Draymond Green x Coach Kerr React To Warriors GM4 vs Kings | April 23, 2023

We took the challenge and when the challenge was unsuccessful as we were exiting the huddle, that's on me. I've got to remind the guys we're out of timeouts. I didn't say that and so Steph wasn't aware. So that's on me for not making that clear. And then on that play, we had all four of the other guys running to the other end and they hit Steph in the backcourt. We didn't have a trail man. So we've got to handle the pressure better, you know, late game, take care of the ball. But the timeout is 100% on me. And is it a little stunning for everybody to have that happen, give up a point, then lose possession of the ball, give up a three? What was just kind of the conversation? What was the mood as this is happening all of a sudden at one point? You're just moving on to the next play. I mean, there's no time to be angry or frustrated. You just got to keep going. And our guys did that. We made a couple of incredible stops down the stretch, got a couple of key rebounds. We had a chance to really break it open there in the final minute, but for that play and the turnover and transition. So give them credit. Sacramento really hung in there, but our guys closed it out with a stop at the end and we're where we need to be. You guys kind of doubled Fox late on that last possession. Were you okay with the look that Barnes got? And just what's your mindset as you're kind of watching that shot go up? Yeah, we wanted to get the ball out of Fox's hands and try to get back to wherever the shooter was going to be. And in that case, it was Harrison. And he got a good look. It kind of reminded me of the Wigs look in game one. These games are coming down to the wire and you just got to really finish possessions and try to give yourself the best chance. And then sometimes it's just, does the ball go in or not? What did you think of Draymond's defense, especially down the stretch? And then also just kind of take us through some of the decision-making in bringing him off the bench. Well, his defense was great. He hadn't come off the bench in 10 years since before I was coaching. But he came to me immediately after game three. He drove back to the arena. I was in my office and he walked in and he said, what do you think about me coming off the bench? And I had been thinking about it already because of the way Sacramento was guarding us and just getting another shooter on the floor. And so we always collaborate. The decisions we make are collaborative with our key players. And so that was a collaboration, but Draymond offered it. And this is how we've approached a lot of playoff games. Steph has come off the bench, I think four games against Denver last year. Wigs came off the bench, game one. You do whatever you have to do. And I thought Draymond had a great second half, really got himself going defensively. It was fantastic. And only had one turnover, again, huge key for us taking care of the ball. And we did that. And we eventually got back to that two-big lineup with Draymond and Loon, and they did a great job together. Steve, I was just going to ask you about going back to the two-big lineup in the second half. Why did you have to kind of go back to that just because of the way they were rebounding against you? Well, Fox had such a big first half. So we wanted to change the coverage and the look. You can't just keep doing the same thing if a guy is torching you like that. So we decided to put Draymond on him, just change the look. And he still had a great second half. He's a handful. But getting Draymond on him and then getting Draymond involved offensively, I think, got him going. And he got himself going through his play. And he was great second half. Steve, you said you were thinking about taking Draymond off the bench even before this game. Is that something that you want to continue to do as the series unfolds? Or are you taking it still game by game? I'm not telling you that. Why not? Why would I just come here and tell you my strategy? Because we're tight? I mean, I thought we was cool. You're cool. Let me know. You're really cool. I'm not telling you. All right, for sure. Nice Vans. Oh, Steve, in layman's terms, what's the logic behind bringing Draymond off the bench at the start? It becomes a one big game instead of a two big games. So the spacing was an issue in the first two games in Sacramento. And the spacing was part of the reason for the turnovers. So you take Draymond out and you put Jordan in. And now you've got four players around the three point line. One big. It just creates passing lanes, driving lanes, and makes the game easier on our offensive players. Did that become more evident when Draymond set the game out? Did Draymond set the game out? Yeah, so I think the thinking behind it is, you know, when you play well in the playoffs and something good happens, then you stick with it. Because, you know, these are games of, you know, really detailed adjustments, unlike the regular season where you're just moving from game to game. Every playoff game is, if you find something that works, you got to stay with it. And if it's not working, you got to try something different. So I think that's why Draymond and I were both thinking the same thing after game three. Because we've been through this together for almost a decade. And he saw it made a change in just the chessboard. And it allowed our guys to have a little more space offensively. Steve, you've been through so many of these over here, over these big games, you've won championships. To borrow Scott's term, a layman, it feels like your team should be better at finishing games, right? But is it more about like, hey, this is what happens, and it's about surviving it. And that's what makes you so good? Or do you expect to be able to finish better than you do as a champion? I think we'll finish better next game. I think we'll do a better job. It's just a matter of taking care of the details. And, you know, we did some great things down the stretch, getting stops. And we just, you know, a couple times we couldn't get the offensive or the defensive rebound. And then