So many nuances from the Golden State Warriors’ win over the New Orleans Pelicans to remind us of why we love this team. One that didn’t get listed below from the “up-close behind-the-scenes” (“bts”) video, because the clip was from the broadcast, was assistant coach Jacob Rubin shaking his head back at — gulp! 😳 — Draymond Green when he yelled at him and the bench for not challenging the call that gave him his fifth personal foul.
Rubin is paired with Green during workouts, so don’t worry, they’re close, and Dray has praised Jacob a few times in the past while on the podium. Just good to see that there are many family facets to our squad and that’s just one of them that we rarely get to see.
Yesterday’s interview from practice with Steve Kerr peeling the onion on Jonathan Kuminga and others was great, too, so be sure to check all of that out below, all in the usual reverse chronological order except I put the bts, picture gallery and games notes first and all the postgame interviews after those. In particular I liked the way Kerr described Kuminga’s comfort with the system as “exploring” the offense. Is that not further evidence why we don’t “nEeD A bIg MaN”? Alas the casuals don’t even know evidence when they see it. Lol…
DISCLAIMER: These are all just notes for my main workflow of YouTube videos, mostly transcribed by me shortly after the interviews and during my coverage of postgame on our livestreams (!). Sometimes I’ll just use what’s tweeted by beatwriters, as listed. The links to the tweets are not available because sometimes I don’t use the full tweet and just having a ton of tweets on this website imo isn’t aesthetically pleasing and gets away from the main goal: transferring information (not so much entertainment) to the brains of DubNation asap.
• Steve Kerr after practice, day before San Antonio Spurs, on the Dodgers: “brand new team.”
• On what the team did today: “Actually had a really good practice today, first one we’ve had after a couple of weeks… so rare to get two days in between games.”
• On what entails a real practice: “Fundamentals, defensive drills… film… station work… offensive station and a defensive station and just our basic fundamental stuff that we need to brush up on.”
• On Poole being one three away from 200 threes: “Who did it in 2014? Yeah, it’s an impressive stat… three guys who are prolific shooters… especially happy with Jordan’s play… the idea that we can get better individually and as a team, that’s what coaches are looking for… no coincidence that our team is playing well as he’s playing well.”
• On the impact of the return of GP2: “It affected J-Mike for example… decided to start JK so that we could play Gary more with the second unit, which means Loon coming off the bench. There’s a domino effect… we don’t have that luxury (of having training camp and time for this)… but we have had Gary… aggressiveness of both Gary and Donte.”
• On DiVincenzo: “Donte has been fantastic… started out the season playing twenty minutes a night… the absence of Wiggs, putting him in the starting lineup, putting him on the best offensive player… plugging him into any lineup… that’s his true value… total, complete basketball player.”
• On the Kings clinching: “I texted him after the game and we texted back and forth and we’re all thrilled for him… couldn’t happen to a better guy. There’s a reason it happened. He’s a great basketball coach.”
• On Kuminga settling into his role: “not turning the ball over, he’s rebounding better, he’s not fouling… avoiding the mistakes that he was making earlier in the season… totally natural for a second year player… things are slowing down for him and he’s understanding his role… made some really intriguing plays… explored the offense a little bit… screened away, got it back… got a dunk… cutting to the rim… that’s where you can really see the progression… defensively, the clips are showing… beating them to the punch avoiding contact.”
• On players having their own content creators: “big part of professional sports… much bigger audience and a direct line to their audience… people who are really smart are making ways to make that count… connect… coming from the Congo to here, idk that people give him enough credit for making that adjustment… put yourself in his shoes… immerse yourself in a brand new culture 10,000 miles from your family… take on a job under a microscope in a very high pressure situation.”
• On Steph and Under Armour: “pretty incredible success story… doesn’t surprise me, certain athletes kinda transcend their time in the spotlight. Michael Jordan… still gonna be a massive brand… charismatic but authentic… compassion… how much he cares and then they love watching him play. Steph deserves everything he’s getting.”
