Steve Kerr, Warriors reflect on loss vs. Timberwolves, detail team's mentality
Warriors' Steve Kerr, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and Kristaps Porziņģis speak to reporters after the team's loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Steve Kerr, Warriors reflect on loss vs. Timberwolves, detail team's mentality originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Yeah, we're j- we're going through it, for sure.
but you saw how hard the guys played, and, stayed in it, and got the fans into it.
And, we can't ask anything more of our players right now, what they're, what they're giving effort-wise in playing together.
but yeah, we're about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember really.
H- h- how are the, the Al, and Quentin, and, Blankin on the last one?
I don't know.
I haven't Yeah, I haven't talked to any, of the training staff yet.
What's, what's the concern level on Draymond's back?
again, I, I don't know.
d- I, r- he was a late scratch, and I haven't talked to, to the, to Rick or anybody.
How do you think Porzingis looked tonight?
Thought he looked great.
He, he's clearly, you know, starting to find, a rhythm.
he's such an intriguing player, the way he shoots it, the space, the, you know, the rim protection defensively.
And, obviously we really wanna get him out there with Steph and see what that looks like.
but, yeah, Kristaps seems to be, getting more and more comfortable.
How would you say his stamina is at this point, after a few games?
It looked better tonight.
you know, we're still trying to keep him around 20 minutes, but I thought he looked better tonight physically than the other night, so hopefully that's, that'll continue to build.
What ways do you think he looked better physically, movement wise or, or- Just, just his, just, yeah, movement, and his comfort level.
more, more familiar with what we're trying to do at both ends and getting, getting comfortable with the terminology.
I'm interested in the injuries of the team.
I'm curious about the, the in-game management of those, specifically to your bench with, like, Al's effect, and Steph is effect, and even some of the substitution patterns with the guys that are able to go against teams that may be thinner.
What does that look like to try to manage that?
well, you don't have a choice.
you just, you just keep trying to shuttle guys in and, you know, try to find combinations that click.
we found a few in the second half, and there was a good, good rhythm to the game.
and we've got multiple guys on minutes restrictions too.
So, Seth Cooper handles the, the rotation stuff.
and then, you know, he's, he's got it all on his iPad.
And f- as we adjust, you know, he's having to make adjustments to make sure our, our guys don't go over their minutes restrictions.
So it's, there's a lot It's a Rubik's Cube right now trying to figure that out.
I mean, how did you see Paul's try to, try to captain those minutes in your absence?
he did a great job.
yeah, I thought Brandon had a really, effective game.
you know, he's, he's aggressive, and he's, he rebounds the ball so well.
He seems to be in the right spots all the time, defensively.
F- long rebounds, loose balls, that kinda thing, and I liked how aggressive he was, you know, from the three-point line tonight.
Was Porzingis going in the starting lineup, was that part of the Rubik's Cube thing when Draymond got a little- Yeah, Dra- as soon as Draymond went out, Kristaps went, went in.
you know, we, we, even though he could only play 20 minutes, we wanted to- Right to give those two guys a look, Kristaps and Al.
Do you see him in the starting lineup more going forward?
Well, I mean, with Al, you know, with a calf, strain, I mean, I- I- I have no idea, you know, how long Al will be out.
but I would anticipate, you know, with a calf, we're, we're not gonna rush him back.
So if that's the case and Al's back, then, yeah, we'd, we'd put Kristaps in the, in the starting lineup.
Steve.
Steve, over here.
Sorry.
obviously the injuries have taken its toll with this team, but the way the losses keep building up with you guys, is this team starting to fade into obscurity right now?
Is the team what?
Starting to fade into obscurity?
Trying to?
Starting to fade into obscurity.
Fade Are we fading into obscurity?
Yeah.
I thought masks were fading into mis- No, I'm sorry.
That's I, you know, w- we're w- w- we've just h- hit a, a spell where we're just getting wiped out, and it happens occasionally.
And, I'm excited about when we get healthy, when we have Steph, and Moses, and Al, and Kristaps, and, and the whole group.
With all these young guys, the, the experience they're getting, I think it, they're gonna be that much better once we get back.
And, I just feel like, there's, there's actually brighter days ahead.
So, you just have to get through the tough spot, you know.
Part, part of that Ru- part of that Rubik's Cube is the guys that, are healthy playing more minutes.
Is, is there concern I, like, like, Gee's young, and Brandon's young, but is there concern that those guys are playing too heavy of a, a minute count?
n- no.
