Pat Spencer: “We’ll be grateful towards the end of the year”
[GSW-MIA videos/interviews/transcripts]
Just an information dump this time, with Miami postgame stuff from Steve Kerr, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Pat Spencer.
I did offer a solution to the basketball impotence issue with the vets that I’ve identified, on the Watch Party livestream, which has timestamps in its Comments, but I probably won’t write about that until tomorrow.
00:00 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-MIA: I thought Bam and Norm took over the game the last five minutes, but we hung in there. A couple stretches of the game where we went cold really hurt us and then the turnovers, we had maybe four of them, like, where they pressured us on inbounds and we didn’t, weren’t able to, to get the ball up the floor cleanly. Those possessions really hurt. And give Miami credit, they put a lot of pressure on us.
00:25 I know these turnovers aren’t necessarily related to who you guys are longer term as a team, but how concerned are you about just the overall turnover situation that you guys have and how, as you go into a week with a lot of practices, how, like, how much will you hammer that?
00:41 I’m very confident that we will get that turned around. We got it turned around last year after we got Jimmy, cut our turnovers way back, so that’s gonna be the focus when we get home. We’re 8-0 when we win the turnover battle and I think 1-8 when we don’t, so it’s pretty clear cut. We have to do a better job of, as coaches, of giving the guys better spacing and cutting and teaching it better so that the decisions become easier and then they’ve gotta do a better job of just making simple decisions.
01:18 This was the 17th game in 29 days. Is there a sense of relief or solace knowing that the schedule’s gonna lighten up at some point? You get five coming up at home.
01:27 There would be, except we have a game in 48 hours against Portland, so it’s not like we have a break, but we do get to go home and that’s the big thing. We’ve only had five home games out of the first 17, so schedule does turn our way, but we need to take advantage of it. We’ve gotta get better.
01:45 Are there any data points that you feel like you collected on this six game trip as a group?
01:52 There’s plenty of data. There’s plenty of film. I was just most pleased with, after that OKC game, just felt like our level of fight and competition was where it needed to be. And so we were able to, obviously, split the six games on the trip coming off that beat down in OKC and so I like where we are now, better as a team, but we have a lot of work to do.
02:22 Steve, kind of to that point, you were saying the other night in New Orleans that the sign of a connected team is, like, when Jimmy had the wide open layup, but he passed it to Steph to score. Could you also say that when you have a night like this where the veteran guys don’t play that, especially Steph and Jimmy seemed, like, throughout the game were connected to the other guys talking to them, coaching him?
02:44 For sure.
02:44 Does that do something for the group when everybody’s pulling in a night like this?
02:52 Yeah. You, I could feel Steph and Jimmy on the sidelines. I felt their presence at the meeting today. Those two guys were giving advice and that’s really important for our guys, to feel the support of their vets on a night like tonight when those guys are out and the young guys are the ones out on the floor fighting and, yeah, we’re a connected team. We’ve got a good vibe, good group. Like I said, we’ve got some improvement. Improvement to make on the floor and that’s the main thing.
03:28 Coach, what do you think is the solution to, with the problem with so many games, to avoid things like tonight, you have to bench key players? Where is the solution playing?
03:40 I wish I knew. I wish I knew.
03:43 A shorter season, maybe, a shorter season?
03:46 Yeah, I mean, I mentioned that the other night, but I don’t think that’s happening. Maybe extending the season by a week, just the calendar to fit the 82 games into an extra week. I don’t know if that’s something that would help, but yeah, it’s a lot for sure. But, that’s what it is, so everybody’s dealing with the same issue. Thanks.
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04:10 Big edge tonight with you guys on the glass and with second chance points. What kind of tone did you wanna set with your energy on the glass tonight?
04:17 TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, that’s where Coach has been just preaching to me. Just go out there, play hard, rebound the basketball, just play aggressive. I tried to emphasize that and I thought I did a pretty good job with that tonight.
04:29 Trayce, I saw Jimmy a couple times come up to you, give you some tips. What did it mean to have the older guys just be in there offering advice tonight?
04:41 Yeah, at the end of the day, just Jimmy’s a great teammate, the way that he’s just telling me certain things to do, certain things that he sees on the floor. And when a guy’s done it for as long as he has, just be a sponge and try to implement that, what he says.
05:00 How do you just feel team wide coming out of this road trip, the schedule? You guys have played the most games in the league, 12 of 17 on the road, all that?
05:14 Yeah, I mean, it’s the schedule that they handed us. We can’t really be negative about it. We gotta go out there and play basketball. This is what we get paid to do and, obviously, we got some old guys on our team, but whenever we get the opportunity, us young guys to play, we gotta go play hard. But at the end of the day, I think we’re all blessed just to play basketball and be out here.
05:36 How much do you think you guys can benefit from not only a five game home stand, but it’s spread out and it sounds like you’ll probably get three, four practices in.
05:44 Yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing for us, is those practices. Just to go over some offensive things, like I said about the zone tonight. That’s something that we haven’t seen a lot of and just go over stuff like that, tweak the little things, and then be ready to go against Portland Friday.
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06:05 Pat, what do you think the difference was late in the game?
06:11 PAT SPENCER: Yeah, I was going over it in my head. I felt like that stretch to start the fourth was what kind of gave them a little bit of momentum. We took a couple quick ones. I took one where they went under. I really wanted that one back, not because I thought it was a horrible shot, but it’s just within the flow of the game where we were at that point. We probably needed a really good possession there, so that one killed me. Just a couple turnovers, gave them some easy buckets. I didn’t think they were scoring great in the half court, felt like we did a really good job containing them. They’ve been putting up 130 plus on teams night in and night out. We did a really good job in transition, which was one of our keys. Turnovers has got them going.
06:52 What do you feel like opened up offensively for you guys, particularly in the second, third quarters? It looked like you guys were able to develop a little bit of flow. You were getting to the paint. What did you see out there?
07:00 Yeah, it felt like ball started popping a little bit. We were getting downhill quite a bit, moving the ball side to side and really just taking what they were giving us. They were switching quite a bit. We made them pay for that a handful of times, throwing it into QP, throwing it into Trayce, really just keeping it simple. I felt like we got away from that a little bit to start the fourth and that’s really what bit us.
07:25 Just how would you describe, the schedule is what it is, right? But how would you describe getting through just the 17 games in 29 days? You have a five game home stand coming up. Is there a sense of relief knowing that you, it’s gonna balance out at some point?
07:38 Yeah, I think we’ve been bickering about it internally a little bit, but we’re a little bit older. I think we’ll be grateful towards the end of the year that this isn’t the stretch that we have come into the season. We like where we’re at, I think obviously would’ve liked to grab these last couple on the road, but to be where we’re at with the number of games that we’ve played to, knock on wood, have a really healthy team. At this point in the season, I think we’ll be grateful we’re not doing this on the back end of the year.
08:09 I saw Jimmy a couple times trying to coach you, give you some tips, whatever he was saying. What does it mean to you guys in these type of games where they have, where the roster isn’t as full as we’re used to seeing it, to have Steph and Jimmy being there and offering the wisdom when they can?
08:28 Yeah, those are my guys. We lean on each other quite a bit and. When I’m not playing, I try to see the game from the sidelines. Sometimes it’s easier to see things when you’re not in the game, so I, obviously, those guys are Hall of Famers and value their opinion and feedback and grateful that they’re locked into the game. They could be showing in the locker room, grabbing a bite to eat as some guys do. Yeah, just thankful for those relationships and ultimately try to return the favor when I’m out of the lineup.
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