Kerr: Kuminga “absolutely part of that formula” that has no Steph Curry in it

[G2+off-day interviews/transcripts]

Good to see Jonathan Kuminga come back to being a key cog in the Warriors’ offense — remember my rejoicing after the Memphis top-locking of one Wardell Stephen Curry led to the inverted screens for JK? — as Steve Kerr yesterday said on the off-day Zoom call:

I think what I said the other day…I think rings true today. Everything has to be thrown out the window now without Steph and so everything we've been doing the last month or two has been based on finding a formula that worked and sticking with that formula and it's gotten us to this point. We're in a great spot. We're in the second round. We're 1-1 coming home, but there's no Steph, so everything has to be finding a new formula and JK is absolutely part of that formula. And we can't sit here and put together any analytics from the last few weeks that make any sense right now because there's no Steph and it's a completely different team, so the combinations are what they are. We're gonna do what we think is best and bring it tomorrow and bring the energy and see what we can do and JK's gonna be a big part of that.

Bottom line, the above wasn’t a huge revelation, really, but shout out to Kerith Burke for asking the “give away your strategy without giving away your strategy” question. Those are always hard to formulate (no pun intended).

So it’s good to see it all come back full circle, JK getting a chance to showcase his talents on the biggest stage tonight. You never know, might help out his market value come July. Sometimes you just have to let the universe figure it out for you.

Also good to see Jimmy Butler on the podium give a vote of confidence with the “attack, then attack again” strategy for Kuminga.

The full transcript(s) below will remain under lock and key below the paywall until I jump on here and type in the next article. I’m gonna also experiment with something: the video for the Kerr off-day Zoom call also does not yet have the full transcript in the YouTube Comments, either, which gives a little more importance to this website and its subscribers, for now.

Videos, then paywall, then full transcripts, in chronological order starting with Game 2 postgame:

00:00 Obviously, a tough start, but can you gain things from like second quarter on, especially that third quarter?

00:06 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME G2-GSW-MIN: Definitely.

00:06 And what do you think, lessons learned or just things you picked up from them?

00:10 Well, I think part of the game plan coming in was to play a lot of people and we did I think we played 13, 14 people in the first half and part of the reasoning is, obviously, the fatigue of the run we've been on with all the travel and the games, but part of it also is we have to figure out what we're gonna be able to do in this series without Steph. And so we gave a lot of people a lot of chances and then some guys really stepped up. Trayce and JK were both really good in this game. You could see that their athleticism was important and I thought we made a really spirited run. Got it to seven and then we just kind of lost a little bit of composure. We turned it over right out of that timeout a couple of times and gave up a couple threes, where we lost connection defensively, but we learned a lot and I think this game will help us figure out how to move forward.

01:17 You mentioned the experimentation. How much, as you head towards Game 3, do you need to then quickly pare it down? And how much of what you saw tonight, particularly from Trayce and Kuminga, makes you believe that they have to heavy.

01:30 Yeah, I mean, those guys really performed well and showed why they can help us win this series, so they're gonna be part of it for sure. We've gotta figure out rotations, who we wanna start, all that stuff, but both guys are gonna play a role.

01:47 Steve, what did you learn tonight of how you can play through Jimmy and also the defensive attention that he got, as well, without Steph on the floor?

01:56 I mean, I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know. Jimmy, you can always play through Jimmy. He's a great isolation player, great passer, and it's more about figuring out who to put around him and who's gonna be playing in Game 3, what our rotation's gonna look like because it's not as simple as Steph's out, so we just replace him with one person. The domino effect of Steph being out led to Trayce playing tonight 'cause we need the scoring, we need the finishing and you saw what he did out there. Same thing with JK. We had found a formula over the last couple months and, obviously, we were having a lot of success, but without Steph, the formula completely goes out the window and we've gotta figure out the next formula.

02:47 Steve, can you talk about Steph's presence on the bench? And at one point when Draymond was getting heated, he went over and kind of calmed him down and just, he seemed like he was talking a lot. You had said he was gonna be like a coaching presence? Was he?

