Warriors Pelicans Postgame Analysis | Steph, Looney Interviews | March 28, 2023

I don't know how they did it. Well, actually, I do know how they did it. Steph Curry happened, and the rest followed his lead. Well, you were not here at halftime. But it looked like Vontae was not having a good time at the first half. And none of us were, because the Warriors were turning the ball over. They were not scoring the way they go. And I really wanted them to show up like they did in the second half. I thought they were going to show up like this pissed off Warriors team. They came out. They were moving the ball, taking care of the ball. And it just looks like somebody said something at halftime. I don't know who said what, but they came out that second half looking like the Golden State Warriors team that everybody knows and fears. Yeah, Vontae wasn't the only one that was upset. These folks, too. The entire arena was upset. The Warriors were discombobulated. Like you said, they were turning the ball over. CYO Press was bothering them. One time they couldn't get the ball in bounds. One time they turned it over. And whatever was said at halftime doesn't really matter. What really matters, they made the adjustments. 14 turnovers at halftime, I think just five in the second half. They took care of the basketball. Like you said about that, Steph took over. Started knocking down threes. It was a miraculous turnaround. It really was. They dominated that second half. It just shows you, too, the playoff intensity. Where the Warriors thrive, I thought it got to the New Orleans Pelicans. They started turning the ball over. They couldn't make shots. The ball stopped moving. And the Warriors just took total control. All right, let's go back inside to Chase Senator Fitzhubuku, who's standing by with the star of the show, Stephen Curry. All right, he used to be the baby face assassin. But we saw angry Steph tonight. How did you do it with 39, 8, and 8, from 20 down to win a game the Warriors had to have, Steph? We saw it on your face in the first half. And you put the team on your shoulders in the second half. I mean, we know what time of the season it is. And we faced a lot of adversity all year. And even in this first half, it was kind of like nothing going your way and some self-inflicted wounds. So the one thing that we have in Draymond's fire in the first half is the ultimate testament and visual of what it is, is we have a competitive spirit that is unmatched. And it's been that way for a decade. So for us to tap into that, we understand that we got to play better, more consistent. We're figuring out our rotations and stuff. But that belief and that killer instinct, the three guys standing on this court, myself, Draymond, Clay, we've done it. We know it. And then our guys are starting to figure it out. So JP played amazing in the second half, made some big plays. JK played amazing. Loon, amazing offensive rebounds to get his extra possessions. Dante started the third quarter, got us back in it. So everybody contributed. But our competitive spirit got us the win. Talk to me about your defense, especially in that second half. It was devastatingly good. You were making multiple efforts, moving your feet. Made CJ McCollum have a tough time. Draymond with the energy. Everybody was so locked in, moving on a string there, getting stops at key times in the game. We understand that's how you win. I think in the first half, it was turnovers that led to transition buckets for them. I think they had 20 in the first half. Our half court defense was amazing. We just kept turning the ball over, and they were getting easy buckets. So for us to get good possessions on offense, we always talk about connecting the game. Our defense in the half court and the entire second half was amazing. Brandon Ingram's a great scorer. He can make some tough shots, but you just got to continue to make them work, and everybody was locked in. Steph, 12 double-digit comebacks here at Chase Center. You were exhorting the crowd at the very end. What is it about Dub Nation, this building, and you guys that they down 20? Most teams, it's Tap City. And yet, it's a belief system here. Is it just the championship DNA, or is it the relationship with the fans? Let's not forget the origins of this franchise on the other side of the bridge and what we built in Oracle in terms of our fans really giving us that lift and that juice and that passion. We might not have been great up until 2014, but that energy was always there. And then you add that on top of the championships and everything that we've accomplished, like I said, that's just a belief. And for us to keep going toe-to-toe with it, whoever comes into this building and never feel like we're out of it, it'll carry us a long way. How confident are you guys in your ability to close out teams in the fourth? You guys did a great job tonight in the fourth quarter. When you went out of the game, Jordan Poole and Kamingo were working, came back in, were doing work. So you've shown that you can close out games. And when you guys were at your best, you were closing out games with the best of them. Difference 48 hours makes, right? It's just a