Klay, Looney, DiVincenzo x Coach Kerr React To Warriors/T-Wolves | Feb 26, 2023

How much does it aid you those those moments where it's like they can't you know, get the ball in and all that like just as a coach. What does that do for you? Yeah. I mean, that's yeah, we've we've got control of the game, you know, we've we've lost a couple of those this year and you just don't want to, you know, see what's on the other side of the door. You know, you got to do like you got to you got to finish the deal and we had I don't know two or three turnovers and that stretch and I should have taken a timeout when we had the ball full court and we got a turnover. I think Lam was throwing it to clay and they got a little mixed up. I think clay cut the other way as Lam made the pass. I probably should have taken a timeout there and advanced it. But you know, we got the job done anyway. So that's a little bit nerve-wracking, but we finished. You guys, obviously expect to eventually get all your main guys back. kind of do these wins, these last two wins hold like kind of more outward importance than yeah. I mean, this is this is a huge win, not only for the standings, but for the confidence of the guys. That was a team win. I mean, everybody came in there and and competed and played well and and you know, we're down 10, I think in the fourth and to make that comeback against that team, you know that we're tied with in the standings. Just an enormous win and yeah, winning the other night. Obviously, they're all big right now, but but I like this one for the grit that we had to show to get it done. I was going to ask you as you go in the fourth quarter, you're down, then what do you think changed that? What and do you think it was the the greeniest? I was going to say that like just was it digging it out, the zone defense? What do you circle saying? Okay, this is what turned it. I thought our defense was much better, much more active. Dante was brilliant on that fourth. Clay got hot. We held him to 17. That's the big thing, you know, 31-17 fourth quarter. So we really won the game with our with our defense and then our ability to convert, you know, the other way after getting stops. Steve, you kind of touched on it, but Dante on both ends and even even winning that last jump ball, he just seems to have a knack for doing the right thing. He's a winner. I mean, you know, final four MVP at Villanova. I think he won two, didn't he? He won two championships there and another one in Milwaukee. I mean, he's been around winning his whole life and what I love about Dante is he just fills up the box score. You know, he's not, you know, just a shooter or playmaker or defender. Like he's everything. He just brings it every game. Huge energy, great competitive desire and relentless. Really fun to coach Dante. I think my question is similar to Slater's, but when you're playing without three starters, how heavy is the rope for everybody else to pick up? And what do you think about a win like this and the effort you guys are putting forward to move up in the States? In some ways it's, you know, I mean, I was a bench player my whole career. It's in some ways. It's kind of liberating when you get, you only have nine or ten guys and everyone knows they're going to play. You know, the all hands on deck cliches is a good one. You know, it's just just that group and you go out and you you know, you just swing away. You just you go for it. And that's I thought after the slow start our guys, you know, got got to a point where they just competed and didn't worry too much about the result. They just competed and made plays and eventually got got over the hump. We obviously talked a lot about Clay last game. But again, do you see any difference in him? Just his ability to kind of create? I mean, he's never been that kind of guy, but he is dribbling into shots. He is finding him should know his way through it. Is there a market improvement in how he's doing that? Yeah. Yeah, but there's also much more of a need for it. You know, if we if we have Steph out there, we're not going to do that as often, but you know, just getting him the ball with a live dribble and a high screen. That's it puts a lot of stress on the defense because of his shooting range. And so Clay, we're really relying heavily on him right now. Not just to catch and shoot, but to you know, play the pick and roll game and beat people off the dribble. Steve off of Clay. It really seemed like tonight. He was more vocal feeding off the crowd, encouraging the crowd a third game in four nights that he's been continuing to shoot the ball. Well, do you feel like you've seen maybe more growth from him as far as you know, being a leader and being put in a situation. He hasn't really been had to put him before. What have you seen from him as far as his emotion? Yeah, Clay is really stepping up on the leadership front. He's been more vocal. He's encouraging the guys. I think he recognizes that he is much needed in that in that role with all of our guys out. So he's done a great job with him. Steve, it's the third time this season. You guys have held the team to less than 20 points in the fourth quarter, less than 30% percent shooting. How do you model that? You know that sometimes shots go in and sometimes they don't. I mean, we gave up a wide open corner three to tie the game at the end and the shot didn't go in. So it's you know, it's a game that we we earned and we deserved and all we can do is look forward. We can't look back. We just have to look ahead to the next one. Keep competing and you know, see what happens. You talked about the grit that was required to win this game and that's something that you guys have kind of been searching for a lot this season. What do you think maybe