03:02 He was great. I mean, he sat a couple seats down. We talked a couple times during the game and he was talking to all the players and, yeah, I mean, I don't know exactly what he was saying to the guys, but it's very comforting having him on that bench for our guys,

03:18 Following up on that Draymond moment, what would you describe — sort of what you saw happen and it looked like you took him out.

03:25 Yeah.

03:26 Because you could see he was getting heated.

03:28 Yeah, I could see he had gotten pretty upset and I just didn't want him to get another technical, so I took him out at that point and I know he's gonna have to be careful now. He's — is he two techs away?

03:43 Five techs and two flagrant. It's seven and four.

03:46 So two more techs, he'll be suspended.

03:49 Or two more flagrants, right?

03:52 Yeah, so he's gonna have to stay composed. Obviously, we need him and I'm confident that he will because he knows the circumstances.

04:03 Were you frustrated or disappointed given how poised he's been the last couple games, how much he seemed to lose it a little bit tonight?

04:13 It's part of Draymond. the same thing that makes him such a competitor and a winner puts him over the top sometimes and we know that. And it's our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed, but the competition is so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line.

04:42 Steve, aside from Jonathan Kuminga's shot-making, what did you think about his decision-making and his defensive effort tonight?

04:50 Did a great job. I thought JK — I was very proud of just the the way he's stayed ready, stayed positive. This has not been an easy stretch for him and he really came out there and did a great job today and kinda showed what he's made of, so he'll obviously be back out there Game 3 and we're gonna need him.

05:15 And Moses Moody's really struggled with his shot the last few games. Is that just a cold streak or is it maybe the way defenses are playing and what have you seen?

05:24 This is the playoffs. I've seen this my entire career. Stuff happens. Some players, they, like in Moses' case, the way Buddy has played the last couple games has limited Moses' minutes, so he only played, I think, the last two games, nine and 11 minutes and things start going badly for you and all of a sudden you end up with the ball with two seconds on the shot clock five times in two games. I feel terrible for Moses 'cause I think he's had literally four or five of those where he's had to just throw it up there. So he's not in a rhythm right now. We just have to stay with it. He's gotta stay with it and I'm very confident because I've watched Moses for four years. I know his character, I know his work ethic. I know his skill. He'll find his way back.

06:16 What are the ways that Trayce's athleticism and rim-running really did shine tonight and can be a factor in this series, going forward?

06:23 Just his finishing the pick-and-roll stuff. They're an athletic team. They're a big team, so to have a rim presence and threat is important and he showed that tonight.

06:37 It seemed like finishing around the rim has been a little bit of an up and down for him throughout the season. Where have you seen that, maybe, growth in the last month or so for him then?

06:47 He's hardly played, frankly, the last month, but this is what makes the playoffs so strange and it's the same way every year. Matchups dictate so much. Injuries dictate so much. Both Trayce and JK have kind of been out of the loop the last month or so, but all of a sudden with Steph's injury, with the opponent that we're playing against, they're back in the forefront, so both of them provide the athleticism and the finishing that we're gonna need against this team.

07:21 One more Draymond question. It seemed like the play that sparked that was when Reid fouled him and he kind of reached up. Obviously, that looked similar to some other plays, the one in Houston. Is that, I mean, he's up probably is trying to sell the foul or do you have — ?

07:34 It's just a habit he has when somebody fouls him and he's smart, so I think it was, Reid reached and on the reach, Draymond kind of swiped through and drew the foul, but he does have a habit of sort of flailing, I think, flailing his arm to try to make sure the ref sees it and he made contact and that's what led to the tech.

07:58 I guess just all things considered with where you guys are at, obviously Steph's injury, but going back 1-1, just how do you feel going back to San Francisco?

