Steve Kerr shares how Warriors are preparing to face Clippers in NBA play-in
Warriors coach Steve Kerr speaks with reporters Monday as Golden State prepares to face the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA play-in tournament.
Steve Kerr shares how Warriors are preparing to face Clippers in NBA play-in originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
We just went through a good chunk of our game plan, walked through stuff.
With the game last night, we didn't do anything live.
you guys are getting shots up now, but, good film session, start to lay out our game plan.
But we have another day tomorrow to add to that, and so we didn't throw everything at them today.
Little more live tomorrow?
A little bit, yeah, yeah.
More drill work tomorrow, more active, preparation.
Are you pretty confident injury-wise that everyone should be good to go?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know you said last night Steph won't play forty.
H-how, how much do you think you can stretch him minimize him?
I think he's had a, a, a, you know, four games now.
He stretched almost up to thirty last night.
so with the two days off, he should be able to get at least that and then hopefully some more.
You didn't know for sure that it would be the Clippers in this playing round, but there was kind of it was kind of trending that way.
How much advance prep were you guys able to do before this week?
Well, we have, our advanced scout, Scott Vaughn, who's watched both of them, pretty carefully over the last couple weeks.
He was at the Portland-Clipper game the other night in Portland.
he's working with our individual coaches who have their respective scouts.
This is Seth Cooper's scout.
so Seth has been tracking, the, the Clippers the last couple weeks.
Lynn Robinson is-has been tracking Portland.
so we have a system in place so that, you know, we were ready for either team.
Steve, K-Kawhi is the first player to average career highs in his, in his fourteenth season, Kawhi Leonard.
career highs in points, three point, three, three-point rate's a lot higher this year.
How do you begin to prepare for a guy like that?
Are there things different with how aggressive he's been offensively this year?
Well, he's always been a great player, so I'm not sure how much he changed now compared to, you know, when we saw him in the finals in nineteen, for example.
he's just gotten better and better, but he's still doing the same things.
He's just doing them at a high level.
So the game plan doesn't change.
but, you have to recognize just how good he is, how much, you know, they depend on him.
And, you know, we'll watch everything in terms of, you know, what they're running for him, his favorite spots to be in.
we'll have some rules for our guys that we've had in regular season games too in terms of, you know, not letting him do certain things.
He's gonna, he's gonna really try to get, fouled.
You know, he's gonna do the, the NBA thing, which, you know, lots of guys are doing.
BP does it for us, you know, try to use the rules, against the, the other team and get to the foul line.
So we have to be prepared for all of that, just like they do with BP.
Yannis had a few rough shooting games lately.
Where, where do you think he can improve last game?
he shot it better over the last, you know, week.
He had the, the big game last game.
I can't remember now who we played, but, I guess, Sacramento, he had a big second quarter.
he had a good game at home before that.
shooting is up and down for everybody.
It's just part of the game, but I'm very confident.
Yannis has had a really good season, and, I'm confident in the body of work and the experience, playoff experience he has.
I think he's gonna come out and play great tonight.
What, what did you like or didn't like about the, the two big combination between Al and Kristaps last game?
I like it.
I mean, it's, it gives us a different look.
It's obviously both guys are, really good scorers.
We can play through either one of them.
gives us, protection in the paint defensively.
so I like the combination.
H-how does things change between them though, having Draymond on the court too though?
Well, we didn't do that last night, but, you're saying if we play all three of them together?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All three together or just having all three a-available, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, we'll, we'll, we'll-- It's something we might do, and it would be based on how the game is going.
But, it doesn't change, too much.
It, it-- What it does is it, it, forces you to make lineup decisions.
who's gonna start or who's gonna guard the five?
Is the five a shooting big like Lopez?
you know, can you, can you have one of them on a wing?
I mean, you know, those are all the decisions that go, go into it.
What are the pros and cons of, you know, using Draymond as, like, the primary defender on Kawhi compared to, you know, when you have more free safety?
Well, the pros are that he's the best, you know, defensive, defensive player, on our team.
He's one of the very best in the league.
you can put him on anybody, it doesn't matter, point guard, center, wing, and, he's gonna do a good job on most people, so And the, the negative is that you-- he doesn't play center field.
He's not there to clean other things up at the rim.
He's more out on the perimeter and, and so some of that may be based on combinations, you know, whether he guards him or not.
so we have to prepare for, for everything.
Is that the benefit of this roster's construction potentially is that you have- Yeah, having a little more size- Yes.
Yeah behind Draymond with Kristaps and Al, for sure.
we're more capable of putting him, on a perimeter player than we would have been before we got these two guys.
Steve, to that, Draymond doesn't exactly back away from any challenge.
Do you think he wants Kawhi for most of the game?
I wouldn't say that.
I think Draymond, just wants to win, whatever that looks like.
And, but you're right, he embraces every challenge.
but the Clippers pose a, a lot of threats.
Obviously, you've got Lopez on the pick and pop.
He's been shooting the ball really well.
Garland has, has changed their look and their feel, added more speed.
so we've gotta be, you know, cautious of, you know, giving him too much space and, you know So there, there's, there's a lot that goes into this, not just, you know, guarding Kawhi.
Do you see any similarities in, in, in Steph and maybe Darius to a lesser extent in their game, the ability to stretch the floor out, be able to move a lot off the ball?
Do you see any similarities there at all?
Say that again.
Darius Garland and Steph Curry.
Darius and Steph?
Yeah.
Do you see any kind of similarities in their game at all with the ability to extend, you know, the range, the off-ball movement, that kind of stuff?
yeah, I mean, they're, they're, he's a, he's a guard who can really light it up from three and penetrate and get into the paint.
So, guys like that are always really difficult to guard.
Dra-Dra-Draymond kind of said that a couple games ago, like he's not exactly excited for this game.
He's like he's gonna come and compete and everything, but he's not exactly excited for this playing game.
I guess, what's the vibe around the team right now?
Is there, like, a fiery sense of, like, excitement?
That was last week.
Yeah.
That was last week.
Draymond's very excited.
Yeah.
I mean, I can tell you just from going through our scout, our scouting report, he was extremely engaged, and it's basically a playoff game, even though it doesn't count.