tonight? I mean, what do you think needs to happen to have that appear more consistently? Just what we did tonight. Just you know, get out of our own heads and just compete together. And that's what I loved about the win. It was just everybody was just focused on winning. No hanging of the heads. Just go play. You went to zone like almost the whole fourth quarter. Maybe the entire fourth quarter. Was that a reaction to Nas Reed? What were you emphasizing there? And what do you think it did? We came into the game knowing we wanted to mix up our coverages and give them some different looks. So you know, I worked a couple times. So we stayed with it and you know, next game could be totally different. It's just you just try to search for something and find something and if you find it, you stay with it. You play your two two-way guys 25 and 21 minutes tonight. They're both kind of coming up towards their limit. What are the conversations like right now about, you know, your open 15th spot and also your realization of how much you've been needing those guys? Yeah. Well, that realization happened a long time ago, you know. So Lamb and Ty have been huge. They've helped us win a lot of games this year. Lamb does a whole lot of stuff that people don't recognize. You know, he is one of our best defenders in terms of coming over and rotating and understanding our coverages and hitting bodies, boxing out. He's a good passer, good three-point shooter. He hit the big one from the top of the key. He can play multiple positions. We played him as a small five. He and Kaminga have been a great combination this year. I think Lamb and Kaminga together opens up the game for Kaminga a little bit. yeah, Lamb is, he's been really important and Ty, you know, didn't shoot it well tonight, but four assists, three steals, no turnovers. That's kind of what Ty does. He's a very traditional point guard and and, you know, he's had an amazing shooting year too. I think he's 50, 40, 90, you know, on the year. Low volume, but the guy's just a basketball player. So, with our team this year, the makeup of the roster, the youth, the empty roster spot, Andre's absence, Ryan Rollins' surgery. We need the depth and so those guys are good players and they're helping us win games. Yeah, I mean, you know, ultimately that's Bob's decision. So, Bob and I will have a conversation about that. What recognition does Kavon deserve with 17 rebounds, seven of them O boards? I'm just getting tired of Raymond coming to me after every game saying that's the sixth consecutive game where Loon has had 13 or more rebounds and it's like, I know Raymond, I don't, I don't need that from you, but we've just come to expect it now. You know, he's just, this is, he's an elite rebounder and carved out a such a great role for himself and the reason he's a multi-time champion. I mean, he just gets it. He's a pro and he's a damn good player. Thank you. I'll tell you what can these games, obviously without Steph for a while, but now Steph, Wiggins and Raymond and you're getting wins out of them. What can that do for a team? It's huge for confidence. I mean, I go back to when was it? We've had a home stretch around the new year, around Christmas time. Same sort of thing. Guys, you know, start to build that chemistry, kind of the second unit, kind of the guys that are out in and out of the rotation. So then when those big dogs come back, we're clicking in the second unit. So it's not, you know, there's not that huge difference in gap like there was in the beginning of the season. How are you seeing Klay kind of take added control of the offense right now considering the guys that are out? I'm sorry, I blocked that. What did you say? How are you seeing Klay kind of take added control of the offense right now? Just being aggressive. I think he made some really good reads tonight too. Like we ran a couple plays where he came out and they jumped out. He hit Loon on the dive. I think those are the ones where that's huge because once he gets it going, he's shooting over two, three people and knocking it in. That's what we need. He made, I think three big ones down the stretch. So him just staying aggressive is the biggest thing that we need from him. Dante, what did you guys find or what did you drink before the fourth quarter that showed up that wasn't there at the start of the game? Heart. I didn't really like, honestly, like we stayed within, I think we stayed within 10 for a while and that third quarter anywhere from 9 to 12. I forget but we knew that that's a quick turnaround in the NBA. So we had to keep our heads up. We know that when we're up 9, we're up 12. The game's not over from other teams are going to keep fighting. So that was the message in the timeout. Just keep fighting. We're right there. We're in within striking distance and we came out and you know, we hit what was it four straight threes or layups and stuff like that. We made that run. They had to call two timeouts. I think once we change that everybody's kind of picked it up and their confidence picked it up. Their, their energy picked up and we closed out the game. And how much of a factor you think defense was in defeating that offense? That's what it was. It wasn't offense. You know, we're going to take our threes. We're going to, you know, push in transition, but we really locked in defensively in that fourth quarter. I think they were getting some easy nine contested threes. Once we pressure make them go downhill. We didn't foul. They couldn't make those layups around the rim with you know, two, three guys going to try to block it and you know, we're off and running. So it wasn't offense. It was definitely defense tonight. You're tall along. Oh, sorry. You're taller than McLaughlin. But how nerve-wracking