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00:00let's go out to the river islands guest line it is time for coach kerr presented by great clips
00:05in sports success is about team effort and the same is true for your hair great clips it's going
00:09to be great and brought to you by rafell lumber and building supply serving contractors homeowners
00:14and the community in marin for over 50 years visit their showroom today hello coach how you doing
00:20i'm good thanks how are you guys we're well we're doing all right we're glad to have you i you know
00:26i wonder how quickly did you sort of feel like the two teams were not you know kind of vibrating at
00:34the same level in the uh in the first quarter of that game last night three fouls in uh which was
00:41approximately a minute and a half and uh you know it was uh that that was an indication that we were
00:48not uh locked in mentally uh all three fouls were um you know just not not fouls that we would
00:56normally make i mean i heard you say and i know coaches do this you know i didn't have them
01:02ready to play tonight so it's one thing for you to kind of take that responsibility sometimes i wonder
01:08if that's even possible though these are these are adults they're veterans um to what level is it on
01:14you or them to be ready emotionally it's always on us you know that's that's the whole point of
01:23being a team uh it's whole point of coaching um you're a group you're together and you succeed
01:30together you fail together and uh so there's there's no blame um it's just um we we have to do it
01:39to you know together as a team and it's my job to to help them prepare for that so um i'm i'm very
01:46confident that we will be um ready to go tomorrow night do you do that purposefully coach just to
01:53kind of take the pressure off the players because you mentioned it it's on them it's on you it's on
01:58the collective but when you come out and you say that is that your way of kind of directing the
02:03responsibility and the burden on yourself well yeah i mean i do try to take the pressure off the players
02:12um at times you know with my comments to the media but it's um it's honestly how i feel too i mean i
02:19you know as as the coach you can't you know you can't go out and rebound and score and all that but
02:25you you can impact um preparation just both uh strategically but also emotionally where everybody
02:34is and and so when you know when when you have a night like last night um it does feel lousy as a
02:41coach like you like you failed and so there's so there's an element of truth to it too uh steve you
02:47had mentioned talking to draymond at halftime about how hard to go after the win versus maybe get some
02:54rest can can you take us through that that conversation uh yeah sure we're walking off the
03:03court at halftime we're down 29 um you can feel that um it's a game that um is highly unlikely to go
03:12our way and uh draymond and i know each other so well i didn't even have to you know um express you
03:23know the question um explicitly all i said to him was what do you think and he knew exactly what i meant
03:30and he said five minutes and i said i think that makes sense too and terry terry stotts and i had
03:36talked about it um even before halftime started um you know we debated um you know do we do we send
03:45them out at all um you know and and we agreed it didn't make sense to pull them out at that point
03:51altogether like let's let's give them a chance to you know make a little push and uh but but we're not
03:58messing around because you know game six is 48 hours later and at that point it just becomes risk
04:03reward and uh the obvious choice was to to get them off the floor well and also because the game
04:09is in 48 hours um i i wonder like getting a few extra minutes of rest that they got how helpful is
04:17that for tomorrow night's game i think that was helpful and then i think the other thing that was
04:22helpful was um our bench uh forcing their starters back onto the floor i thought that was important
04:28um and to play with that kind of aggression and to force some turnovers and to make them
04:33uncomfortable because the first uh you know 30 minutes of that game were entirely too comfortable
04:40for uh for houston so i loved what our guys did in the fourth quarter it was pretty fun and it had
04:47me at home starting to look down the bench and think man what if this thing gets down to 10 or 11
04:53it got to 13 was there any thought okay if we get this thing to single digits maybe uh you dust off the
04:59three vets and pop them back out there highly unlikely you know at that point that you go back to your
05:06starters you saw what their starters looked like when uh he had to go back to them like literally both sets
05:12of starters had checked out emotionally and it's so hard uh to come back into a game when you basically
05:20checked out emotionally and and so my my experience has um has always been um you let the uh let the the