matter of just locking in and focusing mentally on what we need to do. And have a next play mentality. A lot of guys, a lot of teams would still be thinking about that Minnesota game and the things that went wrong. But we gave ourselves a chance in that third quarter. We fought our way back to four down, or down four at the end of the third quarter. And then from there, it's just the momentum game. And we took advantage of it. All right, well, at 35 years of age, you officially have old man strength. So you could tell Cannon, just like Dale used to tell you, bow your neck, baby. Bow your neck, I love that. We got to send that clip to him. Yeah, but that's carrying all them kids around. So I got a little upper body strength from this, for sure. Hey, thanks for stopping. Thanks for getting the dub and get two days off for the first time since the All-Star break. Enjoy it. Yes, sir, appreciate it. That is Wardell Stephen Curry at age 35. You're supposed to slow down, except when you're superhuman, and that guy never slows down. And I got to give a lot of credit to Draymond Green and Kevon Looney, because you can look at Steph Curry's numbers and you can be tricked into thinking, well, he just created all these plays. Kevon Looney was huge tonight. He created extra shots for this team. He really took that physicality. In the first half, they were getting out-rebounded by 10 rebounds in this game. So now it was an even rebound. They out-rebounded in the second half, did all the little things that they needed to do to be able to win this game. They really just took the momentum over in the third quarter. You know, so much to the offense is rhythm and flow, and you can't find that rhythm and flow when you turn the ball over. So really, with this team, they got the dynamic shooters and scorers with Steph, Clay, and Jordan Poole. Just getting shots on goal is demoralizing to the team. And once they, you know, the second half, only five turnovers, having that consistent shots at the basket, then all of a sudden the ball's moving. As Fester said, Draymond and Kevon Looney can get into their pick-and-roll game, get guys open for shots. So to me, the biggest thing was taking care of the basketball in the second half. They wanted winning points off turnovers 23-18, and they were getting crushed at halftime. And the fast-break points were 22-2. Pell's advantage in that first half. Warriors flipped that in the second half and outscored them on the fast-break, 10-2. And Steph and Wardell Curry, by the way, in the second half alone, 22 points, six assists, and five rebounds. That's a lot of dudes. A lot of dudes go home at night with that stat line, saying, yeah, I'm going to the All-Star Game. That's a bad man. He had that look on his face, and I've seen it very often. And that's what happened. That's what changed the whole temperature in that building. My favorite play of the whole third quarter was GP2 picking Brandon Ingram at half court. It just seemed like they just lost all momentum. Everything was going the Warriors' way. They came out. They were the aggressors. They were taking care of the ball. We talked about that all the time. That was our key to the game. Take care of the ball, go and stay Warriors. In the first half, they had, what, 13 turnovers in the first half? They finished the game with 14 turnovers in the first half. They finished the game. The second half, they had 20 assists. That's what happened when they take care of the ball. They just moved, and they were slicing and dicing them. It was a beautiful thing to watch. And I think what Steph said is right on point is their competitive fire. Most teams would have folded, really. I think the combination of being home and having that championship group together is what really won that game tonight. DiVincenzo, eight points in that third quarter. He woke up and helped them offensively to get that run going there. Let's go back inside the Chase Center. Via WebEx by Cisco to the great KB, Kareth Burke, what do you have? All right, you guys remember after the Sixers game, Draymond stated it plainly. We want to be the sixth seed because the play-in is dangerous. That's all I could think of in this game. And at halftime, when the Warriors were down by 17, I wanted to poll the fans a little bit, sent out a tweet that said, is it extreme to wonder if the second half of this game determines the season? Because, Mully, like you were talking about the implications here. If the Warriors lost, they would have dropped down to the eighth seed, okay? Firmly in the play-in, and then New Orleans would have had the tiebreaker had they finished, you know, should they finish with the same record this season? And fans were like, yes, this second half is essential to their season. Fans are calling that the Warriors were eliminated in the play-in in 2021. Not feeling so confident about this season where the Warriors have hovered around 500 and had some mistake-prone moments. And guys, you had to feel like the Warriors were thinking the same thing at halftime. They transformed in the second half. Helped out by that guy, Steph Curry, helped out by Jordan Poole, helped out by the defense that held the