The wildness of Steph Curry examined
[G3-GSW-HOU videos/transcripts]
As I mentioned in the previous article, after Game 2, I had Adam Silver in my crosshairs for what intuitively felt like too much physicality the Houston Rockets were getting away with. But because I’m preaching it to our YouTube audience, I told myself to try and stay emotionally regulated and verify the hunch by actually rewatching the game film.
What I witnessed in the analysis of Q1 of G2 was a ton of mindless turnovers — okay, three, but in the first six minutes of play which mathematically extrapolates to, gulp, 24 turnovers by a single player in a fully played game — by one Wardell Stephen Curry.
And, get this: the refs were giving the Warriors a lot of the calls early in the game. Of course, they egregiously missed the trip of Gary Payton II when Golden State was already down, 20-11, but somehow the Dubs got a stop during the next Houston possession and cut the lead to 20-13, so technically that missed call didn’t hurt us.
Of course, Jimmy Butler got hurt soon after that and, despite a valiant effort by the bench guys, it seemed like the Rockets bludgeoned the Jimmy-less squad for the remaining 36-plus minutes.
The other thing that made it bad was that Curry was hunting shots. The only three he made was off a probably-illegal screen by Moses Moody (in that case, the refs let one go for Golden State!) and so I made the conclusion that Curry was trying to steal the game in his “dagger” way, an approach heading into Game 2 whereby he knew in the back of his mind that Butler could calm things down if the early salvo didn’t work, let alone the fact that there would still be 36 minutes to adjust.
But Jimmy got knocked out of the game, so that strategy blew up in Curry’s face. And those three individual turnovers couldn’t even be attributed to the Rockets’ physicality because he’s seen and we’ve seen way worse in the past. Just, like, go watch the game tape. The turnovers are rather appalling, indeed.
But as we all know, turnovers are all part of Steph being Steph.
I looked it up: since 2022, the Warriors are 3-7 in playoff or Play-in games when he’s committed five or more turnovers. And GSW actually went 2-1 when he did that in 2022, so the real stat is that they’re 1-5 since 2023 when he commits 5+ turnovers. Dean and I dove into theories as to why 2022 was different, see podcast, below.
Anyways, I opened the last livestream (aka Game 3 Watch Party) with a pregame video essay that explains all of this, and then I had it the edited version of it lead off the latest podcast [YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes links below]:
My co-host Dean “of Positivity” Chambers even made analogy that Steph is like Alvin of the Chipmunks, where Alvin is asked if things are going okay and he always says yes, and yet something will go wrong — I guess Alvin could be the actual cartoon incarnation of “organized chaos.”
Now, if you look at our behind-the-scenes courtside highlights videos, you’ll often see just how Steph manages the game by directing traffic. He even yelled at Gary to give him the ball as GP2 was walking it up late in Game 3:
And here’s the actual up-close clips from the game:
So the good news of Curry tricking off — yeah, I know, rather harsh description of it — Game 2, at least the first quarter? He still commands the game toward his will, outside of shots going in or not.
We saw him pull the reins in a little at the start of Game 3, i.e., only one maybe two turnovers and probably zero or one rushed shots in the first half. Then he went for the dagger kills later in the game and succeeded.
Credit the rest of the guys, sans Jimmy, for stepping up and executing and taking the time they needed to gel, although even Draymond Green went on his podcast yesterday and told his co-host Baron Davis he himself has got to stop turning the ball over so much.
The fact that, to me, how Curry approaches the game and that having such a strong bearing on which way the game will go — this is the opposite way of thinking about his penchant for turnovers, rather than the pulling-your-hair-out negative approach — tells me that we’ve got this, at least for this series and whether or not Jimmy comes back, which it looks like he is.
Game 3 practice, pregame and postgame interviews and transcripts below the video embeds, behind the paywall, as I explained in the previous post. I’ll unlock the transcripts from the previous post after I publish this one. If you’re thirsty for the transcripts, just go to the Comments section on YouTube of any of the videos below:
00:00 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME G3-HOU-GSW: Nah, Plezi's way better. Sorry. I've never even seen these before over here. Oh, it's all good. Added some seats.
00:24 Steph, if you can just take us through, obviously, a tough battle down to the end, but you were able to — kind of willed everybody to win tonight. Steve Kerr saying that you were the best condition at what's —
00:36 I'm sorry. It is not directed you. We have a class clown (Marcus Thompson) in the building right now.
00:43 That's always clowning me, so I feel like this is related towards me.
00:46 It is not, I don't wanna be disrespectful or rude. You asking a very legitimate question and then somebody in the back of the room is having their moment.
00:55 He says the questions should be shorter. Is that it? Yep. Okay.
00:58 Keep going.
00:58 Let me, okay. Let me shorten this.
01:00 No, I promise you, it had nothing to do with you at all. I promise you had nothing to do with you.
01:08 I'm saying, security?
01:09 He is calling my phone 'cause he heard a drop on the floor and trying distract me.
01:13 Oh my God. So bad.
01:14 Sorry. Keep going.
01:17 You had a great game tonight. What happened there?
01:22 It's beautiful. This series is, I mean, it's all over the place. It's not gonna be a — I'll call it a beautiful brand of basketball — just 'cause of the matchup and the defensive intensity and the physicality, but for us to withstand a rough start shooting the ball and finding flow, obviously, without Jimmy, it takes a little bit of patience to figure out rotations and everybody's asked to do a little something different and we gave ourselves a chance by weathering the storm the first quarter, then we close out the second quarter with that run, that kept it close, and then we've had the No. 1 defense for a while. Obviously, that's been with Jimmy, but the mentality and the attention to detail, gave us a chance to get over the hump in the second half and we finished the game strong. GP was unbelievable in the fourth quarter, Draymond defensively, so it all came together.
02:29 Buddy's had kind of an up-and-down season at times, but — not only how important was he tonight, but when you're being defended at times the way you are — how crucial is the spacing he provides when he's in the lineup?
02:42 It's huge. We try to keep the game simple and to the point of how they're guarding me, if they're gonna send a trap or double team or blitz a pick-and-roll and I get off of it. If we're spaced properly, Buddy's a guy that demands attention. You can't leave him open and if he has a little bit of daylight, he's gotta be able to take those and knock 'em down. Moses hit a big one in the fourth, I think, the beginning of the quarter, so those two guys are threats on the wing, but Buddy especially. That's what he is done his whole career, so for him to have a game like he did and shoot the ball the way he did, give defensive effort, plus-14, that's big time.
