Draymond Green and Jordan Poole took the podium after the Golden State Warriors lost to the Phoenix Suns. Below is the transcript. Steve Kerr (of course) and Gary Payton II also talked but I chose not include them in this post, although they are in the postgame video below👇
My favorite part was when Green said, “Coach Kerr coming in here from the beginning saying a guy who’s just standing there is the easiest guy to guard,” because it once again validates “0.5 Basketball” rather than, as Steve himself likes to say, running pick and roll with X and Y players “fifty times a game.” And this is coming from the team’s point-forward.
And then there’s Poole’s confidence which he exudes in interviews, always hinting at the same approach whether they lost by thirty to the Memphis Grizzlies or take Chris Paul down to the wire, although JP’s brevity doesn’t make for good quotes. I expected him to say, “Huge,” or “Just play my game,” when he literally said, “You know what I’m gonna say,” but all in all surprisingly his Q&A spanned six minutes, about four times the usual length.
DRAYMOND
1:31, 2 • Steve says this was your best game since coming back: “Yeah, I think I led better. I thought in the first half my body language was terrible. Everything that went wrong I let it get to me. In the second half I just played and led. I know that’s what I have to do, everything else will take care of itself. Part of the reason that I said that I have been so bad is because I haven’t been leading. 🚨 I haven’t been talking. From that standpoint I was a lot better and everything else will follow that.”
• Physically did you feel sharp? “Yeah, I did. That was a tough road trip. Especially for it to be my first road trip essentially since the road trip in December on the east coast. To jump back into a five in seven nights. Earlier this morning I was exhausted. I told Rick before the game, I’m exhausted. I got in with Rick today and kinda did a full body clean up and just kinda got my limbs back moving the right way. Got a good activation session in and I saw my baby girls. That was helpful as well.”
0:47 • Strategy with Looney vs Ayton? “He’s a big dude, so you want to meet him early. I tried to make him catch the ball high. Really try to do your work early. A guy that size, if you’re gonna meet him at the restricted area, you are in trouble. As you can see the times that he catches it in the restricted area, he is tough to handle. If you make him catch it outside of there, you have a better chance. I thought just doing our work early and you get held with 16 points on 17 shots, that is a win. I thought that we did a pretty good job there, but we can still be better.”
0:48 • Did you see glimpses of what this team was? “Yeah. Absolutely. We don’t do moral victories around here. 🚨 We’ve won too much to have moral victories, but I think tonight we found ourselves. We found our competitive spirit, we found our defense and that’s something that we can build on. Saturday’s gonna be a tough game. It’s a meaningful game, so we have to make sure that we come out, play our brand of basketball…cut down on the 21 turnovers, we give ourselves a chance to win. We do those things, I have no doubt that we will.”
2:44, 2 • Jordan Poole in the role of Steph: “I felt he’s been incredible, not just tonight but overall. Nine rebounds, that was huge. One of them down the stretch he came in and got the rebound and DBook fouled him. That’s the growth that you want to see. Those are the things that wins games, and ultimately wins playoff series, which ultimately wins championships. 🚨 It’s guards coming back…You know the big guys are going to be down there fighting Ayton, Biyombo, so guards have to come back and clean those rebounds up. I thought Jordan did a great job of that tonight with nine, Wiggs had eight of them, Otto with six. We all know Otto’s a damn good rebounder but those are the things that you look at and say we are moving in the right way. There are some positive things that we can take away from this game, but ultimately, we’re still not out of the rut and we have to continue to dig ourselves out.”
• Poole mimicking Steph: “…the one where I caught the ball up too and he came out, it felt so nostalgic, just felt so normal, like clockwork. 🚨 …he’s learning how to make the game easier for himself…the world knows now, he can score the basketball…Steph will get off the ball…when you move without the ball, naturally guys are going to fall asleep…Coach Kerr coming in here from the beginning saying a guy who’s just standing there is the easiest guy to guard 🚨…(defenders can) help and recover…the ball will find you again…you add Steph Curry’s movement without the ball and that’s dangerous…”
1:08, 2 • Poole jawing with Chris Paul: “…we don’t back down to nobody…I’ve never seen him back down to anyone. CP is no different. When you get legends like Chris Paul arguing with you and you’re young, that’sa beautiful sign. 🚨 That means they know about you. You got them on alert…You wanna go in the foxhole with guys like that.”
• Altercation with Jae Crowder: “Uh, yeah.”
1:51, 2 • Potential success rely on you Steph Klay Andre having played so many playoff games: “I think that matters a lot because you just know what to do, you know what to expect. You know how to win games…ultimately that’ll be something that we’re can draw from a lot…to reach that next level…”
• Are you seeing similar things from the other guys? “Tonight for sure. Like I said, this road trip and even moving further past that backwards, I’m not sure what team we’ve been but tonight is the team that I know. 🚨 …you cut back on 21 turnovers…you love to see guys step up to the challenge. We just need to add the mindfulness…if you don’t have the competitive side, the mindfulness don’t matter…”
POOLE
1:13, 3 • Strategy on the final play: “We were in the bonus, and we were down three. If I would have dribbled the ball up anymore, they would have took a foul, we would have shot two free throws and then we wouldn’t have had a chance to get a three up. Yeah, that’s why I just tried to get a look up I guess.”
• Were you hoping to get three free throws or the shot? “Probably get three free throws…they also sent a trap…really wasn’t much to do…”
• What happened with your wrist? “It’s a little bruised during the game, nothing crazy.”
0:37 • Draymond praise, how much pride are you putting into rebounding? “You just gotta try and make winning plays at the end of the game. Crash, try to get any position that you can…”
1:11, 2 • Jawing with Chris Paul: “It’s a playoff atmosphere. You can’t back down from anything. It’s a really good team over there and they have really good players, but we’re here and we’re stepping up to the challenge every single time. If somebody’s got something to say, then I’ll probably say something back.” 🚨
• Does that get you going? “It was a little bit too late if he was trying to get me going. I feel like I was already going a little bit, but it’s nothung I’m not used to it. That’s how I played growing up, my entire life. I’m never really the one to initiate it but if somebody wants to talk, it’s pretty good to have people like Draymond, and Andre, and guys behind you who are also willing, Juan, Gary and Otto and Loon and Steph, Klay. So, when you talk, guys got your back.”
1:16, 2 • Do you feel like this was a breakout month? “You already know what I’m about to say. I feel good right now. Every shot that I’m shooting I’ve shot at practice over and over and over and over. I’ve been running the same plays; we’ve been running the same plays since the beginning of the season. You kind of catch a rhythm, it’s a long season. I guess where I am just personally where I’m able to capitalize right now feels good, but we’ve got to win games to be honest.
• You shot 45% from three: “‘It feels the same…mmm and going in.”
1:15, 2 • Take it upon yourself to generate offense? “I just try to go out there and make the best play not just for my teammates but for everybody else. We were getting Klay a lot of good looks and every shot he took we were okay with. Same thing with Wiggs. These guys are huge shot makers…even if they didn’t go in today, they’re going in next game, game after that, playoffs. So just come back to this…just a matter of time.”
• Does it feel like the playoffs have begun? “Nah, bro, we gotta focus on the games that we got coming up. Don’t look too far ahead…back to the drawing board…so when the playoffs do come, feel ready.”
0:41 • How do nights like this motivate you to get better? “…just competed, we played hard…things we gotta fix…definitely some positives…”
👍👍💛💙