the timeout mess, which was my fault, and the turnover. You know, so all it takes is a couple plays and it changes everything. So we got to be better, but I think we will be better. When Draymond approaches you and says that it might be better for him to come off the bench, what does that tell you about where his head is at and where, you know, where the team is emotionally? Didn't surprise me because I know at his core, Draymond just wants to win. And, you know, for all of his emotion and passion and, you know, the things that he gets into with the league or with the opponent or with the officials, it's all coming from a place of competitive desire. He's one of the great competitors I've ever been around. He's one of the smartest players I've ever been around. So it didn't surprise me because he recognized the same thing that I did. Which made it a lot easier. The fact that he came in and suggested it, that makes it a lot easier. And then we go from there. Steve, what'd you think of Klay Thompson tonight? And, you know, he was a plus 22 in 39 minutes. Klay was amazing at both ends, hit some huge shots. But also his defense, I thought, was, you know, that was vintage two-way Klay. Just both ends of the floor, making one big play after another, you know, playing 39 minutes. That was really, really something. Steph played 43 minutes the entire fourth quarter. You played basically seven guys in the second half. Is that just where the series is? And can you keep up this kind of hard minutes on these guys? It's where the game was tonight. You know, they countered our substitution pattern in game three with some changes of their own tonight. Trying to, you know, match up, get matchups that they preferred. That probably kept Steph on the floor, you know, a little bit longer. So we'll have to look at that. But ideally, I'd like to keep him, you know, closer to 38, 37. But whatever the game calls for at this stage. What do you like about Draymond on Fox? And was that just a halftime idea that, you know, came to you guys? Yeah, someone on the staff suggested it. And, you know, it's the beauty of Draymond defensively. There's so much versatility there that he can guard anybody. And we just thought it would be a good idea to give Fox a different look and change the coverage a little bit. And I thought it clicked. You know, it worked. We had the big third quarter and then, you know, Fox really got going. But probably the biggest stretch of the game for them was the start of the fourth when he was out. And their guys stepped up. I think, you know, went on a maybe a 10 to 2 run to start the quarter or something like that and got right back in the game. So that was a big moment. And that's why we kept our guys out there and why we used our timeouts up. You know, when I had two left, I took the first one just to give the guys a rest because we were playing them a lot of minutes. And then, you know, the second one obviously is the challenge. And then, you know, then we're left without one. So I was trying to give our guys as much rest as possible, knowing that we weren't getting our key guys out in the fourth quarter. Steve, following up on the third quarter, first half, you guys were out-rebounded by a substantial margin. Second and third quarter, you guys won that by a big margin. Defense got better. In addition to the putting Draymond on Fox, what else? Was there anything else that you guys wanted to do or was it just attitude changing? Attitude. Just, you know, make sure we're much more active, especially from the perimeter. We were leaking out a little bit. I didn't think our guard rebounding was great in the first half. And second half, our guards got back in there and did a much better job. You know, Wiggs had eight. You know, Steph had five. Jordan had a couple. So our guys got back into the play and I thought we were a little more physical. Steve, just a quick follow-up. You mentioned someone on the staff had that idea. You usually named that person. I was just curious who it was that had the idea to put Draymond on Fox. Well, Dayon mentioned it to me. I think he might have been discussing it behind the bench with Chris DiMarco. You know, we've got like 117 coaches. So I don't know. I'm not quite sure. It was just a couple of our coaches. I think it was Dayon and C.D. bringing it up at halftime. It's kind of our routine at half is throw out some ideas and then set a long one. Just a quick follow-up. One of your first big moves as head coach was putting Draymond on the starting lineup and not on the bench. I think you switched him and Harrison. At that time, it meant a lot to him to be a starter. Do you think it matters to him now? He just wants to win. He's going to tell you that if he comes in here. I mean, that's the only thing that matters at this stage. The regular season is so different. You don't make moves like this the regular season because it's really about managing your team and every personality and making sure you got guys on board. As soon as you're in the playoffs, all bets are off. You just do whatever you have to do. Thanks. Draymond, Steve just said you approached him soon after last game and saying, hey, maybe it's an idea for you to come off the bench. Why did you think that? Is that hard to say, hey, I've been starting for a long time here and let me come off the bench now? No. When I watch basketball, I'm studying and I studied the game. I saw what was working and we won. I'm a firm believer in if something isn't broke, you don't fix it. Our offense was rolling. We played good defensively, really good defensively. I didn't want to come back and just shake things up because I'm back. That's not right. Jordan went out there. He played well. We played well. He earned it. Our team earned that. There's a lot of guys who, 11 years in, you start to feel a sense of entitlement. That spot's yours. Starting is yours. I never want to reach that point in my career where I feel entitled to something. Those guys don't fare well in the end. I just wanted to do what I thought was best for this team. It was good for us. They decided to have you guard Fox at halftime. How involved were you