08:05 Well, it's a hell of a trip to come in here and split the first two coming off of a seven-game series, winning Game 7 on the road and then starting this series 48 hours later. We couldn't ask for much more. I mean, this was very predictable how Minnesota would come out tonight and, sure enough, it was like 13-nothing before we could blink. I mean, they came out with incredible defensive intensity. We knew they were coming after us. This is how it works. You have to try to withstand the rush which we did, cut it to seven in the second half, had our chances, but it wasn't meant to be. They played, Minnesota played a great game. It's their game tonight, so we have to respond.

08:47 What are the challenges in this series for Podziemski and what more do you need from him?

08:53 Yeah, the challenges are with Steph out, he's playing more in the ball-handling role that he was early in the season and we've talked about it. He's at his best when he can kind of play off the second side, play as a secondary ball-handler. We can still sort of do some things to allow that to happen. Draymond can handle the ball more, Jimmy can handle the ball more and we can put Brandin in positions to to be more impactful offensively, but I still think even without scoring a ton, six assists, six rebounds, a couple steals, this guy can play. And every game's different and we've gotta find some better ways to score 93 points tonight, so we've gotta find a little more offensive rhythm.

09:44 You were subbing Jimmy in and out a lot and he played 34 minutes. I know he could have played more if it was closer, but did you kind of have, "I'm not gonna push this with Butler," in this case?

09:53 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I didn't want to push it with Draymond or Jimmy. I didn't want to chase this game, unless it was really getable and we, obviously, made a push in the second half, but first half we went in going — we went into the game thinking we're playing a lot of people short-burst minutes and try to protect Jimmy and Draymond. They've been playing huge minutes every other day, flying all over the country, so we had to weigh that. Thanks.

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00:00 Jonathan, obviously you get minutes, you go 8-for-8 to start. Did you feel like you were back into some sort of rhythm? Did you feel like you were really into the playoffs?

00:17 JONATHAN KUMINGA, POSTGAME G2-GSW-MIN: Yeah. I think once I came out for the first couple minutes and I went back in I feel like the confidence just came back, especially knowing us, the way we started wasn't that great, pretty much everybody else had to step up and just went out there and just try to compete and I think everything just fell in line.

00:43 Can you describe that baseline drive dunk over Gobert?

00:50 I think, I don't know, a lot of people didn't see it, but Draymond hit me and I was trying to find Jimmy and Jimmy was like, "Go," 'cause once he saw Gobert on me, he was just like, "Go, go." I was like, wow, this the moment, might as well just make something good happen and I think just having Draymond and Jimmy telling me to go, that's a big trust and just had to make something happen.

01:17 How much easier is it for you to get in that type of offensive rhythm with more minutes?

01:25 I think everything just come back together. As long as you stay out there and who you playing with, just having that rhythm, breaking the sweat and just stay locked in and the rhythm come, kind of come back slowly.

01:42 What has been your process for staying ready over the past month or so?

01:48 Working out, watching film, staying strong mentally, just those three and I think just being a good teammate, that's the biggest things that keeps me ready.

02:07 You said Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green were telling you go at Gobert. What — how have the veterans helped you stay ready through this process?

02:15 I think, I don't know, maybe some of them been through this. I feel like some of them been through the ups and down, not just playing, just like sometimes your thing's going well or not going well. And just them seeing the matchup I had and it was a broken play and just both of them telling me to just go, it just gave me more confidence.

02:40 I mean, without Steph, even Steve said it's different. The other formula is different. Did you figure you would have a larger role? Do you have to have a larger role, do you think, without Steph?

02:53 I think back then I had a DNP when we didn't have Steph, but I wasn't focused on that really. I was just focusing on just coming in there, don't matter how many minutes I get, to just find a way to impact and I end up getting what, 26 minute, but I wasn't going out expecting to have so many minutes, just anytime my name get called 'cause I know one of these days my name was gonna be called and just go out there and just impact, make the best out of it.

03:28 You spent a lot of time guarding Ant defensively. What is that matchup like and what are the keys to slowing him down?

03:35 He's one of our best players in this league and it's just not easy match of going out there every single day, but you just gotta do the best and not fouling, just staying physical and try to slow him down. It's not gonna be great every time, but the more effort you put in the better it is.