• On Donte never complaining: “Almost went to Detroit… whole idea was to rebuild his own place in the league… Milwaukee… injuries… this has been a wildly successful year for Donte… we hope we can keep him… desperately… but I always want our players to be in the best position possible.”
• On how he develops Kuminga with the lack of practices: “A lot of film sessions individually … sometimes I’ll text him… send him a clip… make a point that I want him to make sure he’s getting, I know some of the other coaches do that too… overwhelming… he’s been able to see all the results of that work… appreciate the process… still a long way to go but that’s a good thing.”
Warriors practice: Steph Curry 💦 Patrick Baldwin Jr (PBJ) 🎙️ Bob Myers 🤳 Wiggins family IG post and more from practice.
0:00 • Jaxson Hayes pregame football hike
0:10 • Steph pregame two-ball dribbling
0:29 • Steph pregame routine gets a hockey assist from a kid for the corner 3
0:40 • Klay says something to Steph
0:50 • Klay meets a friend of Ron Adams
1:08 • squad tunnel run, GP2 must have joined briefly later as Moody was originally the caboose
2:06 • intros
2:18 • Draymond not present for intros, Donte AND Kuminga do not run in from bench
3:19 • very very close up handshakes prior to tipoff (filmed by Chris Haynes, TNT sideline reporter)
3:33 Steph nearly backs into Herb Jones while doing stanchion run routine
3:35 GP2 daps Haynes
3:41 Kuminga jump ball vs Valanciunas, Donte gets steal from Draymond’s pressure
4:04 remaining first half highlights provided by LGW friend and season ticket holder Bruce Agid (remainder of this video Most likely not in chronological order)
4:21 Donte pass back to Steph as if he’s played with the Warriors for years
4:53 Draymond entangled with Herb Jones
5:23 baseline footage provided by LGW friend Jason Remolona aka @a1jason_
5:53 zoomed-in Draymond and altercation footage provided by 95.7 The Game from press row in Section 128
5:45 Kerr and, later, Kenny Atkinson try to get Draymond away from the refs
6:22 Klay smiles and shakes his head at CJ McCollum after CJ’s flagrant foul of Donte
7:01 Curry x Poole
7:21 Steph’s exultation after the Warriors finally take the lead
7:45 the Klay screen to get the switch with CJ instead of Nance
8:13 Bob Myers comes down from the stands to tell Draymond to get back in the huddle
8:55 Looney getting orebs
9:26 Ingram not happy after Draymond’s flagrant, Steph tries to calm down BI
9:57 Draymond vehemently tells Donte he’s ok
10:26 more orebs for Looney, GP2 steals the ball from BI before the Q3 buzzer
11:27 Steph’s amazing cross-court lefty sling pass to Klay for the 3 from the hashmark
11:58 CJ’s FF1 on Donte up-close
12:34 JP up-close returning to bench, filmed by Chamillionaire
12:47 JK’s dunk and-one via Dray via Klay, then a close-up version from the baseline
13:49 Steph up-close at scorer’s table
14:56 Steph comes out of the game
15:13 Dray celebrates coming out of the game, with his friend Rasheen Smith who usually sits in that same spot (it was not to taunt the Pelicans’ bench as reported elsewhere)
15:57 won game!
16:25 Klay x ESPN China’s Chao Meng
16:35 Lamb and JP signing autographs after the buzzer
16:42 more clips not in chronological order but three minutes in sequence shot by a fan in the mid-lower bowl
18:02 J-Mike’s wonderment at Steph’s dagger 3!
18:41 Steve pleased with Dray’s performance
19:13 Steph’s enjoys the moment
19:19 more clips from Chamillionaire’s courtside seat
19:45 Draymond gets a chair for daughter Cash at his postgame podium
PICTURE GALLERY
Includes Steph interview with 95.7 The Game from practice yesterday, Andrew Wiggins’ two daughters in a selfie with his partner Mychal Johnson, and Anthony Lamb revealing he’s actually a lefty.
