LA Lakers Lakers vs Golden State Warriors | WCSF Preview | May 1, 2023

This video is sponsored by LeBron and Anthony Davis Merch Collection. Get now on 5% discount for a limited time. Link in description. Game one coming up. Here we go. 24 hours. Got a weird vibe around here today, Guter. Really got a weird vibe? What's wrong with you? It's like playoff eve. Like people are a little... Really? I think everyone's in a great mood. What's wrong? I think people want to get to the main event. Yeah, of course. Is it being weird, Dan? Anxiety. Rez, what's he talking about? Is he okay? You know, I think there's some excitement from Dan. Yeah, maybe a little nervous to write some... You know what? I'm excited. I'm never nervous. You know... Do you think you'll write some bad stories? Here's the thing, Guter. Did you miss deadline? Guter, when you stay hot, you don't get hot. That's the thing. That's how I operate. Like, I'm like D'Lo. I think you're a little nervy. I like that. All right. The West playoffs are heating up after beating the Grizzlies in six games in the first round. The Lakers now know their next opponent. Taking on the Warriors in the conference semis after their series against the Kings. Went seven games. That was an absolute fun one to watch yesterday. LeBron speaking at practice. Taking on the Dubs in round two. You gotta be super duper locked in. You can't make a mistake. You just can't. You can't make a mistake. They make you pay. It's literally that simple. You know, some teams I've played in my career that's had that notion on you. And they're one of them. They're right there at the top. You know, along with some of those great San Antonio Spurs teams If you make a mistake, they make you pay. And it's that simple. So we have to be locked in, you know, because they're going to already do a great job of scoring anyways. Even when you've got a body on top of them. You've seen some of the shots that the routine shots Steph was making in game seven that everybody was going crazy at. But that's just Steph. You're that great to, you know, you make tough shots like that. So we've got to be locked in and, you know, not hurt ourselves. Obviously, if you watch them play, the movement never stops. Any of them, all three of them, you know, they're just as dangerous when they give up the ball is when they have the ball. So you just got to stay locked in literally all 24 seconds on the shot clock because, you know, they like getting them up early in the shot clock. But also they'll stretch out the shot clock and get good looks late when teams relax. Obviously, you know, Steph and Jordan play a lot alike. Steph is a different animal, as you've seen yesterday. So it's all about, you know, us really, you know, executing our game plan. We've been preparing behind the scenes. We were preparing for both scenarios. So I mean, my hat's off to them. They show why they're great and why they are who they are. Just that championship pedigree, that experience in big games. It totally shined through, you know, not with with Steph's 50 only, but even Looney with his 20. I think it was 21 rebounds. Like they came ready to play and they did what they had to do. So now should be a fun series. Fun series indeed, Darvin. Historically, Steph Curry had himself a night in game seven, if you want to say it that way. Most points by a player in a game seven in NBA history. And that performance warrants the lead in our show. It deserves it. Another signature game, Brez, in this epic career of Steph Curry. Now, what more can you say? I mean, I was lucky enough to be there in 2016, you know, when we have a titanic series between Steph and LeBron. And here we are again, going to Sacramento. The team that was ready to light the beam. I guess we'll have to hear that phrase anymore, Dan. No, I think I'm OK with that. Not until next October. It was fun while it lasted. It was great. Steph's sort of run as an NBA player kind of mirrors my career in the league. And watching him, the way that he has changed basketball. I would imagine it's sort of like when Will Chamberlain. He's terrifying. And I think that is the biggest thing going into the series is like, how do you weather him? Not just, you're not going to stop him, right? Like, you can throw. When he's doing Steph things, nobody is stopping him. You can't let those three-pointers feel like six points or nine points, because that's what he does. He batters you mentally. You play the best defense of your life and he hits a shot and you drop your shoulders, you lose focus. And the next thing you know, it's a 12-0 run or a 12-3 run. They're so good at that. He did at the end of the second quarter. Remember, Kings are up like seven, eight in that game over the whole first half. And Steph just kind of next thing you know, they're like, wait, the Warriors are ahead at halftime. You know, and from that point on, they came out in third and just rolled them. Yeah, your guy, Q, though I know you pretty well. Steph's workout guy, assistant coach for the Warriors. He said, look, these crazy shots you see him doing, looping it way over people as he drives down the lane, it's not luck. That's what he works on. He goes to the lab all the time on days off and comes up with these crazy shots. And you know what? You see it in games, too. You do. Yeah, no doubt about it. Listen, the Warriors hard-fought series. It was