03:26 Stephen, how does knowing that Jimmy is gonna be out, how does that impact how you make any adjustment, whether it's physical or mental, knowing that he's not gonna be there?
03:38 There was just a moment in the second quarter where I had to kind of get a little bit more assertive and not let the double teams and the traps take me out of possessions. I only have four shots in the first quarter and usually that can work to our advantage if we're moving the ball and guys are getting open looks, but we weren't. It didn't seem like there was a lot of flow, so I kind of — I did kind of force the issue a little bit in the second quarter and got going. Thankful to hit some shots, but just trying to manage the game while I'm out there and understand where to pick and choose my spots 'cause you can't go crazy the whole game. Playing 41 minutes, you gotta be able to understand the flow and when to look for your shot, when to get the ball out of the trap and let things happen on the back end, so it's similar to when Jimmy's there, but that little bit in the second quarter was understanding we need to get some, some energy and some life going.
04:41 Draymond was in here earlier and he said that you kind of recognized that maybe he didn't have his usual energy and so you kind of took it upon yourself to pick it up and guys kind of followed that. Did you sense any of that? Is there an unspoken message to what you're trying to do to your teammates when you're trying to do something like that?
04:59 No, I was just trying to win, whatever it takes. We've been in these situations plenty of times and Draymond, specifically, he's picked me up plenty of times and it might not be saying anything or demonstrative, it's just how you play. You understand the moment, so you're just trying to win, no matter how it looks.
05:20 Stephen, how helpful is Jimmy in that role? I mean, Steve compared him a little bit to Andre when it comes to basketball smarts and seeing things. And what did you think of that full-length fur coat that he pulled off?
05:35 I almost didn't need a hot pack on the sideline, sitting next to him. There's plenty of heat emanating from him, but yeah, he's a savvy veteran, high-IQ guy. He's got a presence, whether he's on active or not, where his voice matters and we needed him to lift everybody up on the bench and give us that energy, so his presence matched the fit for sure.
06:08 Steph, two questions for you. Is there a number of —
06:10 You wanna call me and text me? You wanna just — we can do this later?
06:13 I got you here. I might as well — is there a number of shots that lets you know if you're being aggressive enough? Do you say, "All right, based on what we need, I should get up this number of shots"? And secondly, when the defense is defending you the way they are, how do you manage that? Is it more of a physical battle or is it more of a mental or emotional battle?
06:40 I'll answer the second one first. It's all the above because you can't give into, again, the traps and blitzes, knowing the pick-and-roll can help us get some motion going, whether it's me taking a shot or you create a 4-on-3 on the backside, but it is physically taxing because you're handling the pressure on the ball, you're trying to read where the big is, where certain driving gaps might be or where the pass is. So you gotta be locked in, mentally, physically, emotionally, be patient, knowing if it doesn't happen early it's a 48-minute game. And I do pride myself on endurance to be able to finish as strong as you might start and feel as good in the fourth quarter as I do in the first quarter. The shots, there's not really a number, but when you're getting taken out of the game, there's a feeling. Four shots in the first and they were — two of 'em were kind of tough threes. You gotta find a way to get free and get loose a little bit to keep the defense honest. It's not saying we don't have guys that can finish on the back end, but if I'm aggressive then you get a situation where GP gets a backdoor cut 'cause two guys go after me 'cause I made a couple shots, you gotta make sure you keep 'em honest.
08:04 Steph, you've talked often about what good teams do. Without Jimmy, what did you learn about this team today that you can only learn in a playoff situation like today?
08:15 We had one task. I don't know how many — hopefully he's back next game or if he's not, we can still play at a high level. We can win a tough, physical playoff game. I think we all know we're trying to win 14 more of these. We need Jimmy to do that, but if there's a situation where somebody's not available, next-man-up mentality is, it's gotta be a belief and a confidence. Two months ago, I don't know if we had that,
08:44 You seen Jimmy's Instagram, postgame?
08:46 Elite, elite.
08:49 Are you embracing this Batman idea he's really pushing?
08:55 I mean, you can call it whatever you want to, I just know I need to play at a high level for us to win and so does he, so does Draymond, so does everybody. So whatever you wanna call me, yeah, I'll embrace it and hopefully it keeps happening.
09:12 Buddy said he was an Alpha.
09:15 He's tried to push that as the Butler. He's tried to push that on Jimmy, which is kind of funny, so the only comparison is the post he has, I've actually used that when a last-minute tee time and I need my guys to show up. I'll throw up the bat, I'll throw up that exact picture and whoever answers it, gets the places in the tee time, so it's kind of kind of funny now it's kind of coming back full circle.
09:41 Did you send him that?
09:42 Nah, he made that on his own. I don't know if I can give him any royalties for the Curry Brand sales we're gonna have, but I do appreciate it.
09:52 Hey, Steph. There was a, I think, a medical stoppage at the end of the game toward the end of the game when you were bleeding.
09:59 Oh yeah, just a little scratch.
10:01 I'm just wondering, what has the physical toll been like these first three games of this series?
10:07 It's been up there compared to any other series we've been in, but I love it as long as it's consistent on both sides. You can play through some of that stuff, but if there's egregious wraps or holds, which there were a couple in the first two games and they weren't called, that gets a little dicey, but it's the playoffs. You try to not let it distract you and frustrate you. If a call doesn't go your way or not play through it, don't look for bailouts and usually good things happen over 48.
10:44 Just one more question on Buddy. He has a unique personality, unique sense of humor. Do you have any favorite stories that come to mind of him off the court, behind the scenes in practice, on planes, of him just making you laugh?
11:00 There's too many to count, man. The good news, I don't have a specific story, but it's just the energy and the presence he has. He's got his Bahamian accent. You can hear him from a mile away. Anytime we come in, he's got this little monologue he does when he's feeling good and it's a little bit of his native tongue kind of vibe and he kind of goes and rolls with it and we all just — it's at a high, high volume, so no matter where you're at, you hear, but we love the consistency 'cause he just is having fun. He's spontaneous. He loves basketball. He works and if it goes his way or not, he's kind of the same guy.
11:47 Hey Stephen, I was wondering, did Robin turn into Yogi Bear when he came out with that big coat?
11:55 This is getting crazy. I love it.
