Good thing the Al Horford Experience happened in crunch time at the LA Clippers and on the national stage that the Play-in was.

Not only did that performance demonstrate that the Warriors still have that championship DNA, albeit when fully healthy and rested, but it may have kept Horford from retirement — maybe.

Thanks to a question from Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area at Golden State’s exit interviews a few days ago, it seems like Al still wants to scratch that itch.

“It told me that I have that ability to be able to do that,” said Horford. “And at that point it was like, I work so hard to put myself in those positions and to be able to be in those moments, so when those moments come, or at any point, I feel like I’m capable, that I can do that. I put in a lot of work. I put in a lot of time, but I’m confident that those displays, I could continue to do those types of displays.”

I think we can cross out the retirement option. I love how he used the word “displays”. Ballers always want to “display” their talents.

The only time I really had a moment like that was at the Chinese New Year Tournament eons ago. I scored 21 in front of a packed house in San Francisco’s Chinatown, pushing oneof the mainstays of the tourney, Cornerstone Church, to the brink in a double-elimination format. Even had my name printed in the SF Chronicle in the tiny little “Community Basketball” section where all the other linescores and stats went, on the back page.

However, one big difference: my buckets didn’t come in crunch time. That was always the one thing I couldn’t quite reach at the highest levels — known as “AA” in the nomenclature of the Nippon Athletic Union — of amateur Asian ball. Maybe I’ll delve into that some other day, but if you search on Conant Chi on this website, you’ll get a sense of who are the MVPs of “AA” ball.

After that tournament, I soon found myself as the “Poor Man’s Commish”, building a basketball league across the Bay for the guys that played in the tournaments I had played in, so that was kind of the abrupt end of my serious playing career. I mean, I still had good games in various league play and what not, but never again in front of a meaningful or prestigious tournament crowd, just in mostly empty gyms.

But yeah, if there was ever an itch to hoop, “displays” are it. And Al can do them at the highest level on the planet and in peak crunch time.

So if I’ve experienced putting on a display in non-crunch time, I can only imagine its effects in crunch time, as Al showed us. Based on that, I’ll guess he’s coming back. The chance to display can sometimes be that much of an addiction.

But the next problem is, in my opinion, maybe the Boston Celtics want him back, too? I have not delved into this much yet, and perhaps my colleague, salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan of has some ideas, but I would think the Celtics sneaking Al in at around a Taxpayer Midlevel Exception ($6-ish million) would not be that difficult and they could theoretically offer him a one-plus-one just like the Warriors did, if their cap sheet allows.

But I doubt Al is getting an offer anywhere near the TPMLE from any other team besides the Celtics, hypothetically.

Also, Horford addressed previous cryptic statements about Boston, see transcript below, but it did sound like the Celtics chapter of his career is over. You never know.

For now, them and Denver are the only other team out there that are championship-caliber and could value someone as old as Horford, but the Nuggets already have $10 million committed to Jonas Valanciunas next season. Whew! 😅

This might not be resolved until the deadline for player options, which is June 29th, about a week after the 2026 Draft. What happens with the Draft Lottery as well as Horford taking or passing on his player option will help clue us in on how the roster will look.

The way things stand with the cap sheet and the aprons right now, it looks like the Warriors can keep either Horford or De’Anthony Melton, but not both. Here’s a primer for the 2026-27 salary cap sheet situation, joined by my co-host Dean “of Positivity” Chambers:

Of course, the big Steve Kerr decision could branch off an entirely new Warriors universe, so there’s always that. We will talk about that more as I determine whether or not it is worth my time to transcribe the super-awesome Warriors Plus-Minus pod that Tim Kawakami of the SF Standard and Marcus Thompson and Nick Friedell of The Athletic did postgame Phoenix in dissecting Kerr’s impending decision — which obviously also involves Joe Lacob, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. and one Wardell Stephen Curry — but for now, my thought is that the Draft Lottery on May 10th is important.

Shouldn’t the results of the Lottery serve as a data point towards Kerr staying as head coach or not?

Full transcript of Horford behind the paywall…

Read more

With Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody both on the shelf for awhile, can “organized chaos” evolve yet again to, as one Wardell Stephen Curry put it on the podium after the Warriors were eliminated, “get back to the basics of what makes a good basketball team, a competitive basketball team, every single night”?

Here’s the context: About halfway into the postgame presser, Nick Friedell of The Athletic had this exchange with Steph:

The goal obviously here has always been the title and you guys were consistent from the start of the year that, if everybody was healthy, you felt like you could take some swings and get there. As you see what happened this year, the uncertainty about the summer, do you walk into next year feeling like if you get everybody back healthy with the group that you do have, that you can still at least push for that level?

Yeah, but I think we can approach it differently in the way that we build the year because we started the year with that as an aspiration. I’ve only been in one locker room for the last 17 years. Before you win the title, there was only like those first two years, like, you’re building the foundation for what a championship team looks like, even though you had no idea what that really meant. Then you accomplish it and then everything else is based off of that. And it’s been that way for, since 2015, so I think we can reshape the narrative, like, knowing the back of our mind, like, that is the ultimate goal, but we have to get back to the basics of what makes a good basketball team a competitive basketball team every single night. Understand how, realize how hard it is to win in this league, but can we rethink how we do things with the foundation that we’ve established? We don’t have to keep saying, “Championship, championship championship,” every day, even though we’ve experienced that. It’s, can we just build a foundation again with what this team needs to do, with the way that the game is played now, how fast it is, how young and athletic it is, all of those things? We have to kind of put everything on the drawing board to get back to just being competitive every single night.

Ron Kroichick of the SF Chronicle then followed up:

Is (Steve Kerr) still the right coach for where you guys are and do you agree with it, “Every coach has an expiration date,” or can it go longer?

I think everything we’ve done is unprecedented and there’s only a few examples you can kind of look to in the history of basketball, especially in the modern era where, when we started, again, the way the game is played has changed from 2013-14 when we were kind of ascending to, or ‘14-15 when coach got here, where we were ascending to how it’s played now, roster construction, like, all those things. You have to adapt and evolve, for sure. I think Coach is fully capable of doing that and thinking outside the box as we go, but to his point, and your spirit has to be in it, your mind has to be in it. Your coaching staff, like, every dynamic has to be on that journey with you, so only he can answer that and it sounds like he’s put a lot of thought into it, but we’ll have those conversations where I get to kind of understand where his mindset is because it’s not like he was going to open up to me on that front, over the last, or at any point during the season because we still had a job to do.

As a former coach, I can say that, as thrilling and vintage a performance as we got from Curry in LA, as damaged goods as he looked in Phoenix, they did not deserve to win either game.

You cannot show up and throw the ball to the wrong team twenty times in a do-or-die situation and expect a good outcome. Of course, as Jimmy likes to say, Steph is the ultimate cheat code.

And when fully healthy, the Draymond Green two-man action is probably the most beautiful “shared brain” type of basketball I’ve ever seen:

Individually, Michael Jordan was more of a one-man wrecking crew in the illegal defense era. As far as beautiful basketball goes, “organized chaos” with Klay Thompson spread fifty feet away from Steph felt more like a full team thing.

So, gravity with Curry is definitely still must-watch TV, except that in its present form, when it doesn’t work, the turnovers become layups and kick-spray threes in the modern NBA. It only takes a minute-and-a-half for 10-0 runs to happen. That’s where the athleticism comes in.

The Clippers lacking scoring with Darius Garland in foul trouble and Draymond doing a number defending Kawhi Leonard straight up helped brew the perfect storm for them, but what might have been lost in the shuffle is the fact that the Warriors had reached twenty turnovers at around the ten-minute mark of Q4 in LA.

Mathematically, that’s 20 turnovers in 38 minutes of play. They were on pace for 25 turnovers, but they went the final ten minutes without committing a single turnover.

It’s all documented here:

But then, 45 hours later in Phoenix, the Dubs reverted back to the same bad habits and started the game averaging about one turnover per minute again, with a near-identical 13-2 deficit by the time Kerr had to burn his first timeout:

I am definitely relieved, though, that Steph himself acknowledged the need to evolve.

It does seem odd if Steve is not at the helm for this next evolution. We’ll cover this more in the next week, but I also think a lot of that really comes down to the Draft Lottery.

I would not be surprised if Joe Lacob waits until after May 10th, the date of the Lottery, to decide on Kerr’s fate.

If Golden State somehow gets lucky with the ping pong balls and lands a Top Four pick, then you must play that Top Four pick next season in heavy rotation minutes and you cannot allow another Jonathan Kuminga situation to happen.

Two roster spots occupied by $70 million worth of healing ligaments and tendons until January 2027, at the earliest, demand such.

Even the 11th pick, or 12th through 14th, should GSW be leapfrogged with an unfavorable Lottery — or whatever roster moves are to be made with that pick or another roster spot — you must start playing other pieces!

By the way, Eric Guilleminault of NBADraft.net hopped on postgame after the Phoenix loss to give us a primer for the 2026 Draft:

It is a fluid situation and the Draft Combine could move guys up or down on mock boards around that 11th pick. There will definitely be a ton more headed your way pertaining to the Draft, coming up.

So I think everyone sees the writing on the wall: the turnover issue must be solved. Even Kerr himself at one point early in the season, before Butler went down, said that the turnovers were up to Curry and Green.

Jimmy became the calming force to the organized chaos. There were four games of this where it finally gelled, then he went down.

The basketball gods have a way of regressing things back to the mean, back to how the game should be played.

Organized chaos, as it now hinges on the runner’s knee of a 38-year-old who runs around the most in the NBA, will have to become the exception, not the rule — makes you kinda appreciate prime Klay, ya know?

Steph’s full transcript behind the paywall below will be unlocked at the next post, as are the previous transcripts, or just head to the Comments on YouTube…

00:00 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME GSW-PHX: I’m gonna take Steve’s lead. Just, we haven’t had any of these conversations, so we all have to kind of assess where we’re at and I’m sure decisions either way will be made, but just the idea of just looking at how we try to make something out of this year is the focus for me and we’ll get to the rest of what the future looks like. But we had a lot of good moments in the locker room, just appreciating the fight and the battle that we had and the ability to try to extend our season. Didn’t go the way we wanted to. We’ll get together stuff later.

00:44 But knowing that it is his choice, how much of a preference were you (inaudible)?

00:52 I want Coach to be happy. I want him to be excited about the job. I want him to believe he’s the right guy for the job. I want him to have an opportunity to, again, enjoy what he does, so whatever that means for him, everybody’s plan is their own and not gonna try to tell anybody what to do. He knows how I feel about him. That shouldn’t even need to be said, but however it goes, you’re excited about, or not excited, you’re thankful for what we’ve been able to accomplish over this run. I’m thankful for an opportunity, hopefully, to put it together, to do something again next year and, again, I just want Coach to be able to look at the situation as a whole and feel like he’s the right guy.

02:00 We asked Steve about that last moment with you, Draymond and him on the sideline, and he said this could be the last time. Did that hit you then, like, the last time you three are together in a competitive moment?

02:14 I mean, I was kind of fighting it, to be honest. You always have— we’ve lost games. You’ve ended your season in a lot of different ways and you’ve had those moments on the sideline where you go up and down and thank everybody for what they poured into the year, but for it to start with that conversation and that moment, it was definitely weird because we had spent the last, all season, but really the last two weeks trying to hone in on just the moment right now, that we had to extend our season and then all of a sudden you look up and time’s run out. And I do appreciate the fact that he took that moment because regardless, like, we’re human beings and we have to be able to acknowledge each other in that moment, but I don’t know if that’s a signal of anything. It’s just we wanted to appreciate what we’ve all poured into to this journey.

03:09 Given what you guys have been able to accomplish, how are you gonna remember the season, given all the ups and downs and everything

03:17 that happened?

03:18 It was a roller coaster ride, to say the least. The way we came in with the locker room that we had, we had our sights set on realistically trying to chase home court advantage, knowing where we were last year after the trade deadline with Jimmy. And then he goes down, Mo goes down, I miss 20-whatever games and you see, like, just momentum slipping away, but there was still this underlying belief that when it comes to the Warriors, you’re always talking about championships. That’s what we’ve established as a goal, but when we had to reshape that, it’s like, okay, can we just make something out of this year to get a playoff experience and playoff berth and that felt like the right goal and why I forced my way to try to get back. And for us to have that moment we did in LA, the highs of that and the lows of tonight, it’s just what basketball is, what sports is about. You never know what’s gonna happen, but you give it everything you have and for us to have had these last three, four days and the whole Play-in situation, I’m proud of the way we finished it because it could have been very sleepy, like, I not come back and we get blown out in the first game and everybody kind of just goes into the summer with no real direction. It was a fun ride these last four days,

04:53 How would you categorize kind of the state of the knee issue you’re dealing with? And do you think any, like, do you need anything done this summer or is it just— ?

05:02 It’s mostly rest. I mean, there are some things I can do to prepare myself for next year, which I’ll stay on top of. And they say a lot of golf helps my knee, I heard. That was part of the research I did. It was pretty incredible, so hopefully we can do that and then we come back next year and I think long, big picture, I don’t think there’s anything you have to be mindful of, what it showed, how it showed itself this year knowing there was a clear, like, how I prepared pre-injury and post-injury. So the things I’ve been doing recently, I’ll continue to do when it comes to rehab and maintenance and all that, but it is kind of touch and go just knowing, hopefully, rest will get me right, go into to training camp feeling good and be able to manage it early in the year and kind of see where I’m at. That’s kind of the idea, but I don’t feel like there’s gonna be any real long term symptoms or anything.

06:06 You’re still seeing multiple years and beyond for the rest of your career?

06:12 Multiple, for sure. There’s more than one? Yes. That’s perfect. Perfect.

06:16 Would you be interested in an

06:20 extension?

06:21 For sure, but none of those conversations have happened, so it’ll be a busy summer for the Warriors.

06:28 Steph, to follow up on what you were saying earlier, the goal obviously here has always been the title and you guys were consistent from the start of the year that, if everybody was healthy, you felt like you could take some swings and get there. As you see what happened this year, the uncertainty about the summer, do you walk into next year feeling like if you get everybody back healthy with the group that you do have, that you can still at least push for that level?

06:56 Yeah, but I think we can approach it differently in the way that we build the year because we started the year with that as an aspiration. I’ve only been in one locker room for the last 17 years. Before you win the title, there was only like those first two years, like, you’re building the foundation for what a championship team looks like, even though you had no idea what that really meant. Then you accomplish it and then everything else is based off of that. And it’s been that way for, since 2015, so I think we can reshape the narrative, like, knowing the back of our mind, like, that is the ultimate goal, but we have to get back to the basics of what makes a good basketball team a competitive basketball team every single night. Understand how, realize how hard it is to win in this league, but can we rethink how we do things with the foundation that we’ve established? We don’t have to keep saying, “Championship, championship championship,” every day, even though we’ve experienced that. It’s, can we just build a foundation again with what this team needs to do, with the way that the game is played now, how fast it is, how young and athletic it is, all of those things? We have to kind of put everything on the drawing board to get back to just being competitive every single night.

08:14 Steph, Steve said, the words he used were, “Every coach has an expiration date.” He certainly —

08:20 Was he in here like going crazy? Like, y’all giving me some lines. I’ve only had one conversation with him, so I didn’t get the— I’m learning on the fly, so please, sorry.

08:29 Take a week or two.

08:30 Continue.

08:32 But my question is— ?

08:33 Huh?

08:35 He certainly seems as engaged as ever in his 12th season.

08:38 Yeah.

08:40 And how do you view, sort of, is he still the right coach for where you guys are and do you agree with it, “Every coach has an expiration date,” or can it go longer?

08:52 I think everything we’ve done is unprecedented and there’s only a few examples you can kind of look to in the history of basketball, especially in the modern era where, when we started, again, the way the game is played has changed from 2013-14 when we were kind of ascending to, or ‘14-15 when coach got here, where we were ascending to how it’s played now, roster construction, like, all those things. You have to adapt and evolve, for sure. I think Coach is fully capable of doing that and thinking outside the box as we go, but to his point, and your spirit has to be in it, your mind has to be in it. Your coaching staff, like, every dynamic has to be on that journey with you, so only he can answer that and it sounds like he’s put a lot of thought into it, but we’ll have those conversations where I get to kind of understand where his mindset is because it’s not like he was going to open up to me on that front, over the last, or at any point during the season because we still had a job to do.

09:59 Going back to the Suns, basically KD was here last year. He’s no longer here. A lot of people thought the Suns wouldn’t be doing this well this year. What do you see on the court from them this season, in particular this Play-in game, that kind of just changed their mentality? It just looks like they got better this year without Kevin.

10:17 They got better and they look different and they figured out how to put the pieces together to highlight what they could do, what their strengths are, what this particular group is. They’re super talented, fast, athletic defensively. They like to switch a lot and you got Devin doing his thing as a playmaker and a scorer. I heard Draymond talk about what Dillon’s brought, in terms of just the mentality, but you have a lot of, we call them the others, but a lot of guys who show up on a nightly basis. You know what Jordan Goodwin did tonight was incredible. Ighodaro stepping in and starting, rolling, you had— what’s his name?— Williams out, so like, they do it— they seem to do it by a committee, but they all play hard every night and you’re gonna be in a track meet and that’s what it felt like tonight, so they did what they had to do. It’ll be fun to watch them against OKC. I’m sure they’re pretty confident they can go out and challenge the champs.

11:28 Sam (Gordon), Sam you had a question, right?

11:30 Yeah, just going back to Steve for a second, did this season feel different for you guys knowing that he didn’t have a contract?

11:36 Nah, it was more the injuries and the change of who we had available on a nightly basis, halfway through the year. That was more the concern and the challenge that we had to face. I think he did a great job of not letting that be too much of a talking point within our circles, which that’s what a professional does.

12:02 Did Steve literally say on the sideline there that this could be the last time?

12:06 He said, yeah, it’s— “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but if it is the last time, I just wanna share this moment,” which to the point of, like, after laying it all out in the line for as long as we did during this game, that was kind of a jolt of a message, but he left the door open.

12:24 Great.

12:24 Alright, last one.

12:26 So, the Suns had to take a step back last off-season in order to take a step forward. And the Warriors, five years ago, had to do the same thing. Been playing and then got bounced out by the Lakers. Then you had to take that leap forward, of course, to win the championship. Do you see similar or different scenarios in that way in which the Warriors had to take that step back, just like the Suns took a step back, knowing you did that before?

12:54 Yeah, I think when you’re at the bottom or you underperform based on your expectations, like, again, that’s where we are right now. You have to assess where you’re at and put your best foot forward to put a team together that can be competitive. They have more games ahead of them, so they’re still writing their story and however it turns out, I’m sure they’re gonna be proud of what they’ve accomplished this year, but there’s 30 teams out there that are trying to do the exact same thing every year and it’s a super-competitive league and you have to hold on to whatever momentum you have when you get it, so they’re on that ride and we’ll see how it goes.

🫶💙💛

Draymond Green waxed poetic about long-time teammate Gary Payton II at yesterday’s practice before today’s Play-in matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers.

There was even a reference to perhaps the greatest calming force ever to don the blue-and-gold.

“He’s become a steady force for us. You used to throw GP in the game, he rattled some stuff up. Now you throw him in the game to settle things down. He’s kind of morphed into that Shaun Livingston role, where he come in the game and things settle down a bit,” said Green.

Yes, Gary got-ejected-on-a-secomd-tech-after-shooting-a-ball-from-halfcourt-during-a-timeout Payton II (see Warriors-Kings recap) was described as someone who settles things down. The potentially crazy one who sometimes throws the ball to the wrong team or makes a silly needless foul as we pull our hair out on the livestream Watch Parties.

I kid, though. GP2 has, indeed, filled up the stat sheet since one Wardell Stephen Curry got sidelined with that runner’s knee, averaging 12-5-2-2 (points, rebounds, assists, steals) and just one turnover per game off the bench in Curry’s absence since January 30th.

“Him just growing into kind of a calming force for this team and everybody believes in that. And then also I think he takes a lot less shit than he used to. And I love that part,” added Dray.

The scrum also got steered right after the question about Payton, posed by Mark Medina of The RG Media, into reverence of Steph, drawing upon Game 4 of the 2022 Finals in Boston.

“Speaking of G,” Draymond said, referring to Gary, “when Steph speak like that, it’s a calming force for everyone. When you see him, there’s a confidence that comes with that and when it’s playoff time, when the stakes rise, the game level rises, he’s that steady force where, go back to Game 4 in Boston… nobody could really get it right. I was rattled and he was just like, ‘Oh no, it’s cool. Like, everybody come on, let’s go. Like, it’s fine.’”

Assuming the Warriors exit this post-season early, I can’ t wait to do a rewatch of that series. I also want to see if the Draymond detractors on Xitter are correct in that he regressed that entire run, or if they are using the benching incident as a red herring.

Anyways, leave it to Day-Day to pull me back onto the Curry bandwagon — as I’ve written and recorded on the YouTube channel recently, my heart will no doubt make me root for the on-court Dubs during the broadcast tonight, but my brain still tells me that had Moses Moody not gone down in a heap in Dallas, maybe I’d ride this version of the 2025-26 Warriors till the wheels fell off:

Be sure to stop by tonight, live on our Watch Party, as I become that basketball fiend watching what happens between 94 feet. Then around 9:30PM, after the final buzzer, I’ll go back to wondering if Yaxel Lendeborg might drop to the 11th pick or maybe if Atlanta Hawks GM Onsi Saleh might be amenable to a trade for his 7th pick:

Full Draymond transcript below the paywall (or click on the video below and read the transcript in its Comments)…

00:00 With everything that's that's at stake, how would you describe the level of preparation this past few days and how locked in the group is?

00:07 DRAYMOND GREEN, PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE GSW-LAC: Everybody's locked in. I think our coaching staff has done a great job putting the game plan in. I think it's on us, Steph, Al, KP, myself, to make sure guys are locked in and understand what playoff preparation mean and you do that by leading by example, what your preparation look like when you're coming in, so I think we got a great game plan. It's on us to just go out and execute.

00:37 What does being a 16-game player look like?

00:41 I think number one is you have to have a certain focus level. You have to meet a certain level of physicality. If you can't raise to that level, like, we all know. Everybody talks about it every year, but when playoff time come around, the game gets more physical. The fouls called are pulled back a bit and I think one of the beautiful things the NBA does and the referees do, is you have to go win. It's not — you're not getting bailed out and so I think it's really understanding that, being able to lock in on the game plan. If you're someone that can't lock in on the game plan, you can't be a 16-game player. If you're someone that's gonna shy away from contact, gonna shy away from physicality, you can't be a 16-game player. And so I think those are the two biggest things and then understanding what their defense is trying to do and how you combat that.

01:46 Are you a little more excited for this game than you were last week?

01:49 Yeah, like I said last week, once the game get here, competitor, you ready to go. You go out there, you get embarrassed, you're not ready and so just as a competitor, as the game get closer, for sure, but I definitely didn't lose sleep last week. I may tonight.

02:10 How's the preparation with a do-or-die game different than maybe like a playoff series, like a seven-game series?

02:18 Well, when you go into a playoff series — it's a nice watch, brother, I like that. Catch my eye. When you go into a playoff series, you want to get the first game, but you ultimately know after that first game, win or lose, you're gonna make adjustments. And that's the name of the game in the playoffs. Who's going to adjust better? Who's going to adjust quicker? The one-game do-or-die take you back to college. You don't have time for adjustments and so ultimately what it boils down to is, who's gonna play harder? Who's going to get the loose balls? Who's gonna make less game plan discipline mistake, game plan mistakes because you get one game. And so, yeah, halftime you'll make some adjustments, but it's not to the level of what happens in a playoff series. After Game 1 — you win Game 1, the other team's adjusting. They win Game 2, you're adjusting. Game 3, there's more adjustments, right? Like, this is different. You gotta go out there, you gotta — This is oftentimes, in one-game situations, usually the team with the best will is gonna win that game. And so I think it's a little different from an X and O standpoint, whether it's one-game or whether it's a series, that's why you always hear people talk about Game 7. Everything goes out the window because it's one game. And so this is a little similar. Obviously, you get to a Game 7, you've seen this team six times now, but as far as you got one game, everything goes out the window. We've played this team four times this year. It all goes out the window. You got one game. Who's going to come into that game with the higher focus level, with the higher level of physicality? That's probably the team that's gonna win.

04:23 Draymond, go ahead. Draymond, good to see you. Gary has often expressed gratitude with how you've been an ally throughout his career. What did you see from him when he first joined you all and what do you see now?

04:38 It's continued to improve. Most importantly, he — the way he's learned how to read defenses and play off of other guys, Steph in particular, GP probably play off Steph better than I do, which is saying a lot. Whether he does or doesn't is irrelevant, but the point that I could make that statement says a lot. And so just seeing him gain that continuity and with myself as well, like, me and GP, I can find him in places, but it's because he knows, he knows how to read, to find those open gaps in the defense. And I think that's one of the biggest things is, like, he's gotten here, he's found his way, he knows his role and he's just continued to get better in that role. I think so oftentimes in this league, you see people wanting to outgrow their role and get themselves in trouble. And he's just become a star in that role. He's become a steady force for us. You used to throw GP in the game, he rattled some stuff up. Now you throw him in the game to settle things down. He's kind of morphed into that Shaun Livingston role, where he come in the game and things settle down a bit. You get to your certain actions you want to get to and I think that's one of the biggest things. And him just growing into kind of a calming force for this team and everybody believes in that. And then also I think he takes a lot less sh_t than he used to. And I love that part.

06:25 Draymond, you obviously played a ton of meaningful basketball, as Steph puts it, with him. What is he like when the stakes rise like this? What — how does his, I mean, Steve talked about your focus sharpening. What's Steph like when the stage becomes bigger?

06:40 His focus level goes to a completely different level. When you have the skill level of Steph Curry, you don't have to always focus because you can bail yourself out of any situation. That's, I think that's the beauty in being a superstar like Steph Curry, the level of focus that I have to go into a game with on the daily. He don't have to, but when it comes playoff times, his focus goes to a completely different level. He talks more, he's putting guys in position, he's telling people what you're going to see. And speaking of G, talking about G calming, when Steph speak like that, it's a calming force for everyone. When you see him, there's a confidence that comes with that and when it's playoff time, when the stakes rise, the game level rises, he's that steady force where, go back to Game 4 in Boston.

07:48 Right, 43.

07:48 Where it was like, man, like nobody could really get it right. I was rattled and he was just like, oh no, it's cool. Like, everybody come on, let's go. Like, it's fine. And that's, I think that probably, it explains it better than anything. Like, if you look at that game, that's his level of focus. When the intensity rises, when the game pressure, when the pressure of that game rises, that's who he becomes. And it's, to have that guy on your side, that's why you always have a chance.

08:25 Kawhi's na guy you've seen multiple times through your tenure here, but he's averaging career highest points, just three-point rate's the highest he's ever been. How do you begin to prepare for a guy like that when he's been so aggressive, offensively?

08:35 Well, number one, I think it's important that A) it's a complete team effort. No one guy is gonna stop that guy. He's too good, so it's complete team effort and being locked in on our game plan. And then you just try to make him take tough shots and live with the results. Ultimately, I always tell guys, Kawhi is a great player. If he shoot 50% from the field, if I can make him miss one more shot and I did my job, if I could out of 10 shots, if he's gonna go 5-for-10, if I can make that 4-for-10, then 4-for-10 becomes 8-for-20, right? I did my job. And I think that's ultimately what you have to understand when you're playing against superstar players, it's like, man, NBA coaches are the best coaches in the world, so they're going to put that guy in positions over the course of 48 minutes to have some success, no matter what you do as a defender. So ultimately as the defender, I just want, when they're putting him in all of these positions, for success. I just need to try to make it a little bit tougher, make that shot a little bit tougher. If he want to get that shot where you stand, can I make him take that shot one step further back? That's what it ultimately boils down to, but man, he's an incredible player. I was telling somebody the other day, like, having this Kawhi we're watching now and he's even better, but we're seeing him healthy. And he looked like the Kawhi that we played in the NBA Finals seven years ago. And then just as a competitor, as someone who's played him throughout my career, I'm happy to see him healthy as a guy who, he's a hard worker. Look where he started. he come in with the 14th, 15th pick or something like that, couldn't throw the ball in the ocean. Now, he's one of the better shooters in our league, so he works. To see that yearly get cut by something that he couldn't control and then to watch people talk about him like he not who he is, it was unfortunate. And so to see him playing at the level that he's playing at, competitor or not, just as a fan of basketball, happy as hell.

11:05 Draymond, yesterday Steve was praising the way that you handled the film session. What is a engaged, enthusiastic film session from you feel like and sound?

11:15 Probably a little too close to how Steve sounds, but honestly, just really trying to share different things that may not get covered. Trying to be another set of eyes for our coaching staff. They're going through so many things. When you are watching the amount of film that they're watching, sometimes that can lead to some fatigue, so what if they miss something and that one thing can ultimately help save a bucket? Save one bucket could be the game and so I just try to be an extra set of eyes for our coaching staff, for our team, share some things with them that they may not catch, share some things with them that they may not know, just from experience, is ultimately what I try to do, but I probably talk a little too much.

12:11 No.

12:11 But it's all right.

12:14 You were the first — last question, go ahead. You were the first one to amplify there's 16-game players and there are 82-game players. When did you first recognize that from what you saw?

12:27 I think early in my career. You start playing playoff basketball and initially you realize the difference. You realize the difference in intensity. You realize the difference in the amount of focus it requires. You realize how much more you have to raise your level than the regular season. And so I think initially it's going through that and being like, man. And then you see it and you start to see people fold, guys who you watched all regular season and then they get in the playoffs and you're like, whoa, who is that? And to have the level of success that we had, that we've had, you quickly realize like, ah, you bring in some guys, right? And you're like, oh man, we've played against this guy. He's crushed us. Regular season basketball, you bring those guys in, you get to the playoffs, they can't think straight, so you quickly realize, like, ah. There's guys that's made for this 82 and there's guys that's made for the 16. In an ideal world, you're made for both, but it ain't always ideal. And so me personally, I'd rather have a 16-game guy. 82, yeah you need it. It's important, but I've just seen too many guys over the course of my career and, like I said, starting early, that when they get to time for the 16, they're like a shell of themselves and quickly realize like, all right, this ain't for everybody. There's guys that get in the regular season and they're gonna get their points, they're gonna get whatever to make it look good to get their money, but when it's time to win that ain't the guy you want on your side. So I figured that out pretty early in my career, just due to the level of success that we had.

🫶💙💛

Good to hear De’Anthony Melton talk about the game plan process, as well as Steve Kerr saying Draymond Green is excited, plus Kristaps Porzingis mention that he didn’t want to give away too many of the details while acknowledging Kawhi Leonard is liable to pull up from deep, which is an added wrinkle to his game that the Clippers’ superstar has added this year.

The gathering of the scrum with beat writers midday on the road, it sure feels like the NBA Playoffs, if not for a day or two or three, although it’s just a one-game playoff because, well, it’s the Play-in “Tournament”.

Going into Wednesday’s matchup, my most intriguing thoughts included:

1. Would the rotation be squeezed à la 2021 to just eight players? UPDATE: Danny Emerman of the SF Standard tweeted on Tuesday that Kerr said in today’s practice he could go 10-11 deep. This sounds plausible considering some of the old guys are on a minutes restriction roughly classified by Steve as “we’re not playing him 40 minutes”.

