Steve Kerr shares praise for Kristaps Porziņģis after Warriors' win vs. Wizards
Warriors coach Steve Kerr speaks to reporters following Golden State's 131-126 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday at Chase Center.
Steve Kerr shares praise for Kristaps Porziņģis after Warriors' win vs. Wizards originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Obviously kind of a scattered game, but do you throughout get even more of an appreciate of what Porziis can do for you in the middle of a kinda scatteredness out there?
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, you know, we're going to him a lot, you know, when we need a basket, and he's capable of that.
He, he probably hasn't done a ton of that, you know, in recent years.
I mean, Boston, has a number of guys who are gonna kind of have the ball in their hands late.
but right now we're, we're going to him, a lot.
You know, generally he takes care of the ball.
He gets a shot for either himself or someone else.
So it's a He's a great weapon, you know, and at any point in the game.
And, it's really fun to watch him play.
You've spoken about how finding the spacing around Kristaps has been an emphasis for this team since he arrived.
Do you feel like the team has kinda figured out how to space around him by this point?
I think we're getting better with it.
you know, the biggest g- thing with our team is just our decision-making.
You know, the first half we had three turnovers, and we, we generally just played a, you know, a solid offensive half.
And then second half, we got crazy again and s- you know, nine turnovers, most of them unforced.
And, we just, we just have to understand the value of the ball.
And, I think it's a little tricky these days in the NBA.
Everybody's playing so fast.
everybody's launching threes.
It You know, there are times where the NBA game just gets, looks like a pickup game at times because everybody is just launching and playing fast.
And so in some ways, we have to reteach the, the value of time and score and, you know, hitting singles, decision-making, 'cause all it takes is, you know, a bad shot and a turnover, and the whole game flips.
Steve, you guys have talked about building good habits along the way as you get toward the end of the season.
What did you see tonight?
Good, bad?
I mean, what, what did you see tonight?
First half, I saw f- focus offensively, simple decisions.
and then I thought we let our guard down defensively in the second quarter.
couple back cut layups.
you know, some, some, poor transition.
missed, communication on switches.
so there was, there was good and bad tonight.
but I like the way we closed the game and, had a lot of good indivi- individual performances.
Coach, we kinda know what the incentives are for some of these teams that you've played recently and, you know, we don't need to maybe start a whole conversation about that, but just from your standpoint of being a team that's fighting for wins, what is it like for your own competitive situation to see a team just not play its best players down the end of the game like that's happened the last two nights?
it's, it's definitely strange, but, it, it almost doesn't matter because these guys are all in the NBA.
And, and, I mean, Jaden Hardy didn't play the first 36 minutes, and then he scores 14 in the fourth quarter, so technically he's not one of their best players, but, he, he was their best player in the fourth quarter.
And, and, so for, for us, it, you know, I We- we've had a, a, a few of these games.
you know, Utah came, came back and beat us in, in Utah.
Chicago beat us, late.
And, you can say, "Well, they weren't, they didn't have this guy, they didn't have that guy."
They still have NBA guys who can't wait to play.
And so, it's a strange phenomenon.
I think it's pretty unique to this season.
I haven't really seen this in the past, and I think, this is different.
But I always remind our guys, every one of these guys is in the NBA for a reason.
And, you know, Hardy was a great example of that tonight.
so we can't take anything for granted.
A- another high-scoring game for Gui.
It seems like things are kinda slowing down for him on the offensive end.
W- what are you kinda seeing with, with his patience on, on that end?
Well, he's, the more, reps he's getting, the more minutes, the, the more confident he's become, in his shot and his ability to get past people.
I agree, I think the game has slowed down for him.
I think he's, making good decisions.
Tonight was a great game for him in terms of, handling the ball.
You know, on- only one turnover.
And as a shot creator, you know, we're asking a lot of him and, he's playing, playing really, really well.
Sam.
Is Steph gonna make the trip to Denver?
I'm sorry?
Is Steph gonna travel to Denver?
No, he'll stay here with Rick, and they'll get some work in this weekend.
Yeah.