03:54 You said earlier in this press conference your confidence came back. How important is that for a basketball player?

04:04 It's very important. As long as your confidence is there it puts something, it makes you happy, it put a joy 'cause as long as you have joy and joy, you could do a lot of things. And I think confidence is one of those things where once you got them, it don't matter. Even if the ball is going through the nets, you could still do other things besides scoring. You could still go out there and impact.

04:31 Jonathan, both you and Trayce gave a spark today and you guys have been out of the rotation at times. Have you guys talked to each other this whole time of just staying ready? And what was it like, both of you on the court kind of doing what you guys did at one point that you guys couldn't miss?

04:45 I think off the court we're just goofing around. That's all. I think things that people don't see, but me and Trayce have a really good friendship. Off the court, we just stay talking trash every day at a time to keep us involved, you know? Because you can't be mad, you know? Because at any time they could call your name and you mad and you go out there and mess everything up for good, but we just stay talking, keeping each other great company, cheering for each other every other moment and I'm glad he got this moment. I'm glad I got the moment to go out there and play, no matter we didn't win, but hopefully next game, we go out and help our team win.

05:32 Is there kind of an element as you guys are getting more minutes that you guys could just play free a little bit?

05:40 I wouldn't say playing free, just trying to do something out there, trying to impact somehow.

05:51 You got something for me, Sam (Gordon)?

05:56 That's it?

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05:56 I see you get some time, Jonathan gets some time, you guys fight your way back into it. Do you think there are things to be gained from doing that?

06:09 TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Absolutely. We gotta make it as tough as possible on them. You can't just throw in the towel, throwing the game, making sure that they keep playing, their guys keep playing, but overall, obviously with Steph out, we're trying to find different lineups and matchups that work. And I thought we did a good job with that.

06:31 You've played a lot of games against Minnesota against Gobert. What do you like about this matchup and how does it favor your game?

06:39 Honestly, just playing physical, going out there, really, the first, maybe the second time I got to play with Jimmy and I feel like, we have a good synergy in the ball screen, getting him downhill, especially when Gobert is guarding. And so that's just something that's we're gonna have to continue to do, but overall with Minnesota, I like playing physical, playing physical with Gobert and Randle and, yeah, so.

07:08 Something JK said was to stay ready, he likes to goof off with you behind the scenes.

07:14 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, me and JK, obviously the rotation swung away from us and so we're always on the sideline just joking, talking, but overall he played really well tonight and we're gonna need him for the rest of the series.

07:28 Trayce, could you talk about Steph's role and demeanor on the sideline? Was he doing a little coaching, a little just observing of what was going on out there?

07:39 Yeah, Steph is Steph. He's the best teammate ever, but overall he's always talking, coaching, bringing energy, bringing life to the group and that's something we need, especially from him because you see him engaged and locked in on the sidelines even though he can't play, it just shows how much it means to him.

07:57 Trayce, did you you have an idea that you guys might go 14 deep in the first half like that?

08:02 Yeah, actually, we did, he said our group, which was our — with the group in Houston, we call ourselves the "green machine." And so because we wore green pennies the first time in our scout and so he was like, "Green Machine, be ready. This might be a game you guys get in. It could be two minutes in at the top of the second." So we got in and just trying to cause havoc.

08:26 Even when your minutes might be up and down, how have you maybe improved as a finisher around the rim, because you obviously — you were really strong there tonight.

08:33 Yeah, obviously this year I struggled, probably credit to Chris Paul and Klay Thompson, last year I shot 70% and so didn't do that well this year. Obviously, just confidence and just gotta keep working on it, but over the time I've been away from the rotation, I've been able to practice and get in the gym, work on that stuff and just continue to get better, continue to build my confidence.

08:59 Is that with AV or — ?

09:01 It's with all of them, honestly. Seth Cooper, AV, Hightower, Will Sheehey, those are really my player's coaches. Will's done a — been working on the free throws with me and so just gotta continue to just get repetitions and keep building confidence.