in those conversations? Did you like that change and what did you just think of guarding Fox? I loved it. Fox is a great player, man. He's incredible. He continues to get better. Anytime you draw the assignment to go guard the other team's best player, you appreciate the opportunity. I definitely did. I wanted to guard and try to help this team win. As far as that conversation went, they just told me, like, yo, you got Fox? I'm like, all right, cool. I said, you try to take on that challenge and give this team what it needs. Specifically, when you were watching Game 3, what were the things that you saw that you said, yeah, that is really working. We have to keep that going. How do you think it just went in this game? Our spacing was great in Game 3. It was absolutely incredible. I thought it was really good for our offense. When I saw that, number one, it was very evident of where I needed to be even when I am on the floor. I think I did a good job of being where I needed to be tonight. I missed a bunch of layups, whole bunch of layups. It kept the floor spaced the way it needed to be spaced. I won't keep missing those layups. I thought it was great. Just really understanding the spacing on the floor and how I needed to play in space as well, no matter who I'm out there with. Draymond, immediately after that crazy ending, you went right to Bob Myers and had a word with him. Can you share anything about that interaction? Oh, yeah. We were just talking about the end of the game and really how I could be better at the end of the game. I know everyone will blame Steph and say, oh, man, he called the time out, but I'm supposed to try to play and not leave him on an island, and I left him on an island. Then I gave up a three to Fox and let them cut it to one, as opposed to taking the three away, you're up four. If they score two, so be it. I didn't do that. We were just talking about that and how I could be better down the stretch in that situation to make sure we don't get in that position. Draymond, two quick ones. When you went into Kerr's office and said you wanted to come off the bench, if he had disagreed, would you have argued with him? No, no. It was just a suggestion. Also, you have to understand the position that coaches are in. He's also in a position where I've done a lot, and to just take me out of the lineup because I'm suspended for a game, if I don't agree with it, what could that do to this group? What could it do to us? Not that I would have disagreed, but I think it's more so to let him know, like, if you all mull this decision, make it. It's totally fine. Then he called me again yesterday, or what's today? Sunday. Okay, so yeah, he called me Saturday, and we were just talking about it, and he was asking me, like, yo, what are your thoughts? This is why we wouldn't do it X, Y, and Z. I'm like, yeah, this is why we should do it X, Y, and Z. One of his words was like, but how are you going to feel coming off the bench? You have not come off the bench in nine years in playoffs. How are you going to feel? Who ******* cares? Like, who cares how I feel? I mean, if I must answer the question for you, I'm fine. I'll be ready to go when it's time for me to go in, but it doesn't matter how I feel. I think the right thing to do would be to start the game the exact way we started game three. That's don't matter how I feel, and you know, so many times I can appreciate that, you know, the courtesy, the respect, but who cares? It's about winning basketball games at this time of year. Whether you come off the bench, whether you start, whether you play two minutes or 40, winning the game is the most important thing. So those were some of the conversations we had, but I was definitely all for it. Okay, second thing quickly. Is this the chance you guys have been waiting for all year to kind of flip that switch? You got to go up Sacramento on the road. You guys have been bad on the road. I don't think it's necessarily a switch to flip. We know what it takes to win on the road. We know what we need to go do, and you have to execute that, but we've known what we need to do all year and didn't execute. So I don't think it's necessarily a flip of a switch. You know, it's locked in and focused on what you need to focus on, and I have no doubt that we'll do that. Draymond, in the first half of the first game after you're suspended, you get a technical foul. It's beautiful, huh? It's very on brand. Absolutely. What messes were you trying to? I'm still here, and don't ---- change. Still here, and ain't no tech moving me off my square. So, you know, Fox felt the need to stand up for his guy. I respect it. I respect that 100%, but I'm still here, and don't nothing change me. I've been this way for 33 years. I pray I can be this way for 33 more, and it won't just be basketball, right? Like that comes to an end, but I am who I am, and everything else just is what it is. You don't like it? Sorry. Not really, but sorry. I like people to feel good. That's one thing in my life I really appreciate is people feeling good. So, if this one makes you not feel so good, I apologize, but I am who I am. Draymond, does it feel better that you survived that kind of like wild ending where you made a lot of mistakes? Does it feel like encouraging that you survived it, or is it more frustrating that you had a position to win and gave them a shot to win? No. You don't carry frustrations in playoffs. This is a regular season game. You probably walk off, and you're a little upset, and you're like, man, like should have never been this hard, but it's not. It's the playoffs, and every game counts, and so whether we win it going away and controlling the end, or we have to fight to win it like we did today, you take the win, and you move on now. You look at that, and you say, okay, what can we learn from that? Well, I know that I cannot leave the ball. I have to stay behind the basketball to give an outlet. All right, cool. I know and understand we're up four with under a minute to go. The last thing I can do is give up three. I know that, and so making sure everyone understands those things and don't make the same mistakes