Steph, Kuminga, Draymond, Looney x Coach Kerr React To Warriors/Mavs | March 22, 2023

I thought we we got some key stops. I thought Draymond was incredible down the stretch defensively. Offensively he sealed his guy on Steph's layup with eight seconds left, which was a brilliant play. But I just thought we we got key stops when we needed to down the stretch. He was terrific. We knew he would play quite a bit, especially with Kyrie out, but also with Hardaway out. I thought Hardy kept them in the game. You know, Luca is always amazing, but for him to come back and play 41 minutes after not playing for a couple of weeks, it's pretty remarkable, but he had to have some some help out there. We felt like we were right there to pull away several times, but somehow they kept hanging in there. I thought a lot of it had to do with Hardy and his play. I think we have to treat every game now like it's a playoff game because it's basically what it is. We're fighting with seven other teams trying to jockey for either playoff position or an actual playoff berth or a play-in berth, depending on how it all plays out. I think I talked with you last week and we just spoke about how every game matters now and how our guys just have to go out and compete and play. We're down a lot of players right now with injuries. I was really inspired just watching guys come off the bench and play well. Kamingo was amazing tonight. Michael Green gave us huge minutes off the bench. Lamb, Moses, JP made some big plays. It's great. Guys are competing and they're fighting. Probably the best five-game stretch of his career because the game is looking like it's becoming simpler for him and easier somehow. He's more at ease with himself on the floor at both ends. It's fun to watch. It's hard for young guys to come in to this league and pick up everything that's being thrown at them, but he's done that. Here we are near the end of his second year and he's just dramatically better than he was when he first arrived. So, testament to him and his work ethic and his resilience in the face of a lot of adversity, a lot of difficult ups and downs. We're hot now. We are hot. We're road warriors. We knew we had to win these last two games. That's how we felt given that everybody is just jockeying for position. We've got some tough games coming up. We play the Sixers next. Minnesota after that. So, we've got really difficult games coming up and playing against a team that we were basically tied with in the standings tonight. Desperately needed it. I thought they were great playing without Hardaway, without Kyrie. Dallas was fantastic. They were well-prepared and they defended like crazy and gave us a lot of trouble, but we pulled it out. Who's that? Oh, Dirk. So, who is it? It's Pop II, I think. Star-studded class. Yeah, very impressive class. I have great memories of Dirk. Just playing against him at the very end of my career and then following him as a broadcaster and then coaching against him. Just one of my all-time favorite players. The way he carried himself, the way he improved year after year. He was always adding something to his game and just so at peace with himself on the floor. He was a beautiful player to watch. Well, we love Wiggs. He's a huge part of our team. He's a great player, but he's a great human being. He's just a great teammate. I love coaching him. So, anytime you see one of your guys struggling, dealing with something, all you can do is just support that player and give him space. That's what we've tried to do, but our players and our coaches in front office, we're all just thinking about Wiggs every day. If he comes back, great. If he doesn't come back, that's fine, too. We just want to make sure that he's in a good place, taking care of his family, and we'll see how it plays out. Yeah, number one, it was my best ATO of the year. It worked brilliantly. Just the way we got organized and confused them. I had to stop and when I saw them at the other end, I had to stop and think, wait, isn't this our basket? Because I had drawn up a play for an out-of-bounds, you know, underneath baseline out-of-bounds, and when they were down at the other end, I had to stop and think, you know, is this right? So, I don't know what happened. You'd have to ask their side. I thought it was pretty clear that it was our ball, and that's why I was drawing up a play, you know, out-of-bounds on the baseline, but they all lined up at the other end. I guess they assumed it was their ball. That's something that Draymond's been talking about us doing a lot throughout the year, you know, having everyone smile for us throughout the game, and that was the perfect opportunity to do it. He executed it great. You know, he probably is the best screener in the league. I don't think he gets enough credit for that. He got a step free, and that was a big play for us. That was a big win, showing our growth. A lot of games like that on the road this year, we lost. For us to close that out, it's a good team like Dallas that shows our growth, and we're getting better, and we're heading in the right direction. Down the stretch, all these games are going to be important. We got to approach it like that. I like our sense of urgency as a team throughout the whole game. I think Clay talked about that a couple of days ago, and we've just been following those guys' lead. JK has been great, you know. He set the tone for us defensively. Luke was one of the best players in the league. I think he made it work. He still had crazy stats, but he made it work for all his points, and it's like you asked for it. He scored when he needed to score. He provided a lot of energy in finishing at the rim, and that's what makes him special. That's why he's so highly touted, and we take the word of him. We need him to keep doing this down the stretch. Yeah, I didn't know what was going on. I'm just glad JP passed to me, because all of us was open. I needed that to get to my double-double, so thank you, JP. I know a popular phrase in the league is maintaining your composure, but what kind of goes into that? Just staying locked in, especially playing against good teams. It's just one mistake, and everything is messed up, so just staying locked in, especially as a young player. It's tough, because not having too much experience. Just being around those guys every day, and learning, and watching different things that they do, and I feel like that's where I kind of like stay locked in, and just focus on a lot of things. That's why we always got vets around the league. Just having them, having my back every day, just give me confidence every day to just go out there and perform at the high level. Madeline probably has a question. I would say it was just a lot of team effort, and obviously for a great team to win, you need team effort. You need to move the ball. Everybody got to have to feel the ball, and that's pretty much what we came out there and do, and that's what got us to this win. I think just being more patient, and that's pretty much it. Just being more patient, and that brings out a lot of things. Knowing where I need