09:19 You mentioned this is maybe your first or second time really playing with Jimmy.

09:23 Mm-hmm.

09:24 He's not like a traditional pick-and-roll partner. What is it like being in the pick-and-roll with him?

09:30 It's great. He does all the work and then if two go to him, he throws a lob and that's what he told me. He said it might look like I'm gonna go to the rim. Just be ready because you never know if I'm gonna throw it up. Kind of the same with Draymond. He'll just kind of get it a little step and he'll see it and he'll just throw it and so it's great for me and they make my job easy.

09:49 What do you feel like you can take from today into Game 3?

09:53 Just the physicality. Just going in there, defensively I gotta be better. I let guys get past me too easy, but other than that, just continue to bring energy for the team.

10:06 What can the big-big pick-and-roll do for the offense? I think you ran one with Draymond, got a lob.

10:11 Yeah, especially if we get under the screen and stuff of that nature. We just gotta continue to see what happens. Draymond's always looking for the right read. Even if I don't get the ball, someone helps, he'll kick it to the corner. He's always trying to make the right play.

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00:00 What are some lessons you can learn from a game like this where it's kind of experimental? Steve's trying a bunch of different combinations out there.

00:08 JIMMY BUTLER, POSTGAME G2-GSW-MIN: Experimental or not, I still would like to win, but I think the biggest lesson is don't start off in a hole like we did tonight. And the game maybe could have ended up a little bit differently, but it's hard to climb out of that hole.

00:21 What did you see from JK and Trayce tonight in their minutes?

00:25 Some talented pros. Pros always being ready, doing whatever you ask 'em to do, and doing it at a high level on both sides of the ball.

00:33 I think you said, on Kuminga, on that baseline drive dunk on Gobert, you told him, "Go, just go attack." What were you seeing with Gobert on him?

00:44 Attack. We need as many individuals attacking as we can. If you get in there and nobody helps, score. If you get in there, somebody helps, pass the ball to the open guy. And a lot of the times, whenever you get into the paint, it's wide open to go in there and get a bucket.

01:00 Obviously, I mean, Kerr said it, it's obvious. It's so different without Steph. You have to kind of figure out a new formula. What is it you think? What could it be without Steph?

01:12 It's gonna be a lot more attacking and hitting the open guy and attacking again. It's — everybody knows it's difficult to recreate or even get close to doing what he does, but we're gonna have to find a way, so we go to the tapes, talk about it and execute it to the best of our abilities.

01:33 Steve said part of the plan tonight was not overtaxing you or Draymond. I think you finished it around 34 minutes. As this series shifts back, but it restarts quickly, how do you feel right now and how do you feel like it wasn't that much of a tax tonight?

01:48 Yeah. I feel pretty good. I get to rest, we get to take a flight back, sleep in our own beds, get some recovery. Dominoes, coffee, kids. Doesn't change and get ready to compete again.

02:06 Are you still feeling the fall from — ?

02:08 Yeah, for sure, but believe it or not, domino, coffees and kids make it all better.

02:15 Jimmy, you're always kind of assessing and figuring out things. As you were feeling out tonight without Steph, were there some things that you might have figured out that that's gonna work to your advantage?

02:26 Be aggressive. Maybe even a little bit more aggressive than normal. And I'm playing the same way. My guys is open. I'm passing, I don't care what nobody says. And I'm a live and die with us as a unit, us as a whole.

02:40 Aggressive, meaning you were looking to score more?

02:42 No, no, no. Aggressive, like, get into paint, make plays for everybody. I feel like whenever I'm doing that, it makes everybody else's job easier. They know when to shoot the ball on catch-and-shoots. They know when to play out of closeouts. When I'm in attack mode, it automatically places them in attack mode.

02:59 Jimmy, when you missed the game against Houston, you were a very active participant on the bench and kind of another coach. Did you see that from Steph? What did you see from Steph?