Pelicans to 20 points in the fourth quarter. So, if you had a Warriors team that arrived at 40 wins this season, that's something to celebrate. And right now, they have their hands around the sixth seed. No doubt they need Minnesota to lose a couple games, but we'll see what happens over the final five games. But you're right, KB, that second half was everything. You know, when Draymond does, you know, those things that he does, it puts pressure on himself. He has to go out there and perform. And then, Bonte, you said, I think the Pelicans got rattled and the Warriors got revitalized. Yeah, they got revitalized because they're used to it. The other team, I think they were in shock a little bit. I mean, he was yelling at the bench, calling out individual players. But in my mind, though, it puts a lot of pressure on him to come and perform, and he answers the bell. And even Steve Curry had to yank him for a second. He's like, yo, I need you to calm down. He was yelling at Steve Curry saying, why are you taking me out this game? Yo, and you could feel it in the game. When he was taking out the game, you could see the energy just came out of the game with Draymond. So, Steve Curry was forced to put him back in the game. Such a crucial part of what this team is doing. This is March. You know, this is the month that Draymond starts to play all the way from college to now in the NBA. This is Draymond Green's month right here. He actually said he doesn't get out of bed in the month of March. Well, March Madness is in full effect. March Madness. I thought that. Jordan Poole got an open, breaks to the rim because the defense was hugged up on Klay Thompson. Forget about that. Look at this. How about this? So, what do you got? So, he leads the league in three-point makes this season. 278, which is now a career high for Klay Thompson in a single season. That's remarkable. Forgotten man, huh? I'm just saying, they didn't forget about him. No, no, no. A lot of people are not gonna talk about him because of Steph Curry's big game, Looney's big night, Draymond's night, Jordan Poole. But those 17 points were crucial to the Warriors' success tonight. I just love the, like, we talked about the pace. I love the fact that he is locked in to whatever this team needs to get the win. In the second half, you saw some key stops there by Klay Thompson. We talk all the time about defense and offense, but when the Warriors get the ball back, they are as lethal as anybody in the NBA. So, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole, everybody locking in. Jonathan Kaminga, GP2, everybody locking in to get stops in that second half, especially in the third quarter, really changed the tide for this game. When you dig a 20-point lead and then you go dominate 75-46, it's a total team effort. Now, Steph led the way with 30-39, 8-8. Kaminga played a great game. Draymond had an incredible game. You talk about Looney's screening, all his unsung heroes. Dante DiVincenzo, I thought the start of the third quarter was all his energy. So, when you dig a hole like that, it's not going to be one person bringing you back. But, you know, to think you would go on a 75-46 run in the second half, I don't think, obviously it doesn't happen on the road, but they feel really comfortable here at Chase. What do you think the rest of the league is seeing when they watch this game on TNT? We got a little dog here, Kavon Looney. Congratulations on a spectacular win, spectacular performance for you in what has been a career year for you. Played some excellent basketball, 14 double-doubles, I believe you had six in your first seven years of your NBA career. So, now all of a sudden, we got to start pumping you for NBA's most improved player. People don't know about you, Big Looney, but first let's discuss this victory. Coming back from 20 down, what does that mean to this locker room here over the next five games? Every game is a matter right now. You know, we're fighting for a playoff position and every game is important and that's why, you know, we didn't come off with great energy to start the game off and, you know, Draymond challenged us and we all followed his lead and, you know, we really responded and we was able to get it done. That's exactly what I want to know. What happened that y'all turned it on? This is exactly, the way you started the second half is how I thought you were going to start the first half, but something happened in that halftime or whatever it is. What happened? You know, the stuff that happened on the court, you know, Draymond really just turned it up and increased his intensity, increased his energy and we just followed. You know, he didn't have to say anything. Once you see a leader, you know, going after it like that, fighting and, you know, really pushing the pace and diving on the floor and, you know, really challenging them guys and we just followed his lead and that's all it took for us. And then we always say, it's a tale of two halves, but the first half was 63-46, second half, 74-46. You talked about Draymond's extreme energy, his leadership, but for you, you know, tonight, late we got the news that you were not going to start. Talk about