Will Kerr’s fatal flaw cost the franchise Kuminga?

[Clippers video/transcript/commentary]

This one is tough to put in words, so I did a podcast, my first one in about five years. Here are the Spotify, iTunes and YouTube links:

I think I’ll just share my conversations with my people below, but some stuff to preface: Steve Kerr and one Wardell Stephen Curry both at the same time revealed their fatal flaws in the loss to the Clippers. Obviously, for Kerr it was the DNP of Jonathan Kuminga and for Curry it was the eight turnovers.

But one thing that’s not talked about was the — I’ll call it — over-reverence for Tyronn Lue and the Clips. Just the constant praise of them in podium sessions leading up to and after the game, I truly believe that played a part in Steve’s fear of playing JK and Steph’s fear of Kawhi Leonard and whomever else it was stalking him for double-teams and the seemingly inevitable middle-school-looking turnovers.

It’s like the fear of LAC prevents you from having the creativity to include JK in the rotation and getting yourself out of trouble in trap situations against Clippers on the court.

Quick personal story: Even though the Alpine Striders from LA owned us in nearly every matchup we had against them in countless tournaments, you cannot go into a game thinking, “Oh what a great team they are.” I forget the name of the legendary 6’4” Chinese center we picked up for the NACBAIT Chinese Nationals in Toronto that one year eons ago, but it was his last tourney and I had him bringing up the ball — before it was fashionable for 5s to do so — because Alpine’s guards were just too good as squat-down defenders against our rather inexperienced ball-handlers, myself included. I had our post-up guy bring the ball up and go “tree top to tree top” against the famous Alpine full-court press. We still lost, but it wasn’t a blowout which is saying a lot. It was a competitive game and we always believed we could break their press. We certainly had more belief and creativity than what it looked like at times from the Warriors against the Clippers.

Like, the whole aura was off and then you had the guy who took all of Kuminga’s minutes, Gary Payton II, super-timid on offense:

Just to be clear: JK has his faults as I explained in the previous post. But we got to the point where he was a regular at that off-the-bench 18-minute role due to those nuances I mentioned. To erase that to zero minutes, wow. To me, he is a minimum 18-minute player.

So, I talked about facing your fears in the podcast and learning from this — we all can, not just Kerr and Curry — but every fiber of my being as a former coach and player in the super-competitive California Asian-American circuit tells me the DNP was absolutely the wrong thing to do.

And I get that Kerr was a spot-shooter himself, that the ball cannot stick with Steph on the floor, that Steve probably has some Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich old school 90s- and 2000s-era DNA that would lead to the brutality of the DNP/doghouse/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

I’m taking into account egos from both sides, as I’ve been a coach who has benched a talented player, as well as the talented player who has been benched — never was any situation an ego-busting DNP, though!

The other side of this is the salary cap sheet management, which I think is the part that really gets me. Even if the Warriors had won the game, there’s now less optionality with the Kuminga salary slot than there was before. That is to say, I think I’d still be mad at Steve for the DNP even had the Warriors beat LA.

I will share the capsheet analysis and some of my Asian tournament anecdotes during pregame tonight as we gear up for the Play-in game against Memphis.

And yet I could be wrong about all this:

• Maybe Joe Lacob and/or Mike Dunleavy, Jr. already did damage control and/or maybe Steve apologized to JK, or

• Maybe the Kuminga camp was okay with it and doesn’t have your typical basketball ego that I’ve seen over decades playing and coaching amateur traveling tournament teams as well as observations of AAU, or

• Maybe there’s some other variable in the locker room that we’re of course not privy to, although Tim Kawakami of the SF Standard said on the Warriors Plus-Minus podcast that the vibe he gets in that locker room is that nobody is saying, “What about JK?” — Kawakami also said he thinks Kuminga won’t play much tonight against the Grizzlies, or

• Maybe getting off JK’s contract is some kind of 4-D chess management is playing — again, they’re $37 million below the second apron, which happens to be same number as Kuminga’s closest comparable in Franz Wagner, although there are still four other salary slots to fill, or

• Maybe Steve’s secret identity is Doctor Strange and he’s calculated that there are millions of scenarios where the Warriors make a deep playoff run and we spend two-plus more months being super-relevant in the NBA and this whole JK-DNP thing ends up being a forgettable blip on the radar. Maybe this is what Steph meant when he said that Kuminga had to be a part of their success, that it would only happen in a regular playoff seven-games series.

If JK never wants to be a Warrior again after this, maybe it’s just a reminder to enjoy each and every game from here on out to the Summer of 2027, win or lose.

There, I just gave all the possible good news I could about not playing Kuminga.

Now for the darker side. Here are my discussions with my people [BELOW THAT ARE THE VIDEOS AND TRANSCRIPTS FROM LAC-GSW]:

Me: Overall I’d love to know if most of the coaching staff did or did not like the idea of not playing JK. I wonder if it was a democratic vote or Steve had veto power, that kind of thing. I want to know who made this decision because, even though they only lost by a tiny bit in OT, a loss is a loss and so that idea of making JK a DNP has to be deemed a terrible one. I’m thinking the latter: he had ultimate power and I just think there’s no way the staff would agree to DNP Kuminga in a democratic vote. But oh well.

