Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Reacts To GM5 vs Lakers | May 10, 2023

I thought it was Piedmont High School. I see. Besides obviously just providing another scorer on the floor when Draymond is aggressive like that on offense. What does that do for your team? Yeah, I mean, I think there's there's a stat somewhere. Raymond's got it for sure. You know, when he scores a certain number of points, we usually win. You know, he's when he's aggressive like that looking to attack. It definitely adds another dimension. To our team and I loved his approach to the game tonight. He was aggressive right from the start. Picked up a foul on the first play and you know, didn't didn't care like made no bones about it. He's like, I'm coming. I'm coming and and I thought he was one of the keys for sure. You stayed with Peyton obviously in the starting lineup, but he's but he's plus 25 in this game. What does he do for you specifically against the Lakers that's kind of triggering some of this? Well, I mean, he's a Gary's a game changer and we knew that last year. I mean, we don't win the championship without Gary and so to get him back has completely changed our defense and you know against against these guys. He's got the ability to to get into their guards. They have great guard play with with D. Low and Reeves and and Schroeder obviously Walker last game played so well. So Gary gives us you know, someone who can get underneath their ball handlers and and at least make them, you know, have to work and and then offensively. He's so unique with his speed and his ability to finish around the rim. So it's just we're different team, you know, when now that now that he's back with us Steve. Great. Hey Steve kind of circling back the Kinders note on aggression. What does an aggressive Andrew Wiggins do for you guys offensively? Yeah, this was the best game Wiggs has played since he's been back, you know, over I guess three three weeks or so now he just hit the way he attacked the way he got to the rim that adds another dimension to our attack. I thought the last couple games in LA, you know, we we just did we didn't get to the line a ton. We we settled for a lot of a lot of stuff and I thought Wiggs did a good job of really being aggressive. Steve back here stuff has 22 assists. The last two games obviously hasn't shot. Well from three by his standards, but how essential has that been his sort of playmaking and how much is that a function of the way the Lakers are defending you guys? Yeah, it's it's a little of both. I mean, you know, I think Steph at this point in his career. He really feels, you know, what needs to to happen during a game what's required of him and you saw it in game seven against Sacramento where he just he knew he had to score took 38 shots in this series. You know, the Lakers defense is is really good. They're great at the rim. We got to get the ball moving. We got to move their defense around and Steph understands that and I don't know what his assistant to turnover ratio is in this series, but it's pretty impressive. Hey Steve, you saw Draymond say on his pod. All we have to do is win one game and then the entire tenor of the series changes and the pressure is back on the Lakers. Obviously every single time you guys have gone to the playoffs, basically, you know, since the big three has been together. You guys have reached the finals. Is there always a belief like no matter what situation you guys are in just because of that that you guys can get through at all? Yeah. Yeah, I think there's always that belief based on, you know, the success these guys have had and the confidence they've built up together the continuity. So, you know, I think our guys were disappointed. We couldn't wrap up game four after playing pretty well for most of the game. But now we get another crack to go down there and try to even up the series. So, the guys will always have have belief. That's just that's who they are. Steve. There was a sequence in the fourth quarter where Andrew was picking up LeBron almost full-court, knocked the ball away. It wound up with Draymond blocking Anthony Davis. Just kind of take me through that sequence and what's it like to see their defense lead to offense on the other side? Yeah. Well, you know, Wiggs, we ask so much of him defensively in any playoff series. He's going to end up on, you know, the opponent's best wing player. So in this series, that's obviously LeBron and you know, thank God we've got Wiggs because he, you know, he can can play all night. He can pressure up the court. He can, he can guard in the half court and and stay in front of people. And on that particular play, he picked up LeBron really high and and then Draymond was behind the play to help him out. So it's a big sequence. Hey coach. Klay Thompson had 10 points tonight, 3 of 12 from the field, 2 of 6 from 3, but he's plus 16 on tonight. So can you kind of just tell me your take, your perspective on how Klay played tonight? Do you think it was a really good Klay performance? Or do you think you need more for game six? No, I mean, you know, the thing