11:57 Have you guys — did you talk about this injury? You had similar injuries and the recovery process and what he might expect or how long it would take to come back from that?
12:07 Yes and no. They're all very unique because the angle you land, how — the severity of the impact. We have kind of different body types, too, so there's a similarity, but there's also — each one is such a unique case that it's hard for any of us to really compare, other than for him to get ready. I don't — I'm pretty sure he might need it when he comes back, but get ready for that pad that I wore back in '21 and earlier this year, so anything that gets you back on the court sooner, even if it's a little uncomfortable.
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00:00 Draymond, obviously, a good win tonight, but Buddy just talked about how Jimmy on the bench said that it was giving them some motivation or some type of drive that you got that tech. What is it like to be the enforcer on this team and how important do you take that role?
00:21 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME AFTER G3-HOU-GSW: It's important for sure. You better have one on your team or you just get bullied, so I take pride in being that for our guys, being there for this franchise for many years, but yeah, I thought it was time to take one right there, so I did and made sure I got one and then I kept it pushing, got back in the game, but it was — sometimes stuff like that is needed and I felt like it was needed there.
00:58 Draymond, what was the defensive emphasis in limiting Jalen Green to only nine points tonight?
01:06 I think just played with more force. He kind of roamed free in Houston the other day, so just played with more force and made sure — not just Jalen though, with everybody — just made sure they felt us a little more on the defensive end for sure.
01:21 Did he have a word or two to say to you at the end of the game there?
01:25 Yeah, the game was over. don't matter.
01:30 Draymond, in the first half it looked like you guys and you and some of your teammates both had a little bit of frustration going on in the second half, though it looked like you guys flipped the switch and really kind of found some inspiration and energy. What happened? Did something happen at halftime or what happened along the way?
01:45 I think what happened was you, you get to regroup and you realize we're playing awful and we're right there. They're playing really good basketball, we're playing terrible basketball. We're down three and so I think with that, just gives you a little more juice and we knew if we came out the locker room with the right energy, that we could flip this game and I think we pretty much dominated the second half, for the most part.
02:11 You've been around with Steph for all these years, but are you able to see what a game like — when he's playing like this at this level in this game, are you able to see what it does for the rest of the team?
02:21 I mean, we all follow him. Just with that type of tenacity, you are not going to be the guy to let him down when he's playing like that. I don't think anybody wants to be that guy where he's coming out, he's giving that type of effort and I think oftentimes I try to bring that energy and I didn't have it, and he found it and then I followed him and we all followed him, so I thought it was beautiful. He realized that it wasn't there and he took it upon himself to bring that type of force to the game and we all fell in line and followed behind him.
03:00 Draymond, way over to your right. Way over, yeah. What does this do to win this game without Jimmy? What does this do psychologically to your you guys to know you can do it and maybe to Houston that just lost you guys maybe thinking that they were gonna win this game without Jimmy Butler?
03:15 I think for us psychologically it just kind of reconfirms to ourselves that we can do it, that we're capable of making any adjustment, next-guy-up mentality. I don't know what it does for them. That's not really my focus. My focus is what happens in our locker room and the way Buddy stepped up, the way GP stepped up, QP with 12 huge rebounds, Loon played really good minutes for us, so just to see other guys step up in his absence was huge.
03:57 Draymond, on your left. After Game 1 and 2, you guys talked about the importance of grabbing loose balls and today you held them to only 11 second-chance points. What was the biggest, I guess, change or difference in holding them to that?
04:09 Just playing with force. I think you do a good job of containing dribble penetration, that allows you to rebound better and I thought we did a good job, a better job over our point-of-attack tonight and when you do that, just allows your alignment to be better for a rebounding opportunity, so thought we defended well and then it allowed us to rebound better, but like I said, QP stepping up and getting 12 rebounds, that's huge, so complete team effort. I don't think we out-rebounded them. They out-rebounded us, but it wasn't what it's been. That was huge.
04:54 Draymond, what did you think about winning the Hustle Award instead of Defensive Player of the Year?
05:00 I think to win anything in this league is special. Anytime you can be recognized in this league, it's great, so congratulations to Evan Mobley, incredible young player. Just the growth that he's had over his career, to see him. That's what we all believed he'd be coming out of USC. I still remember watching him play at USC and a guy caught the ball in the corner and he was under the rim, he blocked the corner three and I couldn't believe it. I have been a fan of him ever since, so it's always great to see young guys get their due in this league so yeah, I mean, it would've been nice to win, but anytime you're in the running to be recognized in this league, is always great
05:51 Draymond, not just tonight, but what's the domino effect on the whole team when you're getting minutes on both ends of the court, like you got from GP tonight?
06:00 It's huge. We know G is incredible defender, but when he's playing that way offensively, getting to the hole, finishing — he's a great finisher around the basket — knocking his threes down, was big, so when you're getting that type of two-way basketball, from G it really lifts this team. It's just another threat that they have to deal with.
06:25 Draymond, over here on the left, on your right. I'm sorry. Just sort of following up on that, GP had a good game a couple weeks ago and I wrote about him and about playing with Steph and he said he follows your blueprint on that, in terms of how to screen for him 'cause GP's obviously really good at playing with Steph and the numbers bear that out. What have you seen about what makes him so effective alongside Steph?
06:47 He just really knows how to find his spots. He knows how to use Steph to get things for himself and I think that's big. Anytime you can learn — he's smart. You learn how to play off of Steph, it makes the game a lot easier for you, so anytime you can pick up on those things and play great off Steph pull, he just has so much gravity. His gravity on the court is incredible, so if you learn how to play off that, it kind of puts you at an advantage and G's been great at that since, for years now. So it's great that it showed up at a good time for us.
07:28 Were you surprised that they used the blitz and trap so much and is that something you then welcome if they do do that?
07:34 No, I wasn't surprised, especially with Jimmy out, they wanna try to take Steph out of the game, so I wasn't surprised, but I thought we did a good job countering it.
07:44 Buddy's often — I don't know, the storylines around him are about his personality, his quirks, flaws, but how about as a player, what he's given you guys this season? I think he played all 82 and what he's given you tonight.