2. How will the actions look, especially as we even saw a double-big pick set for one Wardell Stephen Curry by both Porzingis and Al Horford in the meaningless 82nd regular season game the other night, see timestamps:

3. And will the defense play better? Will the Clippers not be as fast (i.e., John Collins not have multiple fast break dunks) with Kawhi the focal point, which would be a silver lining to our old guys? Looks like Dray will guard Kawhi, obviously, but Melton said the best way to wear him down is to “attack him,” perhaps suggesting that they either expect Leonard to guard Melt or the offense will target Kawhi. We shall see.

Transcripts from Monday’s practice are below the paywall:

00:00 KRISTAPS PORZINGIS, PRACTICE, 2 DAYS BEFORE GSW-LAC: Okay. Obviously, good team across from us. I saw, even yesterday without them having like some of the best players, they were still a good team, know how to play, a few decent defenders, so it’s gonna be a battle, obviously, you know? So they were close to being the 8th seed. That would’ve changed the picture for them, so I think they’re gonna be hungry and we just have to be hungrier and go for it.

00:32 You’re in a bit of a three-point shooting funk right now for the past few games. You have two days to prepare. What do you do in those two days that might be different than what you would normally do?

00:41 Nothing. Nothing, honestly. I’m gonna still shoot it and I believe the next — I always believe the next shot is gonna go in. You have to have that belief, you know? Even if the shot is not feeling perfect or the wrist, or this or that, I can still make shots. I know it. So hopefully the timing will line up perfectly and I can have a good shooting game, next one.

01:06 How did it feel starting next to Al again, last game?

01:09 It was good it was good to, yeah, I mean, Al was super experienced, helps me a lot. I always learn from him, ultimate professional, so to have him out there with me, both of us can shoot. It only helps.

01:25 Could you see you Al and Draymond all sharing the floor with Draymond being obviously on Kawhi and you guys being that behind defense, too?

01:34 I don’t know. I don’t know. Not that I’m saying — I’m not saying, oh yeah, this is the perfect — you know? I don’t know. This is a little bit to the coaching staff. For sure, we can play together, of course. Draymond can guard anybody, so but I don’t know what makes the most sense. That, I’ll leave it to the coaching staff.

01:51 What do you think your presence in the paint can do to help Draymond on defense?

01:56 Yeah, I mean, of course. I have levels still to get to, like, defensively. Obviously, I haven’t been — not near my best, like, mobility-wise, in this like last — this season, in total. So but for sure I’m looking forward to doing what I can on Wednesday. And yeah, I mean, my length is still there, you know? My length is still there, just anticipating things, making the right reads, being there for my teammates, all those things I can do.

02:28 How do you feel like your offensive rhythm with Steph has kind of come along?

02:32 Yeah, I think each game’s a little bit better. Obviously, it’s not perfect from the get go, but also we barely got any time together. It’s just hard to develop some crazy plays playing 14 minutes together, so it’s a process and I’m learning stuff and picking up on these things. And I’m talking to him and to let him know what I like and this and that and yeah, I wish we had more time. I wish we had more time. Maybe we can make more time, you know? So it’s in our hands, but we have to go for it, figure that out, like, on the fly, in the Play-in game, for sure. I mean, not that I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me. It’s not like, oh, okay, we go from zero to a hundred, but for sure we can make some progress, even in this game. Like, we had yesterday a little bit of time together. We had good talks and stuff and a guy like Steph, like honestly, he draws so much attention that he can make me look good without me even doing anything, just being out there, you know? So it’s a blessing for me.

03:34 To follow up on that, how much of a benefit is it to have these two days of practice?

03:39 Of course, of course. More time, more preparation, more video, more talking, everything, so but it’s also for them, so it’s an even playing field. It’s not like we’re getting some extra time, so just getting fresh and ready for the game.

03:51 What do you feel like has affected your mobility on defense?

03:55 My weight. My weight, my rhythm. Like, I haven’t really played and I’m relatively healthy, I would say, aside maybe from the wrist and this, so yeah, I just need to lose a couple pounds, honestly. Like, I need to, you know? But and I know it sounds weird because all my career, everybody, oh, you gotta put on weight, you gotta — I’ve tried that. It doesn’t help my mobility and when I’m lighter, like how I was in Boston, it’s when I move the best, when I’m the most effective.

04:25 (Inaudible) Kawhi’s been averaging career-highs on threes, scoring. His three-point rate’s the highest it’s ever been, so how do you guys prepare, begin to prepare for a guy like Kawhi?

04:33 Yeah, he’s gonna shoot. He’s gonna shoot more. He’s gonna shoot in transition, so not to give away too much, but a big challenge on our hands, one of the best players in the world. And let’s see if we can stop him a little bit. Cool?

—

04:50 DE’ANTHONY MELTON: Because we feel like we’re better than our record given, I mean, the year that we had, so I mean, we got a game Wednesday to win another game, you know what I mean? — the following day, so I think that’s how we looking at it. And we feel like we can compete with any team, so we just gotta just take it quarter by quarter, man.

05:09 How much of an advantage is it to be able to stay here for, now, five days in a row?

05:13 Oh, most definitely, most definitely. I mean, not having to travel and not having to pack everything up, you know what I mean? — get on a plane, do all that stuff, I mean, it’s huge for us just to be able to just relax. It’s great weather, great weather out here, so just do what you want and just get ready for Wednesday.

05:31 Steve said that Draymond was very enthusiastic during film session today. What do you see as from his focus, from his mindset in this one game do-or-die kind of situation?

05:41 It’s different. It’s my first time being on the same side as them, so to see they game plan discipline, how they attack everything and how they think is huge because they’ve had a lot of success. They’ve been to the top of the top, you know what I mean? So just to see how they handle things, I mean, is important for me just to take for my career, but and having vocal leaders is important for us.

06:10 You’re an LA guy. Have you played many high stakes games in the city before?

06:14 Something like that, so but I don’t know if stakes have been this high, you know what I mean? — given what’s going on, so gotta just keep working.

06:26 How do you look back on your season, personally?

06:29 Ups and downs, but I think at the same time, I mean, I be trying to give myself grace sometimes and I think everybody else be trying to tell me, give myself grace because I want it so bad, but that’s what happens with the season that I have. That’s what happens with an injury like mine, so. It was fun and I think that’s all that matters. And right now, I mean, game Wednesday is the most important thing of the season, so that’s all I’m trying to worry about.

06:56 Kawhi had career-highs this year in scoring, three-point rate especially. How do you guys begin to game plan for a guy like him, especially when he’s been so aggressive offensively?

07:05 Attack him. Attack him, attack his dribble, attack him all around the floor. Just make it uncomfortable. Make it uncomfortable. Sometimes great players, they gonna get theirs and get their numbers and do what they gotta do. At the end of the day, you can make it tough. You can wear them down you can be physical with them and you can frustrate them, so roll around fourth quarter, see how they’re feeling around then. But dude like that, you gotta just keep attacking them.

07:35 I imagine you’ll spend some time defending Garland. What do you think about that matchup? What challenges does he pose?

07:42 Quickness. I mean quickness and I mean, he got a crazy hesi, so I just gotta make sure I don’t jump at none of that stuff, but he’s just so quick and he crafty when it gets to pick-and-roll and around the rim, so just gotta be disciplined. And I think the biggest thing for all of us and just all those guys really is just don’t foul them, like, you know what I mean? You see last four minutes of the game, we just giving team the little swipe seven times in a row, almost, so like that’s the type of stuff is just, we just can’t foul, can’t give up and-ones and yeah.

08:16 Do you feel like your quickness is fully back after the knee surgery?

08:21 Yeah, I feel like I can keep up with pretty much all the quick guards out here, but sometimes craftiness and quickness is tough to handle, so it’s a fun matchup for me. I like to guard dudes like that, you know? I feel like it tests my capabilities, so we gonna see.

08:38 To kind of follow on that, from a team perspective, what are the margins that you guys have to manage when you are playing, I guess, bigger, faster teams, more athletic teams?

08:47 Discipline. Discipline and turnovers. I mean, we’re the Warriors, so we always gotta watch our turnovers, but yeah, that type of stuff, you can’t let them dudes get out in transition, you know? They got some young dudes that attack the paint and that type of stuff. We just gotta play into our own hands, you know what I mean? Play our game.

09:08 When a guy has that kind of range though, I mean, you said discipline. When he has that range, he can shoot from 27, 28 feet, how much difficult is it in that moment to not react to a quick move here where he gets to step back on you, that he gets to where he beats you?

09:18 That’s why we pros, right? That’s why we pros. You gotta figure that stuff out, you know what I mean? Sometimes guarding deep bomb threes, you know what I mean? — sometimes you should guard them, but sometimes, I mean, it’s just a great shot, like, you know what I mean? It’s a tough one, so you gotta just be a pro. Just be a pro and see what happens.

09:40 As an on-ball defender, what can a combination of Draymond, Al and KP do for you, like, behind you?

09:47 Allows me to pressure the ball more. Allows me to be more aggressive. It allows me just to kind of be myself out there because they have so much help behind me. And, I mean, they so smart with how they handle defending the rim and switching out and being who they are that, like, it allows me to have a little more of a leeway room with try to attack the ball and try to frustrate people up there.

10:11 Going to battle with a guy like Steph Curry, I think Podz has said, like, just feels like you guys can beat anybody. When you have Steph, what kind of confidence does that give the team and everything?

10:20 Like you said, we could beat anybody when we have that man over there and I think he shows the ultimate confidence. And I think that’s what kind of resonates through the team for us, just how confident he is in us, you know what I mean? — as a team, as a group, even given injuries. And I mean, as you see, how he fought to get back. I mean, we gotta, we could just do our best and just play hard for him, like, you know what I mean? Just put our bodies on the line because he was definitely doing it for us.

10:48 How do you think he kind of looks right now, given that he’s only had like a week to kind of ramp up?

10:52 I mean, he look good. Every day is always better than the last, so I think that’s important, too, but I mean, we got the most utmost confidence in him, no matter what.

00:00 What was — what’s kind of like, I don’t know, the scripted practice, is what you’re trying to get done?

00:06 STEVE KERR, PRACTICE, TWO DAYS BEFORE GSW-LAC: We just went through a good chunk of our game plan, walked through stuff. With the game last night, we didn’t do anything live. Guys are getting shots up now, but good film session, start to lay out our game plan, but we have another day tomorrow to add to that and so we didn’t throw everything at them today.

00:27 Go more live tomorrow?

00:29 A little bit, yeah. Yeah, more drill work tomorrow and more active preparation.

00:34 Are you pretty confident injury-wise that everyone should be good to go?

00:38 Yeah.

00:39 I know you said last night Steph won’t play 40. How much do you think you can stretch him, minute-wise?

00:45 I think he’s had four games now. He stretched almost up to 30 last night, so with the two days off he should be able to get at least that and then hopefully some more.

00:59 You didn’t know for sure that it would be the Clippers in this Play-in round, but there was kind of, it was kind of trending that way. How much advanced prep were you guys able to do before this week?

01:08 Well, we have our advanced scout Scott Vaughan, who’s watched both of them pretty carefully over the last couple weeks. He was at the Portland-Clipper game the other night in Portland. He’s working with our individual coaches who have their respective scouts. This is Seth Cooper’s scout, so Seth has been tracking the Clippers the last couple weeks. Khalid Robinson has been tracking Portland, so we have a system in place so that we were ready for either team.

01:46 Kawhi is the first player to average career highs in his 14th season. Kawhi Leonard career-highs in points, three points, three-point rate is a lot higher this year. How do you begin to prepare for a guy like that? Are there things different with how aggressive he’s been offensively this year?

02:00 Well, he’s always been a great player, so I’m not sure how much you’d change now compared to when we saw him in the Finals in ‘19, for example. He’s just gotten better and better, but he’s still doing the same things. He’s just doing them at a high level, so the game plan doesn’t change but you have to recognize just how good he is, how much they depend on him. And we’ll watch everything in terms of what they’re running for him, his favorite spots to be in. We’ll have some rules for our guys that we’ve had in regular season games, too, in terms of not letting him do certain things. He’s gonna really try to get fouled. He’s going to do the NBA thing, which lots of guys are doing. BP does it for us, try to use the rules against the other team and get to the foul line, so we have to be prepared for all of that, just like they do with BP.

03:05 De’Anthony’s had a few rough shooting games lately. I’m wondering what have you seen from him over the last — ?

03:09 Well, he shot it better over the last week. He had the big game, last game. I can’t remember now who we played, but, I guess, Sacramento. He had the big second quarter. He had a good game at home before that. Shooting is up and down for everybody. It’s just part of the game, but I’m very confident. De’Anthony’s had a really good season and I’m confident in the body of work and the experience, playoff experience he has. I think he’s gonna come out and play great tomorrow or Wednesday.

03:42 What did you like or didn’t like about the two-big combination between Al and Kristaps last game?

03:46 I like it. I mean, it gives us a different look. Obviously, both guys are really good scorers we can play through. Either one of them gives us protection in the paint defensively, so I like the combination.

04:00 How does things change between them, though, having Dray on the court, too, though?

04:04 Well, we didn’t do that last night, but you’re saying if we play all three of them together? Yeah.

04:10 All three together or just having all three available.

04:12 Yeah. I mean, we’ll — It’s something we might do. It would be based on how the game is going, but it doesn’t change too much. What it does is, it forces you to make lineup decisions, who’s gonna start or who’s gonna guard the 5? Is the 5 a shooting big like Lopez? Can you have one of them on a wing? I mean, those are all the decisions that go into it.

04:43 What are the pros and cons of using Draymond as the primary defender on Kawhi compared to when you have a more free safety?

04:50 Well, the pros are that he’s the best defensive player on our team. He’s one of the very best in the league. You can put him on anybody, doesn’t matter, point guard, center, wing. And he’s gonna do a good job on those people, so and the negative is that he doesn’t play center field. He’s not there to clean other things up at the rim. He’s more out on the perimeter. And so some of that may be based on combinations, whether he guards him or not, so we have to prepare for everything.

05:24 Is that the benefit of this roster’s construction, potentially, that — ?

05:28 Yeah, having a little more size behind Draymond with Kristaps and Al, for sure we’re more capable of putting him on a perimeter player than we would’ve been before we got these two guys.

05:40 Steve, to that, Draymond doesn’t exactly back away from any challenge. Do you think he wants Kawhi for most of the game?

05:49 I wouldn’t say that. I think Draymond just wants to win, whatever that looks like. And but you’re right, he embraces every challenge, but the Clippers pose a lot of threats. Obviously, you’ve got Lopez on the pick-and-pop. He’s been shooting the ball really well. Garland has changed their look and their feel, added more speed, so we’ve gotta be cautious of giving him too much space and so there’s a lot that goes into this, not just guarding Kawhi.

06:23 Do you see any similarities in Steph and maybe Darius, to a lesser extent, in their game, the ability to stretch the floor out, be able to move a lot off the ball? Do you see any similarities there at all?

06:31 Say that again?

06:31 Darius Garland and Steph Curry.

06:32 Darius and Steph?

06:33 Yeah, do you see any kind of similarities in their game at all with the ability to extend the range, the ball movement, that kind of stuff?

06:40 Yeah. I mean, he’s a guard who can really light it up from three and penetrate and get into the paint, so guys like that are always really difficult to guard.

06:49 Draymond kind of said that, a couple games ago, like, he’s not exactly excited for this game. He, like, he’s gonna come and compete and everything, but he’s not exactly excited for this Play-in game. I guess, what’s the vibe around the team right now? Is there like a fiery sense of excitement?

07:02 That was last week. That was last week. Draymond’s very excited. Yeah, I mean, I can tell you just from going through our scout, our scouting report, he was extremely engaged and it’s basically a playoff game even though it doesn’t count. And I always wonder by the way, what if somebody gets, like, what’s the all-time playoff scoring record for one game?

07:21 It doesn’t count. (Inaudible) you mean? Playoff?

07:23 Playoff.

07:24 Jordan.

07:24 Jordan, 63? So if Steph or Kawhi gets 64 Wednesday, does it just vanish? Just disappears?

07:32 I guess we’ll see.

07:33 I guess we will. Hopefully, it’s Steph, not Kawhi.

07:36 Steve, does that one come up at the meetings at all? Like, can we count these stats for these games?

07:41 No, no, but we just chuckle about it, mainly.

07:45 You mentioned earlier with BP and his foul drawing, I think he had a play last night and maybe also the game before where he feels the contact, puts it up and it goes in, but they don’t give him the free throw. What’s the right continuation call, as you understand it right now?

08:01 The right one meaning — ?

08:03 The right way to call continuation.

08:04 Meaning the league rule?

08:06 Yeah.

08:07 As I understand it, if you’re within the gather, then it’s continuation. If you haven’t gathered yet and the foul happens before that, then it’s no free throws.

08:20 Has the way he been approaching those specific plays been the right way, or do you want to see him do something else?

08:26 It’s the right way, based on the way we officiate in the NBA, so if you can draw a foul, you just draw a foul, even if it’s not a shooting foul. You get — you’re one step closer to the bonus, so BP’s a really smart player. Those plays usually happen as he’s kind of running through the catch, as we say, and the defense is out of position and, in most leagues, college ball, FIBA, they’re not gonna call foul when you basically try to game the system. In the NBA, we reward gaming the system. And so guys have to understand that you got — you’ll see guys do the, as they’re driving and they do the swipe-through underneath. I mean, most of the league is doing that. And so this has been a big theme in the league, the last decade-plus, of understanding that the league is gonna be very black and white with their interpretation of plays. And so guys have learned how to sort of draw a lot of fouls. I think I said that very diplomatically, if I’m not mistaken.

09:43 There’s a documentary coming out about Jerry West and his life.

09:45 Yeah, I’m gonna go tonight, yeah.

09:46 What do you remember most about Jerry and what was his biggest impact on you?

09:52 Well, when I got here and he was with the Warriors, he was somebody I leaned on quite a bit. I would call him about once a month and just check in with him. Say, what are you seeing? What do you think with our guys? He was a big presence with our team. I remember watching him play, growing up here in Los Angeles when he was a Laker — kind of the very end of his career was like the early part of my NBA fandom at seven or eight years old. So I remember watching the Lakers on TV celebrate their championship. West’s one championship. ‘72? Tim (Roye)? I think it was ‘72, but yeah, so a lot of memories of him as a Laker, but more as an executive once he became the GM. And but once I got here, he became a friend and somebody I really leaned on, respected his opinion and he wasn’t shy about giving it, so he was really great to talk to about the game.

🫶💙💛

If you’re on our Discord server (or follow the right people on social media), you know that Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard are not playing in tonight’s season finale.

[NOTE: We have two versions of our Discord, free and VIP ($5/mo) which has real-time feeds in the context of the above.]

The fact that Leonard is out and the Trail Blazers just need to beat the tanking Kings at home in Portland tonight, tells us that the LA Clippers don’t want to risk injury to Kawhi and will just concede the 8th seed, which will result in a Clippers-Warriors 9-10 Play-in (re-)matchup on Wednesday.

So what is there to play for tonight? My detailed analysis (embedded below) from Golden State at Sacramento revealed a few problems:

1. Gui Santos was burned on multiple times by Nique Clifford and Devin Carter, exposing one of his greatest weaknesses: point-of-attack defense.

2. Kristaps Porzingis is in the midst of a slump: 7-for-21 from the field over the last two games and and 1-for-11 over the last three.

3. Gary Payton II had a brain fart and got himself ejected. Can he simply lock in and get rid of the silly stuff? I had said in the recap that Draymond also had a couple of mindless turnovers, but obviously he’s out, so he won’t be able to improve that until the actual Play-in game.

4. We know how one Wardell Stephen Curry runs his two-man actions with Dray and Gary, but how will the actions with Porzingis and Al Horford look?

Here is the whole recap in all three formats (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts). I did not have time to compile highlights, as mentioned in the talks, but I hope to do so and remind the fandom of how beautiful the Warriors ecosystem can get — glimpses of having a squad — even though it may have been disguised by a so-called “bad loss” result in Sacramento:

I think only the fourth and second points above can be addressed tonight. I would almost wish for Santos not to play tonight, as his usage has been high and he’s been dealing with a pelvic injury. He will come off the bench, as it has been reported pregame that Steve Kerr will start Curry, Brandin Podziemskj, De’Anthony Melton, Al, and KP, so hopefully Gui gets a quasi-rest.

If he gets burned by a few Clippers tonight, that’s okay. Just clean that up by Wednesday night.

The third point above, Payton is always just hit-or-miss, mostly hit over the past few months, when it comes to not doing crazy things.

Of course, every game is a development opportunity for guys like Charles Bassey, Malevy Leons and Nate Williams, but this one game, we may not glean much. It would be nice to see Williams bounce back from a bad game against the Lakers, though.

According to SpoTrac, Bassey signed a rest-of-season contract, so he is eligible to play in the Play-in and playoffs as the 15th man. Williams is only on a one-year two-way deal, so he becomes a free agent as soon as the off-season hits.

But there might also be a subtle extra audition happening: Pat Spencer. I already talked about this at length here:

It may help his cause to have his last meaningful game produce results reminiscent of his three-game road trip run back in early December at Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago but barring a surprise “next man up” situation in the upcoming Play-in or playoffs, this might be his last game as a Warrior.

We will be on the live chat Watch Party tonight, per usual, rooting for no injuries, some good reps with Porzingis, but all in all, this 82nd game of 2025-26 should pass innocuously.

Tomorrow night, I’ll go live with a salary cap sheet analysis and we will dig deep as to what the Warriors can offer, say, KP and Dray (if he opts out and re-extends), add the Draft pick’s probable salary, and speculate on how that might impact Melton and, therefore, whom to pick in the Draft.

It will be a first stab at the numbers, literally starting from scratch. The following week, I’ll hop onto Yossi Gozlan’s Third Apron channel and look at possible trades.

🫶💙💛

Good news, Moses Moody did not feel any pain when he tore his left patellar tendon in Dallas back on March 23rd (see full transcript below). And he said in Sacramento the other night that he had been dealing with patellar tendon issues since middle school:

My knees been bothering me for a while, like from middle school to high school and it’s all been patellar tendon, so I’m glad to finally get it fixed.

For his rehab, he dropped a pretty impressive name:

I don’t have a target right now. I just kind of put my head down and do the work and we’ll get there when we do. I’ve been thinking about setting some goals. I’ve been talking to my man John Doerr about OKRs and just the way to set goals and track them, track progress and figure out a plan then for success.

Back in my previous life, even before running men’s basketball leagues, my friend Paul Hsu — whom I met through hoops, thanks to a mutual family friend — helped get me a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Emerging Company Services group (PwC-ECS), a very small handful of non-accountant business development staff who would help Silicon Valley entrepreneurs connect the dots with lawyers and venture capitalists.

Back in the dot-com era, the Big Three of VCs were Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers (KPCB), Bob Kagle of Benchmark Capital and Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital, in reverse order of whom PwC-ECS had the best relationships.

OKRs stand for Objectives and Key Results, a methodology of “stretch goals” inspired by Silicon Valley legend Andy Grove of Intel, that Doerr brought to Google and Amazon. One of the most important things venture capitalists do is help grow companies from small teams surrounding the founders and scale them to global businesses, so OKRs became a tool for forming corporate culture.

Obviously, Warriors owner Joe Lacob works for Doerr’s legendary firm, KPCB, but did you know that Marissa Kagle, Bob’s wife, has been reported as serving on Golden State’s executive board, as the Kagles are minority investors in the team? She is often courtside a ways towards halfcourt from Joe and his wife, Nicole Lacob.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Moritz, who has retreated since 2012 from leading Sequoia due to health concerns, is the founder of the SF Standard, which of course has Danny Emerman reporting from Warriors games and, on occasion, feature writer Tim Kawakami.

The GSW are still represented by Sequoia in a big way, though. Mark Stevens also left the firm in 2012, but currently sits on the Executive Board of the Warriors as a minority owner. He was the partner that led Sequoia’s 1993 investment in Nvidia. Incidentally, Moritz famously has never sold a single share since.

So, Moody calling Doerr “my man”, that’s actually pretty big if you ask anyone down by Sand Hill Road.

But Moses has been continually making connections over there. He even recently created an AI version of himself:

Below is his transcript from postgame af the Warriors lost to the Kings:

00:00 Come get him now and you guys will get him back when he returns to practice sometime next season.

00:07 How have you kind of processed all the time since the injury and the surgery and everything that’s happened in between?

00:12 MOSES MOODY, POSTGAME GSW-SAC: Yeah, it’s been good just going through the processes, the stuff that we gotta do.

00:19 What is, I guess, for you the next step of rehab at this point?

00:23 Over time, we just getting more — bending it more and we have to strengthen the quad, activate the quad and all of that (inaudible).

00:33 How are you feeling?

00:35 Yeah, I feel good. It’s a unique time in my life just being able to kind of slow down. Being in NBA season, you ripping and running, doing so much, traveling so much, so being able to slow down, sit down, have a routine, get better at some stuff, it’s been cool. Talk to my family, talk to a lot of people on the phone all the time now, so yeah, just being intentional with my time is just something I’ve been focusing on and that’s been, I’ve enjoyed it.

01:02 How has it been to be around the team, this last week or so?

01:05 Yeah, it’s been cool because I’ve been away, obviously, with the surgery and the first week of rehab and all of that, so just coming back and being able to be back in the locker room, feel like a player again, be — yeah, be on the sideline, come to Chase, get the love that I got. I appreciated that a lot. That was big for me, just being able to feel it in the arena. It was — I really enjoyed it.

01:29 Kinda, I guess, you getting the surgery, I’m sure talking to a bunch of people, experts on the injury, where’s just your conference level that obviously you’re gonna miss probably a chunk of next season, but then you can kind of just resume your career?

01:42 Yeah, yeah. I’m good. I like talking to the doctor, talking to some players that’s been through it. I like what everybody’s saying and yeah, I’m confident it’ll be a good situation.

01:54 Any specific players that you were talking to?

01:58 Well, I was talking to Kelenna.

01:59 Yeah, for sure.

02:00 And talked about, like, because our injuries happened in a different way and everything, so just kind of comparing, contrast notes and, but — yeah. Yeah.

02:12 What kind of information did the doctors tell you about the recovery timeline and what will be required to recover successfully?

02:19 Yeah. Well, they told me I — for a patella tendon tear, this is the best-case scenario being straight from the bone or clear tear, so if it’s not, the tendon-to-tendon and that’s harder to make it heal and be stronger, but being from the bone, they can connect it to the bone and that’s just a better way to do it, so that was good news and then the surgery was, they said it was pretty easy. I was under maybe like 90 minutes. It wasn’t too bad, yeah. And then I was doing rehab the next day, so on my way back.

02:52 Are you, I mean, do you have any target in your mind, date-wise? Are you thinking about next season?

02:58 Yeah, I don’t have a target right now. I just kind of put my head down and do the work and we’ll get there when we do. I’ve been thinking about setting some goals. I’ve been talking to my man John Doerr about OKRs and just the way to set goals and track them, track progress and figure out a plan then for success.

03:18 Is there any advice you’re kind of taking to heart as you head into this rehab process? You said you talked to some of the players and other players and everything.

03:24 Can you say that first part again?

03:27 Is there any advice that you’re kind of taking to heart as you kind of approach this rehab process?

03:31 Yeah, my knees been bothering me for a while, like from middle school to high school, so — and it’s all been patellar tendon, so I’m glad to finally get it fixed. So, and then coming back, I think I would be able to be in a better place than I was when I left because of it and then slowing down and training movement patterns and a lot of the stuff that I’ve wanted to have the time to do, the recovery process, like that’ll be that, but then after I’m recovered, being able to really train my body and my movements in a way that I want to. I’m excited for that.

04:04 Moses, can you kind of just take us through the play that it happened on and did you instantly know something was wrong?

04:11 No, I didn’t. It didn’t hurt when it happened, so when I was going on a fast break, I thought Cooper ran from the backside and I thought we just bumped knees a little bit or something and then going back and look at it, he was nowhere near me, so I felt that, but when I looked at it is when I knew that it was something, I didn’t know what it was, but it was something, but I thought it was maybe dislocated or something and they could pop it back in and I’ll be all right, but yeah. So yeah, it was — yeah.

04:43 How many times have you watched the play?

04:45 Well, I’m not big on social media a lot and I know it’s been everywhere, so I mean, but I haven’t watched it that many times. I’ve seen it, but not a lot.

04:55 You, I mean, how do you view your season and how well you were playing? I mean, even the night that it happened, how well you were playing in that game and where you’re at your career up to that point?

05:04 Yeah, proud of it. I like the game we were having. That was the first game back from the wrist thing and it was a good game to be coming back. It was fun being out there and just the journey of my career has been a fun one and I’m at a good point, just getting better and better statistically and physically every year, so glad to continue that, figure some stuff out.

05:33 (Inaudible) feeling the fans’ energy? Have you felt like guys have felt more energy here on the team?

05:38 Oh yeah. I’m curious. You gotta ask them. I would hope —

05:43 You seem pretty optimistic. Is that a fair way to say how you’re feeling right now?

05:49 What you mean by optimistic?

05:51 Attacking glass half full, maybe? Just feeling positive and everything.

05:55 Yeah, I feel good. Sometimes you talk about optimism, it’s like a — I don’t know, but I have a — I feel good about the future. I see a clear path and just following that, I think is the task.

🫶💙💛

It may go against roster-building optionality, but it’s sure hard not to jump on the train of one Wardell Stephen Curry.

“Coach mentioned it this morning. There’s a level of dignity and a level of competition that we can’t run from, the way that we approach things,” said Curry postgame in the locker room at Golden 1 Center…

“We’re gonna approach it the same way: dignity, competitiveness, and, yeah, confidence that you can win any game. That’s just the mentality we have.”

The Warriors started with a rotation that seemed to gel in the third quarter, turning a twelve-point deficit at halftime into a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But Steve Kerr decided to play this one like a preseason game, sending in mostly G League players as the main guys started to hit their minutes restrictions, except keeping Brandin Podziemski and his high motor going, allowing Podz to reach that silly 30-point social media-generated personal goal.

Everything is summarized here, with an edited recap to follow and maybe a bonus highlights video to go over the beauty of the Warriors’ offense when all the pieces are clicking, at least offensively:

Stay tuned by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

“We were not good defensively,” said Kerr. “We had one good stretch in the game, third quarter where I thought we set a tone defensively. Obviously, Draymond (Green) got things stirred up a little bit and we needed that fire, that edge, but that was it. The other three quarters were really poor.”

As I stated in the uncut recap, Gui Santos was particularly bad at point-of-attack defense and there were still mindless turnovers by Curry, Draymond and De’Anthony Melton. There was even a mindless technical, two of them, by Gary Payton II, the second of which had him apparently shooting a ball during a timeout from halfcourt, which led to his ejection because it was his second tech.

“That hurt us and it's just careless,” said Kerr. “We just gotta be solid. That's what I talked to the guys in there about. It's like we're going in to Wednesday's Play-in game without much momentum, without a whole lot of continuity and health and all that. And so we're trying to put it together quickly and we're gonna have to clean up a lot of mistakes between now and then.”