is a jump ball at that moment in time and you how much adrenaline you have because you got way up there for that one. Truthfully, I just I didn't care at all. If they got it, we're going to get a stop. That was my mentality. But it was good to hear that it wasn't Kyle Anderson for sure and being 6'8". To be real. Dante, he kind of beat me to my thought. But how many, how often have you had? I never win jump balls. Have you done them? How many times would you say you've done them? I want to say under 10 for sure. Okay. In my career, but that was probably the first one I won. And how much pride do you take in your rebounding? You had a key rebound there in the last couple minutes and just I think eight or nine tonight. Rebound for, you know, for me, it's just an effort thing. So when I'm locked in, you know, I think two offensive rebounds. That's when I'm really engaged. And you know, the coaches are on me. My family's on me. That's something I pride myself on. So just keep that going. For Klay Thompson beyond what shows up in the box score. I mean, with three key starters out, including two main leaders. I mean, how have you seen him maybe step up and take on that leadership role? He's a Hall of Famer. In my opinion, he's a Hall of Famer. So, you know, what he's doing is not, you know, out of the ordinary. He's been having a hell of a career and guys go down. He's Klay Thompson, still Klay Thompson at the end of the day. He's, that rim is this big at all times. And I love that. You learn a lot from him just by, you know, doesn't say much. Just go out there and hoop. And I think that's that's why he's going to be a future Hall of Famer. Your family's on you for rebounding? I mean, who parents, siblings, cousins? My pops. Every, what are the messages you get? You guys are rebounds. Go rebound the damn ball. What do you have a star chart? Do you get some rewards? You would think, but no. It's always like, how do you describe Klay Thompson and his quirkiness and competitiveness? Have you ever had a teammate like him? I have not. I actually was talking to Monty about this for a while. He's unique. He's him and he ain't never going to change who he is for anybody. And that's, I think that's why he's so loved, you know, like being from the outside looking in last year. You don't know these guys. I thought Loon never talked. I got here and Loon's, you know, one of the best voices in the locker room. And Klay's, Klay's Klay. I really don't know how to describe it. But we definitely feed off of Klay. And, you know, when he gets it going in the game, you can feel everybody's energy kind of change. And that's what we needed. Don't say things just the second time all year. You guys trailed by as many as nine going to the fourth and you guys pulled off the win. Is that like kind of the biggest thing from tonight? You guys were able to come back, you know, in that fourth quarter. Yeah. I said it before. It's the defensive stops tonight. They had too many easy looks, uncontested threes. We were fouling a little bit too much for our liking and you know, we didn't want to continue that. So to start that fourth quarter, you know, we really locked in and the emphasis of not fouling and getting out in transition. That's kind of our identity and that's who we need to be. Great. Thank you. Thanks. Hey Loon. What did you guys find in the fourth quarter that you didn't have when the game started? We were just getting stops. I think first quarter, you know, they hit a lot of threes and we were fouling a little bit, you know, Nasri got it going. So we weren't able to, you know, get into transition. She wasn't able to push the ball and get our play with our pace that we normally play with and our fourth quarter. I think we got stops. The ball is moving, you know, Klay hit some tough shots and who's ever to, you know, get out in transition and run. Third time this season. You guys have held a team to less than 20 points in the fourth quarter. Less than 30% shooting in the fourth quarter. Comeback wins every time. Is that something you can bottle and take into the future? I mean, we've been trying to do that all year, but we've been struggling sometimes, especially on the road, but you know, at home when the crowd gets, gets behind us, you know, we play with extra little bit of juice and we gotta, you know, take what we did today and try to carry it over and play, do it, do it for 48 minutes instead of just for a quarter. You know, we got the potential and the talent to, you know, be a great defensive team, but we just got to put together throughout the whole game. In order to have a fourth quarter that big, you guys have to conquer the emotions of the third quarter. You guys had a long scoring drought. You only scored 19. So how do you, how do you overcome that? How do you turn the page on something like that? You just got to continue to know who we are, you know, play our style of basketball and know that our shots are going to fall at some point and focus on what we can control. You know, we can't always control the balls and go in, but we control the turnovers, the fouls, you know, the defense, those things. We do that. We're going to probably, you know, score. And I think that's what we did in fourth quarter. And that's how I was able to turn it around. All of your, your guys like bigger picture goals are still out there in front. It particularly, you know, if your main guys come back, but that's kind of contingent on surviving right now. Like how, how much especially when you win these last two games, is that in your mind? Like how important this moment is for just, you know, I guess keeping the season alive in a sense. We know every game is going to be important, especially at home. We've been pretty good all year. We