07:57 He was huge tonight, plus-14, shot the ball well, aggressive, really good defensively. That's why I think he was signed to, what, a four-year deal or something like that? Just because of what Mike (Dunleavy, Jr.) and our group thought that he could bring to this team and he's been solid for us all year. It's always more the only thing people see is the game, but you don't see, we spend far more time together off-the-court than the amount of game time we have and so all of that stuff makes a difference and he's huge in the locker room. He's huge on the plane. Just for the aura of this team, he's big, and right behind Steph in three-pointers over the last 10 years, for a reason. He can really shoot the basketball and, tonight, we were able to get him some good looks. He knocked them down, but he was really big for us tonight. It was great to see him get that game under his belt and now we look forward to him continuing to build on it.
09:06 Draymond, we didn't get a chance to talk to you yesterday. I don't know if you saw Dillon Brooks was defending Amen Thompson, but also then called you a dirty player. I was wondering what your response was to that.
09:15 I don't have one.
09:17 And then — over here — did you make a comment about Jalen Green's nails postgame? And did he take umbrage to that, if so?
09:24 I'm not sure what he took, but it was a good win for us.
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00:00 Draymond will be up here right after this.
00:08 BUDDY HIELD, POSTGAME G3-HOU-GSW: Good afternoon. Good evening.
00:11 Buddy, can you just kind of speak to how you got that spark, especially in the second half, to kind of will you guys to that win tonight?
00:24 I know Robin's out tonight, so I had to step up. That was it. I had to be an Alfred tonight. Jimmy's out and you know what's at stake you don't wanna go down 2-1, the series, especially at home and first playoff game here, wanna make an impression and match the physicality and just come out and make shots and we were lacking making shots and just trying to be a spark, fight for this team and do all the right things I can be and be as efficient as I can.
00:56 Buddy, haven't played in very many playoff games in your career. How much are you sort of savoring this opportunity to have a chance on this kind of stage?
01:04 Just taking it in, possession by possession. Just learning. Intensity is fun. It's great, especially being out there with great players like Steph and Draymond and the coaching staff helping me, but you just gotta enjoy the moment, seize the moment and, you can't be shy when an opportunity comes. You gotta be out there and just fire it and be free.
01:26 Buddy, Steve said that you guys figured out the spacing tonight. In your mind, what did that mean? What changed?
01:33 Just spacing. When they put two on the ball, just find the open spots where the guy who's rolling — to make the guy who's tagging make a decision, either he's going to give up a layup or give up a three and our job as me — my job as a shooter is just be in a space where you find a window where I can get a clean look and if they run me up the line, be able to drive that gap in and kick it back out.
01:57 Buddy, what is Jimmy Butler like as a coach on the bench when he is not playing in these games?
02:03 Terrible, terrible advice. Terrible advice. I just was like tuning him out the whole time. He just, nah, he's being good. He's being positive. He's telling me how to read drives except for that one time I get picked by Steven Adams. He just gimme a look and I was like, "Yo, don't even talk about it, yeah." But he's being good just talking and just encouraging everybody and just, especially when Draymond get the tech, he was letting everybody know that was good for our team, it's gonna get us going and that was big and I changed the game for us.
02:31 Buddy, what does it do for you — over to your left — what does it do for you and your teammates when you watch Steph do his thing in a game like this when you know Jimmy ain't out there?
02:39 Steph, as I said earlier, he seizes these type of moments. I've watched him my whole life from college to now and, in the previous playoff runs he's been on and watching him against this physical team, he embraces that. He thrives off that and we look at him as smaller than everybody, but he goes there and he's a competitor and that's one thing you love about him. He's competing to give you all every night.
03:04 Buddy, you mentioned earlier you gotta be free and let fly. How much of that attitude do you think explains your career and your success? I mean, one of the reasons the Warriors seem to value you is even if you've missed shots, you're gonna keep shooting — spacing — value that adds, even if you're not making a lot of them?
03:20 Right, just "next one" mentality. You can't think about it. If you think about it, then it's gonna mess your whole mind up and shooters, we have bad days and good days, but today was a good day for sure. Just keep building off this one.
03:32 Buddy, there's been a lot of talk about their blitzing and trapping. Is that something you guys invite as an offense? Is that something you want them to do in their coverage of Curry?
03:40 What you think?
03:42 It seemed like you had some success tonight.
03:43 Yeah, you want them to blitz you and then after that you play 4-on-3 basketball and just find the open guy. Great? Thank you!
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03:57 GP2, everyone that's come in here and spoke highly of your game and how you turned things around for the Warriors, you did that again tonight with a big spark. What did that for you? How did that happen in the second quarter, second half? Just kind of take me through that.
04:12 GARY PAYTON II: Just be aggressive, know how they gonna play me. Usually they have a big on me, so we gonna work, go up there, try to get Steph open. They wanna blitz Steph, just slip out and make plays in the pocket. They don't step up, go be aggressive. They do, just hit the open guy.
04:31 Gary, I just saw your dad and I said 11 points, 11 of your 16 points in the fourth and he said, "He's gotta be special, he's gotta be special." What are those conversations like in terms of taking advantage of your minutes and making something happen?
04:48 Like I said, just being aggressive. I know how they gonna play me and it's the first time I'm hearing him say I'm special, so that's, well, thank you for that. I'm gonna ask him about that.
05:01 You are special.
05:02 Thank you.
05:03 Also just the hustle plays and the ball movement, it seemed like you were able to get some good looks and just, Steve mentioned the spacing being so crucial to Steph taking some better looks, too.
05:17 Absolutely. Yeah, we were a little bunched up in the first half, so we emphasized on being spaced and having corners filled and letting Steph pick who he wants to pick on and just give him space and opportunity to make plays and just be available for him. So just being space- available. They want to collapse on 30 and he hits the open guy. We just gotta make open shots.
05:40 Gary, two quick ones. How much does that play in your hands when a team sells out on Steph like that, 'cause as we've talked about in the past, you thrive on playing with him?
05:49 Oh yeah. Just, stay ready so you don't have to get ready. It's just another corner three for me by myself, so just take my time and do what I've been doing, working on corner threes and just knock 'em down. They go in when they matter, so that's all I care about.
06:07 And can you describe that foul? It looked like almost an open field block of Dillon Brooks and did you note the irony of that, I guess?
06:16 Which one are you talking about?
06:18 Late in the game when you were sort of in the open court and you were —
06:21 I didn't see him.
06:30 Gary, what was the key to taking away the Rockets' space? It seemed like today they were trying to play in a phone booth.