But in terms of the Play-in game on Wednesday, the probable opponent LA Clippers are a slower team than the young run-and-gun Kings, so we’ll see.

Kristaps Porzingis could start getting into rhythm, as after a 4-for-12 night in Sacramento, he is now just 7-for-21 from the field his last two games, and one for his last eleven on threes, since going 5-for-5 against Denver.

Sometimes the best defense is a made basket.

So, going into another preseason-like environment for Game 82 at Intuit Dome, hopefully some of the familiar vets will stop goofing off and KP will make some shots.

It’s actually kinda simple.

Postgame video interviews with captions and transcripts from Sacramento below, including Steph, Steve, Podz and Melt — there’s also one from Moses Moody that I’ll save for its own post:

00:00 How nervous were you initially when it happened?

00:07 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME GSW-SAC: Oh, as long as it’s not my knee, I can deal with ankles. I’ve been dealing with that forever, so that was the interesting part. My knee felt pretty good, even better than last game, so I’ll take that as a positive.

00:21 How do you feel like you’re, like, where you’re at physically, but also just rhythm on-the-court-wise through the few games?

00:29 Pretty solid. I mean, the first game was pretty loud and I felt great. Last game was kind of a drag. I had a rough first half tonight and then the third quarter, we — I kind of view it more in the how we’re collectively playing because I know I’ll be able to figure out when I can get mine and force the issue, but we had a great third quarter tonight where, besides my dumb turnover on that fast break, we executed, we played with great energy on both ends of the floor and even regardless of the opponent, we put together a good run, so that’s all we’re trying to do is find those bright spots with getting guys back, me doing my part within that.

01:14 How much work do you feel like needs to be done between now and Wednesday to be ready for the Clippers?

01:18 48 great minutes. That’s all we gotta — that’s all we have in front of us. It’s a dumb answer, but it’s literally we’re trying to find all the one-liners to say and all the great narratives to lock in on. It’s weird because you have a lineup that you expect to have nine, 10 guys that are gonna play, but we haven’t really had reps, so I don’t know how else to quantify other than we have one game to find some good patterns, some good chemistry, knowing that the outcome doesn’t really matter. And then you gotta turn around on Wednesday and depending on who we play, probably the Clippers, we’ll see, but know what the challenge is gonna be.

02:05 Do you feel like you found anything with patterns of chemistry tonight?

02:10 Yes and no. I think it was just a collective effort, everybody feeling a little bit of sense of urgency in that third quarter to respond based on a pretty bad first half and we did that. That’s not just gonna be individually. It’s like playing hard, not making dumb turnovers, not giving up offensive rebounds. Offensively, we’re gonna be fine, I think, throughout the course of games, just because we have a threats out there and we can create good shots. It’s just a matter if you’re gonna make them or not, but it’s more just playing solid.

02:47 Do you happen to see Podz get his 30-ball?

02:50 You said what?

02:50 Podz get his 30-ball.

02:51 I told him we were gonna treat him like Devin Booker when he scored 70 in Boston and they lost, give him the sign and all that. I know he’s been searching for it. Everybody knew it, too, so it was fun to see him get it and the way he got it.

03:10 How much do you want to play Sunday, like how many minutes, I should say?

03:14 My normal minutes just because I haven’t done it in two months, so I think that’s the expectation.

03:20 When you say normal, you’re talking like 32 to 34?

03:22 Yeah.

03:23 And then come Play-in game Wednesday, how comfortable are you stretching it to an elimination game style or not?

03:34 I’ll be comfortable with it.

03:36 How comfortable do you expect Rick (Celebrini) to be with you?

03:39 You gotta ask them. Well, not to say we’re not all gonna be on the same page, but I find it hard to believe that the game calls for a couple extra minutes, that will — we won’t make the right decision there.

03:58 Having been at the top of this thing, what’s the motivation for a season at this stage, being in the Play-in?

04:11 I think it’s just removing ourselves from the expectations going into the year because they were way higher and we know that, but for all different circumstances and reasons, we are where we are. Coach mentioned it this morning. There’s a level of dignity and a level of competition that we can’t run from, the way that we approach things. I think I told you earlier, like, the fact that I had a chance to play and the fact that I’m out there, that comes with expectations. Whether you achieve them or not, the energy that you put into it is what makes you who you are. Whether you win, you lose, you chasing championships or not, so until we get bounced from whatever this is, like, we’re gonna approach it the same way: dignity, competitiveness, and, yeah, confidence that you can win any, like, any game. That’s just the mentality we have.

05:19 How many days did you have to pack for?

05:20 Say what?

05:21 How many days did you have to pack for?

05:24 The count was 12, I believe. Five or whatever it is through the Game 2 of the playoffs, there.

05:34 Think you’ll need all those pairs of socks?

05:36 You said what?

05:37 You think you’ll need all those pairs of socks, those 12 outfits?

05:40 I’m so happy that in 17 years, that’s the first time I’ve been asked the question right there. Absolutely. Yes sir.

05:51 Thank you. Thanks, Steph. Appreciate it.

00:00 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-SAC: Yeah, he’s doing fine.

00:01 Doing fine? What happened? What did you see in the first quarter? Did he roll his ankle or knee?

00:04 It was his ankle. Yeah, it wasn’t his knee, so that’s why I took the time out and I was worried it was his knee. I just saw him limping and he came over and he said, no, I’m fine. It’s just the ankle and I just gotta — I don’t know. He just tweaked it or something, but he’s fine. He’s fine.

00:21 Was the plan not to close with him?

00:23 Yeah.

00:23 Yeah.

00:24 Yeah.

00:25 And then do you know on Sunday, like, if that’s a game that you got, you want to keep seeing them or — ?

00:32 Well, yeah. The plan is to play, yeah, to play Steph and he wants the rhythm and to continue to build his conditioning. And I don’t know exactly how many minutes. The game is probably not gonna matter to the Clippers. Obviously, it doesn’t matter to us in terms of positioning, so we’ll have to — we’ll make sure that health is the number one priority, but rhythm comes after that.

01:03 You’re probably going to play the Clippers in the Play-in.

01:06 Yeah.

01:06 At least that seems like the likeliest option. Does not wanting to show them anything, does that come into play at all?

01:13 Yeah, for sure, for — I’m sure for both teams.

01:18 How would you diagnose some of the issues you guys had defensively tonight?

01:22 We were not good defensively. We had one good stretch in the game, third quarter where we — I thought we set a tone defensively. Obviously, Draymond got things stirred up a little bit and we needed that fire, that edge, but that was it. The other three quarters were really poor.

01:43 Did you see the combinations that you wanted to see tonight?

01:46 Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.

01:50 What’d you make of Gary’s (two technicals)?

01:57 I didn’t even see what he did, but I — coaches said he took a half court shot after he took the time out. Is that right? And then it went into the stands. Yeah, so obviously can’t do that, you know? That hurt us and it’s just careless. We just gotta be solid. That’s what I talked to the guys in there about. It’s like we’re going in to Wednesday’s Play-in game without much momentum, without a whole lot of continuity and health and all that. And so we’re trying to put it together quickly and we’re gonna have to clean up a lot of mistakes between now and then, but we do have some time. But we have to focus that first.

02:47 First game back with Steph was so electric. Did this feel more, like, more of a continuation from the second, where you said he maybe looked a little rusty? I just think he’s just getting his feet underneath him, you know? It wasn’t his best night, obviously, but just good for him to play and continue to get reps.

03:08 What did you like or not like about Al Horford and Porzingis and their time together? What’d you think about that pairing, how they looked?

03:15 They looked good together. I thought Al looked really good. He prepared really well over the last couple of weeks as he was getting ready for this ramping up, his minutes and scrimmaging and all that stuff, but the two of them, it was good to get them out on the floor together. We know they were good together in Boston. They’re smart players. They can play off of each other. They can both go inside or out on offense. Both protect the rim, so it’s a good pairing.

03:52 You said you don’t feel like there’s much momentum going into the Play-in. Are there things that, are there any, is there anything that you feel like gives you hope for that Play-in game or — ?

03:59 Oh, I’ve got lots of hope. I think we can win two games because I know these guys. I believe in them, but I also know that we’re not where we need to be. We just showed that tonight, so Sunday, I’d like to get more reps, have more focus, fewer mistakes, and we’ll have a couple of days to prepare and get after it.

04:27 Hi Coach, big picture about Gui Santos, what you think, what he’s done right in this season to —

04:32 I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.

04:34 A big picture —

04:35 Big picture?

04:36 About Gui Santos. You think what he’s done right (inaudible) to help him earn this position.

04:45 Yeah, Gui’s had a great year. He’s really taken advantage of the minutes with all the injuries. He’s gotten a lot better. He’s more confident than ever before and he’s, yeah, he’s a very important player for us.

—

05:02 What’d you feel like y’all kind of accomplished today? I mean, we talked about it last night, just the need to get reps with guys. What’d you feel like you kind of, I guess, got accomplished?

05:12 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, I think started the game, it was just much like feeling out and trying to do different things. And then it was kind of scattered in the second quarter and the third quarter. I think we really, that first group that was out there, really like honed in and got the game back in one, two possessions and we kind of found a rhythm there, so that was good, but we were pretty much scattered the rest of the game.

05:37 What do you make of that third quarter with all the technicals and the back and forth with the Kings and everything?

05:42 I mean, I was just laughing at a lot of it. Pretty funny stuff going out there, but everyone was just kinda having fun with the game.

05:52 Where’d you see the breakdown from?

05:54 I wouldn’t really call them breakdowns. I just, I think I did a good job of taking advantage in transition and then most teams, when Steph’s not out there, just switch everything, so just take advantage of matchups and getting to the rim.

06:11 (Inaudible question about what to practice more before the Play-in.)

06:16 I’m not sure what what Steve’s gonna want, if we’re gonna try to do some things or not because I think we’re gonna play the Clippers probably now, so it’ll be all up in the air of what he wants to do. But for me, when I’m out there, just try to hone in onto details things that we’re gonna have to do on Wednesday.

06:33 Did you learn anything about what worked or what didn’t work with that starting group with Steph and Kristaps and you?

06:39 Yeah I think we just gotta get a little bit more organized. There’s a lot of chaos out there with Steph and I don’t think KP’s quite used to that. Boston’s big on like spacing and spacing the floor and so he comes from a kind of a different system. And so just him being out there with Steph, he’s gonna learn and see things, but you gotta give it time.

07:00 Did you know your point total when you got to the line?

07:02 Everybody did. As soon as I — as soon as I missed the first one, everybody on the bench looked at me and that’s why I smiled a little bit, but yeah, they’ve just been giving me a hard time about it the whole year, yeah.

07:14 How gratifying is that on a personal level?

07:16 I mean, it’s cool. I’m blessed for sure. Last time we were here, I think Will had 30, so it was cool to replicate that. Yeah, it would’ve been bad on both ends, pizza and the account can be activated now.

07:37 You’re one game away from playing all 82.

07:40 Mm-hmm.

07:40 How much pride do you take in that?

07:42 I mean, a lot. I’ve had good vets. Like I mentioned the other day, Loon and Buddy who’ve done it before me, but I think really just after my injuries, I just found a flow on the days in between or back-to-backs that have allowed me to just be ready and be healthy through my injuries. I learned a lot about my body and how it works and by doing that, I’m able to prevent injuries before they occur. And so knock on wood, God willing, be able to play one more game, it’ll be a gratifying 82.

08:17 (Inaudible.)

08:17 Steve came in there and told us that I think the Blazers won, so they’re the 8th seed, unless, I think, they lose to Sacramento on Sunday, so fortunate for us, we’ll be able to spend a couple days in LA and get ready for Wednesday.

08:30 Is it nice to have some clarity (on the Play-in)?

08:32 I think it’s more so for the coaches, yeah. They’ve been game-planning for LA or Portland for a while now, but I think it just helps them have clarity, gives them an extra couple days now to really know who we’re playing.

—

08:43 DE’ANTHONY MELTON: I played all right. I think they came out with force and then they decided that we gonna try to come right at these guys, so you could definitely tell, but you know what I mean? We just getting ready for Wednesday and I think that’s the most important thing.

08:58 What needs to happen between now and Wednesday to get ready?

09:01 Health is wealth, man. Health is wealth. I ain’t even gonna lie. Just get healthy as possible, you know what I mean? Do what we gotta do, recover and just get ready to gear up.

09:12 Steve said he pretty much, it feels like you guys are gonna play the Clippers on Wednesday. Just what do you think about that matchup and how do you feel about playing, staying in LA for possibly five straight days?

09:22 Man, I think that’s good for us no matter who we play, you know what I mean? I think we had to get ready for whoever it was, but at the same time, it’s just not having to travel sometimes and having to travel a short distance. It’s also good, too.

09:43 (Inaudible question.)

09:43 Man, most definitely. Anytime he hit the floor, anytime any of our older guys hit the floor, like, you got a (inaudible) sometimes, so I’m glad to see him that he was able to get up and run around and still finish the game. So, yeah.

09:58 Feel good to do reps?

10:00 Yeah, most definitely. I think having mainly everybody out here, just to be able to get a feel for different lineups, different groups and see where the guys like the ball, too, was important.

10:14 How long can that process take, feeling-out process, figuring out where everybody needs the ball. You guys haven’t played with this exact group, ever.

10:24 Well, it doesn’t really matter because we have Wednesday to figure it out. You know what I mean? So, I mean, we gonna see, we gonna see.

🫶💙💛

Here were my closing statements on the latest “honest recap” of the Lakers-Warriors game:

16:27 I had some nitpicky things on Pat (Spencer). He would hit a left banker, so credit him to make a bucket before the night was over, but a swing pass to Seth (Curry) deflected out of bounds by Bronny (James). Looking at (Charles) Bassey inside, doesn’t pass it to him. Bassey has his man sealed. Those aren’t plays that resulted in points for the Lakers, but I’d like to see basketball played the right way and when there’s guys who are supposed to score out there, you gotta get those guys the ball.

16:56 Pat doesn’t really know how to do that. He does look unselfish a lot of times. He does look around, but it’s almost like looking around to make the right play than finding the right guy. He’s a good system player and you do need to run the right play when Steph (Curry) is out there. Of course, anytime Steph comes back, everybody’s gonna play better, (De’Anthony) Melton included, but when you’re just a point guard and an inability to actually execute playing the position, no matter who you have out there, you gotta go off script sometimes and just get the ball to somebody who’s probably gonna score for you in that moment in time and he can’t process that.

17:33 Maybe he’s been trained to a point where you lose some of that because the whole Steph ecosystem isn’t bulletproof. When Steph is not in the ecosystem, it is so vulnerable and so not talented, so not athletic, and of course we’re completely decimated with injuries. But when you’re trying to find the pieces around Steph, you go out and you get a Pat, you go out and you get a (Brandin Podziemski), a Gui (Santos). Those guys are good complements, but if we’re playing pickup, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t want Pat Spencer as my point guard. I don’t see any of the traditional point guard instincts. Yeah, throwing him under the bus a little bit.

18:12 I do appreciate his grit, his being available, once again playing 38 minutes, 40 the other night. I do appreciate that.

I prefer size, so I would actually waive Spencer on the last day of the season this Sunday and replace him with Nate Williams, who incidentally had a bad game and the picture above of Steve Kerr sinking in his chair is after one of Williams’ turnovers, roll into the Play-in and potentially more with an athletic wing and, of course, Bassey, who per SpoTrac has signed a rest-of-season contract. One of those three will not be eligible for the playoffs.

Below are the transcripts and videos from the loss to the Lakers, including Kerr, Bassey and Podziemski. Imo Podz is once again too over-confident in his assessment of both the Trail Blazers and Clippers not having as much experience than the Warriors. Let’s hope the basketball gods don’t feel like teaching him anything this time around:

00:00 Steve, what’s the word on LJ?

00:02 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME LAL-GSW: Sprained ankle. Sprained it pretty badly, but his foot is in a nice path right now and we’ll know more tomorrow.

00:11 Charles Bassey, he had another double-double. What do you make of the opportunities he’s creating for himself right now?

00:15 He’s played really well for us. We told him we had plenty of minutes for him when we signed him and that’s why he came. He wanted to play and he’s doing a great job, very active on the glass and nice scoring touch in the paint. He’s been very impressive.

00:34 It’s obviously been a pretty adverse couple months for y’all. Just with —

00:40 I’m sorry?

00:40 It’s obviously been a very adverse couple months with injuries, everything, losses. Sounds like you’ll get a large chunk of the rotation back tomorrow. Obviously, we know what’s ahead next week. Does this feel like a little bit of, here we go?

00:54 It does, yeah. Yeah, we obviously — we’ve been through the ringer here over the last six, eight weeks, but we’re in a position where we have a chance to get into the playoffs. We’ve got some guys who are getting healthy have a chance to hopefully put together a game tomorrow where we have what our roster would look like for the Play-in games, so tomorrow and Sunday, maybe we get a couple games to develop a little rhythm and get a swing at it. So we got some hope.

01:33 To follow on that, what do you want to see, I guess, on both sides of the ball, the next 48 hour — or the next two games?

01:38 I guess just intensity, connection defensively, talking, communicating and really being loud and being aggressive and Draymond will handle that. He’ll take care of that. And then on offense, we’ve gotta be a little cleaner. We had 19 turnovers tonight. Obviously, we put a lot of guys in some tough spots, but getting some guys back, we should be able to do a better job of taking care of the ball and executing.

02:10 Before the game, you guys honored Bert Ortiz with the Brate Award. What has he and his son meant to this organization?

02:17 Bert, Sr. and Bert, Jr., they’re amazing. The organization is basically as good as the parts, the people who are in it. And we’re really proud of the people we have at every level. And Bert has been here, really, since I got here 12 years ago with a makeshift kitchen in the Oakland facility. And he just has a smile on his face every single day, brings a lot of light to our players and he’s a really wonderful soul, so I was happy to see him receive that award. Well-deserved. He’s meant a lot to us.

03:04 Hey Steve, the other day you mentioned how Al has really kind of come out of his shell and felt more comfortable being a leader in that locker room. In a locker room with so many veterans already and a lot of leadership presence, like, what does that take? What kind of form does that take? What does that look like?

03:20 Just, you can tell when a guy’s got some wisdom, you know? Number one, the players respect the fact that he’s been in the league for 20 years, so they know he’s seen everything, but it’s the way he carries himself on and off the court, family man, very strong conviction the way he lives his life. He’s somebody all the players look up to and then he’s one of those guys who only speaks occasionally and just has a sense for saying the right thing at the right time.

03:54 Hi Steve, so with the Play-in approaching and the teams like Clippers and Blazers in the mix, so how to prepare for the different potential matchups?

04:05 Yeah, we’re trying to do some things during these games to mimic some of the coverages and some of the things we’ll see, implementing a few things here and there and we know both teams well, so we’ll be ready, but it’s really more about us and trying to find some rhythm here the next couple of games. Thank you.

—

04:33 Hey Charles, another double,-double tonight. What’s been working well for you tonight, in this stint?

04:39 CHARLES BASSEY: What’s been working what?

04:40 What’s been working well for you? I mean, I’m just going out there just to play hard, man, you know? Regardless of — we know we are down bodies today, so just wanting to get a win. But, man, just going out there playing hard, maximize every opportunity I got, so that’s what I’m doing, man. Just maximize my opportunity out there and just trying to help my team win, but we know we got a loss today, so I mean, we got another opportunity tomorrow. So that’s just what I’m doing, man, just playing hard out there.

05:10 You were on the injury report this morning with an ankle issue. You played through it. How was it, though?

05:17 I mean, I’m good. I played through ankle stuff before, but I mean, they didn’t want me — they didn’t wanted me to play, but I’m like, I mean, I gotta get the minutes, man, you know? But yeah, I told them I can go, tested it this morning, came in for treatment, tested it again this afternoon and I was good to go. I told him I’m good to play because, even though they didn’t want me to play, but I was like, I was ready to play, so just leave it out there. That’s it? Appreciate you guys, man. Thank you. That’s quick.

—

05:55 You’re on pace to play, I think, pretty much every game this year. What sort of that achievement mean to you, if you are able to do that?

06:01 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: It means a lot. I think I had Loon (Kevon Looney) do it my first year, Buddy (Hield) do it last year, so just to see the habits that they had and then just really finding a flow for me after my injuries last year, it just helped me just try to be available every game for the team.

06:19 Is there anything in your routine that you’ve been able to do to actually help that?

06:22 I think just being consistent, finding what works. If there’s two days between the game, if there’s one day, if it’s a back-to-back, just finding those solutions because it’s a little bit different for each, but really just finding it and sticking with it and trusting the process.

06:37 Hey Brandin, it sounds like hopefully you guys are getting some of these, some bodies back tomorrow and maybe for the last couple of games. What are you hoping to accomplish these last two games, as you guys head into the Play-in, in terms of — ?

06:50 Yeah, just put pieces together, put lineups together that work. I know the coaching staff’s mind is really just on Portland or Clippers, just because it’s who we’re gonna play, and so for these next two, it’s just really about building our principles and having everybody available and seeing what it looks like and going the Wednesday swing.

07:08 How difficult do you imagine that it’s gonna be to kind of try to create a new rotation with some guys who haven’t played together, basically at all?

07:18 It shouldn’t be too hard. I think we’ve got a lot of winners on our team, a lot of guys has won championships before and so to find that, especially in a one-game situation, I like our chances with that.

07:29 You take any extra pride just the way the season has gone for you in your availability and was it the injury situation the team has gone through?

07:36 I mean, the famous adage is the best ability’s availability, just always being there and who’s ever out there will always know that I’ll be out there with them. And yeah, I take it personal in a way, but I just enjoy hoops and love being out there playing, so I just try to be, if I can play, I play.

07:57 How do you think you’ve handled all of it?

07:59 I think it’s been cool for me having different roles throughout the year, being put in different situations, getting different opportunities and just seeing where I stack up in that regard. And I think a lot of learned lessons from it as well. And I think it’s gonna better me in my future.

08:17 Brandin, with all the bodies dropping and turnover in the roster and everything over the course of this season, in games like tonight, where do you find optimism going forward?

08:28 What you mean?

08:28 What are the things that tell you that — what are the reasons why you can be optimistic about what’s ahead?

08:34 I mean, we got Steph. I mean, that solves a lot of it, but I also think, like I mentioned earlier, we got a lot of winners. KP’s won a championship, Al’s won a championship, Steph and Dray. Then we got vets that have won championships, Gary, and so I like our chances when it comes to the one-game situation, especially a lot of guys from Portland haven’t been in the situation. Same with the Clippers. And so I think we have an advantage in that way, but it’d be — it’s gonna be interesting to see how we put it together.

09:04 You’ve been in a couple Play-in situations already. Just what do you take personally from those experiences, so far in your career?

09:08 Yeah, it’s just like a Game 7. You just lay it out all out there and just compete as much as you can and you try to do that without putting pressure on yourself and just go out there and it’s like another game, but you make sure you don’t have anything left in the tank, for sure.

09:23 Steve said you guys are already kind of implementing small stuff as it relates to Portland and the Clippers. I guess as a player, how much will you — are you already maybe like watching clips of Portland or — ?

09:35 Yeah. Big game tomorrow, too. Yeah, they play each other, so really good to see. I think it’ll be helpful for us. Just, I think — I don’t know if it depends on who wins, but if Portland wins, I assume Clippers are gonna play everybody against us on Sunday because they’re gonna need to win. And so we’ll be able to see it, we’ll be able to feel it against the Clippers on Sunday and then just go from there. Cool.

🫶💙💛

One Wardell Stephen Curry from the podium just before his return (April 3rd, to be exact) when asked what is still possible this season:

Hopefully, winning two Play-in games and then we have another conversation…

There is a difficult problem of either going all-in with Curry’s competitive desire or taking a moment to wonder if, with the latest serious injury to Moses Moody, it might be better to temper that and start thinking about how the 11th pick could help the injured roster for next season, assuming that player would perform better than would the 15th pick, especially from a strong Draft.

That is to say, barring Lottery miracles as well as a Curry-led run through the Play-in Tournament, Golden State right now is locked in with the 11th pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. Milwaukee is locked in for the 10th pick. If you look at the standings — in this case, Tankathon.com does a good job of turning everything upside-down for the Lottery view — the Warriors cannot lose enough games to “catch” the Bucks, who cannot win enough games, either. It is mathematically impossible.

But should the Dubs win two straight games and ascend to a seven-game playoff series as the 8th seed, to face what appears likely to be OKC, they would in essence and per NBA Lottery rules, “forfeit” their position with the 11th pick and drop to the 15th pick as the playoff team with the worst regular season record.

It’s basically straight math.

So the next question is, is having the 11th pick some kind of quantum leap better than the 15th pick?

By now, most people have heard that this is one of the deepest Drafts in recent memory. I’ve been told that the top seven or eight picks are virtual locks. In any typical Draft, the top five picks are usually franchise-altering. You could think of it as picks that have a legitimate chance of turning into a future All-Star, in due time.

That probably means there are seven or eight guys at the top of the 2026 Draft that show some combination of athleticism, skill, and talent that, on paper, have the chance at becoming a future All-Star.

That also means the closer you are to that group, such as 11th, the better chance you have of getting a solid, reliable, rotational non-All-Star piece.

But I also think, hypothetically, there’s also a better chance to move up a few spots via trade when you are at 11 than when you are at 15. Most of the teams in the Lottery are struggling and likely to hold on to their pick, but I could foresee a possibility for the GSW to maybe make a deal with Atlanta at 7th.

This is because they not only have a pretty solid roster as-is with certain positions occupied already and therefore the needs aren’t as glaring, but also their GM Onsi Saleh comes from the Warriors and, obviously, has already partnered up for a deal in the Kristaps Porzingis-for-Jonathan Kuminga trade.

I really do think the injury to Moody changed things. From a purely salary cap sheet and transactional, fiscal management lens, it makes no sense for the Warriors to win two Play-in games and enter the playoffs and thereby move down from 11th to 15th. No team worse than 12th has ever moved into the Top Four via the Draft Lottery.

Of course, we can’t automatically expect Steph — or Steve Kerr or Gary Payton II, see transcripts below — to think this way. In fact, a non-Top-Four Lottery team has snuck into the Top Four of the Draft six out of the seven times since the current rules have been in place (2019). The only time when no team leapfrogged into the Top Four was 2023. And only two times, a team in the 11th or 12th spot moved into the Top Four.

This year, if the 12th or worse team leapfrogs into the Top Four, that means the Warriors can even move down from 11th.

So to recap:

• Win both Play-in games, start the Lottery at no better than 15th, knowing that no team worse than 12th has ever secured a Top Four ping pong ball, or

• Lose either Play-in game, enter the Lottery at 11th, knowing that two times out of the seven Drafts with the new Lottery system, has the 11th or 12th team moved up — notably Dallas was 12th last year and the other time it happened was when the Lakers started at 11th in 2019.

I’m not that keen on linking talking heads, so I’ll just say without having to go hunt down the hyperlink that Bill Simmons recently theorized on a podcast that Adam Silver could make sure the Lottery ended up in favor of the Warriors for the simple fact that our beloved franchise has not done any tanking this season.

I know that the ping pong ball system is audited by Ernst & Young, LLP, and maybe I should do a video essay on this, but I would think that leader of a multi-billion-dollar organization such as the NBA will pull the levers as necessary, when necessary. Too many a Lottery have turned out coincidentally in favor of rewarding certain struggling franchises that needed that bone thrown to them: Patrick Ewing to New York, LeBron James to Cleveland and Victor Wembanyama to San Antonio, plus Joe Smith, at the time, felt like a favor for the Chris Webber debacle, and those are just off the top of my head!

Maybe Steph or Joe Lacob or Mike Dunleavy, Jr. are banking on that? 🤔 Of course, this whole issue might be a problem that takes care of itself. No reporters are gonna seek out Lacob or Dunleavy for a quote if the team can’t even win the first Play-in game.

My heart is telling me to just root for Steph’s desires and take down Portland or LA, then probably Phoenix after that. Still feels like that episode where Cosmo Kramer and the car dealership salesman go on a test drive and see how far they can go on “E”.

I’ll let Dean Chambers explain what my brain is telling me, though, if we pretend we are Lacob and need to have a sit-down with Wardell the day before the Phoenix game, to tell him that we are ruling him out with a sudden flare up of runner’s knee:

“I cannot risk one more injury for next season. Your job is to hate me for preventing you from your delusional belief that you can still win this year. I love that you are crazy enough to want that chance, like Michael Jordan in 1986 versys one of the greatest teams ever. But that’s also why he was a consistently bad decision maker as an owner. The fact we get a shot at a Top 4 pick in what looks like one of the deepest drafts this century is only right for a team that has lost its two best wings to devastating knee injuries. You just saw how much vitriol the Lakers got for keeping Luka Doncic in down, what, 40 points to that Thunder team? What if we force you at 38 years old, with what seems to be chronic knee problems, into that scenario, and God forbid, you get hurt? It’s not your job to think about that. It’s mine. And I have made my decision.”

Mr. Chambers has spoken! Now, I’m nitpicking, but my personal hopes for a Top-4 pick are probably much more tempered than everyone else’s, but I really do see a valuable rotation piece with the 11th pick. Granted, we will still need to do the homework at some point, but we will be interviewing Eric Guilleminault of NBADraft.net in due time to check out all the possibilities in that range of 11-15.

By the way, I did a video essay on this:

Below are the transcripts from April 3rd at practice with Steph and fellow “all-in” team members Steve and Gary:

00:00 Steph, just how’s the knee feel?

00:04 STEPH CURRY, PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE HOU-GSW: Feels great. It’s been a long long process, longer than I thought, but I’m just happy to have a little clarity and a little window to get back out there and try to get to the level I was playing at and finish the year strong, so I’m excited.

00:23 There was a lot of talk about maybe shut down, why play the rest of the season for you. Why is it important for you to come back and play these last two games and into the playoffs?

00:33 I mean, I love playing basketball. That’s what I get paid to do, so if I’m healthy to play it and it’s safe to go out there and test it in live action and all the work that I’ve put in will hopefully pay off. So our season’s been different than we expected, but the fact that there is something to still play for gives all of us a lot of confidence down the stretch to try to make something out of it, and I wanna be a part of that.

01:11 What have you, what do you, what have you learned about this injury and this process and — I don’t know what kind of information you can give us on like, why you feel fine to come back — and if you think this is something that you have to monitor the rest of your career or what do you know about this injury?

01:31 I mean, more — it was more of a mental thing at first, meaning I didn’t know, to your point, I didn’t know enough about it and I thought I was gonna be out for like a week, 10 days max, let it calm down and every time I got on the court or tried to push it, then that first month, there was always — I call it a reaction or you knew it just wasn’t healing as fast as you thought, so the patience then was tough, just because it’s one of those injuries that you really just have to let rest. There’s nothing you can kind of push through or be on the court while it’s healing and it’s just a different experience than most injuries that I’ve had that have a very defined timeline and a very defined process of do this, then you’re gonna feel this, and then this is gonna heal, and then you’re gonna be able to do this, all those checkpoints. This is — every day I wake up, first thing you think about is how does it feel, so that unpredictability was definitely a struggle throughout the whole process. And then even still now, because as good as I do feel now, I hope it stays that way. It’s just a matter of getting out there and seeing.