want to continue to keep that up, you know, we have a tough schedule ahead of us. And no, we don't know when guys will be back, who's going to play each game. But we got to go out there and play our style and compete at the highest level and try to win these games, you know, we got no time to win. We showed that tonight, but definitely be a lot better if we get some, get some guys back, but we'll try to hold down the fort. Don't keep fighting and keep getting wins and staying afloat to try to make this run down the stretch. Your numbers are across, up across the board. I mean, is this the most confidence you felt in your career? Definitely, you know, no, but I worked hard all summer, all year to get to this point. No, it's time for everybody to step it up. And so I feel like it's a, you know, me being here for a while. There's no kind of lead by example and go out there and you know, compete at a high level every night and continue to get better. So I feel like I've been doing that and I feel great. My body feels good. So I'm just kind of trying to go out there and win the compete. Come on along those signs. Have you have you always been so even keel and unflappable or has that developed since you went through so much early on in your career and Steve Stead says, you know, whether you're out there or you're in for a burst or out, you just stay the same and engaged and ready. It's something that I always, I always played, I always been, you know, you know, kind of just watching my dad. That's how he is as a person. So I always kind of got that from him and you know, try not to get up too up and too down. But you know, especially going through a lot of injuries and you kind of learn how to be patient. You got to be patient. You got to wait your turn and you know, that's kind of something I learned early in my career and then watching my guys ahead of me like Zaza, Bogut, D-West. They've got super patient. They roll change from game to game, but they knew when they get out there, they always perform. So some of them guys, I watched it and I learned from as well. Does that make you a better rebounder and just, you know, capitalizing on the moment and being in position and just being ready at all times? Definitely, you know, on this team, especially playing big man, you got to always be ready for, you know, different lineups. You know, Steve's asked us to do different things. You know, he was switching or you know, being a guard and guards and or sometimes just being in different defensive coverages. so I got to be, you know, aware at all times and but the biggest thing for me is be able to protect the rim and be able to rebound and get a second chance for our team. That's something that I think I can help us on the offensive end and I've been kind of focusing on that and that's something that me and Deckey talk about all the time is just the rebound and then, you know, keeping the ball alive, getting our shooter second chance. So the rebounding, 17 boards. What kind of impact do you feel like that has on winning? I think it has a huge impact. I think last year that was one of our biggest strengths, especially in the playoffs was our rebounding. Wasn't just me, but yeah, a lot of guys. Gary was a great rebound last year, Otto, Draymond, Wiggs was great all playoffs last year. That kind of helped us win and trying to carry that on for the team this year. We've been up and down in that department, but with guys going out with Draymond not playing and Wiggs not here. I feel like it's my job to, you know, to try to keep that going and try to control the glass and get a second chance. And when you're in a game tonight where there's three starters missing, there's been a lot of movement in the starting lineup. What does it mean to you that you've been one of the Constance as a starter and you've been an Ironman this season? No, it means a lot for me, you know, especially, you know, like I said earlier in my career and being in and out the lineup due to injuries and just not just being on such a great team, not having a chance to get a chance to play for me to be able to play every game and be there consistently, you know, means the world to me. I think our team needs it, you know, other guys kind of been doing the same thing like JP hasn't missed a game and Dante's always there. He had an injury early season after that. He's been there every game and we got to show up every game and fight. It's been up and down, but you know, we all take pride of being able to show up and try to hold on for for those, you know, those guys have been playing every game for years and you know, their body got a lot of wear and tear. So we got to kind of, the young guys got to kind of try to hold down the fort. Hi Lunay, on defensively, especially on the read, he scored kind of very well, especially first three-quarter. What kind of adjustment you guys made on the fourth quarter to shut him down? Wu Shan's take away is some of his easy threes he had in the first half. We knew he could shoot, but he didn't miss any in the first half. So we had to, you know, make some adjustments on our pick and rolls, you know, close out a little bit harder and just be more alert on him. You know, he's a talented scorer. I think we did a good job on him in the fourth quarter. You know, we made some adjustments that, you know, that's what it takes. Some guys don't get hot. You got a better weather storm and make some adjustments. Does 17 feel like a big rebound a game for you anymore? Not really. 