05:29bench ride it out see if they can get it done i do remember one game in the 22 west finals in dallas we
05:36were up 3-0 and we were down 20 or so going into the fourth and our bench completely shifted
05:42things i think we got it down to six or seven points and i believe i did bring um steph back
05:49for a couple of possessions um and dallas pulled away wasn't you know wasn't meant to be but those
05:55are very difficult situations to be in as a coach because you you worry about bringing guys back
06:01onto the floor after they've already checked out it's part of that too a nod to the bench crew for
06:07getting out there and doing some fantastic things is that part of the the calculus as well as trying
06:12to give them yeah give them a little boost and you know the spencer and the tjd unit
06:17yeah for sure they've earned it uh and and they were playing great and you let them ride in the regular
06:24season it's a no-brainer you let them finish the game no matter what um but in the playoffs you do have
06:30to kind of think briefly you know does it make sense to bring you know steph and andre and jimmy
06:36back here but we never got it down far enough to seriously think about that uh steve kerr with us
06:43willard and dibs 95 7 the game do you think that the three pointers that moses moody hit during that
06:48stretch might kind of get something going since he's been struggling with that shot i do i loved his
06:55aggressiveness uh in the second half and uh you know the way they're guarding him with their centers
07:01um it it's changed the uh the nature of the series um just lineup combinations matchups you know it
07:09takes draymond green out of the pick and roll you know and and puts um whoever you know shangun is
07:16guarding generally or adams into the pick and roll so um so that's the reason for um you know the change
07:23in the starting lineup the last couple of games and uh it's uh it's been effective i think uh you know
07:29offensively we have definitely generated better shots that each of the last two games we have
07:35started out pretty well offensively now last night as i mentioned whole problem was our defense and our
07:41fouling and we were out of sorts from the beginning and you know at the first time out i mean i i took the
07:48first time out it was 20 to 8 that was all defensive um related not so much offense so coach do we take
07:55from that that the starting lineup stays the same for tomorrow night with buddy i think all options
08:00are on the table for sure and and i i think uh we uh will consider everything you know there's always
08:07an offense defense component to any of these decisions that you make uh and uh and i say as i said
08:14lineup combinations what's uh what's coming behind the play you know behind the first rotation uh who's
08:21who's playing together so we're we're leaving our options open and one of the options may or may not
08:26include jonathan kaminga depending on how he's feeling so how's he feeling after having missed the
08:32game yesterday with the migraine yeah he's feeling a lot better i talked to him today and um so he should
08:38be ready to go tomorrow and there's absolutely a chance for him to make an impact uh you know
08:45tomorrow i thought he did a good job the game he started i think it was game three um when jimmy was
08:52out he did a really nice job guarding jalen green early uh clearly we can use you know his um athleticism
09:01um you know his ability to get to the rim again it's all lineup combinations and and what makes this
09:08um tricky as i've said um many times to you guys and others uh it's all about the combinations and
09:16and um you know we've got to find the right balance of shooting and playmaking around jimmy and uh
09:23and that's what changed you know the calculus um for for jk and and uh so that's those are the things
09:31we're continuing to weigh um but he's absolutely um you know part of um you know what our thinking
09:39in terms of you know possible adjustments for tomorrow steve this is a little bit of an offshoot
09:44but but do jonathan and maybe any of your other guys uh do they deal with migraines off and on i i've
09:50dealt with that if i'm correct you've dealt with that some in your life right is that something that
09:55some of your guys uh have to deal with sometimes uh i believe it was first one that jonathan's ever
10:02had huh that's what our our training staff said yeah that's brutal yeah my partner here will suffer
10:08through him and sometimes he can't even open his eyes when he's going through it let alone go out
10:12there and give you 34 minutes and maybe a double double yeah i've i've uh they really run in my
10:18family and i i've got i've had migraines uh since i was a teenager and um they're not fun let me tell
10:27you i mean i you you guys uh yeah i mean you if you've had one you know it and if you're listening
10:32out there so i felt i felt terrible for jk yesterday but hopefully this is just a one-time deal uh steve