03:08 Yeah, talking the game, what he sees, what we should be doing on both sides of the ball. And even though he's not out there, he still expects us and wants us to win, so as often as he's telling us, "Hey, this guy needs to be here and on defense, this is what everybody needs to be doing," we gotta listen 'cause he's seeing it firsthand, a lot of stuff that everybody else can't see. So he's definitely still out there on the bench with us.

03:37 Jimmy, I know you don't pay much attention to what's out there, but just so you can know, everybody's expected this massive thing, this reputation of Playoff Jimmy. What is that like living under that burden or expectation?

03:52 I don't have a burden or expectation. I don't — I play basketball the right way. I will continue to play basketball the right way. If that time comes where your people that are saying whatever, supposed to score 40 or 43, whatever the case may be, i'm capable of it. I can do it, but I love making sure that my guys are comfortable passing the ball to them, taking the right shots at the right time, but we'll talk about it if that may be needed. Who knows?

04:27 Jimmy, what did you see on the play where Draymond got the technical and you obviously heard what he said in the locker room, he's at five technicals now and seven is a suspension. Is that something you're concerned about?

04:39 No, I think he knows, we all know. I thought he got fouled and maybe he's trying to sell the call. Somebody got hit, but it's just, it's crazy. Every time he does something, it's always a review and it always ends up being something of that nature, but like you said, he got five. He knows he got five, so he knows how much we need him now more than ever, so I don't think he gets a seven.

05:07 He very clearly thinks his reputation is costing him.

05:11 For sure.

05:12 What do you think about that?

05:14 I mean, I'm in a agreeance. It ain't like he's doing it on purpose. He's trying to sell a call or something like that and somebody just get hit.

05:24 Jimmy, you mentioned you might have to be more assertive. It did seem like some of your best offense tonight was you kind of as the creator, the playmaker. Could you sense that and maybe that has to be a little bit more of a path forward with you taking more initiative to set up others?

05:35 Yeah, for sure. Get the ball, attack, but like I said, it's not always about scoring. Whenever I attack and create help and get the ball to the right people, they know what to do with the ball. I think that's most important. Somebody closes out, you get to shoot or you get to drive that close out. If I'm not getting into the paint, I think it confuses my guys more than anything.

05:59 We've all seen the stats. You and JK, the minutes weren't real good, but you mentioned attacking. What — would it work with two attackers? You've mentioned Kuminga can do that. How might that like benefit this team?

06:14 I mean, he's a, a great basketball player. I can play with anybody. He can play with anybody. It's all about playing basketball the right way. That's all it is. Attack to score, attack to pass. You just make the right play over and over and over again every single time, no matter who you out there with. Just play basketball the right way and me and JK could thrive, can and will thrive together on the basketball floor.

06:40 Jimmy, one more Draymond question. He's obviously been so good the last couple games and I know he's essential to his team anyway, but how is that magnified with Steph out? I mean, people talk about the offensive burden on you, but Draymond's been playing with Steph forever, obviously.

06:56 It'll be all right. You know, we all miss Steph, not just Dray and Dray's gonna continue to do what he does on the offensive side of the ball. Shoot the ball when he's open, get the ball where the ball needs to go, set incredible screens. And, of course, he's gonna do what he does on the defensive side of the ball, challenge shots at the rim, tell everybody their coverage, let everybody know what's gonna go on. Not too much changes. If anything, he's gonna step it up a notch. He's being incredibly vocal, more vocal than normal and he has to be because we don't have our No. 1 guy out there, but he knows how important he is. It's not gonna change for him either.

07:35 Do you feel Steve was pretty honest and Draymond was, too, about how he lost his poise in Game 6 and, obviously, came back and kept it the last two games? And given what happened tonight, do you feel any need as a fellow veteran to remind him or reinforce what needs to be done?

07:48 Nah. He a grown man. He knows how important he is to his squad, how important every game is and how important it is that he needs to be out there, so you don't need to tell him nothing. He's very capable and he's very observant of that. He knows.