I make I think is extremely important, and you learn from that, but you don't walk off complaining or with your head down. You won the game in the playoffs. You ride that momentum and try to go get the next one. You're on this team as a tradition of guys stepping back and accepting a bench role or go back to Iguodala to start all this. Steph last year when he was hurt, he comes off the bench for most of the Denver series. He even had Wiggins. Steve mentioned Wiggins. Do you feel this is just who you guys are? Was yours a little different than that, or is it just something about the culture that says the main guys can take a step back at times? I mean, I think number one is it's who we always have been. You have guys on this team that are strictly about winning and about the team, and if you are a guy that is not that way, you stick out like a sore thumb because that's been the culture here. So for me, it was a very easy thing. We won the game pretty handily. You're going to just walk in the door like, all right, fellas, I'm back and here's my spot. No, that ---- don't work like that. You do what's best for the team. With me just sitting and watching that game, I just thought that was best, and I thought it was clear as day. I thought I could see that from a mile away, literally a mile away. I just thought that was the right thing to do. Steph thought it was the thing to do. Wigs, it doesn't matter who it is. Your time is your time, and if it's not, it's just not. I don't think it was my time to come in the starting lineup and make things about me. We won game three. Try to do the same thing in game four. Could it be the right thing to do the rest of the series? If that's what coach thinks and that's what works, absolutely. I will have to go watch the film and see how all of those things fare throughout the course of this game. If it's right, it's right. I don't care. I'm going to play the same amount of minutes I normally play, and it doesn't really matter. That's kind of my mindset. Draymond, speaking of collaboration, when a couple of assistants mentioned at halftime, let's put Draymond on Fox in the second half. How did that conversation go, and how did you like that challenge? It was just very simple. You guard Fox, and this is what we're doing. I love the challenge. Fox is a great player, and anytime I have the opportunity to guard a great player, you take on the challenge, and you feel good about it, and you go meet force with force. That's what I wanted to do. I always knew as this series was going, that's something that we had in our back pocket. If I'm being honest, I was very happy that we pulled that card out of the pocket. Wiggs was doing a great job, but when you have a great player like De'Aaron Fox, you can't just give him a steady diet of anything. It can work wonders. Great players eventually figure it out. It was a different look that we gave them, and I thought it was good. When you get in these playoffs, it's a chess match. We know them, they know us. Who's going to pull the card at the right time is important in these series, and I thought Steve and our coaching staff did a great job. Draymond, Steve said that Klay's defense was vintage, two-way Klay. What have you seen about his progress on that side of the ball? His progress is great. He and Rick and our training staff, they continue to put the work in. On off days, he's in here putting the work in, making sure his body is ready to go. You can always appreciate the effort that guys are putting in that everyone doesn't get to see in the world. You know when the preparation is there. He's been preparing, and he's continued to do that. He's been back playing all year, yet he's in that weight room every day, training room every day, doing the things that he needs to do to not only be ready to go, but to continue to get stronger. He's doing that. As far as him competing and looking like Klay, it's April. That is who Klay Thompson is. He is one of the biggest winners, biggest and best winners I've ever been around. That is what matters most to him. It's never a doubt whether he's going to compete or not. That's who he is, that's why we've had the success. When he's healthy and when he was not, that's why we suck. Considering everything that is at stake, was at stake, what are you thinking when the ball gets swung to Barnes and he rises up three for the win? You got to make that. It is what it is. We know Fox can make a shot. He won Clutch Player of the Year. What I'm not doing is giving him an ISO with anyone and just watching him work and living with that. We're not going to live with that. We know that. You got to make somebody else beat you. If he hit it, great shot. He didn't. Whether he hit it or not, it's the right thing to make someone else beat you. He didn't, it worked. Great shot. You guys in the first half got beaten on the glass pretty good. Third quarter, you guys came out with a whole different energy. In addition to you defending Fox, what changed in the third quarter because the energy level really went up? We put bodies on bodies. We understood that they had their physicality. They controlled that department in the first half. If you want to win these games, you have to control the physicality department. They controlled it pretty handily the first two games. They walked with those two games. We controlled it in game three. We won pretty handily. They controlled it in the first half. They were ahead at halftime. We controlled in the second half. We were able to pull a win out. It's very evident how important that is in this series. I knew we needed to be better in that department. You try to take some things up on yourself and make sure you're bringing the level of physicality that needs to be brought. At the same time, also lead and show other guys what that level of physicality needs to be. Everybody fell in line and did. Dadloom, who's also a leader in that department, stayed physical the entire game. Everybody else. You just mentioned Clay, who was physical as hell the entire game. Wiggs was super physical. That's what it takes to win these games. Great. Thanks. We'll have Steph, Clay, and Olivia.