to be, not rushing, knowing how to play with Steph, and play in German. That's pretty much the little things that I kind of focus into, and I feel like if I focus on those ones, everything was just going to play apart. Basically, yes. Just knowing what I need to do whenever I got those people on the floor, because it's not as easy as it looks like. Them running, flying all around, trimming, passing the ball. It's just not that easy. Just watching films every day, and just getting better every day, and just working hard. I was just, you know, once we got the switch, you know, most times people switch to the top side. He switched underneath, and I knew Steph would get by his man, so I just sealed him to give him a lane to the rim, and he took it and got the layup. That's what's up. I thought we were okay. I thought we could have been a lot better. We didn't come up with a lot of 50-50 balls, and then they were able to hit some threes off of getting 50-50 balls. I think point of attack, we were pretty good, but you got to come up with those balls in order to really solidify your defense. It was a huge win for us. I mean, we need road wins in general, just for confidence. I heard that it was a tiebreaker, so that's good. We'll take it, but eight more games. We got to make sure we continue to stay strong at home, and keep trying to build on the road like we've done the last couple games. I thought we stayed poised. We got the shots that we wanted to get. I feel like every possession down the stretch, we got shots that we wanted to get. That's key, because then you're able to set your defense, and it's not scramble back every time, and teams getting off in transition, so I thought that was big. Our offense helped our defense down the stretch. He was huge. He's been playing great, though. He's been playing great for a while, a couple months, a few months. He's turned a corner, and so just for him to continue to build the confidence like he's been doing has been great. He's defending, using his God-given abilities, and then taking on that role is huge, and it's helped us a lot. Survive in advance, baby. You get the first one of the weekend, coaches are going to get us the second one, so looking forward to it. I had a clear lane once I got past Cleaver, and Draymond's so smart. How teams defend this, they're going to try to crowd the paint and show bodies. Especially like me, Clay, JP don't want to come off our body, so there's a lot of help, and he got to the right position. Made eye contact once I turned the corner, because you're trying to see the floor, see what your options are, and once he's looking at me and I can see his body language, he's like, you know, come on, I'm going to seal it. Just a smart play, and the timing was perfect, and I got to the finish. I mean, we know the standings and the tiebreaker stuff and all that, and that's important, but it's more just a good reminder of what it takes to win against a team that you're competing, or you know, chasing, or stacked up against in the standings, and like a playoff-type atmosphere that can go a possession here, a possession there, and even if it's not pretty, you know, you feel like you could play better, you just find a way to win, and that's what the playoffs is all about, so it reminds us what it takes to do that, and our whole goal these last, you know, eight games now is to just build on that, and we keep talking about like forming an identity as we head towards the postseason, all that stuff matters. I mean, I was down there, I was on the bench, I think, and saw the ref point our direction for the ball, and then there was a point the other way towards their bench to call a timeout. Loon actually got a little confused at first because, you know, he didn't hear the whistle for the timeout, but after that, it was pretty clear it was our ball, and nobody from their side went down to get it because it was, you know, whatever it was, and probably the easiest two points Loon's ever had and the easiest assist JP's ever had, but it was weird, but it was clear what was going on from our standpoint. We knew him and Christian were X factors, you know, for their team, and if they get going, they're tough to beat because you know what Luke is going to do, he has the ball in his hands, you know, the whole game, and he requires a lot of attention, and as a secondary scorer, Jaden was really efficient. He made some big shots, a couple of threes in the fourth quarter, but obviously he did it the whole game, so he's talented, he can score, he's kind of fearless out there. He had a great game. I mean, for the most part, we put him on the free throw line too much in the first half, but Luke is interesting. He's going to get his numbers because he's good, first and foremost, but they have a team kind of formed around him that gives him a lot of space, and he's great at picking and choosing his spots, whether he's looking for a shot or putting pressure on you in the paint to kick out to shooters, and you know, they made 17 threes off of a lot of his gravity, so you got to live with some of that stuff, and you got to live with him having big numbers because, again, he's that great, and he has a lot of opportunity, but at the end of the day, kind of the first question is just about how can you get to the last possession where you have a chance to win, and that's kind of how it goes. I mean, he's showing his ability as a two-way guy, being comfortable out there, taking on the challenge defensively and also finding his spots offensively, cutting, using his athleticism. He knocked down two threes in the first half, I think, so just to know he's just getting more comfortable as time goes on with what we're asking him to do defensively and him finding his sweet spots in our system. I hope he's having fun doing it as well because it's obviously showing up in the stat sheet and helping us win, but it's also, you know, that eye test that he looks comfortable out there, so that means a lot. It's a warm-up as long as we're winning, right? Because if we're not, we know what's at stake, so you've got to meet the moment knowing that literally every game matters, and even if it's a tough kind of stretch within a game, you've got to learn the lessons you need to learn as we go down the stretch, so it's the type of basketball you want to play because it means a little bit more, and there's a lot more at stake, so you've got to embrace it. His career speaks for itself. He's a champ, an MVP, what he's meant to the Mavs organization for, what do you play, 20 years? 21. 21 years. Doing it all for one organization, so it's a goal of mine. He's kind of him, Cole, Tim Duncan, those guys who played for one team their whole career and what they mean to the city and all that. We were on the bus on the way into the arena and I got like four grainy pictures of the statue outside that I took on the way in just because he's kind of an icon in Mavericks history, obviously, in the city of Dallas, but now getting enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame, it's special, and he deserves all the recognition.