great. It was fun to watch. Went seven games. Not a lot of time to prepare for the Lakers, right? Less than 48 hours. How will the Kings series affect them positively or negatively? Do you guys think? It doesn't matter at all. All you got to do is ask LeBron today. I don't even know if it's your question. After practice, someone asked him, hey, you know, were you excited to have those extra couple days off? And he said, he don't even understand. And I think a lot of times people will look at that rest and say, boy, that'll really come through in game one. And I think sometimes the adrenaline kind of rolls from game seven to game one when teams are on that type could be. But game two is where it starts to build. And it starts to kind of catch up with you. So it really does set the table nicely for the Lakers to get one of the first two, which is, obviously, if you're going to win a series as a lower-seeded team, you almost always have to do that. I know the Warriors just managed to win a series without doing that. But much different for LeBron, too. 38 years old. Last six weeks of the season that he was playing, he only played about the last three or four weeks. Every game is a playoff game. And they would have had gotten on a plane for the third time going to Memphis. What were the Warriors doing? An hour drive? Hour and a half drive to the arenas? Ubering back and forth. That's what I mean. So it was a totally different situation. If there were lime scooters. Lakers had to get that. All right. Here's what the Lakers' head-to-head looks like against the Warriors in the regular season, which now means absolutely nothing once that game tips off. This means zero. They're totally different. The Kings present a lot of different challenges. We know LeBron really well. Played him a couple of times, I think, since the trade. And they look extremely different. So I know they're playing good basketball. And it's weird. A 6-7 series. We get home court advantage. So we got to take advantage of that. But they're big. And we got to be able to have everybody locked in on our preparation over the next 48 hours. And even if guys didn't get much run in this series, that's the nature of the playoffs. Move on to a different team, a different style. Everybody's got to be ready. Do you relish the moments of taking on LeBron again and taking on the Lakers in this next round of the playoffs? It's amazing because you're still in the fight. It's better than the alternative of on the outside looking in. And having been down 0-2 in this series, nothing's guaranteed. You don't take anything for granted. It's goosebumps, man. This is what you prepare for, for these moments. And this series against the Lakers is going to be epic. You got Steph. You got Bron doing it all over again. We've never played against the Lakers in a playoff series. We get to experience that. I mean, it's a ton of little things going on. But what I will say is, stop trying to turn the page on us so fast. Stop trying to turn the page on Bron so fast. We get so caught up in what's the next thing that we don't appreciate the current. And then you get to the next thing and looking back like, man, I wish we still had that. I wish we could still see this. So for me and our guys, we're going to appreciate this every step of the way. I love that sound from Draymond. Listen, when it comes to Steph, though, and LeBron, that's the main story always. We're going to talk about that later. I think both these teams kind of battling through throughout the year. The fact that they're here, this is going to be such a great matchup. I really feel it's what the NBA needs. It's what we all need. And I just think everyone's excited to see these teams go at it. I mean, Draymond's right. Start power. Stop trying to bury LeBron and Steph and saying, all right, what else do we have? We have Luka Doncic. Yeah, how are they? But yeah, this could be an awesome series. I mean, how happy is Commissioner Adam Silva right now, Dan? We talked about this in the podcast. You see him. He's glowing. Way, way more flush. This matchup is ridiculous for a second round match. Gotta be happy, right? I would think, right? Is it a ratings bonanza, you think? I will say this. Oh, that's gonna be my catchphrase tonight. I will say this. Would you rather have Minnesota-Sacramento like in the first round? No, we're good. We're good on this. I think if you're a league type. We're all excited to play the Lakers. I mean, it's a legendary franchise. And Warriors-Lakers, it's been a long time since they've seen each other in the playoffs. And I know I'm personally excited. I get to play in front of my father, my mother, and some of my best friends. And go down to SoCal after our homestand. And it's just a dream come true. I've waited for this for 12 years. Before you bounce, who's Pops rooting for? I don't know. I really don't know. If I had to guess, probably his employer. But I'm just excited. I have so many great memories with him. Watching the Lakers. Watching Kobe. Watching Shaq and Powell. And the rest of the gang. I'm just really excited to stick it to the team. I at least try to stick to the team that I grew up rooting for. Clay Thompson and dad Michael. And of course, Michael rooting inside for Clay, for sure. But what an amazing side story this is to the series. And I just love what he had to say there, Bress. Those