Eric G. (Draft and cap aficionado): I think Kerr is a great coach… But Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Kuminga, wings who hold the ball and main asset is scoring, he doesn’t like and know how to use well. Kerr has shown he has favorites that he’s willing to learn and play through their mistakes and others he doesn’t. Usually he favors the overachiever type all out hustler, He was going to play Gui Santos over JK yesterday! Santos was supposed to come in the second half but GSW had a turnover instead, so never came in. Again, he’s a great coach, but Lue would have figured out how to play JK ten to eighteen minutes. He definitely will sign a restricted free agent deal with another team and ask the Warriors not to match the contract, but we’ll see if Lacob does.

Me: I think Kerr is a genius, actually. But even geniuses have an Achilles heel. Not many people know this, but initially Albert Einstein just refused to believe some of the aspects of quantum mechanics. But yeah, I saw that Gui was coming in too. So, just like Steph dribbling into the corner, doubled (twice I think?) is like his fatal flaw, this is also Kerr’s. It’s honestly a fireable offense because now you’ve put the JK contract in jeopardy — given it less “optionality” as they like to say. I can’t imagine Dunleavy was not upset with this DNP. Kerr has admitted on the podium they’ve had shouting arguments although their relationship is strong. I’d almost be disappointed if Mike didn’t tear down Steve’s door in the office lol. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Kinda same thing happened last year with Andrew Wiggins. Remember how Wiggs was pretty irrelevant in the offense for a bit? Of course, he had the issue with his dad (RIP, Mitchell Wiggins), but I do remember thinking in the middle of it that Wiggs was gonna be untradeable that summer and sure enough that became the case — although all the missed games due to personal reasons probably weighed heavier. So if I’m Dunleavy or Lacob, I’m incensed. You just potentially made a talented guy on the team want to leave. GP2 didn’t do a good job of staying in front of James Harden, anyways (even fouled him on a three!), and the team turned the ball over 20 times, so how could playing Kuminga have been worse? I’ve never been a “Fire Kerr” dude and this is totally different than an angry casual on Twitter, but giving JK zero minutes, to me and given what I know about basketball egos and the potential effect on the contract situation with him, it is a fireable offense. You also got new young coaches coming up in the league, so being creative and figuring out a way to incorporate JK in a must-win game, it’s not a vacuum. You can’t tell me young Willie Green, whom I’ve praised for game-planning on Moses Moody (of all people), would’ve found a way to incorporate JK at least a little bit. It’s just how it is. The NBA has copied your genius with Curry, to a degree, but you’d better keep evolving because if you don’t, these younger coaches already have all the Steph knowledge they need to take it beyond you, if you can’t. It only takes one GM who wants JK to be “him” and play that halfcourt playground Kobe Bryant style. It only takes one GM to say, “Hey, JK, we’ll actually run plays that feature you.” Then, what happens to that $30-ish million slot that JK will probably get? You must stay away — very, very far away — from the trade demand nightmare in which you usually get nothing in return. And I can picture a Kerr rebuttal, like, “Hey, come on, you hired me to coach and win a game, not worry about salary cap.” Again, welcome to the 2025 NBA. Evolve or be left behind. And I’m willing to accept that maybe Steve just knows it’s gonna come to end soon, anyways, so it’s like, “If I’m gonna go out, I’m gonna go out on my terms.” Technically, though, that would be hypocritical of him and Steph saying they intend to leave the franchise in a better place — you know, the whole “we’re not just gonna fling assets” at the trade deadline, before the Jimmy Butler thing went down. Alienating your most athletic prospect is not leaving the franchise in a better place. Again: 🤷🏻‍♂️

Mark (long-time Fil-Am tournament coach and GM): You are 100 percent right. I wanted to hear your view since you have a read on the Warriors pulse and, man, that’s deep.

Me: And it’s not really about Xs and Os. I’m exploring my thoughts, but I think it’s because I thought we had a happy family — granted, Steve’s done this before to JK, but we got past it — and we are gonna have a brother leave the family for a very good reason. And it’s like, if I were in my brother’s shoes, I’d leave, too. But I’m not him, so I’m not the one leaving. It’s like dad kicked him out. But I shall try some meditations and get back to some gratitude for the last decade which should outweigh whatever comes of this, or perhaps it’s just worst-case scenario fears and we’ll be fine.

Dean “of Positivity” Chambers: Well, Rich, I agree, other than THE SEASON'S NOT OVER YET. Not by a long shot. You have fought for Kuminga as I have. That's got to mean something. Still... I'm glad that you're having these tough feelings. Simply because it shows how much we all care about our players, our team and our family. Surely you know by now Rich that the people who know you always find the best in you. I'm actually pissed to learn that you hadn’t uploaded to Spotify in years. This was like the best Warriors or even basketball content I've listened to in years. We need you.

Me: And I need you! We all need each other for these tough observations and tough losses.

00:00 What aspect of this one do you think kinda led to the loss?

00:08 STEPH CURRY: I had too many turnovers, especially the start of the game. Didn't get good possessions, obviously tried to make up for it in the second half, but against the Clippers, they're playing some of the best basketball in the league and over the course of 48, in overtime, every possession's gotta be valuable. We fought hard and had a chance multiple times. When you give them extra possessions, they got scorers and, especially when you're giving up offensive rebounds too, we couldn't get to them, a lot of 50-50 balls just in the margins. We talk about that a lot and we didn't control that. I didn't control that very well, certain parts of the game and you look at a five-point game or three-point game here or there, one possession either way, those add up.

01:04 What'd you think about Jimmy today, plays 48 minutes, obviously guarding Kawhi for much of it, scoring the way he did, we've all — maybe not inside the locker room — been saying, when's Playoff Jimmy gonna show up? Did you kind of see that today?

