NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: LAKERS vs WARRIORS

May 4, 2023

Steve Kerr

Media Conference

Golden State Warriors 127, Los Angeles Lakers 100

Q. -- what happened those two quarters?

STEVE KERR: I thought we just played simple basketball, kept our turnovers down, moved the ball. Our guys were playing with a lot of force, a lot of aggressiveness but making good decisions within that aggression, and that's the key, can you find that balance. Can you play with pace and confidence and yet make really simple decisions, hit singles, and just move the ball.

I thought Steph was brilliant. In the first half he wasn't really going like offensively but he was just running our team, and Klay got it going. Our defense was, you know, kind of fueling our offense, and we connected the game really well.

Q. Obviously Klay Thompson was spectacular tonight but JaMychal Green, he seemed to have made adjustments from Game 1 to Game 2, 15 points, 12 minutes, 50 percent from three, seemed that he helped spacing on the floor. What would you say about the fact that you decided to go with him in the starting lineup and later and how much he helped you guys tonight?

STEVE KERR: Well, No. 1, I'm just proud of JaMych. It's been a tough year for him, for a lot of reasons. He missed some time with a few different ailments, and when he was healthy, he was out of the rotation. I didn't play him a whole lot, and he just stayed ready, and he took advantage of his opportunity. This seemed like a series for him just with the way the Lakers are playing us defensively, and I couldn't be happier for JaMych. He's really earned this by just staying positive and staying ready.

Q. What do you think of Draymond's defense, particularly on Anthony Davis, especially as you guys went to the small ball?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, Draymond was brilliant. This is the guy who we have to have. He's our engine and we decided to put him on Davis tonight from the start. I thought he got us off to a good start defensively just with his aggressiveness.

Q. We talked a lot about the free throw discrepancy in the last game where the Lakers took more than ten less and you took ten more; what did you see from your aggressiveness, assertiveness that you guys were focusing on after Game 1?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, we did a better job with defending without fouling and staying aggressive. I'm sitting here looking at the game won box score right here this. Says they outscored us 29-6 from the foul line to Raymond Ridder clearly did not put the right box score next to the podium, so, you know -- (laughter) do you have Game 2? Thank you. It's good to have someone competent who can get the right box score next to me. Thank you. (Laughter).

Q. You have often referred to Klay's 37-point quarter as a religious experience, when he goes up and hops around like Game 6 Klay. What is that kind of experience like?

STEVE KERR: Well, that's the best version of Klay, when he's really going offensively, but he's taking great shots. That's what I liked about tonight. I just thought we got really good shots. 21-for-42 from three. Obviously a great percentage, but I think the percentage was a reflection of the clean looks we were getting; the fact that the guys weren't forcing anything. The ball was moving. They were just moving it to the open guy. And Klay obviously can get really hot, really fast, and it's more likely to happen when we are moving the ball like we did tonight.

Q. To clarify, could Looney have started is he okay to start? Could you take us more inside the decision?

STEVE KERR: What happened was literally two hours before game time, Loon came down pretty ill, and so I talked to Rick Celebrini, and he said that Loon probably won't be able to play more than 20 minutes or so, given his illness.

It's tough to play a guy 20 minutes when you start him, because then he ends up sitting forever and there's kind of some awkward lengthy periods on the bench and it's hard to find a rhythm: We decided to bring him off the bench and that would help his ^ rhythm a little bit more we could limit his minutes. We knew we were going to play JaMych, anyway, like we did in Game 1, so we decided to start JaMychal and get the floor spacing that he offers, and JaMych was great. He knocked down some threes, and he's aggressive and athletic, and obviously played a great game.

Q. Following up on Draymond, after Game 1, he said that he was disgusted with the way he played. Did you sense a difference in energy tonight with him especially the way he was able to permeate to the rest of the team?

STEVE KERR: Yes, for sure. Any time we lose and Draymond has a game that was disappointing for him and he doesn't think he played his best, you know how he's going to respond. He's the ultimate competitor and he came out tonight, and he was aggressive from the beginning. I loved his game at both ends. He rebounded. He defended. He got the ball moving. So Draymond was brilliant.