02:52 Is it, I mean, have you been given a level of assurance or confidence that this isn’t something you’ll be worrying about next October, something?

03:00 Yes and no. There’s nothing structurally wrong with my knee, so it’s not like I’m compromised out there. It is a new normal though, if that makes sense, so just, it’s just a matter of understanding what I need to do off the court to make sure everything around my knee is strong and firing the right way. I will take full advantage of the off-season, whenever it is, to have a full reset. And then you just kind of figure out what it looks like going in the next year, but right now I kind of understand what the new normal is and it’s good enough to play.

03:42 You mentioned the off-season, but what do you think is still possible for this team this season?

03:50 Hopefully, winning two Play-in games and then we have another conversation. It’s the only thing that’s in front of us right now, so four, five games left to build momentum. It is weird that you could lose all five, win all five, it doesn’t necessarily matter, but the idea of what we’re trying to do, to be the best team come that first Play-in game and whoever we play, whether it’s Portland or the Clippers, be able to find and embrace that challenge, win one game and then have to go do it again. That’s pretty straightforward and then see what happens after that.

04:37 We know how much it means to you to be out on the court and having fun playing basketball, so how hard were these past two months for you being away from the game?

04:48 It was tough. Back to that earlier question, just because that first, that Detroit game, I knew something was wrong and when I left the court, I didn’t think I’d be gone longer than a week or so, from everything I was told. And then slowly as it started to reveal or show itself that it was gonna be a lot longer than that or — it was kind of take one step forward, two steps back kind of vibe and then watching your team kind of, I say, struggle, but with Jimmy going down and Mo going down, KP and the trade and not being available that early and wanting to get out there to play with him, seeing Draymond show up every night and give us what he has, the young guys step up, I just want to be a part of that. And that’s the most frustrating part of not being able to help, but thankfully, like I said, I’ve been working my butt off to get back out there with a little bit of time left to try to find the rhythm that I had early in the year and see where it takes us. I don’t ever — I feel like I can do anything out there and be Superman, but I understand it’s gonna take a minute to get back into the flow of things. But hopefully there’s enough reps to get ready for, that NCAA tournament kind of atmosphere where one-and-done, gotta win games.

06:12 Steph, you mentioned the new normal aspect of this. Is there any trepidation about tomorrow? I mean, are you feeling good enough where you’re past the point where you wake up tomorrow and there still could be some soreness or something like that?

06:27 It’s in the back of your mind, but even if that is the case, I know I’ve given, I’ve done everything I can to get back out there, so I don’t, I try to stay positive and optimistic, stay in the moment, and embrace the blessing to be able to play. So however it goes tomorrow, that is part of the reason I wanna come back, just to feel those, that adrenaline and the nerves and the competition. Again, after yeah, this long break and then however it plays out, I, like I said, I know I’ve done everything I can to give myself a shot and that’s all I can ask for.

07:07 To that point, how much of a relief are you feeling now that you have poured everything you can into it and now whatever happens, happens?

07:16 Yeah there was a moment in Atlanta where I thought I was gonna be a lot further along than it actually ended up being. And then you start looking at the schedule and you start counting games and the milestones that I had to get through to get back to playing and you start to panic a little bit just because there’s a point, and I’m sure it was talked about, like, I wasn’t gonna come back with one game left or just for the Play-in, so there was always like a sense of urgency on having enough of a slate of the schedule in front of me to make it make sense to come back. So there’s a little bit of angst in that moment, but working with Rick (Celebrini) and the team has been great, to have a goal of tomorrow and actually meet it and again, that’s all I can ask for.

08:14 Steph, you’ve watched, I think, 27 games. With sort of a coach’s eye and you see your team, what have you seen, the ups and downs that they’ve gone through? What are the things that encourage you, maybe some things you wanna see improve or whatever? What are the things you, I guess, taken away from what you’ve watched for your teammates?

08:35 First and foremost is the fight. We lost a lot of tough games, but I don’t think any of them have been because of a lack of effort, a will to win, guys just playing hard and playing competitive. We’ve had some tough finishes, lost some big leads, stuff that’s been really frustrating. And I know for the guys that have been out there, they want to have a lot more to show for, the spirit that they’ve been playing with, but considering all the injuries and how many games we’ve lost from guys at the top of the food chain, you have to be proud of that, being professional, showing up every day. X’s-and-O’s-wise, it’s hard to say because every game has been a different combination of guys, so it’s not like I can pinpoint anything to say this five-man unit is great, let’s do more of that or this the style of play is our identity, none of — like, it’s been kind of just trying to figure it out on a nightly basis, so I’m proud of guys for fighting through all of that. And with the Play-in situation now, like, whatever, five, six years, whatever, before the Play-in started, we would’ve had nothing really to play for, so it is kind of an interesting dynamic of no matter what our record is, we’re all looking forward to what happens in 10 days.

10:08 When you allow yourself to visualize playing with KP, what do you see?

10:14 I mean, there’s a lot of talent out there. He’s so unique and his ability to demand a double-team, at times, stretch the floor as a shooting big, be a guy that you can throw the ball to in the post or in isolation, and you have to kind of pick and choose whether you wanna leave him on an island and give him the advantage or you send a double. And I was telling him, I don’t know how people are gonna guard our pick-and-roll, so it’ll be interesting to be out there and kind of react to what defenses are gonna do, but anytime you have a talent like that and two guys that can demand attention, it’s always a good thing to create good offense and help elevate whoever we’re out there with. I’m sure it’s gonna be a kind of a feeling-out process like it always is, but I’m excited about it.

11:10 Steph, when you said you had a — would have a reaction each time you kind of pushed the knee, was that swelling, just pain, was it a certain way you stepped, you knew, okay, this thing isn’t right? Was there something that told you?

11:26 It was pain. This is a pain tolerance and if you feel pain, does that interfere with the function of what you’re trying to do? So there’s always a point where I wouldn’t — you do all these tests off the court and you do stuff to make sure it makes sense to get out on the floor and I’d feel great. And then you start running and you do your normal workout and towards the end of whatever the, however long the session was, you start to feel that pain creep back in and then the next day it would be awful. And you play that song and dance so many times over the last two months, so that was the most frustrating part. I’m sure anybody who’s had stuff bothering them or something that’s been chronic, it’s like, oh, some days I wake up and it feels great, can’t really explain why, and then you trying to make sure that feeling lasts for as long as possible. And then I, again, one step forward, two steps back a little bit, so that whole process was the unpredictability of the whole thing.

12:27 And how was that for you emotionally? Because you said, I thought I was gonna be out a week or 10 days and now, it’s two-plus months. What, how did you sort of get through that day-to-day?

12:41 It was tough. I think there was that moment after All-Star Break when I thought I was coming back after the East Coast road trip. I thought I was coming back. Most of the times long conversations about what’s going on and trying to assess where we’re at. Like I said, working with Rick has been amazing this whole process because there’s a lot of trust that we’re building towards getting me back as fast as possible, but doing it in a way that is taking care of the short-term and the long-term to the question of, will I be able to — is this something I’ll have to manage the rest of my career and all that. But I got great teammates, too. They’re always encouraging me. It is some long, dark days in the facility rehabbing and a lot of hours go into it, so it’s just a matter of reminding yourself, you’re working towards getting back as much as you can.

13:36 Steph, during this time with you out, Jimmy out, how did you see Gui Santos stepping up his game, especially offensively? And how do you think the fit’s gonna be for him now that you’re coming back?

13:50 Yeah. Gui’s taken a tremendous step forward. I think with the increased role of knowing he’s gonna be out there every night and his confidence being able to grow because he’s seeing the game the right way, he understands how he can be effective, multifaceted scorer and his unorthodox ways, great footwork, touch, shoot the ball really well. So he does a lot of things to help connect the game and it’s just good basketball, at the end of the day. It’s nothing — not say special, it is special. There’s nothing crazy other than just play, make the right pass, make the right cut. If you have an advantage, put the ball on floor. If you’re wide open, make a shot. He’s just seeing the game really well, so it’s helped us and I hope I can create more space for him and vice-versa where he’s finishing plays if teams are sending a crowd to me. So I’m excited to see the newer version of Gui I haven’t seen since I’ve been out.

15:08 Draymond was — Steve’s talked about how this has kind of been a tough year for Draymond, kind of being this last veteran standing while amid all these injuries. I’m just wondering, what have your conversations kind of been like while you’ve been injured and through this whole process?

15:24 Yeah, just maintaining the spirit of we still can make something out of this, even though, to your point, it’s been rough, him walking into the locker room not knowing who’s gonna be available. He’s been pretty durable all year and I see behind-the-scenes what he does to get his body and his mind ready to play every night. And he’s been very measured throughout this whole process, which has been great to see. And I told him, our conversations are more just don’t let go of the rope. Don’t let the situation kind of influence how you come into the arena every night because we all know as quickly as this went downhill for us, it can turn around in a way that could surprise a lot of people and give us, again, opportunity to do something special and make something out of a very tough situation. He’s obviously gotta be a huge part of that, so I’m excited to get back out there with him.

00:00 GARY PAYTON II, PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE HOU-GSW: ...like 30. That’s the only way he comes back and he’s practicing. He looks like himself, so I trust and believe he’s himself.

00:10 What do you think this team can still do this season?

00:15 Whatever we put our mind to, now that Superman’s back, so we’ll figure it out with that.

00:22 How difficult a, I guess, a path does it look like for y’all, in your mind?

00:31 Never too difficult when you got 30 with you, so you got 30 together, we got KP, we got Dray, we got Al, we got a lot of good pieces. So let’s just get there and we’ll figure it out from there.

00:43 Was there ever a time in the last month or so that you thought maybe it was better for Steph to shut it down? I don’t know. I mean, you know him so well. I don’t know what your conversation’s been like.

00:55 It’s way above my pay grade. If he says he’s coming back, then he’s coming back. If they say he’s not, I find out just like you guys.

01:05 Draymond was talking about how he likes watching Steph in those like return-to-play scrimmages and he likes rooting for the G League players and all those young guys. What is your experience watching those kind of games, those kind of situations with Steph trying to come back?

01:19 Yeah I probably, like Draymond too, just like to see the coaching staff and the G League guys get after it and play against them because I know they’re just excited to play against him, as if it’s like a regular game, so they get their shot at him. So, those games are exciting to watch.

01:41 With how good Brandin and Gui have looked without Steph, how excited are you to see them sort of play with Steph again and sort of add those skills back?

01:50 Yeah, it’s gonna be adjustment for everybody, so we’ll see how that adjustment is for everybody, how that looks for each individual, but I know everybody’s thrilled to have him back on the floor and adjust on the go. Oh, you guys are great.

02:06 Gary.

02:07 Oh.

02:07 Come on now, not that —

02:08 Gotta snuck outta that.

02:09 Not so fast, my friend. How does Steph make you better?

02:18 I get layups, wide-open layups. Easy. Hit his guy, they’ll probably blitz him and then I’m by myself, so get to play-make from there. It just depends on if the defense is gonna step over to me or not, so he makes everybody’s life easier on the court, especially me just because I know how to understand, how to get him open. If I get him open, essentially it’ll lead to me being open later, so as many open looks he gets, makes the defense adjust and then I get my looks.

02:50 And how does he change the overall energy, locker room floor, plane, whatever? How does he change the energy with you guys?

02:59 It’s like a gravity pull. Whatever he does in our locker room on the court, off the court, it’s some type of pull, force pull, so just see him available. I’m sure he gives life to players and coaches and front office. You guys —

03:22 Sorry.

03:22 Not done.

03:26 Payton, Draymond said, know how to play the game and know how to win the game is totally different. Like, what do you think about this expression?

03:35 What do you mean? With?

03:37 Like, Draymond always said, like, know how to play the game and know how to win the game. It’s totally different. Like, what do you think about that?

03:44 Oh, absolutely. Situation, in the season, where you are, knowing how to play the game definitely comes into play and knowing how to win certain games at certain points of the season with certain teams. It depends on how your team looks. Knowing how to play and when, how to — winning the game is two very different things, but you gotta take into consideration where you are in the season and how your team looks and what’s going on around you, so he is correct on knowing how to play the game and knowing how to win the game, is very two different things, but they can tie into each other.

04:25 And Coach said, Stephen is the — have the, like, quality can bring the joys back. You think why he have this, like, quality, like, can change the games by?

04:38 Because Wardell does a lot of fun, exciting things and he makes the game very fun and exciting to watch and to also be on the court with him and get him to be able to do those things, everybody has to play their part, so once he comes back, it’s just an energy because if he gets 1, 2, 3 going, maybe that fourth and fifth one is probably gonna go up and that’s how you get started and that’s how he gets started and get the crowd into it. And then from that point on, it’s just, you’re at his will and that’s where the real fun comes.

05:12 Will he bring Nick (Friedell) joy?

05:16 Will he bring Nick Joy? I don’t know, Nick?

05:19 (Inaudible)

05:20 Really? We’ll see how that first Stephen-o-flurry goes and if you can see Nick, let me know what he looks like. Yeah, send a pic. Somebody takes a picture of Nick’s — somebody take a pic of Nick’s face. You got it? Thanks guys. You guys are great.

—

05:39 Is Steph coming back?

05:42 STEVE KERR: We hope so. He is officially listed as questionable. The plan is for him to play. He’s got a feel it tomorrow, but yeah, we’ll keep him as questionable.

05:56 How is he doing right now, the last couple days?

06:00 Good. Yeah. Yeah, last couple days have gone well, fully practiced today. He’s getting his individual shooting in now. And so things have gone well.

06:12 About what has Rick (Celebrini) suggested as kind of a guideline for minutes?

06:18 Less than 48, Raymond (Ridder) told me to say, so less than 48.

06:24 In the past, when guys have come back from a long absence and maybe been limited around 20 minutes, you’ve taken them off the bench to start. Could that be a possibility for Steph?

06:35 Everything is possible, yeah. Anything. Anything is possible, I think.

06:41 That was Zaza’s line, anything is possible.

06:45 No.

06:46 Anything’s possible —

06:46 Game seven.

06:47 Game seven. Nothing’s easy.

06:49 Nothing’s easy.

06:50 Nothing is easy. Nothing is easy, but —

06:52 If it’s not easy, it’s complicated and it’s possible.

06:55 How different do you expect the team to play with Steph back?

07:00 Well, the concepts remain the same, space the floor, share the ball. The execution seems to get better. The defense has to bend his way, which opens up things for other people. The game tends to get a lot easier for everybody when Steph is out there, so we’re — we’ll still be playing our style of basketball, but yeah, it’ll be nice to have him back, assuming he’s back.

07:33 Steve, you touched on it a lot the last couple weeks. Like, Steph really wanted to come back. He made a point to come back. He very easily could have just shut down or something. Why do you think this was so important for him to get back to the team?

07:48 I mean, I guess, I guess you have to ask that because of the context of people missing games all the time, but it’s pretty simple. He’s healthy, so if you’re healthy, you play. We have a lot to play for and we’re gonna be in the Play-in, got a chance to get to the playoffs. Why else do we do this?

08:18 Steve, how hard has it been to see so many of your guys both go through all of this, this season? I mean —

08:27 The injuries, you mean?

08:28 Yeah.

08:29 Yeah.

08:29 It. Seems like it’s been one thing after another and I’m sure that that’s sad for you at moments.

08:35 Yeah, well, it’s —

08:36 But they keep going, but —

08:37 Yeah, it’s just one of those years and it’s all part of it. It’s the worst part of it, injuries, particularly the really bad ones like Jimmy’s and Moses’ where it’s a year or close to a year recovery. You just feel so badly for the players themselves because this is a short career, relatively speaking, for all of them. Even the guys who play 15 years, a whole year is, that’s a lot. And obviously you have a lot of hopes and when you get injuries you just have to keep moving forward. And there’s — you don’t really have a choice. And so even though you feel bad for the players, for your team, keep going, keep moving forward, keep trying to be at your best.

09:33 Is it a reminder of how much has to go right and — ?

09:36 For sure.

09:36 Fortunate — ?

09:38 For sure, yeah. Yeah, every championship season is filled with good fortune, good health, the ball going in the basket a couple of times. The story is written afterwards, but so much of what happens in these seasons is based on good health and good fortune. And we’ve had our — plenty of that and we’ve been on the other side like we are this year. And that’s kind of how life goes.

10:13 Hi Coach, continue the last question, from your coach experience, what do you can take from the last two months?

10:22 The last two months, we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup. We’ve tried to maintain a high level of effort and energy and I think the guys have done a really good job of that, playing through the disappointment. The last couple games have been an example of that, playing two really talented teams, Cleveland and San Antonio and you saw great effort. You saw guys scrapping until the last possession and even though we weren’t able to to win those games, the effort mattered because the effort establishes who you are as a team, as an individual. And you tend to be more prepared for when you do get healthy, if you’ve established a set of standards. And that’s why I feel really good about these last five games and the Play-in. I think we have a chance to to get through and get into the playoffs. I’m excited.

11:25 Brandin and Gui both — Brandin and Gui have both shown a lot of growth the last two months playing more expanded roles. How excited are you to see how they’re going to, I guess, fit with Steph, now that they have played a little more of a different role?

11:39 Yeah, I mean, it just makes your team stronger. I mean, I don’t have any doubt that they will fit well with Steph because we’ve seen that already in the last couple of years, but they have more confidence now and they’ll be more powerful in terms of the role that they take on. With Steph coming back, it’ll be less of a usage rate, but a lot of confidence with all the minutes, the big shots they’ve had to take, plays they’ve had to make. So when your role guys have had that kind of experience, it bodes wealth for playoff type action more than Steph’s influence on the floor.

12:24 What does his return do to the locker room, maybe offering — ?

12:28 Great energy, hope. He just brings hope to everybody. And so the sun is shining a little brighter, food tastes a little better. It’s — Steph is Steph. He brings joy to everybody, players, coaches, fans, and so, he’s a special human being.

12:54 Looks like Al got a — was doing some work in practice — it looks like Al was doing some work in practice today. How’s he sort of progressing right now?

13:00 He’s doing better. Yeah, he took part in some of practice today and he’s progressing and so there’s a chance he could play before the end of the regular season, which we’re excited about, but he’s gotta continue to take it day by day. He’s working with Rick, he’s getting on the court more, so we’ll see how it goes this next week or so.

13:21 Even with all the injuries this year, you guys lead the league in generating wide-open three-pointers. When I saw that stat, I was like, all right, like, that is a coaching stat. That means you guys are doing something right.

13:32 100%. It’s, I mean, everything starts right here.

13:37 Beyond —

13:37 Which side is my brain on? Sorry.

13:40 Beyond wins and losses, like, what are some data points, some things that you see that measure, hey, like, we’re onto something here as a staff, we’re doing our jobs right?

13:54 Well, we should lead the league in wide-open threes because we take more than anybody, so hopefully some of those are wide-open. We have been hammering home the spacing. That starts in transition, running to the corners. When you have five guys spaced well to start the possession, you’re more likely to have driving lanes. If you have driving lanes, you get downhill, you kick the ball. With five-out spacing, that’s a really good way to get open shots. We’ve done a lot of things over the years that we’ve kept. Our split cuts generate some open threes, but we’ve played a little differently, too. We’re running more ball screens, more guard-to-guard ball screens, so this season our offense has evolved. It’s changed, but the concepts are the same. We’re trying to space the floor. We’re trying to sprint the floor and, based on our personnel, we’re trying to get as many threes up as possible because we’re not a great finishing team, especially without Jimmy. We’re not a team that gets to the rim, gets fouled, finish — creates and finishes on our own. It’s just not how we’re built and so we’re gonna continue to try to do the things we do.

15:18 I guess following up on Danny (Emerman)’s question, Mike D’Antoni was inducted into the Hall of Fame today. You’ve had several battles with him over the years. Wondering what do you think his greatest influence was on the game?

15:31 Well, I worked with Mike in Phoenix. He’s a brilliant coach. I think he was really the person to change the league and the way other coaches went about their business between the pace and the three-point shooting. His Suns teams with Steve Nash, Amare (Stoudemire), who also got in today which I’m excited about, Seven Seconds or Less. The whole league changed. When I, as I look at kind of the big picture, I think Don Nelson was the guy who was really ahead of his time in that regard, going way back, but Mike is the guy who seemed to initiate this shift in small ball. Nellie did it, but it seemed like it didn’t catch on. Mike D’Antoni did it and with the rule changes in the early 2000s with the three-point shooting that Mike was really pushing, and then with the pace that he was pushing, you’ve seen what’s happened over the last 20 years or so. And I think he is really the main guy, when you think about how much the game has changed.

16:49 Coach, you always mentioned that Steph can bring the joys back and Seth Curry also talk about the point is let the fans enjoy the game and have fun.

16:59 Yeah.

16:59 You think where this games adds to come from?

17:04 Where does that come from?

17:04 Where does, like, they can enjoy the game and try to make the fans enjoy it, the game? Where does fans —

17:10 Well, I mean, number one, it’s, I mean, Steph is the most joyful athlete I’ve ever seen. He loves to play. He loves to compete. He loves to work. And that joy is infectious and it’s infectious not only with our — with his teammates, but with our fans. The question earlier about why is Steph coming back? It cuts to the core of what our business is about. We want our fans to be really excited, to come watch beautiful basketball and nobody represents that more than Steph. And so he wouldn’t be coming back if he wasn’t healthy, but he’s healthy, so he’s gonna play. And we wanna bring joy to this building. We want to bring joy to our fans. And that’s what this is about. It’s about winning? Yes, but it’s about people really enjoying to coming to the building and watching our team play and it’s the most important thing and they go hand-in-hand, obviously. This last 12 years has really shown that. We’ve been able to play a really entertaining style and win championships. And frankly, Steph is responsible for more of that than anyone. Just, he was one of the greatest players of all-time, but he’s the greatest face of a franchise in any sport that I’ve ever seen, so you throw all that together, we owe it to our fans to get them the opportunity to watch Steph Curry play basketball this year. And Steph doesn’t even think twice about that. That’s what he wants. That’s what we want. That’s what our fans want. That’s what we’re gonna do.

🫶💙💛

First off, I’ll just quote myself from the forthcoming Warriors-Rockets recap, which was first said on the livestream Watch Party last night:

Man, this is really exciting basketball. This is what fandom is all about. If you’re all about the process, which I am, and I’m trying to teach more people to be, like, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Here are the Steve Kerr and Charles Bassey transcripts from the loss to Houston:

00:00 I mean, obviously, very different energy out there maybe than the last few years. Just what was it like to be on the sideline for the kind of the waiting for it then to see him get out there and then see him do some things that we’ve up you?

00:11 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME HOU-GSW: Yeah, I mean, you can just feel it. We’re back in the mix. We’re back in the fight with Steph and that’s a hell of a team. They’ve been really hot lately and fully healthy and we took them down to the last shot, obviously, so felt good about the effort, the process. I mean, 10 turnovers, 34 assists. We played really well offensively, just couldn’t get that stop there at the end, but the guys were fantastic.

00:43 You had 20 shots, I think, in 26 minutes. I’m sorry. Steph had 20 shots in 26 minutes. You, like, it seems he’s really trying to get back in rhythm, you know?

00:51 Yeah, and there’s — I don’t think there’s a tougher defender in the league for him to have his first game against than Amen Thompson, so that’s quite a test. Steph looked amazing. He’s worked really hard for this. You can see, it doesn’t take much for him to find his rhythm and his rhythm is also our rhythm, all the off ball stuff that we get as a result of his movement, we got a lot of easy layups. Gary got layups, big one near the end based on the attention to Steph, so he changes everything.

01:30 Was it a tough decision to bring him off the bench? I know it was probably about managing minutes, but — ?

01:35 Well, he and Rick (Celebrini) talked about it and the minutes, it was gonna be 24. We went over a couple minutes, obviously, but he just decided he didn’t want to start and then sit for a long period of time, so he just said, let’s play the last six minutes of each quarter. He and Rick made that decision, brought it to me and fine with me, so what we did was we moved our other rotations around a little bit. We wanted to get Draymond and Steph together, for obvious reasons, so we changed some of the other rotations to fit Steph, but obviously this won’t last for long. He’ll be in the starting lineup soon, but I’m not sure when, just based on minutes.

02:20 Steve, you kind of touched on it a little bit, but the spacing with Steph back, just how does that change, I guess, not just for him, but just for the entire team in terms of — ?

02:30 Yeah, it changes dramatically. I mean, you pull a defender out near half court on pick-and-rolls with Steph and just opens up the middle of the floor. You saw Gary get so many lays tonight. A lot of that was just him diving off pick-and-roll, Draymond finding him, Steph finding him, but he makes the game easier for everybody, for sure.

02:53 What did you want to see? What kind of action did you want to see executed on that final possession?

02:58 Well, we didn’t want to take the time out because we wanted to keep their defensive guys on the floor. That lineup on the floor, you take the time out, they just put all their dobermans in and switch everything and it’s really, really hard to get a good look, so I haven’t seen a replay yet. My gut as our spacing wasn’t great. I think I saw three guys on one side. We wanted to give Steph a high screen pulling their weaker defenders in and he got a decent look, but It’s probably a good clip for us to have for these last games and the Play-in and just to to go over that again. I mean, I never really like to take timeouts in that situation. If there’s time, I’d rather have the chaos that ensues and the matchups that you want and so the process was what we wanted. I’m not sure we got spaced very well. I’ll have to look at it.

03:57 And then they didn’t get to share the court too much tonight, but how important is it for you guys, for Steph and Kristaps to develop chemistry?

04:05 Yeah, I mean, the good thing with Kristaps is that he’s a really easy guy to play with, for anybody. He fit in immediately with our team, as soon as he got here. I don’t think it’s gonna take a long time for those guys to feel comfortable. Both guys space the floor, both guys are really smart. They’ll find each other. There’s a couple of unique things that our team does with Steph that he’ll get used to quickly, but other than that, it’s just basketball.

04:37 Speaking of Kristaps, five fouls in the third quarter and then fouled out pretty quickly in the fourth. What’d you sort of see from him there with the foul of trouble?

04:45 Well, Sengun went inside and we were trying to guard him single coverage, so he got a couple fouls there. There was one, I think it was his fourth foul, early in the half that it was, I think he grabbed Kevin (Durant) on the rebound. That was the one that hurt. because if he doesn’t commit that foul, he doesn’t get into foul trouble and we’re okay. So he knows he that was one he’s gotta let go. It was just a long rebound Kevin got and he grabbed his arm for his fourth foul, two free throws for Kevin, so yeah, Kristaps, it wasn’t a great night for him, but Sengun’s a really tough, tough matchup and we got another one in two days. So Kristaps will be right back out there.

05:29 Steve, you talked right off the top about the belief you we’re back in the fight with Steph. Can you just further explain how palpable it feels with Steph and how he can kind of change the belief in the mood that you guys feel, like — ?

05:38 You can just hear it, right? You can hear it with the crowd. And there’s a different energy in the building and there’s a different confidence with our team. He just infuses the whole team with confidence and, again, being able to play off of him makes the game much easier for everyone else, so there’s just a momentum and a confidence. And he’s Steph Curry for a reason.

06:05 Going 11 deep tonight, I mean, how crucial is this last week here to fine tune rotations and combinations going into the Play-in?

06:12 Yeah, well, we’re hoping to get Al back. We’ll see. He’s not gonna play Tuesday, but these next few days, we’ll ramp up his workouts and maybe some 3-on-3. And if we could get him back for a couple of games, just for some rhythm and rotation stuff, then that’ll be helpful.

—

06:38 Hey Charles, how did it feel to get out on the floor tonight and run with the guys and everything?

06:43 CHARLES BASSEY: I mean, it felt great, man. Like I said, this was what I was looking, this opportunity, so it felt great just being out there, being with the players and stuff like that. So it was good.

06:52 Seemed like you got a good rhythm there. What was sort of working for you tonight, especially playing with Steph?

06:57 To be honest, man, I was so wide open, man. They were telling me that, because after I got the dunk and they called the time out, GP was telling me, yo, I know you didn’t know you was gonna be wide open. I was like, trust me bro. I didn’t know, bro, but he was just telling me, yo, just you playing with Steph, you just gotta be ready, you know? Because Steph attracts a lot of like players and stuff like that, so just like I said, you see the second pass that fumbled it. So it’s like I just gotta stay ready, knowing he’s gonna attract players and just stay ready to finish the layup or something.

07:26 You guys checked in together in the first quarter. You obviously got that standing ovation. What did it feel like to come in the game with him and feel that ovation in the crowd?

07:33 Oh yeah, it felt good, man, just the energy and stuff like that. Like I said, he gave me the first pass and that was a dunk, but it felt great, man, just seeing the crowd. This is his city and stuff. It just felt good being a part of it.

07:44 And then how much does your experience with Santa Cruz this year kind of help you for Golden State?

07:49 Yeah. It’s been great, man. Like I say, it’s mostly — so I just really just got here last night and I got here this afternoon. So it was literally just, they run the same plays, just same thing. I met the G League coaching staff here, so it was just like, just same stuff and everything is just the same. So it was good being out there and I just, I was already up to speed and it was great.

08:12 What does the team sort of communicate to you about what they expect from you the next couple of weeks?

08:18 Today? So, I just got here today, so it was just telling me — Steve Kerr just telling me what he wants from me, just what I do. Just keep doing what you do that got you here. Don’t stop doing what you do, just keep going, keep rebounding, keep running the floor, keep blocking shot. You do what you do best and I got you. Just keep doing it, you know? And that’s what I did out there today.

08:44 Oh, hi. Hello. Here, sorry. It’s okay. I was curious what’s your first reaction you know you’re gonna play for Warriors tonight?

08:55 I mean, it was great, man, because it was literally last minute, because I didn’t even think I was gonna play today, because they were trying to get everything signed and quick. So I was just asking my agent, just let me know if I’m gonna play because I got here late last night, so I had to get my rest. And but I just, I found out this morning I was playing and everything, so it was — my mindset was already, like, thinking I’m gonna play, so it was good. It was good for — we didn’t get to win, but it was a good game out there today.

09:28 Oh, sorry. What’s your experience — you experience the stadium, the vibe, especially when Stephen comes on the court?

09:37 Like I said, man, the vibe was great, man. Like you say, you could see the energies of the arena was loud. It was great, the energy, so just me coming into the game with him, I felt the energy and obviously just going into the game, you just obviously wanna play hard and just, the energy was great, man. Like you said, the guys and the coaching staff and everything was, it was a good vibe around.

10:00 Now, obviously haven’t been here long. Like you said, you just got here today, but when you look at the impact that Steph has on the floor, given the looming implications of the playoffs coming on the other side of this, does it feel like there’s a different outlook on what can be accomplished here late in the season, now that he’s healthy and he’s back?

10:18 Yeah, I mean, of course you could see how the game today was a close game. We could have won the game, could have gone any way. We could have won tonight, but like I said, man, having him back it’s a plus. It’s huge for the team. And you could see, man. You could see the vibe of the team. Like, it was different today, man. And the energy of the arena, the energy of the players, just like we could have won that game, but I mean, it went the other way. But I’m saying, like, there’s a belief right now that we could do something, for sure, this year.

🫶💙💛

Transcripts of one Wardell Stephen Curry and one Seth Adham Curry below, from postgame Rockets-Warriors.