the adjustment from when you start the game to when you come off the bench. What's the adjustments you made? For me, it's just, you know, when I start, I know I got to make sure I got to set the tone with the physicality, come in, rebound and do all the things I usually do. But when I come off the bench, I had to kind of know, see how the game is going, see what the team is lacking. If it's, you know, if it's energy, bring the energy, if it's just rebound and screening, if it's me being more aggressive in the pocket, different things like that, I got to kind of adjust and see how the game is going and that's what I had to get used to. And you mentioned Draymond's energy, right? And he didn't really have to say much because he was basically saying it to everybody. Their bench, your bench, Steve Kerr, the reps. But it seems like obviously that energized your team and it seemed like the Pelicans became somewhat intimidated. Is that because you guys are just used to that Draymond persona and you guys kind of just, like you said, follow his lead because it sure seemed like not only did it help you, but the Pelicans, they got intimidated. Yeah, no, we used to see Draymond do this and we know when he does this, it's time to go. Like we got to respond. And I think it made everybody's attendance go up and made us focus more. I think once all that stuff happened, we got a lot more locked in. We didn't turn the ball over as much. Oh, he brought more physicality on defensive end and it made it seem like a playoff game. Sometimes you get used to just playing every other day and you forget that all these games are important. And once he brought the energy, it felt like a playoff game. The crowd got into it, everybody got into it and we was more focused. I don't know if people know this, but you're leading the league right now in offensive rebounds. Right. That's a part of the game, especially for this Golden State Warriors team. You changed the momentum of this game in that second quarter, in that third quarter. What is it about that right there? How do you see your role on this team? Especially when you're able to get those rebounds and kick it out. I see you looking for Steph. You're like, yo, where is my guy at? What is it about that job that you take and you really cherish so much? No, it's fun getting offensive rebounds. That's something that coming into the year, I wanted to be top five in that category. And getting extra possessions for our team. We got great shooters like we got. That's huge for us. My first couple of years here, we always used to lose the possession battle. That was something that coach always to harp on us about. And so for me to make an effect, be able to get us more possessions and even out the possession battle and then actually win the rebound in battle sometimes is huge for me as a big man. Offensive rebounds. I saw you grab two on one possession, led to a Steph Curry three. And you've got to get some bigs over the last few games. Yeah. Embiid, who is a load. He's probably going to be the MVP. You got Jokic on Sunday. You just went through the three headed monster with Minnesota, Gobert, Carl Anthony Towns and Nas Reed. And then tonight, Jonas Valitoulos, where you've had a lot of battles with him over the last three games. How do you get in position? Can you explain it to the folks? How do you get in position to grab these rebounds and get these double doubles against monsters like that? Because you're 6'9". These guys are seven foot. Right. Going 280. Right. It's about the mentality, you know, going into the game and doing your work early, hitting them guys first, making them guys really work. And even though them guys are big, nobody wants to have the box out and work hard every possession. So I know every possession, if I keep going and be relentless, that I'm going to come up with a few here and there. And then once you get one and you get two, and you start to wear them down, it just starts to, you know, break the other team down and it gives our team more life. And now once, you know, I think the guards see me getting off three rebounds, then you got Dante coming in and Gary coming in and Clay started rebounding more. So I feel like once I start, set the tone with that, other guys follow. Clay's done a great job on the boards, but what did that NBA most improved player mean to you? Because I think people nationally haven't seen how great of a season you have. We see it every single game, the double digit rebounds, double doubles. What would that award mean to you? That would mean the world to me. You know, all the work I put in in off season and all the work I put in behind the scenes is starting to show up on the court. That's all you can dream of and be recognized by the fans and your peers. And so that would mean the world to me. I've been working really hard and to see it come into fruition has been big for me. Big blue! We about to play another 82 games as well. 82 games as well. Two full seasons for you, Loon. Congratulations. The only thing you're missing here on the set is those six pack of six, some fit A's, man. We need it tonight. That's what I had to have, that's what got me through. Yeah.