Q. Another by-product of Klay's big night, you got to rest everybody in the fourth quarter. You know the series is every other day. How big is that just being able to rest your veterans?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, we didn't play anybody more than -- I think Klay played 31 minutes. That was tops on the team. It's good for us to not have anybody else over 30 and keep Klay at 31.

You know, given the nature of the game, they were able to do the same thing, resting their guys in the fourth. I think both teams should benefit from that going into Game 3.

Q. I think you started Klay on defense on d Anglo, was that correct?

STEVE KERR: Yes.

Q. Do you think that got him in the game? Sometimes you said that if you got Klay on somebody, it gets him mentally into the game.

STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, Klay is capable of guarding pretty much anybody, not centers, but one through four he can guard. He really likes guarding the ball. I think that's his best defensive attribute. So he did a nice job right away just getting into the ball and taking on that challenge of D'Lo. Everything seemed to click tonight and went our way.

But you never know how Game 3 is going to go. So we have to be ready for whatever comes our way.

Q. And just given their lineup, did you sense that Klay might be a guy to be able to spring loose in the series? They don't have an overwhelming amount of wing defenders over there.

STEVE KERR: I mean, Klay can always get going. It doesn't matter how many wing defenders the opponent has. Klay is always capable of getting loose.

I think the key, again, we had 38 assists. So the key for us tonight was getting the movement, getting the flow and just continuing to hit singles and not try to force anything.

So when we do that, Klay tends to get really clean looks, and that's what happened tonight.

Q. Last time you won a playoff game, Steph took 38 shots to score 50, and tonight he takes 12, and you got contributions up and down the lineup. Which one do you prefer more, like Steve Kerr, the coach: Do you like the length and numbers, warm and fuzzy, everybody is involved, or do you like 50?

STEVE KERR: I just like winning. Whatever it takes. I think that's the beauty of Steph is he's so unselfish; 12 assists tonight. He's willing to do whatever it takes to win.

I think he knew going into Game 7 in Sacramento that he had to do what he did. He doesn't have to take on that mentality every single night. Tonight he didn't. Got into the early foul trouble.

But just the way things were clicking, I think Steph was very content just being a more traditional point guard, and you know, 20 assists -- or 20 points and 12 assists, that's a pretty good line for a point guard.

Q. Going back to JaMychal. Can you explain more why he was the one you decided to put in the starting lineup, because I know in the past when you've gone small it's been with another guard like Jordan or Donte. Why was it JaMychal?

STEVE KERR: The Lakers of huge. They are a massive team. We felt like going into the game, we had to bring some size and physicality. When we heard about Loon, we thought about different option, starting smaller, but we decided on JaMych because we could still get the spacing with his three-point shooting ability, but we get a little more size and athleticism and some toughness, and we wanted to be more physical tonight, and he definitely brought that.

Q. Teams have been defending your bigs like this for years, really, Sacramento even in the first round was obviously giving you guys a bunch of space. Do they do it more extreme than other teams?

STEVE KERR: The Lakers? Yeah, they did that in the regular season, too. They basically, they will pick certain guys and just not guard them and just pack the paint. So that's -- and they are great. They are one of the best defensive teams in the league. They know what they are doing and they have a plan, and we have to counter that.

Q. Is part of that, like Draymond was just aggressive, straight-lining to the rim at times tonight. Was that part of it, like there just needs to be more emphasis on your bigs scoring?

STEVE KERR: Well, if we can get a little more spacing, then there's more lanes, more driving lanes for Draymond and for everybody else. I think that was the idea with JaMychal is just he's going to be out at the three-point line and you get a little more space, and Draymond was locked in from the beginning, wanted to be aggressive and had a little more room to attack.

Q. When Vanderbilt is guarding Steph, the angle of the screen seems like it doesn't work, especially when Steph is off the ball. Did you discuss this with your assistant coach to change these angles to have another --

STEVE KERR: When who is guarding Steph?

Q. Vanderbilt.

STEVE KERR: Yeah, they are doing a really go job with Vanderbilt and Schröder on Steph. They are both excellent defenders. They are kind of doing what we tried against Sacramento, to stay on top of the shooters, and it makes sense. You know, obviously our shooters between Steph and Klay and Jordan.

Are really point, so you try to take them off the three-point line and then it's our job to try to figure out ways to free them up so they can get to the freely, and that's kind of the chess match that is going on.