are big words by him, by the way. Whoever wins the series is going to win the title. I like what Clay had to say, though. That was cool. You've been waiting 12 years for this. Oh, that's awesome. All his memories with his dad are watching Kobe and Shaq and Powell. And it's cool. One of my favorite things to do is to ask Michael who he's rooting for. When he's calling a game, as a Laker radio guy, and it's against his son. And he's brilliant when he says, he says, I want Clay to score a lot of points. And I want the Lakers to win. That way, Michael gets it. He gets the best of both worlds. And it's going to be fun for Michael as a dad. This is a great series for him. I like Clay saying what he said, too. Like, yeah, obviously, I bet Desmond went to the Laker family, whether on the court or in the media side of it, for decades. And now Clay finally gets to play against the Lakers when it counts. It just boggles my mind. Yeah, and his whole family gets to be there. His friends. Yeah. He gets to come home. It's so cool. It just boggles my mind that they have not met up in the playoffs. Yeah. Since Worthy played for the Lakers. I know. It's really wild. It's crazy. I mean, it's not like. Run TMC. Yeah, right. Yeah, Mitch Richman. Yeah. And Chris Mullen and all those guys. Tim Hardaway. So it's just, I can't. I'm glad you're excited, Dan, because I am, too. Chris Gatling. Yeah, I remember him. They actually upset. I forget who they upset to play at the Lakers. Anyways, Clay, one of those guys. I think a lot of fans from other fan bases. Love Clay, right? They love Clay. Yeah, he's very likable. He's been the running mate for Steph this whole time. He's got four titles, but he's been playing some great basketball this year. No, and I mean, I think you add this to the other element of this that you mentioned. It's like this has been a journey back for him, right? Like this guy went through physical hell to be to this point. He's not the defender he used to be. The injuries kind of took that from him. But like he is still a blink away from a 20 point quarter like at any. It's got to be careful with him now. NBA fans have been waiting for this. The rematch between LeBron and Steph Curry. Here's what they have done against one another head to head in the playoffs. I don't know if you do stop them. You just have to try to make it as difficult as possible. Like multiple efforts, being aware of where he is at all times on the floor. And again, once he gives the ball up, that's when the work really starts. He's great at all facets of offense, like with the ball in his hands, playing off the ball, pick and roll, DHOs, even his backdoor cuts, you know, his drives to the rim. He can make any shot, every shot known to mankind. So you just can't get discouraged. You just got to keep giving multiple efforts and keep competing. Obviously, seeing that he's, you know, arguably the best point guard to ever play for a reason. And his performance yesterday was unbelievable. But at the same time, like, you know, we got a good core that's good defensively that we like and we like our chances. Puts in the work. You know, when you put in the work, nine times out of ten, you're going to see results. And he's done that throughout his whole entire career. And I got nothing but the utmost respect, you know, for Steph and everything he's been able to accomplish, not only on the floor, but also off the floor, too. It's great to have people like that in this league. Like I said, an example for the generation to come. This video is sponsored by Steph and Clay Merch Collection. Get now on 5% discount throughout the playoffs. Link in description. What's happening? So you go from the Kings to the Lakers. What do you know? I mean, you've seen the Lakers. Obviously this season, but in the years around the league, what do you see what they were? What are you doing right now that got them to be where they are? Because they were not good for the first half of the season. They made some trades. And what are you seeing from them now? Togetherness. I feel like everybody's on the same page. They got the same on the same page. They want to do the same thing. They want to get to where they want to go. You know, they're just playing freely and they're playing together and they're not being selfish. And I think that's just, it's just clicking with them. You know, they're getting stops and running out. Maybe he's playing at a high level. Rui's playing at a high level. So, you know, there's a lot of their guys confidence is high right now. So, you know, there's just hooping. Gary, you guard so many different type of players. For someone like Anthony Davis, who has such a unique skill set at his size, how do you best control him from your perspective of a defensive mind? That's why we got Andrew Wiggins, Draymond and Loon. I probably won't see AD as much, you know, probably best to keep one of those guys on them. But, you know, just be disruptive. You know, help out on those guys, wherever you can test and just trying to muck it up, but continue to, you know, find shooters and be careful when they spread out. After seven games, is this the same Andrew Wiggins that you guys saw in last year's playoff run as well? Oh, absolutely. You know, when it's time, Wiggs turns it on. And, you know, from 30, what 30 said, kind of lit a fire on all of us. And I think that's all we needed. Steve was talking about Steph and his impact on the Warriors franchise and the game of basketball. What's your earliest memory of Steph when you first saw him or heard of him? That New York game. What he had, 60? 