01:19 He was aggressive and, I mean, he does what the game calls for. I don't think there's anything premeditated of, "Oh, I need to shoot every possession now," or "I need to play-make now," or where that balance is, you kind of just, he just reads the game and he understood the way that they were defending us in the perimeter. He could get advantages on iso's. Him looking for a shot is obviously great for us and his aggressiveness opened up a lot of other things over the course of the game, so I'm sure we'll see more of it.

01:50 Steph, three chances at home to win one. Your last chance up against a team that no doubt more than likely can come in here with a chip on their shoulder in the Memphis Grizzlies. That weight I asked you about the other night, is it heavier going into this one knowing how much this game will weigh on your playoff implications?

02:05 Not really. I think, to the point that we had tonight, we got Tuesday and you don't wanna talk about anything else, just to get into a playoff series, so there is a sense of urgency. There's been one for the last two months for us to even have a chance, so our history of the Play-in and you kind of just wanna feel like what it's like to get through that and get into, hopefully, a series with Houston.

02:35 You have talked for a month or so now about trying to avoid the Play-in, though at all costs. How easy is it to just kind of accept what happened today and move forward and think about Tuesday or how kind of, I don't know, deflating is today's loss?

02:51 You're just glad, I mean, you have to take the positives of where we were two months ago and know our season isn't over, so we would've loved to have taken advantage of these last four games. And you look at that San Antonio game as one that was a tough, tough beat, but you have to be able to wash it down and drain it quick and take care of our business on Tuesday and make something of this chance that we have, so we're excited about it. We know Memphis has been playing solid and they present some challenges and we gotta be ready for it.

03:32 Steph, you talked about your turnovers before and, especially over the last couple of weeks, do you strategize per game about what kind of passes you're gonna throw or what have you, or is it just game by game?

03:47 I mean, it's up and down. I've been critical of myself and also you gotta be positive, too. I had, besides the one against San Antonio, I've been pretty sure with the ball the last five or so games. Just tonight, the first three that I had were just indecision and taking chances. You're gonna have turnovers to have the ball in your hands. You wanna play a perfect game, but that didn't really exist, so you're gonna have some. There were a couple tonight that just got kind of trapped in jail, either in the corner or in the paint with three guys, didn't really have an outlet, so those are the ones you can avoid, but you wanna play aggressive, play free, not second-guess yourself. Out of the eight, I'd say three of 'em I probably went back just either rushing or not having a plan.

04:40 Stephen, you referenced the second and third opportunities they got on the offensive end. Are those minor adjustments for you guys in terms of just back to basics of blocking out positioning and just hustle plays on some of those balls?

04:56 There's a "want to" effect. You can't be casual. You can't just take for granted that the ball's gonna come your way. Even if it's in your vicinity, you gotta go get one. There was one Ben Simmons had on the baseline. Me and BP were around there and I kind of casually went for it. It's like just taking what's yours. There's a mentality around it and for the majority of the game we didn't have that and, again, those possessions add up, gave six more offensive rebounds and they had 17 more rebounds, in general, so they're a bigger team and if we have a chance to get it, securing those possessions matter, so you don't wanna lose sleep over it, but you wanna make sure you address it moving forward.

05:39 Steph, you mentioned your guys' Play-in history. What can you learn from that and what can you learn from Jimmy's Play-in history, which is quite different?

05:50 We joked about that, I think, last week, that he went into the Play-in packing for two months, so we would love to have that opportunity. What we can learn is you need to win. We haven't had a good outcome on three games, maybe? I can remember each one of 'em vividly. LeBron hits that shot on the right wing, Ja hits a couple tough buckets when we played 'em here.

06:18 (Raymond Ridder:) Xavier Tillman hit a corner three.

06:20 That's right. And we forget about — we washed the Sacramento game down the drain pretty quick, so just win.

06:30 You mentioned the rebounding. You guys were minus-17. I'm sure there are ways to offset that, overcome that in some games, but how hard is it to win a game when you're — that kind of deficit with rebounding?

06:46 You pretty much saw it. We had some heroics, we had some — me in the second half, Jimmy in the first half, Draymond hitting big shots. All of those were just to stay afloat and just stay in the game. If you can just get maybe — and take three of my turnovers — let's get six or seven more rebounds, let's 10 more shots, you could probably get on the rim and see what happens. And against a good team like — you're not expecting to blow the Clippers out. That's one or two or three possessions here or there that make a difference in momentum and down the stretch, so that's frustrating, for sure.

07:28 They are, Clippers are 17th in rebounding. Grizzlies are second in rebounding. Between now and and Tuesday, how much focus would you say would probably be on that?

07:39 A lot just — but it's not technique. It's just mentality. It is just go get it and everybody have that chip on your shoulder because when we do get the rebounds, you see us flying in transition that we have anybody — or anybody who grabs the rebound or the outlet pass, we have confidence that everybody can run and we got spacing and that's usually your best offense. So even with Memphis, they're a bigger team, but you can kind of get 'em in transition if you can secure rebounds and those 50-50 balls and that'll probably be a good test or a marker of if we can win that game or not.

08:15 Steph, how'd your thumb come out of tonight and is it getting better?

08:20 It was fine. I mean, I try not to think about it too much, so yeah, just keep playing.

08:30 Steph, you've said that to win at the highest level, Kuminga needs to be a part of that. What do you hope to see from him going forward after the DNP tonight?

