Kerr: “We’re back in the fight with Steph (Curry)”
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“The game is afoot” — Sherlock Holmes
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.
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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.
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