with Klay is he's an incredible two-way basketball player and that's what wins in the playoffs. Shooting comes and goes even for the best. But if you can defend, which Klay obviously can do, then you can help a team win a playoff game. And in Klay's case, a lot of playoff games. And so the great thing is we know Klay's due for a good shooting night, but whether whether it comes or not, we know his defense is going to impact the game, as you said, plus 16 and 37 minutes. So he's doing a great job out there. Steve, AD's obviously had a huge impact on the series. You guys end up with 50 points in the paint tonight, pulled him away a little bit. How did you feel about handling that impact? And are there times when, as great as he is, that that you guys need to be more aggressive at the rim? Seems like there's just a lot of a lot of playing through. Yeah, I mean, he's so good that you have to try to move him around. And you know, they did some different things tonight. They started switching more on picking rules. But you know, Davis is a guy that you've got to find the right balance. You have to respect his presence at the rim, but you also can't shy away from it. You know, so you got to understand if you have an angle to to attack, you got to take it. And if he's there waiting and you know, that's a great time to make a jump stop and you know, swing the ball to the other side. And I thought our guys did a pretty good job of navigating that tonight. You mentioned that the need to move them around, move him around defensively. Also, obviously the pick and roll has been an effective strategy in this series. They switch to, as you mentioned, how do you balance wanting to move them around with your traditional motion stuff with, you know, obviously I guess going heavier pick and roll. Well, that's that's sort of the game, you know, for us in the playoffs is we traditionally play a lot more pick and roll in the playoffs and we didn't go as heavy tonight on that as we did in game four. But you know, it's always a blend. A lot of what we do is, you know, after the pick and roll. So if I mean, if Clay, if Steph doesn't have a shot, it's the movement that results from moving the defense around and maybe the ball swings and Clay gets a, gets a jumper or Jordan or you know, Wiggs. So it's still you know, whatever you do, whether it's motion offense or pick and roll. You're still just trying to get a reaction and draw two defenders and then move the ball. And if our spacing is good and we're making good decisions and we can be effective either way. Steve, you guys were obviously one loss away from elimination, but with Draymond, you've said this to be the other night. You were saying that when you get when he doesn't play well, you guys lose. He always comes back tonight. Did you know, did you anticipate this was going to come from him early on? I mean, did you see it beforehand or did you sense it? I think you just expect it in a situation like this where you're facing elimination. Draymond is one of the great competitors I've ever been around. So you just expect him to bring it. I didn't, I didn't say anything to him. He doesn't need any any pep talks from me. That's for sure. Steve, to follow up with that, great energy today and it's been tough to bottle that up and then take that down to LA. But in this case, do you think, well, not do you think, but in your coaching strategy, would you pull Draymond aside and talk about his, you know, how great he did today and just kind of replicate that for game six? I think you know, that's that's what coaching is about. It's not just you know, drawing up plays or figuring out the strategy. It's just communication and you know, whatever I feel a player needs to hear, whether it's from me or somebody on our staff, then we try to make sure we communicate that and Draymond and I have, we've known each other nine years now. So we have a good feel for each other and we see the game in a very similar manner. And so we talk all the time. This is a I say it, I say it a lot. You know, this is a collaboration and a lot of times in film sessions, you know, the players will speak up and we'll make a decision based on how they feel and that's how this works. So we got to, we got to make sure we keep keep that connection going. All right. Just speaking of what guys need to hear, what did Jordan Poole need to hear after the last game and sort of how he came back in this one? I think Jordan, I'm not sure what he needed to hear. I think what what Jordan knows is that our guys support him, our guys love him. Coaches, teammates. He's a great young guy. Everybody loves being around him. He's had a lot of success and this year has been up and down and so his teammates just want to know, want him to know that they're there for him and that's what it's about. I thought he was, he was much more aggressive and under control tonight. No turnovers. He really looked to score and get his shot going. You know, he looked a lot more like himself tonight and I think all the guys are happy to see that because we know he's capable of so much. All right. Thanks.