08:42 Just to be ready. Just the test of a young player in this league and, especially with our team, you never know when your moment will be there at the brightest and highest of moments, so it wasn't his time tonight and against Memphis, it could be a game where he makes his presence felt. So not — don't let noise outside of the locker room, the attention that might come from it, distract you from your ability to make an impact when your number is called. So we saw this summer, DNPs are all over the place. You gotta be able to be ready.

09:26 Hey Steph, how prepared are you guys physically to potentially play for another two months, with you banged up and Jimmy and Dray took a fall today too.

09:37 If we're worried about that, we're worried about the wrong stuff. You just wanna give it your best shot. and I think tonight we showed up physically and with our energy, just the attention to detail wasn't there on the things that could help us win, but we're primed. We've been here before. It's gonna take a lot, but I think we have the tank.

09:59 How do you personally feel about going into a Play-in vibe, a must-win vibe, knowing you got a Jimmy if it gets tight. You have that kind of caliber of end-of-game player next to you.

10:14 I've been excited since the trade deadline because of that, so this is the continuation of that and just understanding we gotta be organized offensively, especially if it's a close game. Second half, understand — being clear on what we're trying to do, especially offensively where he wants the ball in his spot, spacing around him. There's maybe two possessions in the fourth quarter, I didn't necessarily feel the momentum of the play call that we had, knowing there was ways to attack the Clippers in space and we kind of let them bog us down a little bit and take our ball movement, our player movement away, but we can address all of that and be really clear on how we're trying to create shots. And Jimmy being a huge part of that, he was the whole game tonight, so we got a lot of confidence we can figure that out.

11:07 Picked up a key win over Memphis a week-and-a-half ago now. Just what stands out about that matchup, different styles, but it's a physical game?

11:20 Protecting the paint. They have Ja who controls momentum. You wanna make sure you keep a body on Des (Bane). He's a great shooter, great scorer and Jaren Jackson's playing amazing all year, but if we can get up and down, transition, speed the game up, play to our advantages, then we should be in good shape. But it's a game of runs, too. You gotta know, whether you start off hot, hot or not, just stay with it. 48 minutes of sound basketball, we should be in good shape.

11:56 Steph, kind of following up on Danny (Emerman)'s question, with Kuminga, how much do you think he could maybe help against Memphis given the rebounding issues you had tonight and do you imagine that he would play more of a role in that, given those issues?

12:13 Yeah, I think whatever the game calls for. Coach makes decisions and you understand when certain combinations are out there, especially if it's JK. He can make his presence felt in the paint. He's had some games where he's attacked the glass and made that a point of emphasis and, if he's out there, that's a great way for him to make his presence felt, but no matter what the combinations are, we gotta be ready for whatever that one-game kind of environment. Everybody has to be ready, including him.

12:47 Steph, can you talk about your kind of rivalry with James Harden? You guys are obviously in the same Draft class and you've had many battles over the years and tonight kind of felt like one another one of those.

12:57 Utmost respect and appreciation for who he is as a player and as a person. We go way back to even college days, we were All-Americans. We weren't in the Final Four, but we were in Detroit hanging out at the hotel, me, him, Jeff Teague, guys that have been around since '09 and that know all the battles we had. There's just a lot of love and a lot of respect for what he's done his entire career and the levels that he's pushed it, so it's kind of cool to keep having opportunities to do it in 2025.

13:37 Steph, they were highly complimentary of Kris Dunn in the job he did today. Obviously, you got your 36, but just what was it like going up against him and what are some of the things that he does that maybe creates some difficulties out there?

13:51 I mean, strong, quick athletic. Yeah, long reach. He's relentless too. He understands when he's out there in that lineup, it's his job to knock down open shots if you leave him open and to guard probably the best perimeter player on the other team. And he's — I know his career's been all over the place — and that's how he's made his impact on this team, so you gotta respect it. You keep going back at him, but he's — I know he took the assignment and was pretty physical all night. I did get to mine, but he definitely makes you work.

14:30 Alright, last one over here on the left.

14:32 Oh, hi Steph. Tonight they doubled a lot, especially the last couple possessions, but when you pass out, it seems like your teammate's open, but they were kind of hesitating and then pass back to you again. So what kind of adjustment do you think for the next game can make ithe offense more efficiently?

14:53 Just making the right play. I think there were, what, two times in the fourth quarter I dribbled into the corner or, again, dribbled into the paint and didn't really have a plan when I was in there, but you're gonna see traps and we were trapping James and Kawhi all over the place. You just try to make the right play and hope that there's a shot that's created on the backside and have confidence that whoever's gonna take it and make a play is ready for it and you just keep doing that over and over and over again, good things happen.

00:00 Jimmy, how's your thigh feeling?

00:03 JIMMY BUTLER, POSTGAME LAC-GSW: I'll be aight. Go home and play some dominoes, drink some coffee. That'll help me feel better.

00:11 What happened? You played you played 48 minutes tonight. Do you remember the last time you got up to 48? I'm sure a recent playoff game?

00:17 I don't remember, but it was 48 to a losing effort, so hopefully the next 48 is gonna be towards the dub.

00:25 Did you go into this knowing you were gonna play almost the whole game?

00:29 I mean, I would like to hope so. Whatever it takes to win at this point for everybody. If 48's needed, 50's is needed, then you gotta be able to do it. We did it, so we — back to the drawing board. We got an important one on Tuesday.

00:44 Coach tell you that was — ? Or you just — ?

00:46 Mm-mm. Just the way it worked out. I'm always ready to go, though.