Seth shouted out Eric Housen aka “E”, VP of Team Operations aka “equipment manager” in old school terms, for helping him secure Steph’s jersey postgame.

It was fun to see a glimpse of Housen during the broadcast on the baseline near the Warriors bench kind of pissed at a foul call by one of the refs on a foul call. No one bleeds blue and gold more than him.

Full recap coming later today to the YouTube channel plus Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but I’ve started doing something new which is including an uncut version of the recap during the livestreams. The descriptions now have chapters, too, so it’s actually in there:

00:00 How’d you feel?

00:03 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME HOU-GSW: I felt good, some good nerves going into it and obviously coming off the bench, just you’re trying to pace yourself physically, mentally to get ready for your runs. And first run was tough. Second run was great. Second quarter, once I got my feet underneath me and obviously the momentum carried, all the work you put in rehab to get through, even 26 minutes at that level, I was very grateful, for sure.

00:35 I was gonna say it felt like the rust definitely shook off as the game went on. How much rust do you feel like is still there right now?

00:43 It’s not as much rust as it’s the endurance. Honestly, you’re kind of picking and choosing a little bit of your spots to maintain. It’s not like you’re going a hundred miles an hour the whole time and just feeling it out, but yeah, after I traveled and got my shot blocked the first two possessions, I kind of settled in nice. You do all the training and scrimmages and all that type of stuff. It’s more just getting back familiar with the speed of the game, the physicality and just embracing it and that’s how the game kind of unfolded for me.

01:19 How do you, Steph, how did you feel you and Kristaps’ fit together, in your time on the court?

01:26 I thought we have a lot more to prove out there. I know he was in foul trouble all night, but there were a couple possessions they tried to blitz me, get somebody in the pocket, KP’s spacing the floor, defense has to make a decision, so more of those reps will be great for not just me and him, but for all of us to continue to build chemistry. I want, like I said, he had foul trouble, so there wasn’t much of a rhythm for him tonight, but that group that we had down the stretch, it felt like old times, just read the defense, they overreact to me on the perimeter, GP’s going to the bucket, Draymond’s finding guys, getting guys in the pocket. It was awesome. Tough finish, obviously, but I liked the way that we finished the game.

02:17 You took 20 shots and in 26 minutes. I mean, did you come in wanting to try to shoot yourself into a rhythm?

02:24 I actually had no expectations other than knowing Houston and their style of play, style of defense, and knowing kind of where I’d be able to find some good looks. The first quarter was really just if I saw any daylight, just shoot it and see what happens and then you kind of started to get a little bit more meticulous with each possession, but when you have fresh legs, it’s kind of easy to get going, knowing that you only have six-minute stretch. You can kind of take full advantage of those minutes, shots included.

03:01 You have, I mean, you know what type of condensed week you have before the Play-in. What do you want to accomplish over the next four, three games, maybe, you’ll play and how quickly are you trying to get your minutes back to Play-in level, whatever you’ll be in the Play-in?

03:19 I think I’d say you gotta be smart and do the right things for the right reasons. And I’m sure next game will look very similar to this one and then you kind of continue to assess how you feel moving forward and make, again, the right decision, so all I’m looking forward to is Tuesday. Probably be the same kind of flow and rhythm and hopefully it’s more of the same and then we kind of take it from there.

03:46 Steph, what was it like being able to play with Seth tonight out there?

03:51 Oh man, that was special. And we’ve both had a very difficult year, honestly, him more than me with injuries. And I was joking, calling us the Rehab Brothers because it’s been like that all year, but to have that moment coming out of a timeout and talking about our matchups, I was having flashbacks to Charlotte Christian High School, my senior year, his sophomore year was the last time in an actual game. I know he was on our training camp roster in 2013, but last time we actually played a game together, my mom was in the stands. She probably didn’t have any more memory in her phone from taking all the pictures and videos, so it was, that was a dream come true, to be honest. It hadn’t really sunk in yet, except when I came out the locker room just now, Seth is very serious about taking this jersey I have on me, so I knew he’ll take good care of it, for sure.

04:54 Did it bring you back even further than high school, bring you back to the backyard and just when do you think that it will sink in when you guys can bring back the memories years from now?

05:03 I mean, yeah, all of our basketball journey from growing up watching my Pops play and I think it was this video of us in Toronto when we were up there shooting around on the court as kids, like, basketball has been a part of our whole lives and it’s what we love to do. And the fact that at this stage of both of our careers that we’ve had this opportunity, even though this is, what, Game 77 and it’s the first time actually playing together, you definitely take a moment to reflect, for sure, and when it is all said and done down the road, I’m sure we’ll put the pictures up from tonight and talk about it.

05:47 Steph, did you figure there would be no time out there, after their made basket and just kind of just go?

05:52 Yeah, we, like, we didn’t have a play call because we thought we were gonna get a stop, but the usual kind of reaction there is to try to get — they had Sengun out there — was to try to get him in a pick-and-roll and see what they were gonna do, but everything kind of got a little stagnant at the top of the key. I haven’t watched the possession to see where there might have been a better option, but it seemed like there was a wall at the three-point line and I couldn’t figure out exactly where to go, but there’s no regrets. There’s, you like the matchup with their lineup out there, thinking that you can get a good shot with whatever it was, 11, 12 seconds left, so tough, tough finish for sure, but proud of the way we fought down the stretch.

06:36 And would you consider this meaningful basketball?

06:42 We’re building towards it. We’re gonna — we have two meaningful games, hopefully, down the stretch, but this is meaningful basketball in the sense of preparing ourselves for that moment. It’s not like we can just sleepwalk through these last four games and not focus on details that’ll help us win a do-or-die game and then do it again, so yes, you can kind of feel it in the arena, too. There’s a different vibe tonight.

07:08 how’d it feel to go toe-to-toe with Kevin Durant, especially at this point in your guys’ careers?

07:16 A competitor like that, all-time great like that, you go back and forth and you’re inspired by his level. I’m sure the same, vice-versa. And we obviously have great memories together as teammates, but just, it’s still crazy we’re doing it at this level, still at this stage of our careers. And he’s two years ahead of me, so I don’t know any other words other than just kind of a gratitude of you still have the battles ahead that greats, we look forward to.

07:57 Steph, I’m sure you don’t take anything for granted, obviously, at this point in your career, but after 27 games, take me through the emotions of the day. You came out and felt like you were kinda like a prize fighter in the pregame and getting ready. And then just the emotions of the Jumbotron and then hitting some buckets and pulling out a shimmy shake, too.

08:14 This is Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. This has been a special day to reflect and appreciate, again, what I get to do every day on a daily basis. The gifts God’s given me to be healthy, fight through this rehab stint and be able to get back to the court and enjoy myself, there were a lot of nerves all day. My family supported me at home and I was a nervous wreck, trying to pass the the hours before I got to the arena, but once you get back into your routine, you’ve been doing it for so long, muscle memory takes over, the adrenaline takes over, and I appreciate the fans and the reception and just the buzz that was in the arena. Because that’s what you, at a certain point, you won’t be able to tap into that, so I’m very grateful. It was a beautiful day and now I can kind of settle into how we’re gonna finish the year.

09:12 Steph, you kind of just mentioned the vibe of the arena with everyone out there, the fans being excited, but then also when you think about having to watch the last 27 games of your team being out there, did it feel different, like a different type of performance put out there on the floor? I mean, the team talked about the fact that when you come back, it’s easier to play. Did it feel like that? Did it seem like that the game kind of go in that way?

09:35 I mean, yes and no. One thing I didn’t want was just because I’m out there, for it to be like an AAU game where everybody’s just running around trying to get me the ball. Like, we need to play sound, solid, deep, disciplined basketball and I felt like we got into that and, again, we were down, I think, it was double-digits in the fourth quarter and to battle back like that, that’s you tapping into that will to win. Even though we didn’t get it done, that’s just been the hardest part of this last two months. So there’s games where it’s, the game is hanging in the balance and sometimes we struggle to score or struggle to close games and you feel kind of helpless in that vibe, so — and it’s not just me, it’s everybody like I was talking about, that group that finished, we were in lock, in unison. It was kind of beautiful to watch and beautiful to be a part of, even for us to have a one-point lead with less than 20 seconds left, so the crowd was kind of feeding off of that.

—

10:37 So what was it like to finally be out there with your brother?

10:42 SETH CURRY: It was a great moment, great moment just be out there on the same floor for the first time since high school, was special for us, special for the family. So yeah, that’s really all I could say.

10:56 Where does the jersey go?

10:59 Oh, that’s going in the mancave at home. I got my hands on that right away. In one frame, I’m gonna have that for forever, so just try to, yeah, I thought about that before I asked. I went in there and asked E. (Eric Housen) this morning. I said, as soon as the game’s over, I’m getting my hands on both of those.

11:17 Seth, Steph said that your mom probably doesn’t have any more memory on her phone left after tonight with all the videos she took. Just what do you think that this night meant for her, your family, your siblings, everybody?

11:27 It’s a dream come true, dream come true. I mean, we’ve played against each other for a while now. For us to be in the same floor together as teammates was a different dynamic and I’m sure everybody was watching on the East Coast, stayed up late watching on the East Coast and, yeah, she was over there sneaking pictures when we were both in the hall, trying to get loose and she was really excited.

11:51 What are some of your other favorite souvenirs artifacts in your man cave?

11:56 I got a few things I’m not gonna divulge it all, but I’ve been smart. I’ve been collecting some good stuff.

12:03 This may sound like a silly question, but when you think about the players that come up and they’re like, wow, I’m playing with Steph Curry. You step out there, that’s your brother, but do you step out there and feel that, like, wow, I’m playing with the best shooter the game’s seen?

12:17 Nah, not really, not really. It’s just, I mean, I know, I mean, obviously you see him doing what he did tonight, trying to lead our team to a win, but for me, I’ve watched him for so long, I know different ways. Hopefully over this next week, I can play with him a little bit more and help him out. And while out there on the floor, I’m just trying to be aggressive and trying to make the game easier for him, spread the floor, find ways to help and that’s really my mindset.

12:44 You guys have such a condensed timeline here to try to get right for the Play-in week. Does how he looked tonight, 29 in 26 minutes, does that kind of boost the idea of what maybe you guys can still be?

12:58 I mean, you kind of know, I mean, who he is and what you’re gonna get. He might not shoot it the way he did it tonight every night, but he’s gonna create offense for us. Him and his presence out there does boost everybody, makes everybody’s job a little bit easier. You don’t have to carry the weight as much and it is condensed, so, but we gotta figure out. That was a good step — we have a little learning curve of guys who have different roles throughout the season, before he came back and their confidence has grown a little bit and they have to find ways to continue to keep that up, so yeah, I mean, it does — you know who he is, but it also does reinforce some things.

13:41 Hi Seth, Coach Kerr says Stephen is the player can bring the joy back and you also mentioned about the point is let the fans enjoy the game.

13:52 Yeah.

13:52 Where this ability come from? It’s kind like a Curry’s family, like born with or, like, develop over time?

13:58 Yeah, I think in our household, my mom always just drilled in us, enjoy the game. Have fun. Let — I mean, God’s given us talent to play this game, so you wanna go out there and maximize it. And it’s not life or death out there. You wanna go out there and have fun. It’s an entertainment product. Once you get to this level, you wanna go out there and have fun, enjoy yourself, but put on a show, let the fans enjoy it, so that’s what I always tell myself before the games, is to be a light and play with a smile on my face as much as possible. And Steph has done that forever as well.

14:36 Steph said he was even dealing with some nerves, maybe before getting to the arena, at least. I mean, when did you see him first today and what were kind of the emotional state that he was in, I guess, when you saw him?

14:46 Saw him in the locker — I mean, just, we both got to the gym before the game, seemed fine. I didn’t see many nerves, so looked pretty normal to me.

14:58 With just the injuries that you and Steph have been dealing with this season, was there any doubt that tonight would happen?

15:03 There was definitely some doubt, definitely some doubt. Like I said, he didn’t know if he would be able to come back at all for a period of time there. And myself, it’s just a crazy year. I’ve been dealing with so much. Like yeah, when we came back, only had like a week or two left, so it was definitely a lot of doubt, but I think we’re both feeling a little bit better now and can close these last few games playing well and getting better and heading into the Play-in with some confidence.

🫶💙💛

Numbers can be deceiving. Yes, Brandin Podziemski just led the Warriors in games, minutes, points, shots made, three-pointers made, free throws made and rebounds while ranking third in assists and fourth in steals for the month of March, but it was also a month riddled with turnovers, bad shots, selfish early shot clock pulls, bricks, two-for-ones to end quarters where in hindsight you wished they could’ve been just one-for-ones, and on two occasions an open Kristaps Porzingis throwing his hands up in disbelief of what he just saw.

The same numbers mirage can be said of De’Anthony Melton, who is at 20 points-per-36, if you round up. With Nickeil Alexander-Walker at 22 points-per-36, you can be sure Melton’s agent will throw that number out in round one of free agent talks coming up — more on this, later, as we delve more and more int salary cap sheet possibilities.

But look closer and you’ll see an alarming 40% field goal rate and 28% three-point percentage, both categories of which directly contributed to the loss to the Cavs the other night.

Granted, the absence of one Wardell Stephen Curry skews things. For Melt, he’s essentially the best bucket-getter on the team, on paper, and therefore draws the best or second-best defender from each opponent.

For Podziemski, the void makes it enticing to assume the combo-guard role that is usually reserved for guys named Jalen Brunson or Tyrese Maxey. The lack of depth, similar pendulum-swinging by Pat Spencer — more on this in due time, too — and minutes restriction on sharp-shooter LJ Cryer also means Podz has a long leash.

The pendulum has swung something like this:

1. March 13th at Chase Center: 25-10-2 vs Minnesota with smooth playmaking in Q4, goes on the podium and, when asked by Danny Emerman of the SF Standard what he’s learned about his game and having the ball more in Curry’s absence, says, “That I can do it.”

2. March 20th at Detroit: At the end of Q1, on a pick-and-pop with Porzingis, takes a sidestep three that leaves a crack on the window over a nice closeout by Caris Levert, with KP standing at the top, open. Btw, Paul Reed had also committed to helping Levert, for some strange reason.

3. March 29th, Chase Center vs. Denver: At the end of a quarter, does the same thing again to KP, who this time leaves his arms up in exaggerated exasperation. Also could not get the ball to the 7’3” target, guarded by 6’4” Jamal Murray, as two Nuggets closed in on him.

4. April 2nd, Chase Center vs. Cleveland: only makes two mistakes as the primary ball-handler, racking up 25-4-4. To nitpick, those two mistakes were the hapless drive on Jarrett Allen (got blocked) and shooting a three with 18 seconds on the shot clock. The rest of the game was filled with ball movement and great decision-making.

I did a video essay covering points 1 through 3 above, before the Cavs game:

It’s all about the approach. When you walk onto the court thinking you’re a point guard and wanting to do Chris Paul or Manu Ginobili things, you have made a conscious decision to be unselfish.

Keep it up, BP!

Now that Steph is back, I am quite certain there will be zero guys at the top of the arc throwing their hands up, wondering why they didn’t receive the pass from Podz.

Happy to report that Podz ended the pendulum swing in 30’s absence on the up-and-up. There will still be one back-to-back coming up, though, so we’ll see if we get the Minnesota-Cleveland or Detroit-Denver version of BP.

It took Moses Moody four full years to generally become reliable with consistently more good plays than bad, each and every game — albeit Year One for Moody was a title run with very little playing time, so maybe it only took three years.

Can Podziemski get to that level of consistency by the end of his Year 3?

Oh, and rejoice! His podium after the Cavs performance was much more humble than the one after the Timberwolves. He even took the blame on one of the Max Strus daggers, see below…

00:00 Coach, considering the injury Gui Santos was dealing with, how would you describe his effort tonight?

00:10 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME CLE-GSW: Gui was great. He really battled. He made a lot of plays for us, obviously, scoring 25 points and looked — he didn’t look quite a hundred percent. I could see him moving a little gingerly, but all of our guys just played really, really hard. Just didn’t make enough shots, but our process was really good all night, took care of the ball, a lot of offensive rebounds. We won the possession game. We had our chances, 13 extra field goal attempts, so we just — sometimes just comes down to making a few shots.

00:50 Steve, De’Anthony, 2-of- 12 tonight, just physically kind of where is he at? I know you’ve said in the past he’s kind of beat up right now. Just what are you seeing from him lately?

00:58 Yeah, well, he’s a little bit out of rhythm offensively. I think that’s obvious. His shots aren’t falling right now. We know what he’s capable of. I mean, his, first three quarters of the season has been fantastic, so he’s just in a little bit of a rut and I know that he can get out of it. I know we can do some things to help him do so.

01:21 Strus hits two threes in that final two minutes to kind of put the game away. What sort of happened there in the final two minutes?

01:27 Well, the first one, it looked like we over-rotated to start the play and they got the ball behind us and then we were scrambling. And the second one, BP came over to double Harden and he just came over a half second too soon. And that left one second on the clock and so Cleveland did a great job of spreading the floor. Obviously, Harden puts so much stress on your defense and his ability to score, get downhill, get to the rim. You have to react, you have to help and they’ve got shooting to support.

02:02 Was the goal to double Harden at all costs in those last two minutes?

02:06 Not necessarily. We wanted to stay in front of him, but he got past us and when he gets past you, you’ve gotta bring help.

02:14 How do you think your team handled the stretch in the fourth quarter with the flagrant technical and then technical, technical?

02:22 Yeah, it got a little heated there for a bit, but our team handled it well. I think we took the lead after that and had our chances, but I don’t think that stretch won or lost the game. I think it was just part of a physical game, two teams playing really hard and, again, they made the big shots, Strus with the two threes, Harden the floater. They made some big shots and they deserve credit.

02:51 Draymond, 35 minutes on a back-to-back. You’ve talked about it, just playing without Steph, without Jimmy, how much it affects him with the possibility of Steph coming back to the next game, just what do you, how do you evaluate what Draymond has meant in this period as like kind of the last standing legacy guy while Steph has been out?

03:15 Yeah. I mean, I’m really proud of him. I mean, this is not an easy position to be in. He’s such a proud guy so many guys have been injured and out and he’s really carried a heavy burden, but he’s handled it beautifully. He’s playing big minutes. His defense is still elite. I thought he played a really good game tonight, nine assists and three blocked shots, only a couple of turnovers. Draymond is playing well. It’s just a matter of hoping we can get healthy and not only will that help him on the floor, but I think it’ll help his spirits and lift the locker room if we can get Steph and Al back and Quinten and head into the Play-in healthy and ready to go.

04:04 Steve, we’ve talked a lot about Porzingis and his impact on the offensive end. How much has it changed the dynamics to have a guy like Gui not just scoring 20 a game recently, but a front court player doing that? I mean, you’ve had a lot of guards, but to have a guy with some size scoring the way he’s scoring and it’s not just a few games now, it’s sort of a trend.

04:23 Yeah, it’s a good stretch. He’s playing really well. He gets the ball into the paint probably better than anybody we have. His ability to make quick moves off the dribble, get it into the paint, either score or kick it out, it’s very important. He’s creating a lot of shots for us right now. He’s an excellent player. Thank you.

—

04:49 What makes it so difficult to stay in front of Harden?

04:53 GUI SANTOS: Man, he got a lot of stuff he can do, you know? Step back threes and if the plan is sending him down the lane, he gonna drive down the lane and he gonna floater or he gonna throw it up for, they got two guys that can catch lobs, so make it harder for Draymond or QP, no KP, to help. It’s very tough.

05:17 What was your approach and the team’s approach to try to slow him down in the fourth quarter?

05:22 So I was — we were trying to not let him do what he want to do, but it’s very tough, like, you know that he wanna get to his step back left, but he can get it whenever he wants because that’s what he does for — that’s what make him be in a league for a lot of time. Also like the drives, we were like, okay, if he drives, make him drive with the right hand, but he still drive with the right hand and he got a floater, tough floater. There’s not many players that can make floaters like that, so yeah, it’s really tough, too.

05:55 Hey Gui, what are your — two back-to-back games against some quality opponents. What are your kind of takeaways from this stretch of games?

06:03 That is two great teams. Yesterday, we were more shorthanded than today. Today we have a couple more players, but it’s still very hard when you don’t have Steph out there, when you don’t have Jimmy. Been saying that a lot, but that’s the truth. That is great players. Like, that’s what they do, so don’t have them out there with us. It’s tough, but we always trying to find a way to stay in the game, to be battling with them until the end of the game. We did that today, but in a little stretch they got two threes in an important moment and that’s when they opened up an advantage on us.

06:46 I realize it’s only been a couple months now, but what stands out to you the most, playing with Kristaps?

06:55 Man, the fact that he’s in the paint for us, it’s great, on the rebounds, on the blocks, make guys missing layups. And an offense end, he’s just so big and like he can do whatever he wants. He can shoot over guys, he can pass over guys. The guys are doubling on him. He still find the best pass, best that he can and a great thing — and one thing that I love about him is like he don’t care like how many points he got. He don’t care about stats and like nothing like that. He just want to like make the winning play. And every time he’s out there, you can see like doesn’t matter if you have 30 points or he have 10 points, he always gonna take the right decision.

07:38 Gui, what’s the, just, what’s the level of excitement with this, for this team, for Steph possibly being able to come back pretty soon?

07:44 You cannot measure it, brother. Yeah, we very, very happy to have him back. Like, Steph, like I said, for me, he’s the great greatest of all time, you know? So just have a guy like that back on the court with us, even like, you know? Let’s say, because he been out for so long and he’s not gonna be a hundred percent like he was when he stopped playing, but just the fact that he’s on the court opened up a lot of space for everybody else to play, you know? So that’s gonna be great to have him back for us.

08:16 What do you — there’s been a lot of talk about him getting a chance to play with Porzingis for the first time and they haven’t played together at all. Whenever Steph comes back, what do you think that will look like with them on the court together?

08:27 That would be — that would be crazy. Yeah, like, you got Porzingis, like, can do whatever he want in the paint. You got Steph that can do whatever he want on the whole court, so pick-and-roll between both, I don’t know. I don’t know who can guard that. That’s gonna be really, really interesting to watch the next couple games. That’s it? All right.

—

08:52 How do you feel like you guys played tonight?

08:55 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: We’re good in spurts, not good in some others. Pretty much been the theme since Steph’s been out. Really haven’t put together a full game of consistency, so just say average tonight.

09:09 What kind of happened in those last two minutes when the, the Cavs kinda pulled away?

09:13 I mean, I think some of the other guys hit shots. I think coming into the game our plan was just makes the other two or other guys out there besides Donovan and James beat us and Strus hit a bunch and then Mobley and Allen got some dunks.

09:33 You and Gui combined for 50 points tonight. How do you see your development together and the feat especially offensively?

09:42 Yeah, I think, to see Gui’s development since Jimmy really went down, has been impressive. Just super-consistent person, work ethic every morning, game days. It’s usually me, him and Draymond that are here in the mornings together. And just to see him do that through the course of the year and finally get rewarded for it, it doesn’t surprise me, but just like all of us, he’s learning. There’s some good, there’s some bad, and we’re all just trying to learn together and grow.

10:15 You mentioned sort of the themes since Steph’s been out. How much is there — how much anticipation is there starting to build? I mean, he’s obviously getting closer, whether it’s Sunday or Tuesday or whenever. What’s sort of the feeling like with him on the brink of coming back?

10:30 Yeah, I mean, him coming back makes everybody’s job easier, the gravity he obtains from other teams is like none other in the NBA. And so I think a lot of us are gonna get a lot more cleaner looks compared to what we’re getting just because of that.

10:49 Brandin, you guys in the fourth quarter actually had a lead a couple of times, a couple of leads, but Max (Strus) hit a couple of big threes and they were pretty open. Is that defensive breakdown or is that just them breaking down your defense?

11:02 Yeah, I think the last one was my fault. I just looked at the shot clock and I just saw Gui up there kind of with a lot of space and I was like, it was at three on the clock and I was like, oh, if I go, I don’t think he’ll have enough time to see me pick it up and throw it and then for him to shoot. And so I’ll take responsibility for that one. And I think the other one he got was, we just gotta find a better way to rotate to guys that we know we’re not trying to allow to shoot catch-and-shoot threes.

11:31 Is there a sense that you guys should have won this game or is it just too close to say?

11:35 Of course. I mean, whoever’s out there, we think we have a chance. Definitely want to win games is important at this time of the year, but I think, more importantly, it’s about building good habits going into that little three-, four-game stretch or how many ever games we have with Steph.

11:53 Hey Brandin, what’s the level of anticipation with the team surrounding Steph’s possible return and has that changed at all in the last week as he’s seemingly got closer?

12:01 I think everybody’s excited. I think it’s been 27 games or something like that and it’ll be refreshing to have him out there. It’ll be something new, like I said, to Ron (Kroichick)’s question, just it’ll make things a lot easier for all of us, but I know he’s not gonna come back with a mindset of just give him the ball all the time. He’s gonna want us to keep playing the way we’ve been playing and his greatness will allow him to do what he does.

12:32 Hello, Brandin. You just talked about Gui Santos and his development, but how did you think about the chemistry you guys build on the court and how did you think that will benefit the team, especially when Stephen will come back?

12:47 Yeah, I think, like I said, it’s just about building the right habits and playing the right way. And I think that’s what we’ve been doing for majority of the games that we played without Steph. And I think the better the habits you build when he’s not out there, the easier it becomes when he’s out there. And so we’re just gonna try to make that transition as seamless as possible when he gets back.

13:09 When he does come back, obviously, there’s only gonna be three or four games to kind of reacclimate. What’s that process gonna look like from your perspective in terms of — because he’s obviously gonna try to be getting used to playing with Kristaps for the first time. You’ve obviously played with him a lot, but how do you sort of approach the connection part of it, I guess?

13:29 I think I don’t approach anything different. Like I said, I think his greatness is gonna allow him to fit in and just make things happen. It’ll be interesting to see how teams guard things like him and Kristaps pick-and-roll, how they decide to do that and so those things we’ll see on the fly and just adapt to it, but I think with any great player in the league, their ability to just fit in and make things happen on their own is something that Steph’s gonna do.

13:53 Podz, similar question, but less about what it might look like once he gets out there in game time action and more about what it’s looked like since he’s kind of been able to be reacclimated to the 5-on-5 in practice. How has the continuity been?

14:05 Yeah, I think he — we haven’t done much kind of live stuff together, but like all the stuff, the sets and stuff, we’ve kind of reacclimated him back into and it’s just all the kind of similar stuff we’ve done before he got injured. But like I said, I don’t assume there’s gonna be any, like, a period of time where we have to acclimate or adjust. I think it’s just gonna happen naturally.

🫶💙💛

Loved the Carmelo Anthony reference from Kristaps Porzingis postgame after the win versus Washington:

Even my post game and my turning and maybe sometimes I jab and shoot, like, I kind of developed my own stuff from that, but some of it started with me being with Melo (Carmelo Anthony) early in my career and seeing how he jabs and shoots, just those jumpers, you know? And so obviously there’s always that. Once you see somebody daily, like, even for sure, for guards like BP or whoever, just being around Steph, for sure, influences them in an amazing way, so there’s always that, for sure.

Also, thought the angle of this picture was funny, contrasting Porzingis (7’2”) to one Wardell Stephen Curry (6’3”), courtesy USA Today/Imagn Images:

The context of the question to KP was that Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos both referenced Jimmy Butler as someone they emulate, in particular for the Wizards game. Podziemski had a good night at the free throw line (7-for-8) and Santos’ footwork in finishing plays has been a boon to the Warriors over the past week and becoming a regular trend, see full transcript below.

Ironically, I have a couple posts on deck in regards to those two guys: Podz in terms of his (wrong, imo) approach to games and Gui in terms of that footwork.

It’s interesting how we have more patience for more veteran players. The only complaint I’ve had with Kristaps was his high-turnover game against Brooklyn. I find myself extremely forgiving on his self-proclaimed shooting woes, whereas I’ve lost some patience in the moment with BP’s shot selection plus untimely gambles on defense, as well as Gui’s turnovers, subpar free throw shooting, and general lack of point-of-attack defense — deep dives forthcoming on this Substack, plus the YouTube channel.

Here are Steve Kerr, Gui, BP, and KP postgame:

00:00 Obviously kind of a scattered game, but do you grow, get even more of appreciative of what Porzingis can do for you in the middle of a kind of scatteredness out there?

00:13 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME WSH-GSW: Yeah. Yeah, I mean we’re going to him a lot when we need a basket and he’s capable of that. He probably hasn’t done a ton of that in recent years. I mean, Boston has a number of guys who are gonna kind of have the ball in their hands late, but right now we’re going to him a lot. Generally, he takes care of the ball, he gets a shot for either himself or someone else, so he’s a great weapon, and at any point in the game. And it’s really fun to watch him play.

00:47 You’ve spoken about how finding the spacing around Kristaps has been an emphasis for this team since he arrived. Do you feel like the team has kind of figured out how to space around him by this point?

00:55 I think we’re getting better with it. The biggest thing with our team is just our decision making. The first half we had three turnovers and we generally just played a solid offensive half and then second half, we got crazy again and nine turnovers, most of them unforced and we just have to understand the value of the ball. And I think it’s a little tricky these days in the NBA. Everybody’s playing so fast. Everybody’s launching threes. There are times where the NBA game just gets it looks like a pickup game at times because everybody is just launching and playing fast. And so in some ways we have to reteach the value of time and score and hitting singles decision making because all it takes is a bad shot and a turnover and the whole game flips.

01:50 Steve, you guys have talked about building good habits along the way as you get toward the end of the season. What did you see tonight, good, bad? I mean, what, what did you see tonight?

01:59 First half I saw focus offensively, simple decisions and then I thought we let our guard down defensively in the second quarter, a couple back cut layups, some poor transition, missed communication on switches, so there was good and bad tonight, but I liked the way we closed the game and had a lot of good individual performances.

02:31 Coach, we didn’t kind of know what the incentives are for some of these teams that you’ve played recently. And we don’t need to maybe start a whole conversation about that, but just from your standpoint of being a team that’s fighting for wins, what is it like for your own competitive situation, to see a team just not play its best players down the end of the game, like this happened the last two nights?

02:55 it’s definitely strange, but it almost doesn’t matter because these guys are all in the NBA and, I mean, Jaden Hardy didn’t play the first 36 minutes and then he scores 14 in the fourth quarter, so technically he’s not one of their best players, but he was their best player in the fourth quarter. And so for us, we’ve had a few of these games. Utah came or came back and beat us in Utah, Chicago beat us late, and you can say, well, they weren’t — they didn’t have this guy. They didn’t have that guy. They still have NBA guys who can’t wait to play. And so it’s a strange phenomenon. I think it’s pretty unique to this season. I haven’t really seen this in the past. I think this is different, but I always remind our guys, every one of these guys is in the NBA for a reason, and Hardy was a great example of that tonight, so we can’t take anything for granted.

04:06 Another high scoring game for Gui. It seems like things are kind of slowing down from on that offensive end. What are you kind of seeing with his patience on that end?