06:37 Yeah, Game 2, we gave 'em a little too much space. They got open looks and went where they wanted to go, so just to kill that space and just make it tough and muggy for 'em and try to make 'em make plays down stretch and we was able to create turnovers and go the other way and capitalize, so we continue that for the rest of the series, I think we'll be in a good look.
07:01 Does a win like this over Houston without Jimmy provide the group extra confidence moving forward?
07:06 Absolutely. We had to have Jimmy's back while he was out, so hopefully we get Jimmy back for Game 4 and we get back to our regularly scheduled program. You guys are great.
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00:00 Steve, just generally to win this game without Jimmy Butler, what does that tell you about kind of where you are as a team and who rose up to take that spot?
00:12 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME G3-HOU-GSW: Yeah, it's a big-time win. I mean, you could see we were out of sorts early. With Jimmy out, we changed the starting lineup. We went to some combinations that we've barely played all year and it took a while for us to find some rhythm, but I thought what kept us in the game was our defense. They got up, I guess, 13 at the most, but these days, 13 doesn't feel like that big of a deficit and I thought the key to the game was the way we closed the second quarter, to pull within three and get some momentum and we felt pretty good at halftime as a result.
00:49 To follow up on that, obviously you said you tried some combinations, JK being in one of those, what do you think it is that's keeping him outta rhythm? And could you speak to the fact that Buddy —
00:58 I'm sorry, what?
00:59 Do you think it is that's keeping him from finding a rhythm out there and once he's kind of being put in that role with Jimmy Butler out and then what do you think helped Buddy Hield to find a groove and, of course, GP2 to find a groove?
01:12 Yeah. Every game's different. JK could come in next game and have a monster game and he missed three games. We didn't play him three games. That's not an easy thing to do and I thought he came in and gave us important minutes. Buddy is, he's a guy who's one of the best shooters in the league and he's always capable of making shots and because of the constant blitzing of Steph, it opened up the floor and we finally figured out how to space the floor and get the ball swung in that blitz. We were much better with that in the second half than we were in the first and Buddy got some good looks and made some big shots.
01:53 Just wondering if you could kind of give a bigger picture look at Buddy and at times he's kind of the butt of jokes almost in a funny way, partly 'cause of his personality? But yeah, I mean, you mentioned it. He is one of the most prolific three-point shooters ever. It seems like he flipped the game tonight.
02:08 Buddy flipped it, Gary Payton flipped it, both those guys, but everybody contributed. Quinten had 12 rebounds. We had Moses come in and make a huge three in the second half, but this is what the playoffs are about. They're about injuries and they're about guys stepping up and we had both. Today with Jimmy being out, you have to be able to withstand that and win a game here and there. We've done that for many years. We've had some of our most important guys miss multiple games in series, so this is what you have to do. You gotta find a way and our guys did that today.
02:48 How would you describe Steph's performance and then just the degree of difficulty involved with that?
02:53 I don't know, just whatever I've said the last 11 years after every one of these games, just copy and paste. He's incredible.
03:02 Steve, to get Brooks in foul trouble early and he had four by halftime, just that made a big difference too, didn't it for you guys?
03:11 Yeah, I don't even pay attention to that stuff. Honestly, they got a lot of good defenders. You got a lot of good players. They're a deep team, so the main thing was, like I said, just hanging in there and withstanding, their run in the first half, we probably went seven minutes with maybe one basket, it felt like and that was the key stretch and, yeah, they're gonna bring in a lot of guys who can play and so I don't even pay attention honestly to who's in foul trouble, who's out there. We just have to respond and play.
03:49 The hustle plays down the stretch, it seemed like, I mean, Gary had — everybody seemed to have the plays that came up with loose balls that led to more shots. Did you like — ?
03:57 Yeah, I mean we had more second-chance points than they did, 18-11 and that's kind of stunning, given the way the first two games went, but it was an indication of our energy, our physicality, guys flying around, so a lot of guys tracked a ball, chased it down, got us extra possessions. I think we had 10 offensive boards, so yeah, a lot of good hustle plays.
04:25 Steve, what was the key to holding Jalen Green to just nine points after he had such a big game too. Was there something, a change or adjustment you guys made?
04:34 Just thought we were a little more aggressive. I thought we gave him too much separation in Game 2. They did a good job of getting him downhill and creating space and we did a better job tonight of taking away some of his space.
04:47 Steve, we could copy and paste, but this was a little bit different of a Steph performance in terms of the grittiness, knowing what they were trying to do to him and just to almost have a triple-double can you elaborate at all?
05:01 Want me to give you more than I do copy and paste?
05:05 I mean, he's Steph Curry. He's one of the greatest players of all time. He's 37. He's one of the most well conditioned athletes I've ever seen in my life. To play 41 minutes against that kind of defense, to have a slow start and then find his rhythm, which we've seen him do countless times over the years to hit big shots, to only turn it over twice against that kind of pressure, he was brilliant. So I hope that was a better quote than the first one.
05:41 Coach, talk about Gary's just rollercoaster of a season and just what it meant to him for him to give that kind of performance with Jimmy out.
05:45 Look, Gary, we won the championship in 2022 and Gary flipped the whole series against Boston. We were going against all those great offensive players, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and Derrick White and Gary misses Game 1 and then he arrives after the injury for Game 2 and we go, we win four of the next five. Like, that's not a coincidence. Gary is one of the best defensive players in the league and he's a really dynamic roller and so we've seen what Gary's capable of doing at the highest level and he knew he didn't have a great trip in Houston, didn't play particularly well in either game, and so he was kind of due and I thought he just made massive plays in that fourth quarter and helped us close the game.
06:45 Steve, a quick two-parter. The first one, you said you finally figured out or you guys finally figured out how to beat — how to space out and get Steph open, beat the blitz. What exactly did you do to do that in the second part?
06:57 Yeah, it's just about spacing. If they're gonna commit to Steph, you have to be spaced and then the guys who were on the perimeter have to give Steph an outlet and I thought in the first half we were bunched up. We had a few possessions where we had everybody on the left side of the floor, nobody on the right and there, so there's no outlet for Steph and so that's why we got scattered. We had some turnovers and some near-turnovers. Once we got spaced out, now there's an outlet against the blitz and we're fine.
07:32 Okay, one more quick one. Jimmy Butler seemed super-engaged on the bench during the whole game. What was he doing? What was he giving you guys? I know you weren't focused on that, but — ?