54. It felt like he had 80. It was just anything he shot, touched, it was just going in. And from that moment, I was like, yeah. Just like he was kind of doing what he was doing yesterday, but he had a lot of 30, 40 footers in that one. And I was just like, God. So I think ever since that, you know, it's been, you know, Steph Curry. Have you been able to see how he impacts the game in general, though, just the way the game is played now? Yeah, he's just, like everybody said, he changed the game. Like his range and what he can do with his dribble and create. It's just like, what do you really do? Like, how do you guard him? You got to give him something. You know, stuff at the rim, middies, or you're going to give him the three. So, you know, it's just amazing to watch. Like, I sit there, it's like, I don't think I ever have a reaction anymore. Like when he does stuff, it's just like, I expect him, like anything he puts up, it's going in. So, you know, it's just, it's fun to watch and amazing to be a part of. As someone who takes a lot of pride on the defensive end, is there a particular matchup that you're looking forward to with this series? No, not really. I'll probably see everybody but AD, you know, here and there. So, I think I've seen everybody already. So, yeah, just get down to it, tighten it up, take away what they like to do and, you know, just make it tough. Gary, we all know that Klay's a perfectionist and he called his performance disgusting yesterday on the shooting end. Although he got good looks and Steve praised him for his defense. I mean, it doesn't take a lot, as you know, for Klay to get fueled or fired up. But can you sense that he's ready to let it fly again tomorrow night? And again, Lakers also meaning a lot to him. Absolutely. Like he said, I think he's been waiting like 12 years to, you know, for this matchup. So, we know he's going to be locked in, excited. And I'm sure Steve, you know, already told him, you know, let it fly. But also, you know, be a playmaker when you need to. And I think that's what he was like these last couple of games in the sack. He was a playmaker. Shot wasn't falling. So, he drove the ball and kicked out to, you know, made a defense collapse and kicked out the shooters. And I think, you know, he was amazing. And on defense, he was solid and, you know, doing what everybody needs to do. So, I think he's pretty excited for this one. And we know he's going to be ready. How much has that driving and dishing really that he's been doing open things up for everybody? Well, he's good. He puts pressure on the defense. And, you know, like I said, they got to make a decision. It's either, you know, you don't give him a shot or, you know, let him drive and let him create or something at the rim. So, he does that. Team's got to respect it and, you know, honor it and help. And we kick out the shooters. There was a play. You had the ball in the wing. It looked like you were about to take a three. And then you dumped it down to Wiggins in the post. And he threw a foul or something like that. Last year, you were like money with your three ball. How important is that in the series when, you know, 80 sitting in the middle and a lot of those buckets y'all got inside might not be there? Do you need to make more threes from the outside to loosen things up? No, if they're there, you know, we'll take them. But, you know, we still, you know, have ways to incorporate or, you know, get it back to, you know, our shooter shooters. So, you know, we got some things that, you know, we can do. But absolutely, if they're going to sit in the paint, you know, Steve always tells us to let us fly if we're open. You know, that's what we do. That's what we work on. So just let it fly. Be confident. The Pops played the Lakers. Have any factor in this? Tell you to go take advantage of them? Oh, no, I haven't heard from Gary yet. I'm sure I'll see him in L.A. Or I'm sure we're going to see him here. But I know he probably doesn't care. So he probably just wants to win. Steve, how do you characterize Jordan Poole's series and just kind of where he is, you know, in your mind, kind of in his career? I mean, was that a little bit of a step back for him? How do you view all this? He had a couple games where he got to the line eight or ten times. And those are really important plays for us. When Jordan gets to the free throw line, it sets our defense up. It gives us another way to score and to calm the game down a little bit. So he's definitely capable. We saw it throughout the playoffs last year, you know, what he's capable of. It wasn't his best series, obviously. I thought last night he did his job. You know, he came in and he had the one field goal attempt early where he tried to drive through traffic. And, you know, they ended up in transition after that. And from that point on, he ran the team. He took care of the ball. He gave Steph the rest he needed. And it was a game we played mostly with our starting five. So his minutes weren't required last night. Not big minutes. So I think this is all part of his journey. You know, every year is different. Every series is different. Every game is different. And