00:48 How do you feel going into the Play-in and, obviously, you've had great success at the Play-in and the Warriors, on the other hand, have not had good success in this configuration.

00:57 We're great. We're great. We're right where we want to be. We still got a opportunity and we control our own fate. We're gonna be just fine.

01:08 What are the things you want to take from this game into the next one?

01:11 Win.

01:13 You guys didn't win this one, though.

01:14 I know.

01:14 So what are the things — what do you wanna take from this one?

01:16 Don't lose. That's what I'm thinking. Don't lose.

01:20 Did the offense run pretty well, for the most part, you thought?

01:24 Yeah, we alright.

01:24 Mm-hmm.

01:27 Maybe could contest some shots a little bit better. Oh, get to loose balls, there you go. Loose balls, rebound. I think my sorry ass had one rebound, so if I rebound a lot more, game might be different.

01:38 It's hard to win minus-17 rebounding.

01:40 Yeah.

01:41 Yeah, so.

01:43 You've been a part of a lot of Play-ins. Do you like that change that the league implemented five or so years ago?

01:49 I don't take any chance for granted to play basketball, to compete and to win, whether it be the playoffs or Play-in, any basketball game. I think I'm super-blessed to be able to call myself a professional basketball player in the best league in the world, so as long as I get to go out there and compete, I'm happy.

02:08 What was the matchup against Kawhi like for you?

02:11 It was a good one as it always is. Two peer competitors along with everybody else over there and in this locker room. They got us tonight, but maybe we'll see them down the road.

02:24 Is there anything different that you do to prepare for a Play-in game or they're just kind of business as usual?

02:28 Nah, I go into every game the exact same, confident working on my craft, seeing how I can get everybody involved and, more than anything, I'm trying to figure out a way to win.

02:40 Anything you feel like you can take from that last match up of Memphis a couple weeks ago, going into Tuesday?

02:45 Honestly, I don't even remember that. I had to ask questions about it earlier today. I'll go watch some film and figure out how I can help everybody in here be productive and be the best version of themselves, along with myself and get one on the home floor.

03:00 I asked Draymond what mindset was going into a Play-in. He said, "We got Jimmy. That's what our mindset is." What's it like to hear that and do you feel that responsibility?

03:10 I do, but man, we got a lot of really good basketball players around this locker room key in what we're trying to do. I like the confidence that he has in myself. I also have that same amount of confidence, so I know that I and we have a job to do and I know that we're capable of doing it, so Play-in, here we come.

03:30 What did it feel like, not only his confidence in you, but I mean, Steve obviously ran a lot of the offense through you today. I mean, there was clearly a big responsibility in you today.

03:37 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

03:39 Think about the arc of your season. This is what you wanted, right?

03:41 I wanted to win. I don't care who the ball — who's getting touches, who's scoring it. It didn't end the way that we wanted it to end, so we gotta figure something out, myself included and, man, hit the ground running come Tuesday, but it felt good to have the ball, make all the right decisions, put the ball in the basket sometimes. But all of that to say we still got a game on Tuesday that we gotta win.

04:06 You sound not worried now about your thigh, were you in the moment? I mean, you looked like you were struggling though.

04:11 I mean, it hurt. Yeah, it hurt, but I'm not too worried. I know that I'm gonna be ready to go. Armando (Rivas) is gonna take great care of me.

04:17 Did you get a knee or something in the thigh? Is that what happened?

04:20 Yeah.

04:20 Just underneath the basket?

04:21 (Nods.)

04:22 Did you learn something today about what you can do with this team in this type of pressure-packed game?

04:28 Nah, we've all known what everybody can do, not just myself. This is just a really good time of the year for everybody and I'm excited that we all get to showcase our talents again on Tuesday.

04:44 What's required to improve in the loose ball department?

04:48 The will and want to do it. You can't just bend over and try to pick it up. You gotta get on the floor, put your nose on it, dive, everybody. Probably except Steph. I don't want Steph to dive, no matter what. I don't. I'm just being brutally honest.

05:03 Can you describe how — obviously everything's changed since you've come — just the level of play, I don't know if it's like .600 or .700 ball, but how hard it is to do that down the stretch, what you guys have been able to do with you in the lineup now?

05:14 We all right. Like I said, we're right where we wanna be. We get an opportunity to play again at home. I think we've played well every quarter. I think some of our best basketball is late in the fourth. Everybody's confident, everybody's comfortable, everybody know where the ball gotta go, so on Tuesday, I think we'll see a different outcome.

05:34 What's different to you?

05:35 Last one. Go ahead.

05:35 What's different to you about today's game, Tuesday's game, the playoffs. We talked about the intensity, the style change. I mean, what about this?

05:44 I think the focus, the importance of every single possession, knowing what you're supposed to be doing, knowing that they gonna know what you're supposed to be doing and also you're supposed to know what they're supposed to be doing at the same time. I think that's the biggest difference and we got a game on Tuesday, but then after that we potentially could be playing the same team seven times.

06:08 Great. Thank you.

—

06:13 It's not necessarily the outcome you wanted going into this one, but you got another game on Tuesday, pretty quick turnaround. How are you guys feeling going into this one?

06:21 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Oh, we feel fine. After the game, the other night in Portland, we essentially have three home games to win one and we didn't get it done the first try, so we got two more cracks at it.

06:34 Brandin, you guys needed a 52 from Steph the last time you guys played the Grizzlies. What can you learn from that last game for Tuesday night?