07:42 First, he had a fantastic coat on, so I thought he was gonna be way too hot in that thing, but Jimmy is, he's just, he's so smart. He reminds me so much of Andre, incredible basketball IQ and then the ability to communicate, what he's seeing to his teammates, from the bench. I thought Jimmy was really important for us tonight in that regard. I mean, he was talking to guys throughout the game and giving them advice, giving some help and that was big.
08:16 Steve, when Steph is playing like this — over here — when Steph is playing like this in the game, you don't have Jimmy coming from the start and Steph catches fire in the second half, what do you think it does for — or what does it do for you and your coaching staff and what do you think it does for his teammates to see him carrying this team along like he did?
08:34 Well, this is what superstars do in playoff games. You can't win games without the great players in the league. When you go deep, the playoffs get tougher and tougher and the great players just give the whole team confidence and that's what Steph does.
08:57 Hey, Steve, how close was Jimmy to going today and do you expect to have him for game four?
09:03 He's literally day-to-day, so we have tomorrow off, it'll be helpful for him to have another day and then it's a night game, so he gets a few extra hours, so we'll see. I have no idea right now if he's gonna play.
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00:00 Let's get it over with. Anything you can say about whether Jimmy's gonna play tonight?
00:05 STEVE KERR, PREGAME BEFORE G3-HOU-GSW: Not yet. Yeah, he'll try to get some work done downstairs and see if he can go.
00:19 How about Gary?
00:21 Gary should be good to go.
00:28 Did you think there were any lapses in your coverage against Jalen Green in Game 2 and what are the points of emphasis against him now in Game 3?
00:36 Yeah, there were plenty of lapses and the main point of emphasis, we just let him get way too much separation.
00:49 A lot of that was him kind of attacking your centers, in space. I know you had to play them more 'cause the rotation got jumbled up, but how, I guess, how much of a concern is it not wanting him in the action against the centers and how much do you just have to tell Quinten to, I guess step up?
01:04
01:04 They covered, yeah. I mean that was the big adjustment they made was instead of going guard- to- guard, putting Steph in the action, they brought the fives in a lot more and so we have to be prepared for that. And so that's part of our planning, for sure, the last couple of days.
01:23 So people say that in the playoffs, role players play better at home. Is that something that you've known to be true over the course of your career and why might that be?
01:33 I think sometimes it plays out that way. It's not always the case, but the bigger thing to me is just the emotional swings in any playoff series when the location shifts. You get the home crowd behind you, there's just a level of energy that you get at home that is helpful?
01:59 I mean, I think that's the thing I took from Game 2 is they played harder. They played more physically and their crowd was into it and it was probably something that we've seen in other series. It was something we've seen in other series and throughout NBA history, is just a little bit of human nature. it's all part of it, so that's a big theme for today. We have to respond the way they were responded in Game 2.
02:28 Steve, is there any one or two things that you want to see from your guys from the beginning, the very beginning?
02:35 Just the force. Just the force and the energy. That's the main thing.
02:40 You said our last game that if Jimmy can't play, you have to recast everything. Everything has to be redone, so you just basically have that plan already and then you have a plan that he can? Do you have a plan where he sort of can play, or I mean, how many different plans?
02:54 Plan C? That's plan C. Yeah, we got A and B lined up and you saw Plan C the other night. When somebody goes out in the middle of the game, you're scrambling, but at least we've had more time to prepare for that this time.
03:11 Steve, last season, your perspective played a part in some of the decisions that were made about the whistle and the league. Looking at how things were officiated, I wondered now with things having swung a bit in the way these playoffs have been, what's your two cents on how physical and how the whistle is now in this postseason?
03:30 Well, I think that the talk last year was about the foul grifting. That was the whole thing, was just guys baiting the refs into fouls and the league, I think, did a fantastic job of eliminating that guys driving, purposely driving in to drive contact, throwing their arms up. And the league did a great job of basically eliminating that all year and I think what happens in the playoffs is teams basically just say to their guys, just foul every time. They can't call it every time and so the playoffs become, to me, become much more an art for the officials than a science. The way I've seen it in my NBA career is that the best officials, they kind of know what's coming. They know it's testy out of the gate, whatever, so you clean it up right away. You call a few things right away. You warn both teams. You say, "Stop it," and then the game settles down and I think that's sort of the key, to me, when I look at all these games around the league is are we handling stuff early? Are we taking care of things early so that a basketball game can happen? And that's what good officiating is to me.
05:02 In that same realm, what have you seen with the way they've defended Steph in this series, so far?
05:07 You don't think you're just gonna bait me into allowing you — what are you, James Harden trying to draw a foul right now? That's — I'm not — I'm not reaching, I'm not reaching, Anthony (Slater). That's its own comment right there, yeah.
05:23 And did you — over here — did you see Ime's comment in one of the huddles that, "Grab them as much as you want. They can't call everything"?
05:31 Right.
05:31 What were your thoughts on that comment?
05:33 I just explained that whole thing to Sam (Amick), so yeah. Alrighty. Thank you.
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00:00 Brandin, how was the stomach feeling and did you find out what happened?
00:07 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI AFTER PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE G3-HOU-GSW: I'm good. I'll be ready to play tomorrow. I think it was just food poisoning. I don't know from what, but maybe some seafood. Probably not supposed to eat seafood in Texas.
00:19 How hard was it to tough through that in Game 2?
00:23 Yeah. I think the only reason I tried to come back was 'cause Jimmy was out. Tried to go first half, didn't really feel it, got IV at half time and knowing Jimmy was out, I just tried to go back out there and see what I could give, but it wasn't much
00:46 What have the past couple days after that game been like for you, in terms of recovering?
00:57 I think after that game, the next day — so yesterday was the first day I really ate food kinda in 72 hours. so just been really focusing on that, hydrating, eating some food, some good food, just kinda getting my body back to where it was, Monday or Sunday for the game.
01:16 Brandin, what can you guys do? And Jimmy, even if he plays, I mean it's hard to imagine he's gonna play the kind of minutes he's been playing, 40-plus minutes. What can you guys do around him to sort of, I guess, lighten the load on him?
01:30 I mean, everybody's gonna step up and play a better role when he is not out there. Obviously, it helps that we're at home, so role players makes it easier for him 'cause the crowd's playing with him and so, I think everybody's just gonna step up and play better. It's home, first home playoff game for many of us and so I just assume everybody's gonna play better. That intensity that they had coming out in Game 2, I think we're gonna have that same kind of fire coming out Game 3.