I mean, if there's a concern, then our performance staff will, you know, put a limits, limit on their minutes too.
But I, I just, These guys are young.
They're, they are playing heavy minutes, but they're being monitored really well every day.
Coming out of halftime when you guys put up a 39-point quarter, what were you thinking about how this is going to be a challenging game, but the fight that you guys wanted to show?Uh, just come out with a sense of urgency in the third quarter, see what we could do with it.
Got some stops, some turnovers, and were able to capitalize and just kept that momentum, I feel like, throughout the last 24 minutes.
When guys start leaving the game with injuries, how do you guys kind of adapt, seeing that your game plan has to change?
I mean, I look at it as a blessing in disguise just because it's an opportunity and, you're able to build confidence, when you're out there, especially when there's no expectation and people probably think we're gonna lose.
So, it's a blessing for me just knowing that when the other guys come back, that confidence that you build up, you can be ready to continue to show that when they get back.
Brandon, along those lines, Steve just said he still has a lot of optimism for getting a healthy roster.
I mean, has it been pretty hard these last, in this last stretch, but seeing some light at the end of the tunnel that gets some guys back?
I mean, yeah, as a competitor, you wanna win.
but for me, I just, game by game, just try to put my best foot forward and, you know, try to help the young guys the two ways and, just bring their confidence along and, yeah.
So yeah, there's light at the end of the tunnel, but, until we see that light, it doesn't really matter.
And what did you like about the energy mid, around 8:37 left in the fourth?
You guys cut it to seven, some big plays, and then, they, they made a- Yeah, I think, we switched up our defense a little bit, made Ant have to see different pictures on defense, and we were able to force some turnovers and, I think we didn't give up some offensive rebounds until late, so I think that helped too.
Where's your confidence level right now?
Same me all the time.
Good or bad, still gonna be a confident person.
but like I said, my, my goal is just help lead the young guys and the guys coming off the bench, just giving them confidence.
Have you learned anything about your game in the, in this past month or so, like, having to have the ball more without Steph?
That I can do it.
What's the challenge guarding Ant on a night like tonight?
I think, you know, as a defense, I think league, league-wide you would be okay giving up the majority of the shots that he took tonight.
him and Shai and Kawhi are kinda on that level where the shots you would give up to everyone else, you probably won't wanna give up to them and, you know, he had a bunch of those, kinda mid, mid-range shots, tonight, and, you know, he got 12 for it those two, so, you know, top five player in NBA.
You said one thing that you can do is you can try to help give confidence to other players on the team.
How do you do that?
Yeah, I think it's easy for me.
just I just tell them, "Lose yourself in the game.
Every open shot they have, shoot it.
don't let the outcome dictate the process you have.
you know, you're playing the wrong sport if that's how you think about things."
And so, as long as the process is right and they're, you know, they're doing what they feel is right in the moment, not really thinking, just reacting, that's all you can ask for.
You've played in every game this season.
Mm-hmm.
What is the difficulty of, of staying healthy like that or the luck of staying healthy like that?
Especially as you look at this time of year when maybe guys aren't on the injury report, but the soreness is accumulating.
Yeah, I think, my first year I played 74.
Last year I played only 64. so coming in, I think I, I built a good routine for myself in the back half of last year that makes me feel really good on game days.
and so I just carried that over to this season, and I wanted to play 82 this year.
That's still my goal.
but I mean, the challenging part with the injuries is the heavy minutes with the back-to-backs especially.
We got six and nine nights coming up.
So, yeah, I'm just stick to my process, my routine, that I've built and, you know, I don't know if it's luck, but it's working.
And then what are you doing right now as far as trying to captain these games, trying to create for your teammates?
there's some times when maybe you looked around or i- it looks like you're very confident in your handle right now as well as defenses try to swarm you as that point of attack.
Yeah, I think, just taking on that challenge, like I said, you know, tonight being guarded by Jayden McDaniels or Amin Thompson from Houston or Cason Wallace from OKC, just trying to embrace those challenges.
I've got to see Steph do it for two, three years now, really go on that, those high-level defenders and so I just try to take that approach and, you know, just be assertive while I'm doing it and, you know, just read what I see with my eyes and play from there.
Yeah.
Brandon, so Steve has shown a lot of trust in you this season, so especially some big moments.
So what do you think you've, done to earn the trust?
Yeah, I think it, it starts from how you approach the game.
just being able to come in as a rookie and fill voids where, we had some veterans on the team where they weren't as good as at some things that I was, taking charges, offensive rebounding.