06:42 I mean, it was just one of those nights where he got hot, so we did our best to get him the ball. Obviously, with Jaylen Wells out now, for them it might look a little bit different in how they guard him, but everybody's ready to step up. Everybody's ready for the moment.

06:57 You had seven rebounds tonight. The rest of the starters combined to have seven. How do you guys get better on the glass especially with some of those loose balls as well?

07:05 I think that's the biggest thing. The glass, we're gonna take care of. It's just the loose balls. There's three, four possessions out there that we could have had that they got tonight and whether it resulted in points or not, it just gave them more of a rhythm and so we get those, I think we have a better chance of winning the game.

07:23 At the end of the regular season, the bumps and bruises really pile up. How much does it hurt that you guys won't have a week off and that you have to play Tuesday?

07:30 I just look at it as another opportunity. We get to play the game we all love, another opportunity to play with all of our brothers that we've formed a connection with throughout the year and, quite frankly, we just gotta win one more game and that's just what it is. It's not the most ideal thing, but you gotta look at things both sides of the story and we get an opportunity to play.

07:51 Lots of guys played heavy minutes tonight. You were over 40. Jimmy played 48. What did he give you in those 48 minutes?

07:57 Everything we could ask for from him. Played well, scored the ball, assisted, got stops when it meant the most and that's what Playoff Jimmy's about.

08:07 To have somewhat of a slow start to a season and then get to a point where you're a starter and you are playing heavy and important minutes for a team heading into a game that had such heavy implications, does that fuel you at all as you go into the Play-in, knowing how your game has progressed this season?

08:23 I mean, I think how I'm playing now is just kind of how I envision myself playing. In the summertime, going into the season, obviously it didn't start the way I would've liked, but give credit to my teammates. They've stuck with me, even the coaching staff stuck with me, giving me confidence when times were bad and just knowing it'll all shake out how it was supposed to shake out. I knew I wasn't a 15% three-point shooter and I've turned it around. I don't know where I'm at now, but I've turned it around and couldn't be more happier that me and the team are playing as well as we are right now.

09:02 Brandin, what does tomorrow look like for you? Are you a film guy? Is it just kind of get your body right? How do you prepare yourself for such a quick turnaround?

09:09 I think I'll look. I'll watch our last game back against them since it was so recent, see what they like to do, see what my matchup will be, probably Desmond (Bane) again, but just try to take them out of their patterns and then I'll come in tomorrow night, get a massage and probably just get some shooting in a little bit and then Tuesday morning, some more film and then come in for a walkthrough and we'll kind of see what we do collectively as a team to prepare.

09:37 You just mentioned Playoff Jimmy. How comfortable are you and confident are you, entering such a high stakes game with a guy like that?

09:46 I mean, I don't know how you could be any more confident. I don't know if there's any one person in a Play-in situation that you would want on your team. Maybe Steph. And we have both of them, so the confidence is there. We know him and Steph are gonna produce and now it just becomes what other role guys are gonna step up and want the moment.

00:00 Draymond, in an overtime game with 23 lead changes. How would you describe the intensity of every possession in a game that was already pressure-packed for the 6th seed?

00:10 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME LAC-GSW: I think two teams fighting to get in the playoffs, two veteran teams. We both been in these situations to know what it takes, which led to that intensity and they got it done. We didn't.

00:27 Draymond, you just mentioned the fact that it was intense. You guys are veterans, you know how this goes, but you got one day between now and seeing Memphis here at home. How are you guys feeling in the locker room knowing that you got a quick turnaround like that?

00:38 We'll be fine with the quick turnaround. We haven't fared in these Play-in games, so gotta make sure we're locked in and ready to go, but as far as it being a quick turnaround, we'll be all right.

00:49 Draymond, I was just gonna ask you about that, about your history in the Play-in games. Does that — do you see any pattern to it? And obviously you are a different team now with Jimmy than you have been before and he's had great success in a playing situation. Do you draw on that at all?

01:07 I mean, we just draw on having Jimmy. As a whole, saw the effort he put out there tonight. That's it, not necessarily the experience and the Play-in or any of that. Just riding our aces. That's it.

01:29 Draymond, how are the — what are the ways you can sort of offset a rebounding deficit? You guys were minus-17 in rebounding today and how hard is it to win when you're that far behind on rebounding?

01:40 It's tough to win. We also didn't get a lot of loose balls, so rebounding is one thing, but then some of these loose balls that are just bouncing and we're not getting the long rebounds, they're loose, we're not getting, so we gotta be better at getting loose balls.

02:00 Draymond, you referred to this a little bit with Jimmy, but how does the — how's the vibe different in a big game like this with him as an asset? It seemed like so much of the game was running through him. How does it feel different with him in this kind of setting and if, going forward, if you do make the playoffs?

02:21 It's completely different. You have a guy who can kind of slow the pace of the game down for us, get us into good things and just having that extra added weapon and having another No. 1 next to Steph is different and so definitely makes us a much better team tonight. We didn't capitalize on his great game, but it makes us a much more complete team, better team.

02:50 What do you — what are your early thoughts on the Memphis matchup?

02:53 Ja's been playing incredible, shooting the ball really well. Jaren's played great all year. Bane's come back on, after having a tough start to the year with some injuries and different things. He's turned back into the Desmond Bane that signed a $200 million — whatever it is. His contract was — the reason he got that contract, battled through a lot of injuries last year, coming into the year, battling some injuries and he's found his footing. So, really good ball club, but I think our coaching staff have a great game plan. We gotta make sure we go execute it.