he's in the process of sort of finding his identity as a player. We know how skilled he is, how talented he is. But these things never happen really easily. You got to go through the rough parts. And he's definitely been through some of those this year. Steve, you guys shot, I guess, uncharacteristically low from three-point range this series for you. How much of that was just, you know, that's just how the shots fell and how much of it was the Kings did something maybe unique to pressure you off the line? They pressured us the whole series for sure. And I thought last night was the best we handled that pressure. You know, only seven turnovers. And I thought we got some of our best looks last night. Just didn't go in. But playoffs are always harder. You know, it's just tougher to knock down shots. The defense is more in tune. There's more physicality. But it's good to get used to that now. We've got seven games under our belt. And I think we'll shoot the ball better. You got to remember too, you know, Wiggs just came back for these seven games. So he's not in rhythm yet. I think he's finding his way. But, you know, and same with Gary. Gary, you know, just played a little bit at the end of the regular season. So I feel like we're on a good path now because we have our health. And we've had a whole series with our full roster pretty much. So I think we'll shoot the ball better this year. Do you think it's more imperative considering they got the rim protection that Sacramento didn't have? You could just turn down a three and get inside like you did. But I guess the Lakers feels like that's a little bit riskier play. Yeah, I mean, the Lakers interior defense is really tough to attack, especially when Davis is in there. You know, he patrols that paint well and protects the basket. So we've got to do a good job of executing offensively to create good looks. And then, like I said, I'm confident we'll knock him down. Kind of following up on that question. You mentioned Davis is in the defense. Lakers, their defense is what kind of got them back to this playoff position. And since the playoffs, they've been top two defensively. What are you seeing? I mean, obviously AD is a huge factor. But what are you seeing that makes them so much better on defense than they were three and four months ago? Well, I think they've made internal improvements. You know, Vanderbilt's an excellent defender. So that trade helped. I think adding the size and athleticism of Hachimura in that trade was a big upgrade defensively for them as well. And then, you know, Reeves has kind of come into his own. He's really found himself as a player this year. And he's a good defender. Schroeder has always been a really good on-ball defender. And it seemed like when they made the trades at the deadline, everything just clicked. It was like the puzzle fit. And so having Davis anchor everything just seemed to work even better because now you had other pieces that, you know, high IQ defensive-minded players who could come in and be part of the process. It seemed like JK kind of fell off as the series went on, rather. Is this a series where he might be a little bit more needed to give you something? Yeah, it could be. I mean, we'll have to see how the series unfolds. And we'll see what's necessary. But he just has to keep doing what he's doing. You know, I think we've had this same conversation, you know, a dozen times. But these guys are young, whether it's Moses or JK or, you know, any other 19-year-old who comes into the league. It's not so simple to just say, all right, you've had, you know, a hundred career games in the NBA, go produce in a playoff series. It's not easy. So it's all part of the process. And if the game dictates it, then he will definitely get an opportunity and he'll have a chance to show what he can do. Rebounding, you talked about him rebounding before, not rebounding. And Lakers have been the number one rebounding team in the postseason. So, I mean, is that a sort of a hit or miss kind of thing you need to get from him to get minutes? Yeah, I mean, we need him to rebound. We need him to run the floor and rebound and use his athleticism and his strength. And that's all, again, part of his growth. So it's not as simple as saying, okay, we need you to rebound. It's, you know, he has to learn and he has to feel that. And it doesn't necessarily happen right away, as you've seen. So he's had some great moments for us this year. But, you know, this last series, he didn't get a chance to play much. But, you know, he's kept his energy up. He's kept his spirit up. He's putting the work in. And this is all part of the process, just like it is for Moses. You know, Moses spent much of this year on the bench and kept working and kept working. And now he is a dramatically better player than he was three months ago. That's why he's in the rotation. So the development and the growth of these young guys is not linear. It's just, you just, they just have to stay with it and stay with it until they break through. You have a lot of old, by NBA standards, bodies. A lot of what? Old. And obviously going to... You've been talking to Malik Monk? Exactly. Don't want to use that as bulletin board material, but here we go. No, but just what are the challenges? You guys just played a seven-game series. And then this series is playing every other day with travel and