04:14 Well, he’s — the more reps he’s getting, the more minutes, the more confident he’s become in his shot, in his ability to get past people. I agree, I think the game has slowed down for him. I think he’s making good decisions. Tonight was a great game for him in terms of handling the ball, only one turnover and as a shot creator, we’re asking a lot of him. And he’s playing really, really well. Sam?

04:53 Steph gonna make the trip to Denver?

04:55 I’m sorry?

04:55 Is Steph gonna travel to Denver?

04:56 No, he’ll stay here with Rick (Celebrini) and they’ll get some work in this weekend. Yeah, thanks.

—

05:05 GUI SANTOS: Hello, hello.

05:07 Another high scoring game. What was sort of working tonight for you?

05:12 I think especially the confidence when you have a high confidence, when you have a team just trusting you and like playing, kind of like giving me the ball for me to create some plays and all that, that’s give a lot of confidence and it make it easier for for me to go score or either find teammates. So when you have the type of confidence, it’s great to go there and just be free, play free.

05:38 Steve’s talked about the value of valuing every possession of avoiding turnovers. Just what is the key to not turning the ball over with this team?

05:47 I think we just got a slow down, you know? We don’t need to play — of course we need to play fast, move the ball fast, but at the same time, under control, you know? When we drive, when we get into the into the paint, we gotta just stopping two feet and like I learned a lot from Jimmy. Jimmy’s the guy that every time he was driving to the paint, he was stopping with two feet. And after that he decides what he can do. He go, he can go score, he can pass the ball, he can do whatever he wants to do, so watching him allowed me to try and do that right now in. When you start doing that, you see how much that help you, you know? And the whole team had this mentality of just getting into the paint, stopping two feet and just go there and play free. Don’t worry about turn the ball over and all that because when you’re too worried about it, it’s stuff you have that is stuck in your mind and you just go there and sometimes the passes is not there. You’re anxious and make you turn the ball over, but overall, today we did a good job of that.

06:48 Did you have conversations with Jimmy about playing off two feet or was it more just you watching him?

06:55 The first time when he got here, I have a lot of conversation with him, but after a time that he was here, I was just watching him. Every time he get into the paint, he took his time and that was so easy for him to do everything, so when you learn that and watch that, that’s very, like, you see how much that works and you know why he’s that great player that he is, because he can do that all night. He can get into the paint because he’s strong, he’s tall. He can get in there and just stop and create and take the decision after that.

07:27 And these past month, few weeks, you’ve had a lot of chances to initiate offense, create your own shot. When Steph gets back, do you imagine slotting back into the role you used to have or playing more like you have been?

07:43 I think that’s gonna be game to game because there is games they double, they of course gotta double a lot on Steph. And that’s two men less on the defense and that create offense for us, so when Steph’s in the game with us, I think that’s gonna be easier for me to create offense of him because they gonna double him. And he always is a great passer. He pass the ball either in the pocket or for the guy in front of him and that’s just 4 (versus) 3 situation. You just can do whatever is easier, so I think when he get back, that would make more easier for everybody else to create their own shot on offense.

08:24 Hello Gui, Draymond mentioning on Wednesday, he said, like, team during this time, team can’t just throw in the towel because they have a young guys like you and Brandin and trying to build a career. And how do you think about his, this kind of expression and this veteran’s leadership?

08:45 So you asking about the the leadership?

08:48 Draymond’s leadership?

08:49 Yeah, so Draymond leadership is always like you can see that he’s a guy that talk to us a lot because he want us to be at our best and that’s what make him great and make him like the leader of the team, because every time we step in there, he trusts a lot in us. He been talking to us, he been like trying to put us in another level and we, me and BP, all the young guys that are here, are very grateful to have him on the team because we learn a lot with him just by watching him on defense and offensely, but also just being around him and learn how, like, to be smart like he’s on the court.

—

09:37 The third straight game, your third straight game with 20 points. Just what’s working for you on that side of the ball?

09:43 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Getting to the line quite a bit. I think it’s helped, but yeah just taking good shots within the flow of the game and getting to the foul line.

09:53 What’s the key to getting to the foul line?

09:57 Really understanding the rules. Learned a lot from Jimmy early in the season and then just watching other players play.

10:06 What’s something that Jimmy does to get to the foul line that you’ve kind of picked up on?

10:10 I think it’s constant aggression in terms of going to the basket. The more drives you do again, the more likely you’re gonna get fouled. And so just always being aggressive, going to the rim.

10:24 Brandin, there’s a lot of talk between you guys and the coaches, too, about building good habits as you go toward the end of the season, get to the Play-in tournament. Is, do you see it happening yet? And what does it look like when you do that?

10:37 Yeah, we’re getting there. We’re showing flashes of both good and bad. Fortunately, we got to do it against Brooklyn and Washington these last two, but we’ll see what we got come Sunday.

10:51 It seems like in the last couple days people have asked you a lot about the outside noise and some of the way the fans talk about you. Do you pay attention to that at all?

11:01 Yeah, I see it. Like I said, a few days, a lot of the things I said, I probably haven’t — I probably shouldn’t have said it because it can be construed a certain, but I understand where I’m at. A lot of it is self-indictive, but all I can do is look forward and give up my all every night.

11:22 How do you kind of not let that stuff like affect how you play?

11:26 I mean, I really just try to tune it out when I’m in between the four lines. I’m not gonna think about what someone says about me on the internet. And so every day just come in with a clear head, be happy, be blessed that I’m here, and so that’s my perspective every night.

11:50 Brandin, you’re been through a lot of upside downs this season, but did you feel like the process of finding your reason back each time is quite a little different?

11:59 Yeah, I think you’re right. I’ve had little ups and downs. I think, as of late, I’ve been able to find a good rhythm, understand what’s being asked of me every night and just kind of try to follow through with that and let the result fall where it may, but like I said, I just go out there with the attitude of playing the same way I did when I first got a chance to play in my rookie year.

—

12:34 You have 5-of-11 from three-point range tonight. How’d the jumper feel tonight?

12:39 KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: I got lucky. I got lucky. Crazy. No, honestly, it’s not feeling good now, but I hit the first two or three and yeah, I kept shooting. Something goes in anyway, but what you’re gonna see once I get it right-right, you’re gonna see. Like, there’s gonna be a difference, for sure.

12:59 Kerr mentioned that they basically were going to you a lot at the end. Did that — how good did that feel? How natural did it feel for you to kind of be initiating things, either taking a shot, obviously, or maybe even making the pass?

13:13 Yeah, no, I feel comfortable in those situations. I trust myself. I’ll make the right pass. I can either get a bucket, draw a foul or create some advantage for us. And I feel good in those situations and I like those situations, so and the team trusts me.

13:39 Both Gui and Brandin talked about how Jimmy has kind of influenced them and how they play. How important is it for young players to have veterans that they can kind of not just look up to, but also emulate and take things from?

13:52 No, for sure. Like, even my post game and my turning and maybe sometimes I jab and shoot, like, I kind of developed my own stuff from that, but some of it started with me being with Melo (Carmelo Anthony) early in my career and seeing how he jabs and shoots, just those jumpers, you know? And so obviously there’s always that. Once you see somebody daily, like, even for sure, for guards like BP or whoever, just being around Steph, for sure, influences them in an amazing way, so there’s always that, for sure. And yeah, obviously we have Al and guys like that, that are very experienced and you could always learn something from them. Good? Cool.

🫶💙💛

Draymond Green gave an impassioned eighteen-minute postgame Q&A! Only comments I’d like to make are:

1. I’m still not sure I agree with letting one Wardell Stephen Curry come back and play (see previous article). The loss of Moses Moody to a long-term injury effectively leaves the Warriors with nine players under contract for 2026-27, seven of which are playable on Opening Night. I would be really careful with those remaining seven. You have to be more and more careful the more bodies you lose.

2. On that note, I would actually want to shut down Green himself, although the team only played ten players against Brooklyn. It’ s all about asset management and, in this case, asset protection. Nate Williams has only six games remaining where he can be active under the two-way contract rules and there are still nine games to go. Malevy Leons was listed as out with an illness. LJ Cryer, De’Anthony Melton and Kristaps Porzingis all seem to be playing with minutes restrictions, still. It might be hard to shut down Draymond just due to the need for bodies to get through any given 48-minute game without wearing guys out, but we shall see.

3. I’m not as worked up about Victor Wembanyama’s campaigning for MVP as Draymond is, because I am at peace with the fact that a select group of media members votes on the award. I’ve said it a million times: I don’t waste my time with CRAP (comparisons, rankings, awards and predictions). I’m all about the process, so when a select group of media members have voted for decades along the lines of “what name will look credible on the Wikipedia page (it used to be in sports almanacs) for NBA MVPs,” you will get a certain type of selection. I also understand that an NBA player like Dray would be extra-sensitive to these awards because they are literally tied to salaries, whether directly or indirectly. That part is unfortunate and that rule should be improvised.

Here is ye embedded video and ye transcript (paywalled) from postgame vs. the Nets. It will be taken out from under the paywall when the next article on this Substack gets posted, so if you are a free subscriber, you will just have to wait a little bit…

00:00 The (Play-in) tournament, do you care about that? Do you kind of, have you already gone about it as if you guys were gonna be in it? Just kinda what your thoughts on that?

00:07 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME BKN-GSW: Yeah, I definitely thought we was already in it, but great to clinch. Yeah, I thought we were in it already.

00:24 Steve said that you think you guys might be a little dragging, a little bit after seven games in 11 days. How are you feeling and what do you think of that?

00:32 You get back home, that first game is always tough after a long road trip like that, so to be expected, but I actually feel pretty good.

00:46 When you see that you guys are averaging, I think, 24 turnovers over the last four games, what do you think has going on there?

00:53 We can’t get sped up. I think we’re starting the game off getting sped up, not having proper space and getting to our spots and it kind of starts this domino effect, so then you have the first few turnovers and then it’s mental, right? So then all of a sudden you second guess a pass, then you throw the pass, and now it’s too late and so guys just gotta get outta their own heads. Play the game. The game tell you to pass, pass the ball game. Tell you to shoot, shoot the ball, you know? But I think it’s quite a bit mental, if you ask me.

01:35 A career high 31 points for Gui. As a fellow second round pick, how much can you relate to the work he’s put in to get to this point?

01:42 Man, you want my honest answer or you want me to sugarcoat it a little bit? My honest answer is when Gui got here, he did not look like an NBA player and he just put his head down, work every single day. You come in the gym early, he’s here, usually finishing up. You get here early on your time, he’s usually finishing up. What he’s been doing, he came in earlier today, he’s in here and so he worked to become this guy. He didn’t show up and then all of a sudden he just got an opportunity to show what, who he is. Like, he worked to become this person. You’re talking countless hours in Santa Cruz. Never once has complained, has always stuck to the process. And like I said, from the day that he got here, he never veered off the path. Stayed head down, working, and he’s getting the opportunity now to show everything that he’s working on and the game that he’s built. And it’s a beautiful thing to see, but I think for me personally, what I admire the most is just seeing him climb to become this guy. Look at earlier in the year, he got on the court just by going to get offensive rebounds. He didn’t get on the court by doing what he’s doing right now. He got on the court by — he was going to go get a rebound offensively, defensively. He was going to get the board and afforded himself an opportunity to then show who he is. And so, I mean, I couldn’t be happier for a guy. To watch him blossom into what he has.

03:29 You guys have won six games since the All-Star Break.

03:33 That’s nasty.

03:33 That’s not the win rate you are accustomed to here. How are you finding meaning in a really tough span with a lot of injuries?

03:42 Who, me or the team?

03:44 You and the team?

03:45 Myself, you just can’t be the guy that quit when it gets tough. I’ve had some incredible years here, been a part of some incredible teams, banners, all that stuff, and it’s great and when that stuff is happening. You want to be at the forefront of it. You want to embrace it, enjoy it, all of those things. It’s great. When it goes a little left, you can’t jump off the train. You can’t walk around and pout. You can’t throw in the towel or what was everything that you did before? We use a word around here all the time, front runners. And I think we, one thing we did through our dominant run was took advantage of front runners and I can’t give that to these guys, you know? Could I throw in the towel? Possibly. But does that — what does that look like then for Gui Santos? But what does that look like for Brandin Podziemski? You’re talking guys who’s trying to build themselves a career. De’Anthony Melton came back here after year off, trying to build back to where he was. You can’t just throw a towel in on them. That’s just not, it’s not who I’ve ever been, and it’s not who I’m going to become, you know? I’d rather go out there and get my head beat in every night and I walk off the court, I’m gonna go home with my family, my kids, wife and I always say at the end of the day, the day gonna end. But I can go home knowing, all right, we won or lost, regardless, but no matter the circumstance, I’m gonna go out there and give what I can give. And with that, I can sleep at night. If I just quit and throw — I hate seeing guys who throw in the towel in this league, you know? But then they come back, next year starts, they come back. The respect that you lost throwing in the towel, don’t just pop back up. You lost that respect. That is gone. And I, one thing I can tell you as someone who’s taken advantage of guys who struggle to gain in the respect department, it ain’t a fun place to be, you know? No one respecting you. The NBA is a hard, hard life. It’s a hard — take that with a grain of salt. I know guys make money. I know, but I’m talking about to continue to do it, it’s hard. Like, to do that on a nightly basis is tough. Try doing that with no respect for you, and that battle could just get steeper uphill, so I pride myself on respect but you don’t gain respect in the great times. That’s just never how it’s been because we all can show up and smile and feel great when times are great, but I made a commitment to this organization long ago. And the commitment that I made wasn’t on the dotted line that I signed, didn’t say all good times lie here. Everything that come with that, you have to embrace. And so to be a part of this organization on the way up was magnificent. When it go down a tad, I’m not jumping off the train. It is what it is and I have a lot of pride a lot to fight for, but most importantly, I can’t throw the towel in on these guys, you know? Who do they turn to then? So I try to provide that for them In this time where Steph is out, Al is out, Jimmy’s out. I try to just be a steady force that looks different every night, but try to be a steady force to where they can turn and know someone’s in the foxhole with them that’s been there. And try to give them confidence in that way.

08:17 Kind of along those lines, what are you seeing with Steph right now behind the scenes and how hard is it for you, or even maybe for him, to look at the clock kind of ticking on this season?

08:29 I think it’s hard to look at the clock kind of ticking because you just know he want to play. Like, he want to be out there. And so it’s not hard for me looking at the clock tick away, like, oh man, like what he doing? Like, is he gonna get back? Like, that’s not how we operate, but I think where you get a little worried is he wants to come back and he hasn’t. That’s when you start looking at the clock tick. Like, hold on, man. Like, not from a standpoint of, like, yo, when he’s coming back? But just, like, I know he’s working to get back. And if not now, what’s going on? I think you, you more so get a little worried than anything, but not from a standpoint of, like, oh man, like, he gonna come save the day. From a standpoint of, like, man, your brother down, what the hell’s going on, you know? Do you think he should come back? I think you — it’s a slippery slope, telling the guy who love basketball you can’t come back and play basketball when they feel like they’re healthy enough to play basketball. So I think if there’s an inkling of a doubt with his knee, no. A no, but if he’s healthy and he can play, absolutely, because that’s what you put the work in for you put the work in to give yourself a chance to have a great season to get into the postseason and flourish on that stage. And so — and you don’t know how many opportunities you get. You could — you can always kick the can down the road and say, oh man, we’ll get back at it, but that don’t always work like that. We kicked the can down the road last year, we didn’t kick the can down the road. Unfortunately, Steph got hurt, but say we kicked the can down the road last year, like, oh man, we’ll get it back next year and then look at this year, you know? So you gotta take advantage when you can and I know he’ll be out there if he’s healthy, but I think if there’s an inkling of a doubt that he’s not in the space that he needs to be in, no, I don’t. But I think that for anybody. I think everybody — when we play this game, we want to be a hero. We all want to throw you a cape on and come save the day, but if that risk future injury for him, I don’t think anyone would be in agreeance that that’s the right move. Whether we’re 35-38 or 58-12, if you’re not healthy, gotta play the long game, too.

11:11 Dray, I know you guys just played a stretch of games without Moses. Did it feel any different tonight just coming after the injury that he suffered and knowing the seriousness of it, or was it just the same?

11:24 I think you feel the presence more in there than out there. Once you get on the court, you just playing with the guys that’s out there with you. No one’s out there, like, oh man, Steph was right here or Moses was right there or if Jimmy — like, you can’t play the game of basketball that way, but where you do feel is absence is in there, the spirit that he brings on a daily basis. Loon (Kevon Looney) has a little thing he used to do when we’re getting ready to leave the locker room. Moses took over that. All of a sudden you don’t hear that today. You notice it more in that stuff than the game. Obviously, you miss him on the court, but again, when you’re out there on the floor, you’re not worried about who you’re missing. You’re trying to figure out what you need to do to win. But his presence, you miss more than anything.

12:11 I just wanted to take you off topic for a second. Wemby the other day was really kind of vocal about his MVP case. You’re a guy in the past who’s has vocalized your own case. I’m just curious how you took that, just like his willingness to come out ?

12:28 I hated it and I absolutely loved it. And the reason is because — the reason I hated it, is because until Wemby said defense is 50% of the game, it was like, oh man, no one realized that, right? Like, no one realized that 50% of the game we play is on that end of the floor, so he comes out and make this profound ass statement and it’s, like, oh, of course it is. And everybody’s, like, oh man, he has a great point. Hello? You think? So I hated it because he had to do that. For that to then be said, all of a sudden you turn on the TV and everybody’s, like, actually maybe Wemby is the MVP. And I can agree with that. Maybe he is, but the fact that he has to come out and remind people, hey, y’all see what I do over there? It’s, like, an indictment on the game of basketball and everybody talk all of this stuff about, oh man, you gotta play both sides and everybody wanna crush Luka Doncic when Luka doesn’t live up to the standard of defense, but we got this guy defending entire teams and no one took it into account until he said, well, number one, defense is 50% of the game. I want to give him so much credit for such a profound statement, but honestly, was it really that profound? But it’s so true. And yet it took for him to say that for everybody to say, oh man, he’s right about that. And so that’s a little bit of it and yet, and still I love what he said, but there’s some doubt. My goal is by the end of the season, there’s no doubt. Like, I love the way he was approaching it and the reality is I said, I hate it, but I’m just telling you, man, in these awards, if you don’t talk, people can’t see. You’re talking a game of basketball. Let’s not act like everybody can just open their eyes and know what’s going on. We know that’s not the case, so when you’re talking these awards, I know everybody’s, like, oh man, you said this or such and such said this about themselves. Until Evan Mobley finally said something last year, nobody was gonna give him Defensive Player of the Year. Then he finally said something, he’s like, oh, alright, maybe we’ll take a look. So the reality is, if you don’t come out and speak for yourself, it don’t work and I tipped my cap to Wemby for being willing to sit up there on that platform and say, this is why. Not hide from the question, not say, oh man, they’ll figure it out. No they won’t. I’m happy he’s smart enough to know they won’t figure it out. You don’t help them see it? Damnit, they can’t see. Got blinders on because I don’t know how people don’t see this. 7’6, whatever you’d like to describe him as, chasing a guard around the three-point line and then somehow get back to the rim to block. I don’t know how that’s hard to see. Like, that’s not difficult to see. Some cases on defense, you say, oh man, the stats ain’t there. Wemby blocks shots, so even if you want — if you can only see the stats, well, this guy blocks everything, so say we don’t see it because of the stats. Well, there’s no excuse for this one, so maybe the conversation need to be had of, again, why do people not appreciate defense? But then everybody throw out these things of, oh man, we wanna see the game played a certain way. No, the hell y’all don’t. You don’t wanna see the game played a certain way. What you wanna see is someone score the basketball because here’s a guy that had to say, hey man, it’s 50% of the game to get his point across.

🫶💙💛

First off, the recap from Dallas with highlights is right here. Please drop a ❤️ on this article if you like it. There are some extra insights in there on De’Anthony Melton, Brandin Podziemski, and Gui Santos. This includes on-screen highlights, which are not available on the YouTube version:

There are also a ton of instances of Moses Moody praise. Makes you wonder, who’s gonna come off a pin-down or pin-in screen and curl, pivot, catch-and-shoot?

Makes you appreciate Moody a little more. There’s only so many wings who can do that, let alone be able to reach-in every now and then at the point-of-attack and get a steal the other way, which was the last thing he’ll have done a basketball court for awhile.

As for the future, Dr. Nirav Pandya confirmed on Twitter what you can do research on: it takes nine to twelve months to return to play for players who have torn their patella tendon. Interestingly, former Warrior and Bay Area product Jeremy Lin tore his, back in the day. It took almost exactly a year to get back on the court.

The timing of Moody’s injury is, at first blush, complicated. The NBA’s Disabled Player Exception (DPE) was designed to enable teams to replace a player through June 15th, with the deadline for filing on January 15th, the window beginning on July 1st.

A DPE allows a team to acquire a replacement player at about half the value of the injured player’s salary for that year. More detailed info here in HoopsRumors’ awesome article.

Salary cap sheet-wise, if the Warriors go the DPE route, that’s a $6.25 million replacement player they can go out and get, but Moses would effectively be out the entirety of 2026-27, per the rules, unless they can somehow convince the NBA that he was all along scheduled to be out for 12 months and then, to Golden State’s fortune, Moody came back in nine months, which would be January 2027, which should be plenty of time for him to round back into form by the playoffs.

Or, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. could just roll with Moody throughout the, let’s say, nine-month rehab and, yeah, just get him back without any replacement.

It’s probably too early to prognosticate on this and, well, the Warriors could just wait and see. Also, the rules state that a league-designated physician has to conclude Moody won’t make it back until June 15th, 2027 (see aforementioned HoopsRumors article).

You’d think that going out and finding a veteran wing for $6 million sounds a lot better than being stuck with a veteran’s minimum, which is the only way to get a replacement wing unless the Warriors can dip under tax and utilize the Non-Taxpayer Midlevel.

The $6M DPE is like a very slightly higher Taxpayer Midlevel Exception player, which may be attractive to a veteran wing out there that might normally be relegated to a vet min. As benchmarks, a 3&D player somewhere between a Nic Batum ($5.8M, team option) or a Derrick Jones, Jr. ($10.5 million, signed through 2026-27) are archetypes of who could replace Moody, although both Batum and Jones appear destined to remain with the LA Clippers.

I’ll be sure to invite Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron to a livestream at some point to get his take on this.

By the way, the DPE can also be used as salary filler for a trade. Let’s say there’s a renewed pursuit of Giannis Antetokuonmpo. Six million is still another six million short of the salaries necessary to consummate that trade, but it’s better than nothing.

Also, as I said in the previous article, a lot depends on Kristaps Porzingis. He and the eventual Draft pick are the fulcrum of the offseason optionality. Any roster for the Dubs that does not include Porzingis next season would likely be the result of a sign-and-trade involving KP. But, again, more on these what-if analyses in due time.

This brings us to whether or not one Wardell Stephen Curry should be shut down. With Moody’s injuries, I’m now leaning heavily towards shutting down Curry, even though the last post said that a seven-game series would be great experience for guys like Podziemski and Santos.

The problem is that, from a fiscal management perspective, Moody was our next-highest contract after the main guys, so now with him taking up a valuable roster spot, it’s time to consider asset protection.

If Steph were to get injured again, that would make Golden State an even worse destination for a new player acquisition than it already is. The franchise might be considered as the Titanic or perhaps using a more respectful metaphor, snake-bitten, if it is not already. GSW is definitely not high on any free agent’s list of landing spots.

Granted, this is not about playing the game of basketball in fear of a devastating injury, although obviously Steph is already injured or coming off one. And luckily our players will not have to play in that same arena, where there towel crew was in full effect multiple times in the game, again.

By contrast, Al Horford is on our books and probably doesn’t figure much into whether a player considers coming here, so I think it’s okay to play him. And the team is having trouble fielding a full team anyways.

I haven’t thought about all these things that much yet, but maybe converting Nate Williams sooner than later is a better idea than the tried and true way of converting him on the last day of the season to save money.

LJ Cryer and Malevy Leons are already on two-year contracts, so they can continue to be two-way players in 2026-27 without any fear of losing them, but converting Williams after Omer Yurtseven’s second 10-day contract (announced earlier today) expires makes sense to me, as it would allow the Warriors to sign a new two-way, letting the franchise scour the G League market for another Williams-type wing, for example, and perhaps getting that player under full control, if he has G League eligibility left over.

That brings me back to Porzingis. I am all in favor of continuing to play him because the Dubs may need to prove to the marketplace that he’s indeed healthy. A healthy asset is necessary for any off-season trade talk.

I would consider shutting down Draymond Green as well. Everyone else could use the reps. Melton is a tough one to decide on, but do we have enough players available for the remaining ten games? Yeah, I’m just thinking out loud right now. Hope I didn’t leave anyone out. Maybe if we have time during the livestream tonight, we can go up and down the roster.

So yeah, sometimes one player can cause a lot of dominoes to fall.

Here are the transcripts from Dallas, including Steve, Podz and Gary Payton II:

00:00 What's the — (on Moody)?

00:04 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-DAL: He's getting x-rays right now in the arena, so don't know anything more.

00:09 Steve, you immediately put your hands to your face and you knew clearly that it was awful, right?

00:15 Yeah.

00:16 What did you just sort of see? Can you describe — ?

00:18 Just saw his leg buckle and saw him go down in a heap in pain and we don't know what it is, but it sure looked bad and it's just hoping for the best, whatever the best case scenario is, that's what we're all hoping for, but it looked bad.

00:46 Talk about him just coming back and this happening, just how did that feel in the moment?

00:52 I mean, Mo is such a great human being, great teammate, wonderful guy to coach, just puts in the work every day and was brilliant, by the way, played so well defensively, changed the game for us there with his ball pressure and knocked down big shots. And so, great to finally have him back after he missed whatever it was, eight or 10 games and then for that to happen, like I said, we're just praying that it's not too serious, but it sure looked serious.

01:32 The emotion was evident on your players' faces.

01:34 Yeah.

01:34 They're all standing there. You could see how hurt they were. Can you, I mean, you kind of addressed that, but what Moses sort of means in the locker room emotionally?

01:43 I mean, I saw the looks on the Mavericks' faces. Everybody on the floor was just horrified, so yeah, it's just players care about players. They know how fragile this business is and how short their careers are and how injuries can happen and can be catastrophic. And like I said, we're just, we don't know what it is yet. We're just hoping for the best. Thank you.

—

02:23 Where were you? What did you see? I mean, it looked like, I guess, he just slipped.

02:28 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I mean, yeah, I was down on the other end, but yeah, I mean, it looked like he just slipped. I don't know the details of it, but prayers out to him and his family and whatever the recovery looks like.

02:41 What was the mood like?

02:43 Same as what happened with Jimmy. No really words. You just hate to see it, especially to like the good people in life.

02:54 Of course, Coach talked about just his work ethic, just him as a teammate, talk about him.

03:01 Yeah, I think just a quiet soul, but a wise soul, like, way beyond his years in terms of the wisdom he has. He does everything that's asked of him, doesn't complain, so like I said, it just sucks to see that happen to good people.

03:19 I know this is awkward, but just talk about your game tonight and play.

03:24 Yeah, I think collectively we did a really good job, made some shots for the first time in a while, so that was good. Had too many turnovers and I think that's what kept them in the game, but I think third quarter, we started off hot. Steve really got on us at halftime and we found a way to just come together. Coincidentally, Moses started that.

03:47 I was gonna say, how much of the team playing well traces to Moses? I mean, he obviously hadn't played in 10 games, looked very sharp.

03:55 Yeah. Yeah, like I said, in that third quarter, he kind of started it off with maybe a bucket or two, a couple of steals, deflections, so yeah.

—

04:07 How would you, I mean, actually sort of describe just the emotion of it because he's someone (inaudible)?

04:14 GARY PAYTON II: Yeah, it's tough and it's his first game back and he does so much rehab and everything, takes care of his body, does what he needs to do to, get back and just to see just the non-contact thing happen. It's just, that's annoying to see, especially to Moses. Moses just does all the right things as professional, as a pro. It's just, it sucks to see Moses go down, but in our prayers and I know he'll bounce back.

04:44 Gary, what was the mood like in there?

04:48 No, it was just, as soon as we got down, we just ran over there to give love and show we care and thinking about him. And Moses is tough, tough kid, so he was in good spirits and that's what we wanted to see. And just go down there and just give him love and show him — knowing that he's in good spirits has made a whole difference.

05:13 (Inaudible question)

05:15 No, yeah. Yeah, it's a brotherhood. We see our brother go down, we wanna go make sure he's all right and give love, be in good spirits, so as soon as the game went over, everybody went down there and gave love. So we know this is more than basketball.

05:27 In moments was like this, how much will you guys (inaudible) the voice that you'll have (inaudible) have to continue to get the team to look forward.

05:34 Dray, Al, KP, Steph, all those guys is, speaks volumes in the locker room and when they speak, everybody listening and locked in. So we've been following them since the beginning and we're going to continue to follow their lead.

05:51 I don't know if I'm wording this correctly, but when it happened in overtime, there's such intensity, you're engaged in the game.

05:58 Yeah.

06:00 You feel it as a spectator, but for you as a player, what's it like to go from that sort of intensity, trying so hard to get a win that you guys have been struggling to get, and then to see that happen?

06:10 Yeah.

06:11 The emotional rollercoaster.

06:13 Yeah, absolutely, especially when you see one of your brothers go down, in a tough fall, game like that, you definitely want to finish that game off in a positive way just for him, just to let him know that we got your back, everything. Moses was keeping us in the game, to be honest, and all his activity and what he was doing, so just to finish that off for Mo, it's not really about the game. Just, I know everybody was worried about getting to Mo and make sure he was okay, so as long as we see him in good spirits, it makes that win much better.

06:44 And do you, looks like everybody knew, right?

06:46 Yeah. Yeah.

06:48 Because of the way he went down.

06:49 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. You guys are great.

🫶💙💛

Instead of full game recaps, what I’ve called “honest reviews”, I’ve been dissecting the opponent runs that most contributed to each loss the past three games:

The one for Atlanta, I’ve added highlights for you — these aren’t allowed on YouTube:

Unfortunately, each loss has exposed a glaring weakness…

1. Boston: lack of a bucket-getter to counter theirs, which on that night was Jaylen Brown, plus the vets, mostly De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II according to my analysis, did not go in with the right mindset that Steve Kerr talked about on the podium,

2. Detroit: lack of interior size and physicality to counter Jalen Duren and Paul Reed (also Quinten Post was lost to injury in that one),

3. Atlanta: lack of point-of-attack or pick-and-roll defense — CJ McCollum owned the Dubs that night — as well as what looked like mentally tired turnovers, mostly on the part of Gui Santos, who probably played his worst game as a Warrior, believe it or not.

But can one Wardell Stephen Curry be the cure-all? Certainly makes sense on Point No. 1 above, the lack of a bucket-getter.

I think we have to avoid the temptation of treating this as a video game. You might say, “Steph wasn’t stopping CJ from waltzing to the rim at will on the high pick-and-roll,” but maybe Curry answers back 94 feet later and that helps break the rhythm, or inspires the Warriors to play a little harder on defense?

There’s a mental quality to the game that I see fading from the Warriors’ spirit.

Santos looks exhausted, even hobbling at the start of the Pistons game, literally when the score was 2-0. Somehow he pulled through.