03:34 Hey, heavy minutes for you for Steph, for Podz and for Jimmy, 48 minutes. What did you see him pour into those 48?

03:40 Everything. At times when he was tired, he could just continue to push through it, which is who this whole league has grown to know, so tough one, but we gotta bounce back.

03:56 When it comes to getting some of those loose balls, do you think fatigue was maybe a factor? You guys have been playing like it's the playoffs for the last —

04:02 Hell, no. You just gotta put — stick your nose in there and get the loose ball. It ain't got nothing to do with no fatigue. If you was fatigued tonight, you should go home and stay at home.

04:12 Draymond, how would you assess Steph's play, considering he's got that heavy wrap on his hand and he poured it all out there, too?

04:19 He was great. I think guys did a good job of screening for him, loosening the defense up on him. They're grabbing him everywhere he is on the floor. That's not a complaint about the grab by the way. That's just me explaining to you what he's playing through and he continued to push, got the ball in his spots, took advantage of the defense, so yeah, I thought, all things considered, he was really good.

04:49 Draymond, we know what that week off would've meant for you guys and how much you wanted to avoid the Play-in. How much confidence do you have that you guys have the juice and just the legs to make it through a whole playoff run without that week off?

05:05 We'll be fine. Playoffs, you playing no back-to-backs or anything like that, so just gotta get there. We'll be all right. We are not senior citizens. We're high level basketball players. If we had to play tomorrow, we'll be all right. You train all year for this, so yeah, it's no disrespect to the senior citizens, by the way. We love our senior citizens. Just to throw that out there. But we ain't there yet, but we'll be just fine.

05:41 Draymond, did you want the matchup with Kawhi there at the end of regulation and then into overtime? Did you seek that out?

05:47 Yeah, I wanted to match up. Oh yeah, I did.

05:55 How good was he playing tonight?

05:56 He's great. Every time I play against him, I have to get — I improve 'cause it's such a challenge. It's always — he's one of the guys I enjoy playing in this league the most 'cause he's so good. A lot of people don't give him the credit he deserve. Only when it's beneficial, do they give him credit, but he's so f-ing great and you have to be dialed in in order to try to guard him and even when you are dialed in, it's still a very hard challenge. So he's one of the guys that, for myself, I enjoy playing against the most in this league. He'd have to be in my Top Three of guys. I enjoy playing him just because I hate playing against the teams that star players aren't out there and I like to play against the stars 'cause it just challenge you on a different level. When you watch this league growing up, you loved watching the matchups with Kobe and another great, Shaq against David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Those were the matchups, the Shaq versus the Pistons with Ben Wallace. Those are matchups I enjoy watching the most and now being in this position, those are the matchups that I like playing against the most because when you're playing against greats, they just require you to play at a different level. And every time I play against Kawhi, he requires that and so I'm always excited to play against him, to just challenge you to be better as a basketball player.

07:42 Dray, what happened on the two late plays, you at the rim and Buddy coming off for that three-pointer that he didn't get going very well?

07:47 I completely smoked the layup and Buddy missed the shot.

07:55 Was it the shot that he wanted, that you wanted, you guys wanted?

07:58 Yes. That was the play that was drawn up and we got the look. He just missed it. GP made a good play in the post, I mean, in the pocket and I smoked the layup.

08:12 Draymond, I know Taylor Jenkins is not there anymore, but is there still some kind of juice or emotions when these two teams face each other in Memphis and you guys?

08:21 I don't think they care if Steve Kerr wasn't here anymore and they still want to beat the hell out of us, so we're fighting for a playoff spot. They are as well. Everybody know what's on the line. I think the juice will be just fine regardless of who their coach is.

08:39 Draymond, people often talk about the downside of a quick turnaround, but are there any positives of playing in two days, especially after maybe putting up 119 points against one of the better defensive teams?

08:51 Rhythm. It kind of keeps you in the rhythm, the flow that you've gotten accustomed to all season, but there's not much positive to us playing on Tuesday other than we need to go win the game.

00:00 Steve a game at that high-level that comes down to the very end against — obviously, huge plays made by them, huge plays made by you guys — do you come out of it, "Okay, our guys played well, we got another game," or do you come out of it mad? How do you — ?

00:13 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME LAC-GSW: It's a big time basketball game. I mean, that's one of the best teams in the NBA and so are we. That's how I look at it, great, great game, high-level stuff, stars being stars. We came up short, but not for a lack of effort. A lot of great execution, a lot of stuff that was very impressive, but we couldn't quite pull it out.

00:41 Is there any kind of late game choices or mistakes you'd like back? I mean, I know there was kind of — you guys fouled pretty late in overtime.

00:48 Mm-hmm.

00:49 And I know at end of regulation you took the foul to give, but that took the shot clock off. Any of that you feel like was a mistake?

00:58 Not really. You go for a steal first and then you try to get the foul next and we got what we wanted. We got the ball back down three and had a decent look, so it's, like I said, high-level basketball game and both teams played really hard and really well. And we just came up a little short.

01:21 Jimmy was definitely limping there towards the end of overtime. Did you get any update? Is that at all — ?

01:25 I think it was his quad. I think he got a knee in the quad, but he said he's okay.

01:29 And did you go into this knowing that he was gonna play 45, 46 minutes? Did you know that or it just became clear that he wasn't gonna come out?

01:37 It's a playoff game. I mean, Harden played 48, Kawhi played 47, Zubac 42, Powell 44 Brandin 43. So when you get to these type games, you tighten up the rotation and you play your guys and you go for it.