stuff like that. I mean, what kind of toll can that take on players' bodies? And at some point, do you just have to run on adrenaline? Yeah, I mean, I do think the travel being really short for both teams is helpful. To me, one of the most difficult parts of going every other day is when you've got a long day of travel in between. Those are the tough ones. So just going back and forth to LA for both teams will be helpful. I think you saw what our older guys are capable of yesterday coming off of, you know, I don't know, 36 hours rest after looking, you know, like we did in game six. You see what they're capable of responding and playing the way they did yesterday. So it's a matter of taking care of their bodies and staying on top of everything and then bringing the necessary focus and energy to each game. And, you know, all you can do is do the best you can. I know you praised Clay for his defense, even when his shot wasn't what he wanted yesterday. He called it disgusting after the game four of 19. But, you know, this is Clay we're talking about. He also said he's going to come out hot in game one. And facing the Lakers is something he's dreamt about for his entire career. Can you sense what that might mean to him? I mean, it doesn't take much for him to get fired up about something. First of all, his performance yesterday was almost more impressive to me. Than had he gone 10 for 19 and scored 30 points. I just feel like when you see a guy on the road in a game seven, what you're looking for is a guy who's not afraid of the moment and who's going to defend and bring energy every possession. And Clay did that the entire night. He had a play where he took a shot and it was missed badly. And Loon got an offensive rebound and scored. And on film, you could see Clay like pumping his fist. Like, yeah, it's not about him. It's about the team. It's about the result. It's about competing. His defense was amazing yesterday. And I played in a few game sevens and a lot of playoff games. And the thing that defines all the best players on the floor is none of them are afraid, you know. And Clay is never afraid. So I loved, I actually loved his game yesterday. In my mind, those are the games where you really see what people are made of. Things aren't going their way. And they're still fighting and scratching and clawing. So I'm excited for Clay because he gets to go right back out there tomorrow. And as you said, great matchup. And his dad working for the Lakers and all that. It'll be fun for him. Steve, you mentioned yesterday on offense, maybe you simplified it a little bit or got real focused with the game plan. You call it one of the best game plan games. You've seen your guys play. Without getting too much into details, was that just strict, you know, almost strictly high pick and roll loony? Make sure you start with that action. Was that the biggest part of simplification? The biggest part was the spacing because the spacing leads to better decisions and easier decisions, I should say, passing the ball. Game six, we were so cluttered. A lot of our passes, there just weren't clean angles to get the ball from one side to the other, from one teammate to another. So the spacing yesterday cleaned a lot of things up. And then, yeah, you could see the way we were attacking and trying to get the ball moving. And obviously, Steph, you know, took it into his own hands. He took 38 shots. I don't think he's ever taken that many shots since I've been here. Maybe ever. Is that his career high? A lot of it was just we got a chance to ride the back of one of the great players ever, and he took over. But strategically, the biggest thing was our spacing was much improved, and that allowed the offense to move better. Missed a lot of shots. I thought we had some good looks, and we just didn't knock them down. But the execution was pretty good. Is that just generally getting guys off the wings a little bit? What generally does that better spacing mean? Generally means not crowding the paint, you know. And we've always been a team that moves the ball and get a lot of body movement and player movement. We have a lot of freedom within the offense, as you know. But where we can get into trouble is when we just get too bunched up. And you get too bunched up, and the other team's putting a lot of pressure on you. It's just tougher to find outlets and relieve that pressure. Steve, this is something I'll ask Steph, too, at some point. But in what ways do you think him and LeBron have brought out the best out of each other over the years? Well, four finals matchups, you know, that's what it's all about. That's the apex of NBA basketball. And so the two of them meeting four times, you know, at the highest level, that's what rivalries are born out of. That's, you know, magic and bird. That's, you know, the matchups we think about in NBA history come from, you know, that sort of circumstance. So they're both amazing players, totally different. But both so committed to the work, to the process. Competitors, really intelligent. I mean, they share a lot of the same qualities, despite the fact that they're very different players. Steve, obviously, Anthony Davis is such a different big man than Sabonis. How difficult is it going from seven games of a big man like Sabonis to what AD can do? And what are the biggest challenges that he presents for you guys? I think