02:00 What's gonna be your focus, individual focus for you?
02:05 Defensive intensity with Green and Van Vleet, the same it's been as Game 1. I think the reason why he played so well is 'cause we gave them so much space and room to operate and when you give good players that, it's just almost like a summer workout for them. And so having that plus the crowd kind of fueled his fire and I think if we just D him up like we did Game 1 and put pressure on him and make decisions, we'll be fine.
02:32 When Steph and Jimmy have it rolling, it's almost like you scoring and Moses scoring is a luxury. Can you afford that now or do you guys have to kind of step it up a little bit on that end, too?
02:43 Well, we're gonna have to at some point, whether it was this series to the next, to the following one, so why not now? I've told you this in an interview before, great championship teams have great role players that step up and make plays. It's no secret. It's what it is and so I think that's a good time for us to all do it since if Jimmy's not out, Jimmy's playing or he is not playing — obviously, he probably won't play the same minutes, just what it is. And then how do we manufacture the non-Steph minutes? Just everyone's gonna step up a little bit.
03:12 Brandin, when you talk about defensive intensity, how much does physicality, how much is that a part of it?
03:18 It's physicality and effort. That's what it comes down to, whatever scheme you have out there. If you're physical and you make the extra effort, a lot of times you win games.
03:31 Steve talked about it a little bit today, but we saw the "F you, Draymond" chants in Houston, "F you, Brunson" chants last night in Detroit. What do you think about like the state of fan player dynamics right now?
03:46 Man, I'm all for it. I don't really care. I just go out there and play. but it's cool to see fans engaged. I'm pretty sure Chase Center's not gonna be doing that tomorrow, but it's cool to see the engagement with the fans. You can tell that the cities of Detroit and the city of Houston is kind of embodied the way the team's playing, the physicalness, the pushing, shoving, the fans have kind of embodied that as well and so you can feel it, but that's what the playoffs are about.
04:21 Is there a line that's crossed, though, because Steve says swearing the F word at an individual player in an arena where there are thousands of kids as well, he's questioning the example that's being set. I mean, do you find that there's a line between "Refs you suck" and somebody being told "F you"?
04:48 I mean —
04:48 I mean, it's just —
04:50 I feel like there's a line. I think, as a human being, you know what the line is. Obviously, when things get competitive and things get to the stakes that they're at, people tend to cross the line. I heard it was worse in Boston in the '22 Finals than it was, obviously, last game, but for me, I try not to worry about any fan if they're talking to me or not. I just try to go out there and play.
05:14 When you guys watch video and you see how most teams and certainly the Rockets right now, how they're trying to rough up Steph, what crosses your mind when you watch that?
05:24 We're gonna do much of the same.
05:30 Not to Steph.
05:31 Correct.
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05:32 Moses, how did the, what did you guys go over today in the film session and Steve talked about physicality. What do you guys wanna try and do in Game 3?
05:41 MOSES MOODY: Be the aggressor is always a way to fight physicality and just a mindset to have, so I think that was a focus on it.
05:52 You guys obviously see how they rough up Steph. When you see what teams would do to him over the course of the season and now it's even amped up even more, what crosses your mind when you're watching that, on video?
06:06 They're a physical team, so they physicality is something that they use and it's — obviously the player that Steph is, he draws a lot of attention, so that attention is physical.
06:20 Moses, do you — I think Podziemski said that you guys wanna also ramp up your physicality. How do you guys do that?
06:31 I think, like I said, like aggressiveness and being aggressive as a mindset, so just getting extra bumps in when people go through the lane. I guess getting into the ball more, dictating where the offense goes, dictating the possession that way. That's how I like to do at the point of attack. On defense, though, I think that's always.
06:55 You guys with, if Jimmy plays — it's hard to imagine he's gonna play the minutes he has been playing, 40-minutes-plus per game lately. What can you guys do, specifically you and Brandin, I guess, to sort of lighten the load off of him and maybe help Steph out?
07:14 I think just the flow of the game, different things that come available during the game and just game planning for us, where Steph wants the ball, how he wants to get open, different sets, different opportunities, and then pushing the transition and getting easy ones that way.
07:32 And how important is it for you guys to score rather than play-make in this game, or a little bit of both?
07:39 Different games present different things, so we gotta get out there and really get a feel for what's needed and how the games goes, but obviously not knowing the situation, whatever it is, you gotta react and be ready for it, so it might be more of a scoring role.
07:56 A lot of animosity in this series from what we can see. What's it been like being in that environment, talking to other maybe Rockets players or your teammates and everything?
08:07 it's fun. It's cool. It's high-pressure, high-stakes basketball, so that's the game that we love to play. So at the highest level with all of the antics and stuff involved, that's the most fun.
08:22 Dillon Brooks today called Draymond Green a dirty player. Do you have any reaction to that?
08:29 It's a little ironic, isn't it?
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00:00 JONATHAN KUMINGA, POSTGAME, G2-GSW-HOU: No matter what circumstances it mean, you always gotta stay ready because the moment entrances, sometimes you don't get back, so you always gotta stay ready, but I feel like I have been ready and I hate the fact that everybody gotta tell me every other time, be ready, be ready, you know? 'Cause in my mental, my mindset, I already know that I'm ready. The more you keep telling me, "Get ready, get ready," it's kind of irritating, but I'm always ready.
00:28 What do you do to stay ready?
00:30 What do I do?
00:30 Yeah. What did you do to stay ready?
00:32 I work out every day. I play with some of the guys here every other day and just try to have a good spirits every single day. The more my spirits is where I want, that's how I stay ready.
00:50 Was it tough to get the DNPs, to be told you weren't gonna play?
00:56 I mean, it is tough. Any player, is gonna be tough, but what am I gonna do about it? At the end of the day, what you gonna do? But you just gotta, like I say, you just gotta stay ready. You gotta stay — whenever your moment happen, it's gonna happen, but like, but for me it was kind of, just looking at it, just kind of tough, but there's really nothing I can do about it. I can't complain about it. I can't do nothing about it. If I don't play, it's Coach's decision, so —
01:29 Do you understand why?
01:34 I try not to think about it. I try not to think about it. I just try to stay ready. I try not to really even think about why I'm not playing or why I'm playing, so I try not to even think about why I'm not playing 'cause the more I think about that, the more I'm just, it's not gonna sit right in my head, so I just block all the noise and just stay focused on whenever I get my chance.