01:57 And was that a direct result that Jonathan's not gonna play, if the guy he usually subs in for isn't gonna come out of the game very much or was there other reasons why Kuminga did not play tonight?

02:08 We've just found a group since Jimmy got here that we're pretty comfortable with. Gui didn't play either. Gui's been our highest plus-minus guy over the last two months. Both he and JK have been really impactful players for us and doesn't mean they're out of the loop going forward. It's just, this is how this game played out.

02:33 Steve, how hard is it to offset a minus-17 rebounding deficit there and what are the ways you can do it if it's possible, even.

02:41 I thought that was the part of the game — the only part of the game, really — that bothered me a little bit. I thought there were five or six loose balls that we were very careless going after, one hand, I think. Moses had one where he just, loose ball and he tried to retrieve with one hand a couple times, ball's on the floor. We tried to bounce it instead of going in and it's a great lesson. We'll show those those clips and remind the guys that the ball is gold. The ball is everything and so we've gotta do everything possible to secure the loose balls and the rebounds.

03:21 How much of that is Zubac's size, because, I mean, I think in the four games you guys have played them, he averaged like 16 rebounds a game.

03:28 Zubac is a load. He is a great player and they have a really good formula with the pressure that James puts on you in pick-and-roll. You're constantly having to play cat-and-mouse with Zubac. Do you come over and help? Do you stay back? And when you do come over to help, then he's right underneath the basket for the rebound, so they've got a great team. Like I said, I think they're one of the best teams in the whole league and I hope we get another crack at them.

03:58 You have to very quickly kind of shift your mind. I think you play two days from now against Memphis. Early thoughts on that? And Memphis, a different team, but came in here and beat you in a Play-in game a few years ago. I guess, how urgent do you feel getting that 7-seed?

04:14 Well, yeah, we gotta turn the page quickly and move on to that game and so the guys will have tomorrow off, we'll come in and have a walkthrough on Tuesday and ready to roll and great opportunity to win a game and get into the playoffs, which has been our goal this whole time.

04:34 You had Jimmy on Kawhi for much of the game. I know Draymond was in on him at the end. Was just seeing those two guys look like they were both at a really, really, high-motivation, high-level — just to see those two particular guys going at it?

04:47 Pretty impressive Kawhi, Jimmy, two of the biggest, strongest wings in the league, both superstar players. James obviously had a monster game. Steph had a monster game, just incredible basketball, really amazing to watch both teams play.

05:09 I mean, talking about Steph and James, does that kinda give you kind of flashbacks from your playoff battles in the 2010s and whatnot?

05:18 Yeah. I mean, you don't — until you asked it, I wasn't thinking about any of that, but yeah, James has been in the league forever. He is a great player and always an amazing challenge to try to slow him down.

05:32 Steph got through today, it looked like, healthy, but how concerned are you about his thumb and also that he now will not have those days to rest and you have to turn around really quick?

05:42 Well, that's what makes Tuesday's game really important is if we can take care of business, then we will have four or five days before the first playoff game, so yeah, I'm not worried about Steph. I mean, sore thumb and go 7-for-12 from three and 36 points, so Steph is Steph.

06:04 You guys talked a little bit about getting back into an offensive rhythm after the last game.

06:08 Yeah.

06:09 In order to win today and also just make a deep playoff run, did you like what you saw tonight? Was it a little bit better direction?

06:15 119 points against one of the best defenses in the league. We turned it over a little bit too much, but they have a lot of long athletic guys and Zubac in the paint, but I thought the rhythm was really good, 31 assists. The game flowed. A lot of guys played well.

06:34 Steve, before his injury, it seemed like a lot of things were running through Jimmy, as they often do, but how do you view the way he played? And it seemed like this was a sort of snapshot of Playoff Jimmy, as they say.

06:47 I liked how Jimmy played. Did you like the way he played?

06:53 This one, in particular, though, is —

06:54 I mean, he's just, he's an alpha. He's just like, he's out there and he wants the ball and he wants to get to the foul line and you can just throw him the ball. You don't even have to run any offense. You just have to get spaced and what a luxury that is. So 30 points, nine assists, one turnover, I mean, this guy, total stud.

07:14 Coach, given the history of your team in the Play-in and then understanding how hard they had to play tonight, still came up short, how do you feel going into Tuesday with just one day in between today and then to get prepared? Good, bad, indifferent from your perspective as a coach?

07:29 The Play-in games actually don't exist. There's no record of any Play-in games. The stats don't count. I don't remember anything about being in the Play-in game in the past. It vanished from thin air after they happened. It is what it is. It's been great for the NBA and it's exciting. It creates a race within the race and so this is what it is and we gotta go take care of it.

07:57 As the regular season concludes, what do you think about Draymond's body of work for potentially Defensive Player of the Year?

08:03 Oh, I think Draymond is the Defensive Player of the Year. I can't imagine him not winning at this point, just what I witness every single night, the incredible versatility of his defensive game and how powerful his brain is. He's an amazing player and he had a great, great year. I think he should win it. I am a little biased, though. Thank you.

08:28 What, oh, sorry — what was the conversation with Kuminga like when you told him he wasn't part of the rotation tonight?

08:36 I just told him in the walkthrough that we were gonna change the — I didn't tell him he wasn't gonna play 'cause I wasn't sure if he was gonna play or not, but I told him that we were gonna not go to the usual rotation in the first quarter and then go from there.

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