17 is cool, but 20 is always the number. As a big man, we get to 20 that you feel like you did something. So that's always the go. Do you look at the leaderboards at all? Like, you know, not really. Me and Decky talk before every game. He just told me to get 10 rebounds. So that's always the go. I've been doing it as a late. So he's been trying to increase the 11 or 12 now. So it's something as it just selfishly just have a go to, you know, always want to be one of the top officer rebounders. I haven't checked in a while. I checked before the break. So I'm going to know after a couple more games. I might check again. Per game, the officer about per game. Come on. Obviously, you guys don't want to see Steph hurt, but it's kind of fun to see clay step into the role as the main guys. Like really thrived in that role and kind of stepped it up for you guys is, you know, pass. You know, definitely, you know, we know, no, I always knew what clay could do. We are I think everybody here when our team know he's a special player. He's a, you know, he done stepped up and carried us a lot of different times and playoff games and the biggest moment. So none of this is surprising to us. We know what he can do. No, I'm just glad he's healthy. He's able to, you know, doing a back-to-backs. Now. He's a there's been phenomenal these last two months, three months and knows it's good to see. We're going to need him to keep doing it to know to make this playoff push. Obviously, we'll know curry. No, Draymond, no Wiggins second straight game. You guys have won this one a little grittier than the other one. What does it mean to the team? Just be able to pull out these wins without those big guys. Oh, it's huge. Kind of resembles the run. We had to go on last year when Steph and Dre were out the lineup a little bit. We pay some adversity and see a lot of parallels to this year of young guys stepping up playing more minutes than you used to making huge plays down the stretch. Things don't go your way. We're playing through adversity. We're not hanging our heads and I'm just proud of every single player on this team. That was a collective effort and we continue to protect home court and just something to build on. Considering that the way the standings are the fact that you know, you guys are going to be missing some main guys for a little bit. How do the stakes on these games feel? I mean like how important does a win like tonight feel to you? Oh, it's huge. All like I mean every game obviously matters, but from here on out, especially the West is jam-packed right now and we have a nice homestand, you know, two more here. We'd like to get them both. So every game from here on out is just incredibly important. You bank in a three from that angle. Is that when you know it's going well or I felt that one felt great. Rare you can bank from the corner, but you know, sometimes you get the shooter's role. So I'm not gonna complain. Huge shot too. That was a two. Clay, Dante said he'd never won a jump ball in his career and that I mean, he's maybe had 10 or fewer tries, but timely that one, but also what is he doing on both ends for you guys rebounding? He said that's that's just pure effort on his part. Yeah. I mean, what a complete game by Dante 21 eight and five and four steals. I mean probably the best game of the season. That's incredible. And his three-point shooting has been so great as of late. He's showing why he was so coveted for us this past offseason and I love competing with him. He's using his voice on the bench because he's a champion. He's got incredible experience and he's just going to be incredibly important for us going down the stretch. I think it was after the three you hit this time. It was a three to go up six timeout and you're kind of bouncing and looking at their bench. Maybe saying some things, but what's going on there? Yeah, I was having some fun with one of their assistants, Joe Boylan. We were just talking mess back and forth. Joe was here with us, my rookie year and second year. So it's fun to see the guys you kind of came in the league with and we were just having some good old-fashioned fun. Was that going on all game? Pretty, I mean every time I see him, he's always chirping. So he's been like that since my rookie year and I got to respect him for it. You should see him play pickup. It's ridiculous. In a good or bad way? Well, it depends what you like. If you like competitive fire and edginess, I guess it's good. I did mention a couple times that you, you know, dumped it off to Looney with, you know, on the pick and roll and obviously, I mean, you're controlling the offense more than usual. How much of an added burden do you feel, you know, just doing stuff like that right now? I don't feel burdened at all. I love the challenge. I love being a leader. I love leading these young guys and being by example and being vocal. And that's what is, that's when basketball is the most fun is when you have to extend yourself and play outside your comfort zone. So I'm enjoying, you know, this run and I'm just going to try and continue to play within my means but just be aggressive and continue to have fun. Are you scoreboard watching all knowing how tight everything is just looking where you are, what seed you are? Yeah, it comes with the job. Got to be aware. Clay with 13 seconds left. Did you, did you get a finger on the shot by Jordan McLaughlin at that corner there or did you just close? I don't think so, but I could test with all my might. So it's got to count for something. Nice. Speaking about the end of the game, there were several turnovers there for you guys. What was going through your mind? What were you saying to each other when that's happening? Just be sure with the ball and unfortunately, I made some two idiotic turnovers. One, I should have just laid up and the other one, I just let it slip out my hands and it won't happen again, hopefully. So it was just uncharacteristic of myself and I'm just happy we played through it and we got the win. Thanks.