And so I just found my little niche with that and then the, you know, the more you do it, the more confidence you get and the more opportunity you get.
I think Guys is a perfect example.
you know, not playing majority of the first part of the year.
Coming in when he does, gets offensive rebounds, and now you're seeing, you know, 15 plus shot attempts for a moment.
just the all-time confidence that he's having.
So I think it just starts from that you find your little niche, and over time, opportunity grows.
Brandon, the last couple games, seems like Kristaps is finally finding a comfort zone with you guys.
With Al, we're not knowing how long he's gonna be out, chance that he's gonna get obviously some more playing time.
What's the difference for you guys when he's on the court offensively- Yeah as opposed to when he's not?
I think spacing.
I, I think about the last couple times we played Minnesota, especially on the back-to-back in Minnesota where we didn't have Al or KP-And I think it just makes it a little bit easier on Rudy to just stand, sit in the paint.
And so having them, being able to space the floor like that, really helps kind of open up the floor for us, and I think we're able to get, get to the paint a lot more than we have been recently.
but yeah, I mean, tough shot maker, 7'3", can give him the ball, so, makes guys like me, my job a lot easier.
Hello, Brandon.
Follow the defense question.
How much difficult when Draymond's out there?
Say that again.
The defense, how much difficult when Draymond's out there?
Yeah.
I think, when he's not out there, some calls don't go our way that we normally, that normally go our way.
his communication's really important for us.
you know, he saves a lot of our possessions, with his defense, and so not having him out there, it's a little different, but at the end of the day, you gotta, you gotta work with what you got.
Key, with, with all the injuries, you have just racked up a ton of high-minute games.
How, how is your body holding up?
I'm feeling good, you know.
I'm doing the best that I can for the recoveries and all that.
at the beginning when I start playing a little bit more, that was when I felt a lot.
I was like, after the game I was tired, you know, everything hurts.
But now I'm more kinda like used to it.
There's been more than like a month, I think, one month and a half that I've been playing good minutes.
So yeah, I'm do- been doing everything that I can to keep my body right, but I'm feeling good.
W- with so many injuries, throughout the roster, what is the team's, you know, mentality, in, in that locker room?
We're just trying to play our best, you know.
When you, when you don't have a lot of guys or a bunch of guys are, you know, hurt, it's tough to keep the same rhythm, you know, especially, the way that happened.
We lost Jimmy.
That was the first like, hard hit for us, you know.
Then we got Steph out for a lot of d- for a lot of days.
a bunch of guys that are being in, in and out because of the injuries.
So, it's really tough to keep the rhythm going with that, you know, but we trying to do our best just playing hard every night.
I know that, that is tough to keep the same rhythm, but that's, that's our mentality.
Along the lines of that in and out, you know, with the injuries and it being different guys, I mean, you see something like, you know, Kristaps, it seems like he's making real progress and there's optimism there.
but on the exact same night, you guys lose another four guys.
I mean, like, how do you just, how do you process how it, I guess it just kinda seems to keep coming even on what could be a good day?
Yeah.
It's, like I said, I mean, it's really tough, you know.
right before the game, we knew that Draymond was not playing because, you know, he was feeling something.
Then we were all like, "Okay, so we gotta run a little bit more for Dray."
Then during the first half, Al felt a calf, and okay, now we gotta run a little bit for Al.
Then we got, QP feeling something, then we, Seth feeling something.
So we always trying to r- run for each other.
We always trying to, you know, make the extra play and ha- trying to help each other.
But like I said, when we lost a lot of guys like this, it's really tough for us.
How much did you guys feel the loss of size, the loss of size, particularly losing Al and Dray against a team, you know, with, with Rudy and, and, and Drew, I mean, a big team?
Yeah.
That's, that's a big thing, too.
You know, we got Rudy out there.
We got, Julius Randle, the guys that b- that are tall.
You know, McDaniels, there is tall too.
So, there is some parts of the game that I was playing at the five, and my only goal was just trying to take, Rudy out of the way so somebody else can grab the rebound.
But then you look, there is three, two more guys are really tall.
They're trying to fight for the rebound.
It's tough.
It's tough when you lose all that size, you know, for, for injuries, but that it is what it is and we gotta go through it and just find a way to box out and get the rebounds and get the, to contest shots and everything.
Se- seems like Kristaps is finding a, a good rhythm here.
what changes about the offense when, when he's in the game?
I feel like when he's in the game, it's, we, of course we look a lot for him because whatever, like, what, what he can do, you know, like I don't know how many minutes.