10:39kerr with us on 95.7 the game willard and dibs all right coach uh i know you know it's a it's a hot
10:45button thing that that you addressed last night so did draymond so did steph and i don't want you to
10:50uh to put you in any sort of a position to uh to to call any individual player out but i wonder
10:56what in your mind what what is the line in playoff basketball between playing hard and physicality and
11:06gamesmanship versus just the concept of i know someone's got an injury there and i want to go after
11:14that injury yeah it's a tough you know that's a tough question to answer and and what i said last
11:22night after the game was uh from my heart um i believe that um this is the highest level of
11:31competition and uh i think you know these are the best players in the world and uh they are going to do
11:39um whatever is within the rules to win the game and i'm not i'm not going to fault anybody for that
11:45and so um i just feel strongly that um the league has gone down this path the last couple years where
11:54they've decided that they call it the high five you know where you if you high five a shooter
12:01um that's legal like meaning if the ball is released and then you high five the guy
12:07that's not a foul now anybody who's ever played pickup basketball will tell you you get high
12:14fived on a shot it's really hard to make a shot and so i can tell you all 30 coaches as i said we all
12:20believe that should be a foul if you high five a guy um the league decided that it was not and what
12:27happened then was uh the same thing that happens with every rule that the league institutes the
12:33players figure out how to game the system and so all of this year you've had guys all over the league
12:40including our guys draymond does it all the time guy releases the shot you're not allowed to run into
12:46him you know like the zaza rule when uh kawaii stepped on his ankle sprained his ankle like that's a
12:53flagrant foul right you can't run into the body you can't step underneath the shooter but because
12:59the league has decided you're allowed to smack the guy with a high five or hit him on the wrist after
13:04the release guys are just hammering hammering shooters and um this is um it's it's the bane of
13:12our existence as coaches we all complain about it constantly it's nuts and i have no doubt that it
13:19will be changed this summer um but it has to go through this whole you know rigmarole this uh red
13:27tape and competition committee and we gotta get we gotta vote on it and and uh it'll get changed but
13:34in the meantime you're gonna have guys just taking taking shots at uh at shooters constantly and trying
13:40to trying to whack them on the arm and it's got all of us combing the rule book for the nuance in there
13:46and it's tough for the refs to really figure it out because incidental contact is allowed but
13:51egregious or excessive is not allowed so you as a coach what can you do to plant that seed with the
13:57crews in the league in the meantime while you're waiting for the rule to be changed oh i've been
14:02doing it all year i've i've been telling the league this is what's happening guys are going to get hurt
14:07they're getting a hit on the arm and um you know they're somebody's going to get hurt somebody's
14:13going to get break a thought whatever um and so we've already you know we we've talked about it
14:18with the league lots of the coaches have uh again it's um to it's impossible to put it on the refs and
14:25um and say hey you know this is egregious and this is not i think what you're going to see in the future
14:32is just like you're not allowed to run into a guy um in his body after the release you know that's a
14:40foul under the current rules i think what we'll get to eventually is you're just not allowed to
14:44hit a guy in the arm which by the way is complete common sense and should have been done a long time
14:49ago steve i want to ask you a couple questions about like this specific uh emotional moment for
14:55your team first off the little dust up that happened there with pat spencer and tjd seemed to
15:00really get a reaction out of your starters who were overall over there on the bench in any way did that
15:08kind of galvanize the guys or or make it an easier flight home last night
15:13i just think the uh the the starters the guys on the bench loved what the reserves showed you know the
15:23uh the competitive desire the uh not backing down um you know they see everything that's going on
15:30houston's a very physical team and uh so to see our guys um you know play uh physically
15:38style and make a run and make houston uncomfortable i thought it was um uplifting for the group for
15:45sure um and then also uh this series is mirroring the series that you guys had against memphis three
15:52years ago and specifically the idea of being up three to one and then going on the road and losing