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00:00 Hey, Steve, Sam (Gordon) with the Chronicle. How was — what stuck out watching the game back from last night?

00:08 I think just how well Minnesota played, how physical they were, getting to the loose balls on rebounds. They generated a lot of extra possessions and it's kind of what you would expect from a team at home down 1-0. You watch the rest of the games in the playoffs, it's always a theme, how teams respond to losses and now it's our turn to do that.

00:40 Draymond was, of course, kind of a major talking point nationally today. How did you see — I don't know, I assume you guys met for film. How was either today just, I guess, how do you see the discourse and the situation and the technical count, all that kind of impact you?

01:00 I don't think it'll impact the game. I wasn't aware of what happened, in terms of the fan yelling the insults until I read about it this morning, so I talked to him about that and we did talk about the the technical count and just the whole set of circumstances, but I know Draymond well. He's gonna be ready to go tomorrow. He's gonna play a great game. He understands where we are in the series and we have this great opportunity and it's 1-1 and we've got home court advantage. We got our home crowd tomorrow, so he's excited, I'm excited and we move past all that stuff.

01:53 I'm assuming we're not gonna be able to talk to him prior to the game, so I mean, is there anything about that fan situation that you guys as an organization can share or just any more details that was relatively vague?

02:05 The only thing I can say is that the Timberwolves handled it perfectly, for their security to be on it and to remove the fan. Obviously that stuff is ugly and unacceptable and so we want to thank the Timberwolves organization for handling it as well as they possibly could. And I just think that things like this happen occasionally. Happened to me a couple times as a player, fans crossing the line, yelling stuff at you. It's painful. I can't sit here and claim to know what it would be like to be in Draymond's shoes as a black man, to hear racially insensitive comments like that, but I've heard my share of stuff that's really painful and hurtful and it's not ideal, but you always want the support of the security and the crowd, the home crowd. And like I said, the Wolves handled that beautifully and Draymond is handling it really well.

03:20 A lot of yesterday was obviously about finding rotations that work in this series. How much now — how quickly do you have to move to like, okay, pare down the rotations, make your choices and go.

03:32 Yeah, we have to move pretty quickly now. I thought last night was a great chance for us to see a lot of different people in action, different combinations. Now, having watched the tape a couple of times, I have a much better sense of what I'm gonna do, who I'm gonna start, what the combinations will be like off the bench and, of course, I'm not gonna share any of those things with you.

03:58 What were some of the keys last night when you guys were able to generate offensive advantages? What were some of the keys? What did you notice when you guys were able to generate advantage?

04:09 Nothing unusual. The game is pretty simple. If you can play with pace and get the ball moving side to side, it softens up the defense. I thought when we ran into trouble, we were too isolation heavy. We kind of stuck several people into late clock situations with one-on-one situations, which are very difficult. I think we threw Moses the ball twice with three seconds on the shot clock and basically disjointed possessions that led to those circumstances, so we've just gotta be sharper, execution-wise with our pace and our screening and getting the ball swung, all those things.

04:55 Steve, Jonathan Kuminga — hi, this is Kerith (Burke). Jonathan Kuminga had a really explosive game last game and, as you think about your combinations and who he's on the floor with, do some of those questions — are some of those questions of how he plays with Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green still on your mind?

05:14 Well, first of all, I was so impressed with JK and his play, but more importantly just the way he's handled everything the last couple weeks, staying ready, continuing to work, and it was really important for him to get some rhythm, get some confidence, and I saw all of that last night. I think what I said the other day, Kerith, I think rings true today. Everything has to be thrown out the window now without Steph and so everything we've been doing the last month or two has been based on finding a formula that worked and sticking with that formula and it's gotten us to this point. We're in a great spot. We're in the second round. We're 1-1 coming home, but there's no Steph, so everything has to be finding a new formula and JK is absolutely part of that formula. And we can't sit here and put together any analytics from the last few weeks that make any sense right now because there's no Steph and it's a completely different team, so the combinations are what they are. We're gonna do what we think is best and bring it tomorrow and bring the energy and see what we can do and JK's gonna be a big part of that.