Post is flat-out injured.

Draymond Green still can’t help make those risky passes. I’ll default to keeping that switch turned on until Curry gets back because Steph is someone who can actually catch those and they do add a little flair and unpredictability to the offense.

The point-of-attack defense is atrocious, but then again Melton — who is usually the defensive stopper — hasn’t done much. I haven’t called his name a ton during our watch parties and so I think maybe he’s dialed it back a notch, which I don’t mind. Save it for when Steph gets back.

As for Brandin Podziemski, every livestream I remind people that his approach is all wrong, and now that Anthony Slater of ESPN specifically asked Kerr about Podziemski during the ATL pregame…

…I’m sure there will be more written on him coming up — but I’ll get to him soon, separately outside the scope of this post. In short, my recommendation would be that he approach each game without Steph as a pure point guard. Forget the scoring, unless you’re left wide open or you’re in the paint. Go out and get 6-7 assists per night. More on this later.

Also, in the GSW-ATL postgame (same video embedded above), Kerr said Malevy Leons “couldn’t use his right hand” due to the wrist injury suffered during a fall in Detroit the night before.

So is it worth bringing Steph back?

Absolutely. For the love of the game, this group needs an infusion, asap. They are stuck in the mud. It’s harder to find the joy when you’re grtting beat multiple ways. Shutting down Steph would not be helpful for next season’s identity because it would mean they would need to find a new identity right now.

If Steph does not come back, I personally would just focus on developing LJ Cryer, Nate Williams, and Leons (and Post, although his is a complex issue, more on that some other time). If Curry is not playing, I would also shut down Santos, actually, maybe with a new 10-day guy, if needed. On the other hand, imo Podz needs as many reps as possible.

But I’m not sure doing all that is particularly helpful now especially when everyone would still be expected to play complementary roles to Curry, whenever he gets back.

The only way you get better at playing with Steph Curry is to actually play with Steph Curry.

Incidentally, it is possible that maybe only one two-way player gets converted on the last day of the season, ahead of the Play-in. My guess would be Williams because Cryer and Leons’ contracts are for two years.

Speaking of which, bigger picture, I think there is a ton of value in getting Podz and Gui into a seven-game series, somehow, plus Melton, although it remains to be seen if there’s a salary figure that will keep Melt through next year.

While Podz got meaningful experience in the Minnesota series last year, Gui did not. A seven-game series with Gui playing a key role would be huge for his development, especially looking at the Warriors’ 2026-27 roster on paper — let’s say Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford are fully healthy — both leading up to and after Jimmy Butler comes back.

So, yeah, go for it. Gotta win two Play-in games in a row, gotta ramp Curry up right into that. Obviously, Steph must be cleared as 100% ready to go, from Rick Celebrini. There can’t be any further injury risk. That right knee must be fully healed, first.

With the news today via the Warriors beat writers, looks like the earliest return would be this Friday at home against the Wizards. Golden State has seven of their last ten games at home, starting with that one.

🫶💙💛

Transcripts from Atlanta below. I guess Buddy Hield is living at the team hotel there until further notice, as in the pregame press conference Steve Kerr said he bumped into Hield there.

Buddy’s contract for next season is guaranteed for $3 million and fully guaranteed at $9.7 million one day after the Draft this summer, per SpoTrac, so we can probably assume — as he’s barely getting time on a very young up-and-coming Hawks — that he’ll be waived, ATL will eat that $3 million which is not a prohibitive number, and Buddy will become a free agent.

He could be available at the veteran’s minimum this summer, but we’ll cross that bridge as fans in due time because everything really revolves around the Kristaps Porzingis contract, as well as the Draft itself.

Meanwhile, let’s acknowledge the following: his entertainment value stays high, as the home crowd even chanted for him to come into the game and he faked the crowd out in the process, then gave us a dunk that didn’t count! (Credits: Joseph Dycus of Bay Area News Group, Jameelah Johnson of atlhawksfans.com, NBA)

Pregame and postgame interviews from Atlanta below with Quin Snyder, Kerr and Jonathan Kuminga from the locker room. Keep a lookout for a behind-the-scenes video from State Farm Arena, to drop on our BTS Playlist in due time.

As you’ll see from that forthcoming video, the Hawks might not be a bad “adopted” team to root for if our Warriors don’t make it too far, as ATL is currently the 6th seed, although 5 through 9 are all within two games of each other and, of course, Buddy’s antics and JK’s athleticism add to that entertainment value…

00:00 QUIN SNYDER, PREGAME GSW-ATL: I think this is one of those things and players get trained in the league and it’s never about — you can’t make it about you. I don’t think he is. I think more than anything, he’s looking forward to being on the court, regardless of who the opponent is, so I think he’ll — the the plan is for him to keep doing what he’s doing, no matter who we’re playing. And he’s done that, whether that means six shots or 13 or however many. It’s really not been about his offense, which is good. He’s given us a lift defensively and I think his energy has been really good and it’s been a boost to our team when he’s been able to play and hopefully that’s what we’ll see tonight.

—

00:47 STEVE KERR, PREGAME GSW-ATL: How are you?

00:57 You guys announced the plans to get Steph into kind of, some contact practice. I was just curious what the schedule, what the plan is for him to get into those, because I know you obviously aren’t gonna practice as a team in the —

01:09 Yeah, he’s gonna play tomorrow morning here, before we go to Dallas, so there’ll be — whatever players and coaches who are available will play and Rick (Celebrini) will evaluate him and then that’s the next step.

01:26 Is it five, or 5-on-5?

01:28 I think 5-on-5. That’s the plan. Don’t quote me on that.

01:32 Yeah?

01:33 Yeah, yeah. I think we would like for it to be 5-on-5, but that’s gonna be determined by Rick, so yeah, I’m not sure.

01:44 This seems like a major checkpoint.

01:46 Yeah.

01:46 I mean, can you feel his return kinda looming, too?

01:49 I think tomorrow’s probably the big day and we’ll know more at that point, if all goes well tomorrow.

01:58 Do you have a date in mind where you hope he will come back?

02:02 Again, that’ll be up to Rick and Steph, so we’ll see how tomorrow goes.

02:08 Do you know yet for tonight on Draymond, Melton and Post?

02:13 Post is in. Not sure on Draymond and Melt.

02:17 You’ve had a lot of games like this over the years where you’re playing a former player, maybe, who has gotten traded mid-season, maybe not. Is there anything special that you do to tell the team or any message that you have, in particular, for a game like this?

02:31 No, there’s nothing. This is common in the NBA. Kristaps has gone through this, literally, on every stop of this road trip, so it’s all part of the league. I saw Buddy today at the hotel, had a great chat with him. He’s one of the greatest guys, ever, one of the — just such an amazing teammate and guy to coach and so beloved in our locker room. I haven’t seen JK yet, but I look forward to seeing him out there. It’s a weird business. You get to know people and there’s so much at stake and people come and go and you build personal relationships with them and sometimes the basketball part works out, sometimes it doesn’t. And you hope that the relationships are able to withstand all that tumult that comes with this business. And then you really hope for guys to find success elsewhere because it’s pretty meaningful for their families, for themselves, for their career, so I root for all the guys who we’ve either traded or move on from us. I want people to do well. I want people to succeed and I understand that circumstances dictate an awful lot and so everyone’s doing their best.

04:09 It’s only been a few games, but what have you seen from JK in here?

04:12 I haven’t. I haven’t watched much of Atlanta because, obviously, we’re on a back-to-back and we’ve been preparing for every other team that we faced on this trip, and got in at 3:00 AM last night, so I can’t give you a, yeah, much of a scouting report.

04:33 Jalen Johnson has been a late scratch, so he’s got left shoulder inflammation. Just, obviously, he’s had such a breakout season. How much does that change for them?

04:42 I don’t know. you gotta talk to Quin about that. For us, it’s a big deal in terms of our scouting report. I mean, he’s obviously is a very ball dominant, efficient, great player, a lot of guard to guard screening roles with him handling at 6’10. It’s really a problem. They beat us in san Francisco, whatever it was, six weeks, eight weeks ago and they got into the pain at will and the penetration hurt us, the pick and roll, the guard-guard stuff really hurt us. So they’ve got other guys. I mean, Nickeil’s having an amazing season and I think CJ McCollum has been great for them, just the veteran experience, playoff experience. He’s such a pro. He’s such a a great teammate. Everything I’ve heard about him from Terry (Stotts), we know how big of an impact CJ has made here, so I’m just impressed. They’re rolling right now. I know last night was a tough loss, but 11 in a row before that. They’re doing a great job.

05:57 Coach, just on Jalen, he’s had a breakout season and he was an All Star this season and I said to him earlier this year, he reminded me a little bit of Scottie Pippen, the way that he plays. He’s a sort of point-forward, he’s 6’9, he’s athletic, he can hit the three. You played with Scottie. I’m just wondering if you sort of have seen any similarities in their game.

06:14 You’re talking about Jalen Johnson? Yeah, I think anytime you get a guy that size who can handle the ball and see the floor, it’s a devastating combination and I think there’s some comparisons to be made. I don’t know him well enough, him being in the East. I’ve only seen him live a few times, so tough for me to make that comparison, but the length and the athleticism and the feel, it all appears to be there and that’s why he’s an All Star player.

06:44 Hey, Steve.

06:45 How you doing?

06:45 Good, how are you?

06:46 Good.

06:47 As you said earlier, you sort of separate the basketball and the personal.

06:51 Man, that mic is all of a sudden.

06:52 Maybe I’m just popping out. You sort of separate the personal and the basketball.

06:57 Yeah.

06:58 How would you sort of characterize your relationship with Jonathan? Obviously, the basketball didn’t work out —

07:03 Right.

07:04 With the Warriors, but you had always in the past spoken highly of him.

07:07 Yeah.

07:07 Personally, how —

07:08 Yeah.

07:08 Given all this, now that the dust has sort of settled, how do you — ?

07:11 I like Jonathan. We always got along well. The basketball part was the hard part. We couldn’t quite offer him what he needed and vice versa. We were a championship team. He needed a, really, a lot of freedom and 35 minutes and make mistakes and grow and learn because he came in with very little experience and we just couldn’t offer him that, bottom line, trying to defend a championship after his rookie year. So we offered him what we could, which was 25 minutes and maybe a role that he didn’t love. And it was never comfortable for either party on the basketball floor, so on a personal level, he was great. He was a really good guy, got along well. We had our share of conversations about basketball that — we had our differences, but on a personal level, we all root for him here, well liked in our locker room, and I’m sure the guys are looking forward to seeing him.

08:30 Where do you think Brandin’s at on this road trip? How do you think he’s kind of playing?

08:34 I think it’s a great experience for Brandin. I mean, 20 games without Steph, I think, where he is in his career, he’s proven he can help drive winning. I think that’s been apparent during his, is this his third year or — ?

08:53 Third.

08:53 Yeah, it’s been apparent. He does a lot of things that can help drive winning. He is, in my mind, really exploring how good he can become and what type of player he wants to become. And I think you’ve seen lots of hiccups along the way where he’s trying things that aren’t working, but playing without Steph for 20 games is gonna expose some of that. So in my mind right now where he is, is if he’s playing off Steph, off of the ball, if he’s playing more of a secondary ball handler role, he’s really good. He does a lot of things that other players don’t do. He’s got a knack when he tries to be too on ball, you see him get into some trouble. You see the warts. And this is all part of being a young player. And then I think for him, he has to sort through all of that and the idea of what it means to be on a team and explore this stuff, explore your own game, while also trying to help the team win. And that’s a complex thing and so this is a very interesting time for him, for sure. Thank you.

—

10:17 Where’d you think it went sideways?

10:20 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-ATL: Beginning of the third, actually, even the last minute or so of the second, but second game in a row we’ve lost our space-5 with Kristaps last night, QP tonight. And I’m not saying that’s why we lost both games. I’m just, I’m well aware of the importance of having a guy who can stretch the floor at the 5 spot, especially when you’re facing great defensive teams. And Atlanta and Detroit are two of the very best in the league at ball hawking, getting deflections, steels, so if you don’t have that space-5, it makes life really, really difficult.

10:59 What did you hear on Quinten?

11:02 Foot started to get sore second quarter. Rick told us at halftime he was done.

11:10 And then we didn’t ask you pregame about Kristaps Do you know much?

11:14 I don’t know much, yeah. I just knew he was out tonight.

11:19 Beyond losing Quinten, I mean, it’s a couple times now. You guys have played pretty well in the first half.

11:23 Yeah.

11:23 You sort of lost touch in the third quarter.

11:24 Yeah.

11:25 Any trend, any pattern you see that that’s causing that?

11:29 I just mentioned it. Yeah, I mean that, that’s the trend, like the space-5, like, now all of a sudden, Melt and BP, it’s harder for them to penetrate. And as I said, both games were going against amazing defenders. Daniels, Thompson last night, guys who can really be disruptive. And if you don’t have the 5 who can space the floor, it makes offense really tricky and when you’re missing Steph and Jimmy and Moses, life gets really difficult.

12:01 The idea for this team has been to stay afloat as much as you can while Steph has been out. That hasn’t exactly been the case. Just how frustrating has this stretch been?

12:10 This is the hardest thing to go through losing being decimated by injury and just feeling like you’re pushing, you’re trying, you’re playing hard, you’re competing, but things aren’t going your way. It’s a tough, tough time, for sure, for everybody. It’s human nature to kind of get down, hang your head and I’m just trying to encourage the guys to keep competing, but to try to bring the energy and stay positive because reinforcements will come and we have to be ready for that. But in the meantime, I’m proud of the way they’re playing. They’re playing hard, but they’re in a tough spot. We’re all in a tough spot right now.

12:59 Steve, what have you seen from Nate so far?

13:01 Nate’s been great. He’s been, he’s a really good young guy, very coachable. He’s got a live body. You can see, he can score in the paint. He knocked down his first three tonight, which was nice. He’s got a good touch and I thought Nate was excellent. I thought Mally, I mean, he got a pretty bad wrist injury last night. He literally couldn’t use his right hand and we needed some minutes and he gave us nine or 10 minutes today and played hard. And I love that. I love continuing to just contribute and do what you can in the face of what we’re dealing with. It’s awesome. We just, we had really good individual performances from some guys, but it just wasn’t enough. But can’t fault the effort.

13:56 Steve, you talked a few times how important Melton is to fuel your offense without Steph and then potentially play alongside Steph.

14:03 Right.

14:04 How significant is it for him to play back-to-back like this?

14:06 Yeah. Yeah, it’s meaningful. The hope is that he can continue to do this and that when we do get Steph and Moses and Al and Kristaps, we’ve got the firepower that we need. Melt will really thrive because he’s not gonna have the best defender on him, which he’s had the last couple of nights, so his health is everything. I’m so happy for him. I mean, guy missed two years with injuries and he’s in the prime of his career and such a great teammate, such a great guy to coach. And just thrilled for him that he’s healthy and playing well and back doing what he loves to do.

14:55 Is it just the past few games you’ve seen the best defender on him or has it been longer than that since Steph’s obviously been out?

15:01 It’s been either BP or Melt has the toughest defender on them, perimeter wise, so if Steph’s out and Jimmy’s out. Thanks.

—

15:14 JONATHAN KUMINGA, POSTGAME GSW-ATL: It felt like a normal game. Just our main focus is to come out here and play here and just get better and win games, but it felt like a normal game. Just excited to see my whole teammates and some of my guys out there.

15:34 What was it like, just seeing everybody?

15:36 It was great. I was happy to see them.

15:44 How were the postgame conversations? Saw a little daps, a lot of love between you guys and some of the former teammates.

15:48 Like you say, just former teammates, just showing each other love and hugs and we all miss each other and stuff like that. Haven’t seen them in a minute, they haven’t seen me in a minute, so we were just dapping each other and just chopping it up.

16:09 And how’d you feel about your game tonight and how’s your knee been feeling?

16:12 I feel great. I feel great. My knee is — I’m working on it, getting better every day.

16:20 How do you feel like you’ve fit in with this Hawks team?

16:23 I mean, I think, I feel well. I don’t have no doubt as a group, we can go as far as we want, but I feel great about where I’m at with them.

16:38 Jonathan, a lot of guys have said how much they enjoy building their relationship with you through time. Have you been able to stay in contact with everybody, whether it’s text, phone, whatever, over the last few weeks?

16:48 What guys?

16:50 All the Warriors guys.

16:52 I talk to most of them. I try as much as I can, but I’ve still got great friendship and connection. I feel like they’re my brothers. I could call them anytime if I need something, and they can call me anytime if they need something, so I think that shows a lot. Our relationship is very strong and we’re brothers at the end of the day.

17:17 What’s that connection like with Steph? Looked like you talked to him at some length after the game.

17:21 That’s my guy. We’re just chopping it up and seeing how he was, just checking him in, how is he doing, he’s checking how I’m doing and just stuff like that.

17:31 Being up against those guys a bunch, obviously, in practice, but what is it like, I guess, maybe the difference seeing them in a more competitive atmosphere?

17:39 It was fun. It was fun going out there playing against those guys. I’m gonna keep seeing them a lot as time keeps going, so it was fun, actually. I enjoyed being out there playing against those guys and I was always just having fun with the guys and talking.

17:59 Any fun trash talk or anything?

18:02 Like, I’m not so much of a trash talker. Maybe with Gui. But it was fun. It was — I had a great time playing.

18:16 Looked like Draymond said something when you came in the game and had a smile.

18:19 That’s my vet. That’s my OG. Me and Draymond connection, it’s always there. brotherhood is always there. We was just catching up.

18:31 Steve said before the game that he always got along with you and thinks highly of you, personally, and the basketball part just wasn’t comfortable, was the way he put it, because they couldn’t give you what you wanted in terms of a role. Is that a fair way? Do you reflect at all on that or is that in your past now?

18:50 Whatever they say. You can take it however you want it, but I’m not worried about the past. I’m here. I’m very happy where I’m at. We’re doing great, and our goal is to get wherever we want to get that comes up to us as a team. And I think that’s just my focus, going forward, throughout my whole career, throughout me and my teammates here, so whatever’s being said or whatever’s going on, that’s not a problem anymore. I’m into the next chapter with my teammate. We trying to build something here.

19:39 How close do you think you guys are? I mean, you won 12 out of 13 now, moving up standings.

19:45 We just gotta stay consistent. I think we’re playing good. There is always gonna be ups and down and just how we react to it and how we get better to it. And I think each and every day we getting better. And just looking forward to keep winning and us be in a great position for the next thing that we’re getting ready for.

20:10 What’s the biggest difference with you acclimating to this team mid-season like this?

20:16 I think the difference is just to come out and try to fit. And I think that’s going really well. Like I said, the most important right now is just how can we stack game after game, wins after wins. I think that’s pretty much been our main focus and we try to bring it as much as we can, every other day to keep stacking those wins, so I think that’s the main focus for me and the rest of the guys.

20:50 How would you compare what’s asked of you here versus what was asked of you with the Warriors?

20:59 What do you mean?

21:00 On the court, like, what the coaches expect of you here compared to what they did with Golden State?

21:05 Everywhere I’ve been, the expectation is being, how can we win? And I think, like I said, that’s my goal here and it don’t matter what to expect (inaudible). I know my goal and I know what I’m trying to do here. I’m trying to help us win as much as we can because we have a great, talented group and things are clicking, so I think it don’t really matter as long as I go out there and help us win and do what it takes. So that’s all it matters.

21:41 Thanks, JK.

🫶💙💛

Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog and CLNS told me recently that Kristaps Porzingis was “very authentic and candid” when she covered him in Boston:

There were so many games last year during the playoffs where he was sick and he was figuring out what he was dealing with, and he would just be, like, “Guys, I don’t know what I have. It’s so frustrating. I feel terrible,” like, very non-PR. Like, he would say how he’s actually feeling.

No joke, Porzingis said the word “honestly” 21 (!) times in his two media availabilities the other day, one courtside after morning shootaround and the other postgame in the locker room — ahh, the beauty of the “find” feature of Google Docs:

But with that honesty comes honest mistakes. And his prediction about three games ago that he would need four or five games to get back to feeling like himself, well, scratch that. He was honestly honest about it, though (see full transcripts below):

You were playing at a high level here last season, regular season, before you got hurt. How close to that do you feel now as you work your way back?

I still got a good way to go, honestly, even though like for example, today I felt like my engine was a bit in overdrive, you know what I mean? I don't know, just coming back or whatever here, but didn't feel my best today. Last game, I would say I would feel, I felt better, so, but I expect with each game to kind of get closer and closer. So, and honestly that's the trajectory I actually feel also now, you know? So, I would say still got a good way to go, 60%, you know what I mean? So for me to feel like really, like — but still I can play decent at this, like, feel that I have, so it's only gonna get better.

You think you can get to that by the end of year?

Oh, of course, yeah.

From 60 (percent) to — ?

I think honestly, like, I'm already now where I can contribute decently, but I think, like, four or five more games. I know I said that three games ago, but four or five more games and then I feel like I'll really be, like, close to pretty good shape. Obviously in the season's not ideal, but I think it's gonna just — my overall feel is just, it's — I see the trajectory now, so for me, I'm kind of convinced that I'm heading in the right direction.

Dang, 60%? I guess you could think of that as good or bad. Bad because sixty is a lot closer to fifty than it is a hundred.

Good because at 60% he effectively closed out the Washington game from the top of the circle in the fourth quarter.

Or maybe a little bit of both because he could not bite into Boston’s lead late fourth quarter utilizing that same top-of-circle catch spot — then again, the Celtics’ defense is elite.

Just like anything else, it’s up to you to choose the low or high vibes, but per usual I’m siding with KP and optimistic that when he’s 100% five games from now, he’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with.

ALL TRANSCRIPTS FROM BOSTON (from video embedded above) — includes KP, Steve Kerr, Gui Santos, Pat Spencer and Draymond Green:

00:00 How does it feel to be back?

00:04 KRISTAPS PORZINGIS, MORNING SHOOTAROUND BEFORE GSW-BOS: Feels good. Feels good, familiar. Yeah, it feels good to be back.

00:09 How weird is it? Is it weird?

00:12 It is a bit weird. It is a bit weird. I miss the city, I miss everything, the arena, the court, like, honestly, it’s like good memories, you know? I came back a little bit, so, it’s weird but it’s a good feeling to be back.

00:24 What did you do yesterday, anything? Like, visit old haunts or — ?

00:27 I was getting rest. I was getting rest. I got a massage and just getting some rest and so I’m fresh for today.

00:33 Might be an easy question to say what is your favorite memory for being here, because we know what the big one was, but what else do you think about with your time here in Boston?

00:44 I don’t know. It was a lot of like small moments, honestly, even outside the basketball, like, just, I don’t know, being in the city, like, having my little spots to go for a coffee, just overall the whole, like, my life here in Boston, I really enjoyed it. Basketball was pretty stressful here, I’m not gonna lie, but it comes with the territory. We wanted to win it all and we did it, so I would say the whole package was just special.

01:15 How would you describe what the last 10 or so months have been like for you since you left here?

01:21 Summer was good and then, obviously, this season has been pretty shitty, you know? But now I’m healthy, now I’m healthy. I’m actually feeling good, so I’m getting a real, like, good feeling about basketball again, which is the most important because everything else kind of goes into second place when you’re not feeling perfect. And it’s just natural, I think to feel that way. And now when I’m actually getting my legs back, getting in a good shape, it’s a good reminder why I love this, you know? And just enjoying playing again.

02:01 When you first got sick that year here, did you ever imagine just how long and how difficult it would end up being and what was that process like for you of trying to improve, get better from that and just recover and how difficult it was for you?

02:16 No, super annoying, honestly, super annoying. Also, just even when I got that moment when I got sick, it wasn’t, like, usually I’m sick maybe two days and then you’re fine. You start — it was, like, for a week. I was kind of like, what’s going on, you know? And then it kind of kept like lingering. My system couldn’t really fully recover, so it was super annoying, super, like, frustrating in a way. And then obviously the playoffs was just, like, the cherry on top, like, I was, like, yo. But recover from that and I knew, like, sooner or later I’ll be back. It’s just annoying in the moment. It’s super annoying, but I just kept on a positive mindset. I knew I was gonna be fine, sooner or later.

03:04 How difficult has it made it to continue playing basketball for you? And have there been moments, as you’ve tried to recover from it, where you’ve thought, like, all right, am I gonna be able to continue playing here or — ?

03:14 I didn’t really wanna put those kind of ideas in my head. I was, like, just even in general for, like, for life. I don’t want to be, like, kind of like 60% of my energy. I don’t want to feel — I don’t wanna live this way, like, I wanna, I eventually, like, I’ll figure out a way. Like, no matter what, I’ll figure out a way how to feel, where I need to feel or at least close to where I was, you know? And I did. Honestly, now, like, I’m recovering really well. Again, like, everything’s kind of back to — so I’m finally, starting to feel like myself again and I’m happy. Honestly, I’m happy.

03:52 What allowed you to (inaudible) took a long time, it felt like, to finally figure that out?

03:56 It wasn’t just this last season stuff. I was had some other stuff, but that’s also had to figure that out, so, just a little bit of, like, maybe, like, a chain reaction of things happened, but as I said, very frustrating, obviously, in the moment, but I knew, like in my head I’m like, it’s a matter of time. Just stay with it. Do all the things right, nutrition, this, this, this and now I’m psshhh on this trajectory.

04:24 First game you played with the Warriors was just happened to be against the Celtics. Have you kind of — and I know you were kind of shellshocked at that point in everything that had gone down — have you kind of wrapped your mind around it? What is it like being on the other side now and then having to come in?

04:37 Yeah. No, honestly, like, California and the weather, this is very nice. It’s very, very nice. San Francisco is a beautiful city I don’t know if it’s a correct comparison, but for me, it reminds me a little bit of Boston, like, kind of like, it’s very walkable. It’s — the city is kind of, it’s more compact, kind of like Boston in a way, so for me there was some similarities when I got there because in Atlanta I had a completely different setup and it was not familiar for me. But San Francisco is, yeah, plus the weather. This, like, team, great organization, awesome. Like, arena playing there, like, honestly it’s like the whole package, kind of like here, so, excited — yeah, I was excited about the news. Obviously, it was still fresh for me, so I was like, okay, let me, le me try to focus on this game, but now that I spent a few more days there and some time there, I really enjoy it. And yeah, we’ll see what the future holds. And one thing for sure is, I miss this place a little bit.

05:40 Kind of a two-part — you were so close with JB, too. What has it been like to see him this season and kind of take ownership of the group?

05:47 I mean, honestly, he’s always been super vocal. He’s always been leading the group vocally and this year he always kind of, I think, want to take more responsibility. He never shy away from it, so for him to have that this year and for him to do really good, I think he can give himself credit. He can give himself credit and kind of — and I think it just shows everybody else what he already knew in his mind, you know? So I’m happy for him. Obviously, I know who he is, how, what type of person he is, and I know, like, success for him, it’s just a, it’s gonna come to him because of who he is and how he thinks and how he sees everything, so yeah, hats off to him.

06:34 Kind of a two-part question. Are you in touch with your former Celtics teammates? And then as a second part to that, you’ve obviously had injuries throughout your career. What do you think about Tatum’s return and sort of how quickly he was able to come back to basketball shape?

06:47 Yeah, yeah, of course, I kept in touch. Even, I went out with the guys a little bit when they were in Atlanta, so we a good time there and JT, yeah, I think, I mean, he’s a — I think he’s a little bit of guy that can’t sit still. He wanted to get back out there and JT’s back and this and I completely understand him because that was me last season. When I was coming back from the ankle, like, it’s so annoying to do the rehab workouts and push yourself that way. It’s way more easier to push yourself when you actually get on the court and get the conditioning and get everything right, get your legs and maybe lose a couple pounds. Like, all those things are a little bit easier and you want to be around the team. You want to be in the locker room preparing for the game. You wanna do all these things, so I completely un understand him. And I don’t know, he’s probably, I don’t, I haven’t checked, but he probably playing good already, you know? And knowing him, also his work ethic and stuff, like for sure, he was both super locked in with the rehab just to make sure he can come back as soon as possible. He didn’t wanna miss any good moments with the team, I’m a hundred percent sure about that, so JT is an animal and the man, he for sure he worked his ass off to get to this spot as soon as possible.

07:57 You — I have one more, sorry — had such a strong connection with the fan base. Have you imagined what it’s gonna be like in here tonight, walking to, walking in, but then also the video tribute and all of that?

08:09 Nah, I don’t know. I don’t, not in the middle of a game. I’m not gonna be crying, but for sure it will — some good memories, good, good memories. Let’s see, let’s see. Honestly, just thinking about now, I got a good feeling, so obviously loved my time here so much and and let’s see how tonight goes.

08:29 What do you remember about that night? You were obviously there when Jayson did get hurt and did you keep in touch with him through the recovery process at all? Like, what do you just remember about that injury and how difficult of a moment that was for him?

08:40 Yeah, of course, of course. I mean, it wasn’t ideal because we dropped the first two games at home already. The series was super weird and then him getting hurt on top of that, me not being me was, it was like the whole thing was ugh. And then him getting hurt was, like, just a heartbreak for all of us and yeah, that’s unfortunate. Unfortunate end to that season, but that’s how this sport is.

09:11 Just what’s been your reaction to seeing how well these guys have played this season after obviously all the turnover they had plus Jayson’s injury and all that to be where they are now?

09:21 I think, honestly, it’s a, like, it’s a good, it was a good situation for them to be in, in a way. Like, oh, everybody’s saying, oh, Celtics gonna be a Lottery team, this, that, the other. I think, one, it puts like a extra motivation, give you like a chip on your shoulder and two, you have no expectations at the same time, so that’s like a perfect situation. And they’re kind of using that to the maximum. I think Joe’s turned up a few more levels of craziness, probably with the young guys and he’s squeezing everything he can out of them and look at that group. Like, they’re playing super-well.

10:04 PORZINGIS GETS INTRODUCED LAST IN WARRIORS STARTING LINEUPS

10:15 PORZINGIS TRIBUTE VIDEO

11:59 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-BOS: You guys got it down to about seven in the third quarter. Then what happened in your eyes after that?

12:05 Well, they made a couple threes, got it back to 12, 13, whatever it was. And we never really were quite in the game. I thought we did a lot of things well offensively, got a lot of good looks. It just was a night where shots didn’t go down. I think we’ve gotta be a lot better defensively, some game plan mistakes early, a lot of fouling at the beginning of the third quarter and got us in trouble. And what I’m most interested in right now is can we prepare ourselves for the Play-in? Like, I mean, we’re gonna be in the Play-in. We know that, one way or the other. So we gotta prepare. We have to be prepared for when we get guys back, when Steph’s back and Moses and Al. We, if we’re prepared when they get back, we can do some damage. We can go on a run, but we can’t have game plan mistakes. We’ve gotta build better habits, boxing out, taking care of the ball in transition, being more efficient in transition, that sort of thing. Our guys are playing hard. I’m really proud of them. Like I said, shots didn’t go tonight, but what I’m most interested in is our process and I thought it was lacking in some areas tonight and we’ve gotta tighten some things up.

13:27 Tonight might not have been the best example, but do you feel like in the past few weeks you guys have been taking steps toward getting prepared for the Play-in?