15:58a game badly uh what did you do in that moment what did you say to your guys and is there anything
16:04you can draw on from that that you're that you're using in this series not really i didn't i didn't
16:10reference that series i i just know that um you know over the course of our you know our time our
16:17current run but you know my 11 years and and i imagine even going back a couple more years um
16:24when mark jackson was coaching um i think um we've had a lot of situations just like this where you go
16:32up three one you know you come home and you've got a game and um you know you want to win you want to
16:39take care of business um but it's it's um you know it's it's stressful it's dicey and uh get in line
16:46this is you know welcome to the nba playoffs and and uh i it's just uh this is the whole deal this
16:53is this is what we sign up for this is uh what the playoffs are about and um you see it in every
17:00other series too and so um we're in the exact spot that uh we wanted to be in when this series
17:08started you know we're we're a seven seed playing a two seed and uh you know to to be up three two
17:16going into you know game six um is where we want to be but now it's it's up to us to finish it and
17:22we know we're gonna have to play at a high level to to get that done and it's also up to us steve to
17:28do exactly what we did in game four i was in the press row so there wasn't much cheering from your guy
17:34the dibber but how much was that home crowd a factor in what turned out to be an unbelievable
17:40atmosphere and a huge win for you guys in game four yeah our crowd it was awesome just
17:46an amazing crowd that night and uh it's such a big part of the playoffs you see it um you know
17:52around the league just um the uh the momentum um the uh the force that comes from playing at home and
18:00the crowd and uh it's exciting and uh i can't wait i think it's going to be a really really
18:05competitive uh you know feisty game and um again this is uh kind of what we're all uh we're all here
18:15for we love what we do and um that's what it's about yeah raymond ritter wanted me to remind you
18:20that it's a six o'clock game just to make sure that you get there uh in enough time to be ready
18:25to go okay thank you thanks for the reminder i didn't know that's what i do make sure you're in
18:30your seat steve uh on time and and ready to go how's jimmy doing physically he's good yeah he's ready
18:39to go he was in our walkthrough today and uh film session and moving around well and i think he's
18:44feeling a lot better i wondered like does the healing process continue with these days or does
18:50it get slowed because he goes out there and starts banging around again you know he's uh he's as tough
18:57as they come um i haven't even talked to him about it frankly i talked to him yesterday during the day
19:03before the game uh but i haven't talked to him since about any of that um training staff monitors
19:09all that jimmy will be ready to go tomorrow and i'm just thinking about you know last night and the
19:14way the starters were able to just rest and relax and that's kind of what happened in 2022
19:19against memphis as well how much of that do you think really plays when you only play 20 minutes
19:26as opposed to playing full minutes do you really get that much of a rest benefit yes yeah
19:32that's a big it's a big difference for sure especially uh you know given the age of staff
19:38jimmy um yeah playing 25 instead of 40 is a huge difference coach any reaction i i know you're you're
19:45focused solely on tomorrow night but uh but i we always talk a little bit around the league are
19:50you a little eyebrows up that the the the lakers were ousted in five
19:54i'm eyebrows up on everything i mean i i love watching this stuff um you know and then i just think
20:02especially in the west um every first round series was so intriguing um just just knowing how good
20:10the whole conference is obviously okc you know had a pretty quick one with memphis but um man the
20:18other three series have all just been uh so highly competitive and uh minnesota is loaded i mean they
20:25made the conference finals last year they are really really talented played a great series and
20:31uh you know it's uh they've they've they've earned it so we're hoping we can join them yeah and denver
20:37clippers tonight game six uh what's for dinner and where are you going to watch the game
20:42that's a good question i'm driving home right now from our walkthrough and i will be on my couch with
20:50my dog and the game will be on uh i will not be cooking tonight um tonight might be a you know
20:56door dash night for us yeah you've earned it yeah you can hear it yeah you can hear in your voice
21:03that tonight's a door dash night yes you know it all right all right we'll go enjoy it and uh we'll
21:09see you out there at the arena tomorrow night thanks guys have a great rest of your week and
21:14we'll talk to you next week okay all right there it is