you have to get a dose of realism, you know, you get in that game and, you know, watching film like, OK, Davis is going to be at the rim. You know, we got to be aware of his defensive presence. Then when you get out there, it's real, you know, and so you can see it on tape, but you got to feel it in order to understand how to attack. You know, with shot blockers in general, you know, if you have the angle, you try to get into their body so you don't let them free to jump up and smother your shot. But we have to be smart offensively and not just go in and try to throw, you know, wild layup attempts over the top of them, because that's what fuels their fast break. Was it that yesterday, about as match upy as you've been in your rotations, a couple of times it looked like you had Gary Baden ready to come in and you pulled him back and you had other guys. And it was a strictly, some of those were just who's in the game and he's coming in. Looney, maybe Sabonis, were there some strict match ups in your mind for that? There were, and I think there was even one time where Sabonis went to the table and we put somebody at the table and then when Mike saw he pulled Sabonis back and we pulled our guy back and that's what makes the playoffs fun. I mean, they're so different. I saw, watching the tape of the game, there's a screenshot of, you know, they had their, they're trying to run their dribble handoff game and we're trying to take it away and one of their counters was to lift their two guys even higher than normal. And we're refusing to budge. We're putting our guys on the top side of those guys. And you look at a screenshot and it's like, if any coach I ever had looked at that photo and said, what are you insane? That's your defense? Sometimes it makes no sense but it's the beauty of the playoffs is you get into these personnel situations and style situations and you throw the book out the window and you just start doing random stuff and every team's like that. You have to really counter what the other team does best and these days I think it's gotten more and more specialized in that regard. And then you start countering during the series based on what you're going against and try to figure out how to attack it. So that's honestly one of the most fun parts of the job is going through this process in a playoff series and seeing what you have to do and trying to figure it out. At least one other stupid detail, you switch the court on all the road games. You don't normally do that. What was the thing in there just to flip the sides? We did that, we started doing that later in the season. I think it was partially a result of us playing so poorly on the road we were trying to think of things we could do to help our team and so we just decided let's have the offense in front of us in the second half so that we could communicate our calls a little better and so we've stayed with that so far. You mentioned yesterday that Steph's excellence gets taken for granted in some ways because it's happened so normally. But when you look at what he's been able to do for the franchise, for basketball in general, is there even a way you can articulate what he has meant to this franchise and this game? I've run out of superlatives, I know that. I think I may have told you this story, but when I have dinner with Greg Popovich, literally every dinner when we sit down and the wine is poured, he says, here's to Tim Duncan. And his point is, without Tim, none of that happens and that's how I feel about Steph. We can all sit here and thank Steph for this era and everybody's played a part in it and it's been a great collaboration with ownership and management and different coaches and different teammates and obviously there's Hall of Fame guys, Raymond and Clay and Andre. It's really an impressive collection of people and talent, but it's Steph. When it comes down to it, you remove Steph from the equation. I'm not coaching here for a decade. I would have been fired a long time ago if I even would have gotten the job in the first place. You've taken the job. Good point. But this is how it works. I don't even want to know what Raymond just said. But my point is, I think every superstar has this type of impact on his, and when I say superstar, I'm talking the very best of the very best. The Michael Jordan impact on Chicago, the Tim Duncan impact on San Antonio, Bill Russell impact on Boston. The impact goes so far beyond just the wins and the losses. It's what it does for the brand itself, what it does for the city and the joy and the interest. I think how many kids have been born over the last 15 years in the Bay Area whose first basketball moment was watching Steph Curry make a 35-footer and immediately fell in love with the Warriors? How long does that last? A lifetime, usually, because your team when you're five is usually your team when you're 55. Steph's behind all of that, so I don't know how to quantify that. I just know we're all incredibly lucky to be part of it. Thanks. 38 was low, wasn't it? I gave him a lot of rest. No, honestly, the six minutes he got to rest in the first was important, and the bench did a really good job. I was talking about Jordan earlier. His stint in the first half was important for us because he gave Steph some rest, and then he got a chance to go in the second half. Now you get to talk to Gary, so way more interesting.