13:38 One step forward, one step back. I don’t think we’re there yet. I think it’s gonna take more than what we’re showing right now. I think our guys are playing hard. It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t have the firepower that we’re missing right now because it kind of feels like you have to be perfect and it’s a hard thing, to play through 48 minutes where you don’t have the shot-making, the explosiveness to go on a huge run. So you’re constantly having to do the right thing, so if we handle this the right way and we sharpen those things up, we can be finely tuned for the Play-in, but like I said, the effort’s there, but the execution’s not, yet.

14:26 How much have you kind of openly discussed that idea, the Play-in with your guys, and then also is it an odd situation to be in with more than a month ago, basically, in the season, but you’ve known for a while, like, you maybe not know exactly what seed, but you kind of know you’re not going down and not really going far out.

14:44 Yeah, I mean, we’ve had our eyes on six for a while and that’s out of the question, now. I mean, we’re not getting there and so if we can string together some wins, try to get to eight, that’d be ideal, get two cracks at it. But we’re not getting to seven. We know that, so I’ve been talking about this theme, not in such precise words like I just used, but over the last few weeks I’ve been telling the guys we have to build our habits and be ready for when we get guys healthy again, because then we can just really have the firepower that can be complemented by a foundation of good habits, good fundamentals. And like I said, I think there’s a lot of stuff we can improve upon, but the basis, the base of all that is your spirit, energy, confidence and we gotta work on that, too.

15:50 What does building good habits look like both on the court and also in preparation mean?

15:54 What does it mean?

15:54 What does it look like?

15:55 What does it look like. It means boxing out. It means don’t give up back cuts. We gave up like three back cuts early on, after we had a shootaround this morning, going through those very actions and we completely messed up coverages three times in the first quarter. Cannot do that. Cannot happen. You wanna win a playoff game, you better be locked in, so lock in and part of locking in is not just the mental part of it, but it’s the spiritual part. It’s the emotion. How ready are you? How confident are you? How together are you? And it’s like I said, it’s easy when you’re beaten up. It’s easy to kind of hang your head. We just can’t hang our head. We’ve gotta keep plugging away.

16:40 How much did fatigue sort factor in tonight? Three games in four nights. How’d that factor in?

16:45 I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know.

16:47 Hi, Coach. You mentioned about like getting prepared for Play-in. Obviously, like, steph has a lot experience of playing games. When he returns back, what do you do? You have a little bit of high expectations towards the team and how he can guide your players, more mental perspective of being locked in, like you mentioned about?

17:00 My expectations when Steph comes back?

17:02 Yeah, and also like how he’s able to guide his players, especially in Play-in tournaments where he has plenty of experiences back then.

17:09 Yeah. I’m not worried about Steph. I can tell you that and I know he’s gonna come back and do his thing. He’s been doing this for too long. He’s in great shape and working hard. He’ll be fine. It’s a matter of, again, being prepared for his return, Al’s return, Moses being prepared for that time is everything for us.

17:32 Coach, what do you want to say about Omer Yurtseven’s performance and is there any hope you are going to keep him? And also tomorrow is last day of Ramadan. Do you have any message for Ramadan?

17:42 Yeah, I’m a fan of Omer. He’s a really nice player. He’s talented. He’s a good passer. He can shoot the ball a little bit, big, strong. He’s had some success in the NBA. We’ve only had him for a few days, but I’m enjoying, every day watching him and seeing him with our guys. And, yeah, I wish everybody a happy end of Ramadan tomorrow and, yeah, this is a strange time in our world with a lot going on and so wishing everybody health.

18:23 If you keep him, you have 80 million Turkish fans for next year.

18:28 80 million?

18:29 If you keep Omer —

18:30 If we keep him.

18:31 You’ll have the 80 million Turkish fans.

18:33 Okay. You need to tell Mike Dunleavy that, okay? Alright. Thank you very much.

18:37 Thanks Steve.

—

18:39 In your mind, what does being prepared for the Play-in mean? What can you guys do better to prepare?

18:46 GUI SANTOS: I think it’s the details, the little things that we gotta keep focused on because we know Play-in in a short burst, so we just gotta be ready for this, these games. And exactly like he said, we know it doesn’t matter if you win 13 games or we lose 13 games, we’re gonna be playing there. So we just gotta get ready for that. We gonna have all the, like, all the power back. We’re gonna have Steph back, Moses also. That’s when we really are in our full power and we gotta be ready for that.

19:23 Steve also talked about (inaudible) mistakes in the game, like, some (inaudible). How do you just build better habits so that, so things don’t happen?

19:33 It is just be locked in the whole game. We did that in the morning. We came here to run through the things that they do and we didn’t execute that well, so I think we just gotta be locked in since the jump ball, for us to be ready for the actions. I think that’s gonna be the excuse for us, like, of course we fatigue, but everybody else is fatigued because everybody else has 82 games, too. So for me I don’t use that. Like, of course I’m tired and all that, but that should not be the excuse. As soon as we step in on the court, we gotta perform and do our best, doesn’t matter how tired we are.

20:16 There’s a small part of the third quarter where you got it down to seven (inaudible) Boston made some big shots, three points (inaudible) seven to 20 points. How do you think that the team can build more on resilience for the (inaudible) getting bigger (inaudible) the game at such an early stage?

20:31 I think we just gotta be, like I said, locked in, into little things because that was when we start losing the game. We gave up a lot of things that we said that we not gonna give up and the offensive rebounds and all that, that was a big part of it, so we just gotta keep taking care of the little things and that’s gonna be good for us.

—

20:49 Hey Pat, Steve kind of was frustrated about some of the game plan mistakes, he called it. What sort of did you see from that area of the game?

20:57 PAT SPENCER: In the what? I’m sorry.

20:58 The game plan. Like, he said, there was a lot of game plan mistakes.

21:03 Yeah, anytime you let a scorer like that get hot early and see the ball go in, it’s pretty tough to recover, so felt like they were pretty comfortable early on. And like I said, when you, whe you have a team that talented on the offensive side of the floor, gonna be an uphill battle from there.

21:24 Steve said that the team pretty much knows at this point you guys are gonna be in the Play-in. He said you guys have to be prepared for it. In your mind, what does being prepared for the Play-in mean?

21:35 Yeah, I think it’s just building an identity. Obviously, we’re a completely different ball club when we have Steph out there. Mo gives us another shooter, defender, point-of-attack guy. I think for us, it’s just about being competitive and we have been, truthfully, I mean we’ve dropped a few games here that we really should have won. On paper, probably not, but up 20-plus in the Garden, gave the Bulls a free game there. And so we’ve been competitive for the most part, I think what’s frustrating about this one is we let it get away early and never gave ourselves the real shot. So it’s about building identity and having something to really have tangible and something we can lean on when we get Number 30 and a couple other guys back.

22:19 What kind of habits can this group build that will translate and transfer over when Steph and Moses and Al get back?

22:26 Yeah, I think we’ve gotta be on a string defensively. We’re not gonna fix the offense. What Steph does for us offensively, you can’t really replicate, but what we can do is, is be locked into the game plan, be connected on the defensive end of the floor. Ultimately, that gives you a chance to get some rebounds, get out and run generate some easier looks. If we’re playing in the half court and we’re struggling on the defensive end of the floor, it’s tough to generate offense, so like I said, they get downhill, they score a bucket. Yeah, you can get the ball out a little bit quicker under the hoop, but you’re playing against a set defense for the most part when you’re letting them get free, easy looks. So we gotta be locked in defensively, find an identity on that end of the floor, and then, like I said, when we get a couple other guys back, have something to lean on.

23:15 You also met — there’s also like a three-game, like, road trip, keep going on for Golden State, obviously. With the players you’re missing out, what is like your strategy so far and also like what’s the biggest takeaway for the game for tonight, obviously, when there’s the Pistons also, which is like very good offensively as well?

23:29 What are my biggest takeaways?

23:31 Yeah, yeah.

23:32 Defensively, just we weren’t dialed in. From the jump they ran that flare dive quite a bit. And then there were just a couple things that caught us off guard, but truthfully, we’ve gotta be, like I said, locked in and on a string on that end of the floor. There’s no — small margin for error for us offensively without a handful of guys and so can’t give up easy buckets especially in the half court. And then offensively, I actually thought we generated some pretty good looks early on in the first half, missed some open threes. I know it’s gonna happen, but timely costly mistakes on the defensive end, it’s just an uphill battle from there.

—

24:11 DRAYMOND GREEN, LOCKER ROOM, POSTGAME GSW-BOS: Still moving well, still get downhill, handle still there. He (Jayson Tatum) looks great. Obviously, coming back from an injury like that is gonna take you a little while to get your full burst back and yet he can still get downhill, so it looks incredible and it’s amazing to see him back out there on the floor. Talking about a guy who loves basketball and they get taken away, so I’m happy as hell to see him back out there.

24:41 What’s that conversation like with him after the game? I saw you got to talk to him for a couple minutes?

24:45 Fun. Always good catching up with your brothers, guys you got a close relationship with, so it’s good. I told him before the game he wasn’t gonna score on me. He wanted that last shot bad. I was happy about that.

25:00 Looked like you guys are going back and forth a little bit during the game, too. What was that like?

25:03 It was just a little fun, passion. We talk a little bit, out there having fun, enjoying the game. Nothing too crazy. It’ll never be nothing crazy. That’s my brother.

25:13 You guys, you slipped to the 10th seed today.

25:15 Damn, did we?

25:16 You did.

25:17 That sucks.

25:19 In what ways can this group prepare to hit the ground running for when you guys get Steph, Moses, Al back and — ?

25:27 Just gotta create good habits. As long as you create good habits, it all works out. You ain’t creating good habits, ain’t going be — can’t flip a switch in this league, so create good habits and you compete at a high level, get those guys back, you’ll be ready for it.

25:44 What happens — ?

25:45 You don’t do that, (inaudible).

25:46 What happens to you guys if you wanna build from now til the end of the season?

25:49 You want to be a good defensive team. Play great as a team together, be on a string offensively, making sure you go for the right reads, trying to take care of the ball, just put good efforts out there every time you step out there on the floor.

—

26:07 KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: I don’t know, I didn’t make up, like, too much in my mind. Honestly, I knew I was gonna get a nice, like, ovation. No, I had a great time here, a great couple years, so I know the fans appreciated me and it was good to be back here, honestly.

26:23 What was it like competing against some of your former teammates?

26:25 I mean, they know me very well, honestly. They did super good job. They told me I didn’t shoot the ball well, so, but yeah, they probably know me best know. Hats off to them.

26:36 How did Jayson look compared to the guy you played with?

26:40 He looks good. Honestly, shot was falling already. It looked like he’s not rusty at all, just looked a little heavy. I told him you need to lose a couple pounds and he’ll be flying again.

26:50 Who’d you get to talk to after the game? Did you have any good conversations?

26:54 Pretty much everybody. I chopped it up real quick with everybody. Yeah, just said what’s up to everybody as always, yeah.

27:03 How far do you think they can go now with Jayson back? Like, how do they look to you based on collectively?

27:09 I mean, honestly, they already have this DNA, you know? Championship, so they have to go for it. I don’t think they need to put any limits and now with those two guys leading them, like, they have all the possibilities. Again, of course, maybe it’s not the same team, but still they have a strong, strong team and they’re in a situation now where nobody really expects them maybe to do all that, so it’s even better for them.

27:36 You were playing at a high level here last season, regular season, before you got hurt. How close to that do you feel now as you work your way back?

27:49 I still got a good way to go, honestly, even though like for example, today I felt like my engine was a bit in overdrive, you know what I mean? I don’t know, just coming back or whatever here, but didn’t feel my best today. Last game, I would say I would feel, I felt better, so, but I expect with each game to kind of get closer and closer. So, and honestly that’s the trajectory I actually feel also now, you know? So, I would say still got a good way to go, 60%, you know what I mean? So for me to feel like really, like — but still I can play decent at this, like, feel that I have, so it’s only gonna get better.

28:35 You think you can get to that by the end of year?

28:38 Oh, of course, yeah.

28:39 From 60 to — ?

28:40 I think honestly, like, I’m already now where I can contribute decently, but I think, like, four or five more games. I know I said that three games ago, but four or five more games and then I feel like I’ll really be, like, close to pretty good shape. Obviously in the season’s not ideal, but I think it’s gonna just — my overall feel is just, it’s — I see the trajectory now, so for me, I’m kind of convinced that I’m heading in the right direction.

29:14 Do you like where your minutes are? It seemed like you were up to, like, 26.

29:18 Yeah. Today was a little bit less, yeah. Yeah. I feel decent. I’m recovering well. That’s the most (inaudible), played 26 the other night, some even better today. Maybe this didn’t feel perfect, but overall, like, yeah, I think we’re good. I want to, like, keep increasing with each game and we’ll be, I’ll be fine.

29:38 Steve felt like there were some game plan mistakes today, back cuts, maybe, didn’t come in as prepared. I mean, did you feel that it was kind of a — ?

29:47 Steve is a great coach and he will take, like, responsibility, but honestly I think we just can, like, bring our level today a little bit. I think, like, our energy was not perfect today and yeah, of course some mistakes, not that we didn’t know the answers. It was just a bit — we should have brought better tonight, honestly and, most importantly, I think the energy was lacking a little bit of that. And we need to find that on road.

30:14 He kind of indicated you guys are obviously waiting for Steph to get back. That’s like the next big thing. Do you feel like this team needs to, I guess, lock in quicker to lay the foundation for when Steph gets back? Because that was — he seemed to — that was kind of his criticism.

30:34 Yeah, of course. Even with Steph out, we want to play the right way. We want to play correct and not hang our heads on the first thing and think, oh, Steph’s not here. Like, we want to be strong and then we add add him and then it’s a completely different story, so I get that from, like, a mental perspective. We have to be, and — but it’s hard when we don’t have such a talent, such talent out there, but yeah, we’ll try and try and play the best way, so when he join, we’re a completely different beast.

31:08 Now that you feel healthy again, what are your goals for the rest of the season and beyond, now that you’ve kind of gotten through some of the work?

31:16 Yeah, I don’t know, honestly. I kind of don’t put any extra pressure on myself, just take it one game at a time, recover, feel well, feel good, increase minutes, go from here. I know what I’m capable of, just a matter of me getting back into top shape and then we’ll see. We’ll see.

🫶💙💛

Loved the comparisons Omer Yurtseven made postgame about the differences in spacing with the Warriors compared to the RGV Vipers (G League affiliate of the Houston Rockets) and even EuroLeague where the pack the paint and don’t have the defensive-three-second rule — see entire transcript, below. The video interview is embedded up top 👆

Btw, here are the most recent Omer highlights from G League:

And good ol’ fashioned paint-dominant highlights via his IG account from EuroLeague where he played in Turkey:

But probably the most fun comparison was the surprise news that Yurtseven trained with Pat Spencer during the pandemic.

“We trained for about six months together in Maryland,” said Omer. “Being able to reunite with him here is a blessing. And I’m happy to see him change some habits from Chick-fil-A to Chipotle.”

From “Steady Eddie” Honda CRVs to Chick-fil-A to Chipotle. I’m dying to hear what the next Pat Spencer anecdote might be!

Gary Payton II is also included in the video above. Stay through the whole thing and watch Raymond Ridder steal GP2’s trademark outro.

I’ll try commenting more about the game later and there’s also the postgame from Steve Kerr and Gui Santos, as well. The “honest recap” is already up on the various platforms (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts):

00:00 Just what have the last 24 hours been like for you?

00:06 OMER YURTSEVEN, POSTGAME GSW-NYK: Crazy. I mean, last week or so has been crazy. I was with another team in Europe and then national team, and then got to the Vipers, three games, and now we’re Golden State. It’s a huge opportunity and I’m blessed to be here, but, it’s a loop. And it’s just, you just gotta stay ready and kind of figure everything out on the go, but that’s what I gotta do. That’s what I’ll do.

00:30 How difficult was it learning to play about learning all new plays in, like, less than, like, 24 hours?

00:35 It was about 12 hours, I would say, to learn — well, not even 12 — maybe I started this morning, just to look at some plays and the shootaround and the team meeting — not shootaround, I guess just the team meeting. And yeah, I mean, like I said, it’s an adjustment, but I gotta make it quick and on the go and that’s what it is. You just gotta adapt and I feel like that’s what our job as a basketball player is, too.

00:54 When did you get out here with the team?

00:56 I landed last night. Well, today at 1:00 AM. 1:00 AM, yeah.

01:01 Where from?

01:03 McAllen.

01:04 Okay.

01:04 Down by the Texas, Texas-Mexican border.

01:07 I gotcha.

01:07 Yeah.

01:08 Yeah, just what has been communicated to you about what they want from you for the next 10 days?

01:13 I mean, just play hard and they showed me the defense that we play, the setups that we want to get into on offense and everything, so I think they did a great job kind of simplifying everything for me. I appreciate that. You have a legendary coach here with Steve, so Steve Kerr is, he’s been a legend on my radar for a while. So also just a lot of legends in this organization. So just being around them is amazing.

01:39 How did it feel when you were on the court, once you were able to play and play all that?

01:43 Felt good. Felt good. Absolutely. And like I said, it’s an adjustment to just knowing where the spacing is gonna be and everything’s gonna be, because I had a different spacing a week ago. Then I switched to RGV Vipers, kind of like how they want to play. Now, I gotta adapt to here. Like I said, it’s an adjustment, but I’ll make it quick and there were times where I struggled, where I went to some, a little bit of old habits — not even old, I guess — it was a habit that I had 24 hours ago. But just like being able to duck in and getting the ball, et cetera, were really simple things that I would do, but here it’s much more about creating all that space for the shooters and everything, to come down and making sure those cuts and everything are able to happen within space. Like I said, it’s something on the — what would you call it? — like, it’s something simple, but I just gotta get it going. I think next thing I should be able to fully adapt to it.

02:43 How was your experience in the Euro League and just what do you take away from that experience that you’re bringing back over the NBA now?

02:49 I mean, to be honest, that was a much lower pace game compared to here, absolutely, and much more constricted area, so I think being able to play in that space makes things easier for you to play here because you have so much more, like, the defensive three seconds opens up the paint in crazy ways, because the defender has to get out at some point and maybe they got a clear out, opposite side towards your side, where they would try to help and you can hit corner and then you create an advantage. And all those things, I think, make the game a little bit more, I would say, opened out more, spaced out here, which allows for better reads. But in Europe it’s much more chaotic where they’ll just shrink and be able to recover back because the three-point line is closer because there is no three second rule on defense. And those kind of things affect everything and being able to play in the paint there, like I said, it’s harder because of all the digs and the three-point — the three second rule that you have and everything.

03:49 Have you learned all your teammates and coaches’ names yet?

03:53 Not really. I’m still on the go. I mean, obviously there are people that I already knew. I mean, I trained with Pat, actually, with Pat Spencer throughout the COVID time. We trained for about six months together in Maryland, so just being able to reunite with him here is a blessing. And I’m happy to see him change some habits from Chick-fil-A to Chipotle, so that’s a good transition. And all those things, I think, like I said, whether it’s on the court or off the court, figuring out the names, figuring out the plays, these are all, I think, take 24, 48, maybe 72 hours, and we’ll be ready to go.

04:32 Cool. Great.

04:33 Thank you guys.

—

04:34 What do you hope some of the young guys take away from the stretch where you guys are missing so many players and have to play different roles and experiences (inaudible) — ?

04:43 GARY PAYTON II: Get thrown in a fire. Probably the best way to learn is just to get out, get reps, and get out there and just continue to just get a feel for games and situations like tonight, coming into the Garden shorthanded. Guys gotta step up, so puts the pressure on them to be able to come out there and do your job, right? So I love it. I love everything about this stretch for them. It’s a great opportunity for guys to showcase what they can do within a game, so it’s, I love it.

05:17 What’s a specific lesson (inaudible) — ?

05:25 Just, like, these are all meaningful games. Just to give our guys the time to get back and these are meaningful games to save the season. So, just to know that that’s what we got on the line, just to come out there every day and consistently do it over and over and leave ourselves in games to win late in games, so I like it. Those guys understand and it’s just good to just see them step up and fight.

06:00 What does it say about the group that no matter who has been out there, especially the last few weeks, that everybody seems to be playing as hard as they can every time?

06:14 Wait, say that one more time? Sorry.

06:16 What does it say about the group that every time, no matter who’s out there, everybody’s playing as hard as they possibly can?

06:22 Oh, no. Yeah, guys are bought in. We got another — Omer’s today. He came and made his impact, just learning on the fly. LJ, Mal, Nate, everybody’s just stepping up and with the confidence in our staff, doing a great job, giving guys confidence to just go out there, play freely, but still stay within the game and what we’re trying to do, so it’s great. We had a little too many turnovers, but that’s just a learning curve. Guys have the balls in their hands longer than usual, so I think for tonight, I think we did a great job to be in that position late in the game, to try to win the game. I think that’s all the staff can ask.

07:08 Gary, you’re a veteran member in this group and what is kind of your role in this kind of stretch where you’re playing with mostly younger guys and inexperienced guys in here, stars out? Kind of what is your role in this stretch? Obviously you guys are still in Play-in contention.

07:21 Mm-hmm.

07:21 So you guys wanna obviously use this as motivation to win more games coming up, so kind of in this stretch where you’re playing with those younger guys and you’re more of a veteran, you’ve been in the league for a while, what is kind of your role in this (inaudible)?

07:32 Just continue to talk to them, make it easier for them, just try to teach them to make quick decisions in situations like this, stay solid on defense. If we can get stops and play the right way on offense, we can get any look and that we want to. And these guys have been playing together for a while now, so that unit that we had out there, is very familiar with one another. So we continue to play the right way. Don’t turn on the ball and take the shots that we need to take. It’s good for everybody and it’s good for these young guys, for sure, just to get those reps and those meaningful minutes.

08:04 Been a little bit since Steph has traveled with you guys with what he’s going through. How significant is it, having him on this trip?

08:09 Oh, of course. Having everybody, all our guys, Dray, KP, Steph and just continuing to be — some of those guys that just give knowledge to the young guys and confidence on the bench when we’re in games like this. Just to be able to have those guys come over and talk to anybody and just give them confidence and boost and little tips, it’s huge, for sure.

08:29 To Nick (Friedell)’s question, where does this level of buy-in come from? Where — why is that buy-in so heavy right now?

08:36 It’s just, season’s on the line and those guys are trying to make a name for themselves and trying to find a home, so once you get a group of guys that are fighting for their lives, it tends to, brings out the best of them. And just know that you can help us save this season by giving those guys a little bit more time to get back and get flowing, and especially leading that into the postseason gives them confidence. And when we do do that, we’re gonna need a big bench presence, so I think that’s gonna build and help the confidence going into postseason.

09:09 Alright, you guys are great.

09:10 Thanks guys. You guys are great.

🫶💙💛

Seth Curry final stat line: 12 minutes played, 4-for-6 field, 2-for-3 on threes, 3-for-3 on free throws, 3 assists, no turnovers, 13 points.

I said a couple games ago that maybe he could be waived to make room for another two-way player conversion at or near the end of the season. Nevermind that!

“Just being a Curry, that superpower,” said Gui Santos as he closed out the podium at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

My favorite Seth bucket of the night? The one where he let the guy fly by, but the defender was still close, so he took one dribble closer into two-point territory and calmly dropped the middie.

That’s some unwavering confidence in an era where that move is almost frowned upon.

“He can light it up in a hurry,” said Steve Kerr. “One of the best shooters in the league.”

As for the plug-and-play nature, which we actually also saw back on his debut on December 2nd, one of only two other games Seth has played in this season until nerve sciatica hit (more on this below), Curry explained, “Early in my career, I was maybe not in a rotation, I could sit for a while and jump in and luckily start making shots, for whatever reason.

“Actually, a guy on the other team, who was it? I think Harkless. Yeah, Elijah Harkless, he was asking me, how you come in and make shots right away? Is it something you work on in the off-season? I actually do work on just trying to make shots cold, but somehow I’ve had a knack for coming in with no rhythm and being able to contribute and it’s something that helped me stick in the league.”

Reminds me of the times Kerr, over my decade of attending every one of his interviews, has told the story of he and Spurs assistant Chip Engelland working on a drill after practice. Steve would sit on the sideline for awhile, then suddenly get up and have to go make a jumper.

Friendly reminder: Steve is tops all-time with a .453 career three-point shooting percentage, but by comparison Seth (7th all-time) is .433, while one Wardell Stephen Curry is .422 (actually 14th all-time) and Klay Thompson (25th all-time) is .409. Sick!

Let’s hope that Engelland anecdote comes up again on the podium soon. It might mean that Seth just averaged a point per minute in the game they just played.

So the December 4th game, Curry only got up two shots, both misses, in that one-point loss in Philadelphia, accruing 14 minutes played. That kind of is an anvil in this three-game set, though. Overall, he’s 10-for-15 from the field and 4-for-7 on threes, with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and no turnovers.

Having fun with this small sample size, per 36 minutes, he’s currently averaging 22 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and even 2 steals, even with the “ofer” at Philly. Incidentally, scrolling through the per-36 leaders of the league, Klay currently leads the NBA with 4.8 threes made, per-36.

Full recaps and interviews, transcripts, and captions of Steve, Seth, and Gui from SLC, below. Be sure to check out Seth describing what happened with the sciatica…

Recap on Spotify: here

00:00 Steve, what aspect were you most disappointed in tonight?

00:08 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-UTA: I just never felt like we got control of them defensively. We, I mean, they scored 119 on us, 29 free throws. That can’t be the case. I mean, we talked about it before the game, taking away the easy stuff. They made 27 points from the line, so too much fouling, too many plays where we were at a disadvantage based on whatever was happening offensively. And then so they outscore us by 13 points at the free throw line, that’s the difference in the game.

00:43 What’d you make of your shot distribution tonight? (Inaudible)

00:46 I mean, we weren’t bad offensively. 31 assists, 10 turnovers, that’s a great ratio. We took care of the ball, we moved it. I didn’t think we got great looks, but we got enough good looks to win. It was our defense that led us down.

01:04 13 points and 12 minutes, just what did you make of (Seth Curry’s) debut?

01:07 Seth was great. It was really fun to have him out there and he can light it up in a hurry and great scoring threat, one of the best shooters in the league, so it was really nice to have him back.

01:19 Is the plan for him to play tomorrow, as well?

01:22 I don’t know.

01:25 This team’s been so good in the last couple weeks with just going out there and giving what they have. Are you concerned at all that because they lost to a team like this, that that might start them downward?

01:38 Nah, it’s a quick turnaround with Chicago tomorrow night and we gotta bounce back, so there’s — I’m not concerned about that. This is the NBA. You always have to be ready for the next one.

01:49 De’Anthony, seven minutes in the first half and obviously a bigger workload in the second. Was that part of the plan going in?

01:54 Yeah because he’s gonna play tomorrow. So we’re playing Melt for the first time on back-to-back and so we wanted to limit his minutes to 20 tonight. Thanks.

—

02:14 How did it feel to get back out there?

02:17 SETH CURRY: Felt great, felt great. Always helps when they give you a wide open shot for the — when you get in there, but been working hard this past however many months to try to get back. I ain’t know if I would make it back at all, but it’s good to get out there, get my feet wet and try to contribute in whatever way I can.

02:36 What were the last three months like for you? When did you first feel something was wrong? What did you kind of expect from rehab and recovery?

02:45 I mean, I don’t know exactly when I just popped out one morning, I couldn’t move at all. Like, so, it was like a month time where I couldn’t, like, I really couldn’t move. I was just laying at home and then just once the pain went away, I was able to rehab and try to get all my movement back, but it’s been tough, been tough. I mean, kinda got a taste of it a few months ago and then, once again, having to watch, but it’s tough. I feel I could have helped with all the injuries and all the stuff going on. I feel like I could have helped throughout the season to put us in a better spot, but it’s good to be out here and try to close this year positively and get better day by day.

03:27 Was it — so was it something that happened in the — ?

03:30 Nah, nah, nothing specific. I just felt — had a minor pain in my back. It just kept getting — got worse, worse, and then it just hit its tipping point. I didn’t do anything specific.

03:45 At what juncture did you develop confidence that had this thing is turning around and you’ll be back in the season?

03:51 I think over the All-Star Break. Over the All-Star Break, kind of made a jump. I was working on just continue to work in rehab and made a jump and came back and played some live action. And I feel like that’s why I knew I would be able to get back, eventually.

04:06 How long, just going back to times that, obviously, this injury is different, but how long does it take you usually to find the rhythm you need on the floor when you’re coming back?

04:16 Luckily, me, man, just my whole career, I’ve been a guy who could, sitting, like, early in my career, I was maybe not in a rotation, I could sit for a while and jump in and luckily start making shots, for whatever reason. Actually, a guy on the other team, who was it? I think Harkless. Yeah, Elijah Harkless, he was asking me, how you come in and make shots right away? Do you — is it something you work on in the off-season? I actually do work on just trying to make shots cold, but somehow I’ve had a knack for coming in with no rhythm and being able to contribute and it’s something that helped me stick in the league and get a chance, but so it’s still working for me.

04:58 How you feeling now?

04:59 Feel good, feel good. Made it through. I was a little nervous, obviously, with a back, you don’t know how you going get used to that pace and that contact, but I feel good and just try to recover and keep building.

05:11 Is the plan, as far as you know, for you to play tomorrow?

05:15 I’m not sure yet. I’m not sure yet. I’m sure I’ll talk to them after we get done here and get back and see what happens.

—

05:31 What did you think the biggest shift was tonight?

05:35 GUI SANTOS: I think in the beginning of the game we fouled too much, you know? And also by the end of the game we missed some import important free throws and that was the big difference. There is a lot of little stuff that we gotta figure out. We gotta do better, box out. We lost a couple rebounds. We could win more 50-50 balls and we didn’t, so I think that was the biggest thing that is stand out tonight.

05:59 What (inaudible) defense?

06:05 Say it again?

06:06 Utah (inaudible).

06:10 So I think, like, they didn’t not, like, really put stress on us offensively. I think that we were not putting stress on them defensively. Like, we were not defending well because we were finding a rhythm not so much, but we were kind of moving the ball and trying to find the best passes. But we could not get stops and that hurt us today. That was the biggest problem because some plays that we could not get stops, we foul them and they go to the line. That’s too easy points for them.

06:44 What gives you confidence that you guys be able to kind of flush this one, and go back to the way you’ve been playing (inaudible)?

06:52 I think it’s just the NBA, like, being in the NBA is like that. Like, you lose a tough one today, a game that you should win. Tomorrow, you just got another one and you gotta watch this one and go to the next one because you cannot change it, what happened. So for us, it’s just that. That hurts. It’s not good, lose a game like that. We know that we gotta win games like that, but we cannot change it now. We just gotta go to the next one and win the next one.

07:18 (Inaudible question about Seth)

07:20 That was good. That was good. It felt good. I remember a play that I drive, kinda like play pick-and-roll, drive and hit him in a corner. And I feel like he’s just never stopped playing basketball. He’d been out for a lot of time, but his first shot, he just made the first shot, then he got another one. Boom, he made it again, so he’s such a pro. I saw him working. He was working really hard to get back to be with us and now you can see that he was working. You saw him, the first two shots. He got it and he’s still playing well on defense, just being a Curry, that superpower.

🫶💙💛