06:43 Anything else from anyone?

06:48 Yeah, if I can just to follow up on that. So what do you think about the chess match or sort of the discussion among your coaching staff trying to — I wouldn't say solve a problem, but maybe a little bit more blind because you don't have those analytics and doing some of the — but doing some of those based on feel and film?

07:08 Yes, we have to do it based on feel, but we can also do it based on last night and having a tape to watch. And that's why I think that game was really helpful for us. Despite the loss, we learned a lot. The players learned a lot and I think we'll have a concrete plan coming into tomorrow that we'll feel good about. And then, of course, we have to adapt and adjust based on how the game's going.

07:37 How comfortable — you talked about Jimmy and Draymond being exhausted at the end of this kind of travel schedule. how comfortable do you think you'll be already by Game 3, really pushing their minutes back over 40 and beyond?

07:53 Well, we'll see. I thought it was at least helpful last night that we didn't overdo it. Draymond was at 29. I think Jimmy was at 34, so very manageable numbers. Hopefully that helps tomorrow. They each had the day off today, just a film session, nothing on the court, no shoot around tomorrow morning, so hopefully they'll both feel great and ready to roll tomorrow and we'll see how the game goes.

08:26 Trayce mentioned last night that he hadn't played with — very, very few reps with Jimmy. I know they ran some pick-and-roll last night. Just what do you think of that, that pairing and that combination and that action for those two?

08:38 They were really good together last night. I thought Trayce's energy, his activity, his ability to finish, he caught a couple lob dunks. He got a couple buckets in transition, so it was really fun to watch him play and that's a guy who has done nothing but stay ready for two, three months since he's been out of the rotation. And so I couldn't be happier for Trayce, couldn't be more proud of him for the professionalism and I'm excited to get him back out there tomorrow because he showed that he can be effective against this team, not only last night, but in the regular season where he had some good games against them too.

09:24 Coach Kerr, Jana Shortal from NBC in Minneapolis. Sorry I hopped on here late. Just about the incident that happened towards your player, can you comment overall your thoughts, your opinions on any fan directing a racial slur at any player during a game?

09:43 Well, it's unacceptable, for any fan to do that to a player and when you say it's unacceptable, there has to be action that goes with that term. And that's exactly what the Timberwolves did. Security immediately ejected the fan, so we are really grateful for the way the T-Wolves handled the situation. I know that "Minnesota Nice" is a phrase to describe Minnesotans and I found that to be a hundred percent true the last few days. Every single person I ran into was so kind and everybody was saying the same thing, like, "I'm pulling for the the T-Wolves, but you guys are always welcome in our city," and it's a real thing, the hospitality in Minneapolis and Minnesota. And so I never take words from one person and label a city with that. There's just going to be people, individuals — sometimes they're drunk, whatever — who cross the line and it's unfortunate, but it doesn't at all impact my view of the city of Minneapolis.

11:05 Just a quick follow up on that, when fans have that kind of behavior, what's your opinion on if they should ever be able to go to an NBA game again?

11:17 It's a good question. I kinda leave that up to the league to decide. I mean, they have their protocols, their rules, but these ugly incidents are, yeah, I don't think they're common, but they do happen occasionally and I mentioned earlier, they happened to me when I was in college, not racial taunts, but taunts about my father who had been killed in a terrorist act a year earlier or so and that was the most shocking moment of my entire playing career. To hear somebody saying something like that, that was so personally hurtful and painful and intentionally trying to hurt me. And so I empathize with every athlete, whether it's Draymond last night getting taunted about racial taunts, whether it's really anything. It seems like a few times a year you read about situations like this. I think Russell Westbrook in Utah a few years ago had to go through something like that and it's unfortunate, but like I said, I believe most of these incidents are pretty isolated and it's really important that people handle them the right way and the Timberwolves absolutely handled it the right way.

12:48 Thank you. Appreciate you taking the question.

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