Warriors-Spurs pregame: Draymond starts, will plus up to 28 minutes
[+Popovich anecdote; notes/quotes/video]
Here’s Steve Kerr pregame before Golden State Warriors vs San Antonio Spurs. Injury updates included. Stephen Curry also took the podium closer to tipoff and we’ll have that breakdown later. We’ll cover the Gregg Popovich pregame on our live chat commentary, see our YouTube channel.
• Draymond start? “Yeah…”
• Draymond: “…Because we can play him more minutes we can start him. 28-ish, yeah.”
• Andre: “There’s no timetable so just trying to preserve him as best we can for the playoff run. Rick told me yesterday he’s doing pretty well…gonna go on the road trip with us and practice with us.”
• Gary: “…he’s out, Moses is out, but I’m assuming both guys will travel.”
• Influence of Popovich model: “…requires a lot of luck and a lot of development and a lot of shrewd management and personnel decisions…Tim, Manu and Tony…they extended the run by heading for Kawhi…stability…player development…a lot has to go right…try to put all the pieces in place…talented people…two decades like they’ve been able to do…pretty hard to match…”
• Able to meet up with Pop? “No, I’ll See him tonight though after the game.”
• Adapting to not having Steph or keeping with system? “We’re not running new plays or anything but we’ll focus on some of the actions…emphasize our defense…no reason why we can’t given that Draymond is back…first time that we’ll have Draymond, Klay, Wiggs…size and versatility…translate too good offense…tweak some things…mostly out of things we already do.”
• Trust in Poole: “Oh, beginning of last season is not even close but I trust Jordan now more than I did a month ago…aggressiveness without dominating the ball…the .5 mentality…haven’t been any plays where he’s maybe danced on a play rather make a definitive cut…really listening…”
• Wiggs needing to be more aggressive: “…forcing some turnovers and getting out in transition…perfect game for Andrew is a couple fast break hoops, six free throws, knock down a free threes, an offensive rebound putback…”
• Popovich joke: “.., he may have been upset at me because I texted him right after the game…this means we are now 3.5 games ahead of Utah for the third seed…we had a lot of fun poking fun at each other…”
• Zach Collins
• JK small ball 5 or adding a 5? “I talk to Bob all the time. They’re constantly looking at options…that was a pretty unique situation with Bogues…knowing our system, it was a seamless fit…there’s nothing in the horizon…”
• JK small ball 5: “I’m very comfortable playing Beli as a stretch five…even Otto, I think we’re gonna be fine. If we have injuries that’s a different stories but everybody can say that. Injuries are always a killer in the playoffs and you can’t always have a backup for that.”
👍👍💛💙