needed to score. We were down ten. A lot of times we make the decision, the lineup decision based on time and score, and time and score dictated that we needed that spacing, and so we went with that smaller lineup.

They made a great push and we got some big plays from a lot of guys, Wiggs' rebounding down the stretch, and obviously the shooting, Steph, he had a couple incredible threes and Jordan Klay is a big one. We are right there. We made a great fight and just couldn't get over the hump, but we'll be ready for Game 2.

Q. Were you okay with that 20-footer that Jordan took? Was Steph getting doubled-teamed and what did you think of Jordan's game overall?

STEVE KERR: I thought Jordan did a really good job. I have the time-out stuff, I saw them double-teaming Steph at halfcourt, so I knew somebody was going to be wide open if we could just get the ball out and Steph did a great job. He got the ball out of the trap and Jordan was wide open, and pretty good look, and you know, that's a shot he can hit.

So really, happy with that possession, and again, Jordan hit his six threes already. So it's a great shot for us.

Q. Exactly half of your team's shots tonight were three-point attempts -- is it tough because of their interior defense?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, with Davis in the paint, you're not going to get anything easy at the rim. So you still have to try to attack. You can't just play around the three-point line the whole game. But a big part of our offense is trying to get the ball into the paint, move it out, and our guys did a pretty good job of that.

They were trying to take away our threes the whole game, the top blocking, and really putting pressure on our perimeter guys, and I thought our guys did a really good job of finding openings and getting each other some good shots.

Q. Defensively, these guys are so much different from Sacramento. The 54 paint points tonight, do you think you could have leaned more into daring them too beat you from the outside?

STEVE KERR: Again, I think when you start the series, you really have to go through a game to really feel it and watch the tape and figure out what possible adjustments -- Davis made a lot of mid-range shots. I'm not sure how many but you know, those are shots that we have to be willing to give up, you know, because if we can keep them from the rim, and they are taking some challenged two-point shots, I think those are shots you've got to live with.

But again, I feel like we have to really look at the tape and see where we can get better and how we might be able to counter some of the things they did.

Q. Steph having longer rest -- the way you've been doing it in the third quarter, you weren't going to play him 40, 42, 43 just to start the series?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, I think we were hanging in there. I think he needed a little bit of rest at that time, and then I felt like I was probably going to play him the whole fourth. So it just felt like the right decision at the time.

Q. You played JaMychal Green. What did you like from him? What did you want to get from him and what did he give you?

STEVE KERR: We are playing a big, strong team and JaMychal gives us some size on the front lines, some rebounding and he can hit the three. He knocked down a couple threes for us which is one way to loosen up their defense a little bit, so I liked JaMychal's minutes. He did a nice job out there.

And you know, I felt like coming in, we needed another big in this series and that we weren't just going to play Draymond. I thought we needed another guy and JaMych filled that role well.