01:56 Did you feel any rust at all today?
01:57 I mean, I have been playing, it's humid over here. We play in this arena when there's no AC every other day, so that just keep me in shape with the rest of the guys, so yeah.
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02:08 Steve, we saw that Jimmy is officially questionable. What is your optimism level that he'll be able to go tomorrow?
02:17 STEVE KERR AFTER PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE G3-HOU-GSW: I'm relatively optimistic. I mean, Jimmy is Jimmy. I mean, we know he's willing to play through anything, so we'll see. I mean, this is a day-to-day thing for sure and we'll see how he feels tomorrow, but I think there's a chance he plays.
02:33 Do you have to, knowing that, do you have to make two game plans, rotations as you're not sure?
02:40 Yeah, not two game plans, but two rotations for sure. The game plan doesn't change.
02:47 Steve, Chris Finch talked about how he felt the physicality in this year's playoffs is at a pretty high level. I was wondering for you, from what you've seen, is there a difference between maybe the playoffs this year and a few years ago, or is it just kind of how it's always been?
03:02 No, it's different. It's definitely more physical. You can see the pace is down across the league, so it's definitely different this year and everyone has to react to that.
03:14 Do you think it's good or bad for the league to have such a difference in the physicality between playoffs and regular?
03:19 I think everybody wants consistency. I think there's — what we all want is for there to be a distinction between foul and actual fouls and I think that was kind of the whole topic last year and when you go late in the season last year when there was a philosophical shift, we were trying to get away from the stuff where guys were just buying fouls and I thought it created a much better, competitive product. And then in the playoffs, really the job of the officials is to set a tone and then establish consistency and then you just have a clean game where both teams are gonna argue about calls, but at the end, you feel like it was well-officiated and that the right team won and so I think the league works hard to get to that point and, I say it all the time, it's a brutal job. They have a really brutal job.
04:34 Steve, is the Jimmy thing a pain tolerance thing? Is it anything similar to what Steph had?
04:40 Yeah, very similar. And so it's pain tolerance thing, so that's why he's day-to-day, yeah.
04:46 All the grabbing, tugging and hugging they do to Steph when he's running off ball, does any of that impact what you guys do? Do you have to try to do anything different to get those guys off of him?
05:00 Yeah. I mean, you have to try to counter it however you can, so whether it's running a certain action or changing a tactic, whatever it is, you've gotta adjust to the way the game is called.
05:21 What jumped out about the film from the other night and just the ways that they were — ?
05:24 Just our lack of physicality. It was a typical response from a home team down 1-0. Houston was great. They played with more urgency. They played a playoff game. We played a regular season game and that was the main issue for us. Our lack of physicality defensively was really apparent.
05:50 You think that's part of what helped get Green going, was lack of physicality?
05:53 For sure, for sure. Yeah. We gave him way too much space.
05:58 Hi. Steve.
05:58 Hi, Ann (Killion).
05:59 How did everyone else come out of the game and how's Brandin feeling?
06:02 Brandin's much better, yeah. First thing when I saw him at the meeting, he was eating, so that was a good sign, but he looks and feels much better.
06:13 Steve, what did you guys do today? I mean, I'm assuming you didn't do a whole lot, but what'd you guys do today?
06:18 Long film session, reminded our guys of our game plan and then had a probably 30-minute practice where we got some shots up and offensive and defensive stations, just reminding our guys what we're trying to accomplish.
06:36 Was Jimmy off to the side or was he participating?
06:39 He was off to the side, yeah.
06:41 Steve, all the guys who got minutes with Jimmy going down, a lot of guys got crucial minutes maybe they can build off of, right? In terms of having that playoff experience, what did you think?
06:55 Yeah, we've gotta be — everybody's gotta be ready depending on what happens, whether Jimmy plays or not. A lot of guys came in and really performed well. Pat Spencer had a great game for us and it's great to see JK back out there finding his rhythm and we've gotta just be ready for whatever we're facing and we've believed we've got a lot of guys who can help us win the game tomorrow.
07:26 Dillon Brooks defended their Green and called your Green — no, he defended his team for not being dirty and called Draymond dirty today. I'm sure that over all the years, you've heard that a few times and maybe you've gotten pretty good at ignoring the chatter that comes in a playoff series —
07:45 Yeah. Dillon said that? Huh, interesting.
07:54 Coach, fans are very passionate about the game and their teams. Do you feel like some of the things going on around social media are sort of out of pocket and maybe crossing some sort of lines around social media?
08:08 Yeah, I don't even know what's going on in social media. The one thing I do know that I feel strongly about is, I saw what happened last night in Detroit with the fans chanting, "F you, Brunson." Obviously, Draymond the other night in Houston. It feels like we're stepping way over the line and I just would implore — I know our fans aren't gonna do that — I would just implore fans everywhere to not cross the line. I mean, you can yell at the players and you can say a lot of things, but I just find it disturbing. When there's 20,000 fans yelling, "F you," to a player, there's kids all over the arena. Like, what are we teaching our kids? And I understand it's an emotional time when you come to a game and you want your team to win, but the league asks the players to watch their decorum. I think we should ask our fans to do the same. I mean, everyone kind of knows where the line is and we're definitely crossing it and I don't think it's good for anybody.
09:31 Do you — excuse me if I'm crossing a line, but, you think that a lot of that stems from your own experience back at Arizona State and —
09:41 Do I think it's coming from what?
09:43 Where you're coming from, back when you played for Arizona State and, or sorry, Arizona and fans were chanting inappropriate things at you at Arizona State, do you feel like some of that?
09:56 I think it's just coming from human emotion. I mean, the beauty of sports is that we're so invested and we love our team and we're cheering so hard. And it's just, I think in general fans are not trying to cause too much disturbance. I mean, obviously there are times when that happens, but I just think it's the emotion, human emotion of winning and losing and sometimes it spills over and I think it's — I just think fans should think twice before, in unison, chatting with, like I said, kids all over the arena, the players themselves, family members watching. It's just a bizarre scene and it's, honestly, it's not something that I had ever heard before Boston in '22, so I think it's probably more just a sign of where we are societally today, compared to even 10, 15 years ago. It's just more and more things are accepted and I think it's probably something we should think about before we just launch into.
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