He played 19 minutes and he got 20 points, you know.
You c- you see like he can score, he can pass the ball, he can do whatever we want, like we need from him, from him.
So when he's out there, he's just another guy that we trust a lot to give the ball to him, and we know that he gonna g- do a good play.
And when you have somebody out there like that, you know, when Steph is not there and when Jimmy's not there, that's always great.
So hi, Santos.
So you play with a lot of, energy tonight and had a great game.
So were you guys, extra, with, with Steph's, 38th birthday tomorrow, so were you guys, extra motivated to get a win for him?
get motivated to, for Steph, does it say?
Extra, yeah.
E- extra motivate?
extra motivated to get a win for him.
Oh, oh, yes.
Yes.
because, you know, like, we know how Steph, how competitive Steph is, and he really, really wanna win every, every game.
But now he's kicking up, be on the court with us, so we, you know, we've been trying our best to, to, to, to keep our, our, our team in a good position so when he come backs, we just ready and we keep hoping everybody keep playing hard and we just have Steph out there is way different.
Kristaps, so I mean, first off, how are you feeling physically?
I'm feeling all right.
you know, step by step, trying to get back into really good shape.
Still have a way to go for sure, but, happy with the progress so far.
Do you, I mean, classify this as probably a, a good day for you in terms of progress and, and making m- moving forward?
you know, I'm always like, I always wanna feel better and, and, and improve quicker and, and this, but overall, I think I have to, you know, alsoBe happy with, you know, with the progress, with the, with the smaller progress, but progress.
And, and and I know sooner or later I will get there.
I just ask because individually it seems like a, a very positive day for you.
But for as a team, the losses kinda just keep coming injury-wise.
So I mean, how do you process that individually being maybe optimistic about yourself, but, yeah, keep- keeping the perspective as a team too?
Yeah, no, of course, like having so many guys out, Al going out today also, is not ideal and we already short-handed, you know?
and, and, and, and, but in a way it's, it's, you know, we have The games are gonna keep coming no matter what.
Young guys have, more opportunities which they have to, take advantage of, and hopefully we get everybody back as, as, you know, as soon as possible, everybody healthy and, and and, and, and yeah, we can see how this team looks when, when everybody's really healthy.
A few familiar, spots coming up on this road trip, New York, Washington, Boston, Atlanta, and Dallas.
Um- All five, huh?
All five.
That's wild.
How do you approach games against former teams?
I don't know.
I mean, the most recent one, no, like Atlanta and Boston maybe they're gonna know me the best.
but I wouldn't say I put any like extra emphasis in five That's crazy.
All five games, huh?
so yeah, just, just, you know, games for us and, and some, some good teams, to play against, to, to measure ourselves against and, on the road.
So we have to take the challenge and, and, and see what we can do.
Does anything change for you jumping into the starting lineup for the first time tonight?
I like it.
I mean, obviously I've started almost my whole career, you know, but because of this I haven't been, maybe my usual, like rotations, et cetera.
But it's normal also.
I have to work, work my way back into, into, into that.
So, but it felt good to go out there and, and start the game for sure.
Steve said that you can tell that you're starting to get more comfortable in the offense with the scheme and everything.
Where would you say you are in terms of comfortability just on the team?
Mm-hmm.
I think we're starting to like develop like a decent feel, you know, and I think guys are getting accustomed to playing with me, like knowing that I like to post up, the free throw line this, and starting to develop some two-man games with Melt, with BP.
so yeah, I think, I think, I think, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's a progress, like we're getting better for sure, but obviously I, I will, you know, Steph, you know, and, and, and more guys that are out, you know, that, that I haven't had a chance to play with.
It's, it's gonna be the, the, the, you know, what I really look forward to.
So, but overall I think we're heading in the right direction and just, just losses are always tough and, and and that's what we have to take it on the chin and, and, and, try to improve for, for the next game.
Hi, Kristaps.
as you get more comfortable with this offense and, you know, get yourself familiarized with it, what's been the biggest difference with this offense as compared to Atlanta or Boston that you've been on the previous teams?
Biggest difference?
I, I mean, honestly I have to give credit to the coaching staff.
They give, they give us a lot of freedom, you know, and that's really cool as a player to have that kind of a freedom.
we, you know, we also Not that we, I didn't have it in the previous teams, it was also there, but, but I think especially maybe not having everybody in the lineup, we still kind of play pretty freely and, and improvise.
So, so I, I would say that's, that's, that's the thing that, stands out to me and that's pretty cool and as a player we have to appreciate that.