0:00 tipoff, Looney did not start, JK did, I was late due to illness and website update
1:30 Klay two bad shots, then a bad pass (Klay said my bad)
3:15 Donte SplashBrother lifestyle crazy stepback
3:45 8m40 Q1 Klay shoots again, misses, has been what we used to call a “black hole”
6:45 6m15 great move by JK dunk
7:15 6m46 horrific tov by Donte but he’s fitting in as a SplashBrother in doing so
11:30 6m00 JK probably a bad foul for 2nd pf, Loon has to pop up off the bench
12:15 5m30 Steph totally unnecessary behind-the-back pass to Donte out of bounds
13:00 5m00 Steph Finals-ish steal and another steal after the fast break 3 missed by Klay
13:30 4m30 you kinda just have to live with the dumb turnovers made up for by flair
14:00 4m10 Steph’s super-power is to answer a hot 3 with a 3
14:15 3m55 Klay dumb turnover, just what I was talking about esp as they age
15:00 3m30 Herb makes NOP 5/7 on threes
15:30 3m00 Herb downhill, JP can’t stay in front, impossible
16:00 2m40 Steve calls for two fingers hooking after the BI dunk, Steph shoots a 3?
19:00 2m00 JP and GP get crossed up on transition D, dunk for NOP, I go on a diatribe about how today’s players are just dumb on defense, half-court and transition
20:15 1m53 bad inbound by Donte on ATO
22:30 don’t think we’ve seen this combination ever: Donte JP Moses GP2 Loon
23:30 0m30 blatant travel by Richardson not called, during this timeout if I were coaching, I’d spend the whole time complaining to the ref about that, Naismith rolling in his grave!
26:15 how can you call that at the buzzer? GP may have grazed BI’s knee
27:30 to me, blame for Q1 goes to Steph and Klay, be leaders, they show Steph hanging his head after the GP2 call, bro, you gotta get up and yell and be vocal and pick one: yell at GP2 or yell at the ref
32:45 good movement by Steph Dray for layup to start Q2
33:00 11m25 Dray bad pass, says my bad, like I used to tell my tournament team when I coached them: what’s the point of saying my bad when you’re turning the ball over
35:00 I give a lot of credit to the Pelicans, they’re playing like they belong, add Zion to that, and wow, the potential, very very long team (Herb Jones and Trey Murphy being the unexpected rising stars)
37:00 no, I’m not gonna blame the refs for 6 turnovers in 13 minutes, that’s over 20 turnovers if you extrapolate a whole 48-min game, that’s absurd. Vets like Donte: you can’t come out and just throw the ball around like that, Klay can’t just fire the ball like he’s got unlimited ammo, SET AN EXAMPLE!
39:00 out of timeout: Steph fires a 3 with 11 on the shot clock
40:00 9m30 mistake by NOP tov, leads to JP downhill 2
40:30 9m10 Steph and-1 vs JV finally
42:45 8m00 JP got the FTs on what looked like non-shooting foul
45:30 7m05 Lamb assist to JP
46:45 5m30 JP had the lane, didn’t take it, coming up with game film for JP must be a full-time job, just envision a dad camcorder taping his kid’s AAU game and how many little bits of improvement he could point out, I’m exaggerating but you get the point
49:00 Fitz says NOP is using a lot of timeouts, you shouldn’t be criticized for using timeouts in the first half, you should be praised because they’re there to stop the opposing momentum. Earlier, Kerr should’ve used one. Use first half timeouts as punishment, but disguised as jokes.
52:30 4m15 good job Klay passing back to Loon (charge), but maybe start next game not ball-hogging and pick your moments to ball-hog
54:15 3m50 Dray yells “how?” on the BI step-up double-tech, probably a FF1, Dray still hasn’t reached the next level on this stuff even though he has made incremental improvements since 2016
58:45 3m30 good job by Steph and Klay to get in front of BI on the potential altercation after the altercation of Dray and Herb, Steve should challenge the charge
1:00:30 Fitz says it’s a charge, I vehemently disagree and then Fitz says they’re taking too long when the tough decision needs to be made about a double-tech or not — calls stands, which means can’t challenge because they looked at it
1:02:45 Dray yells at Steve for taking him out, hopefully this takes BI out of his game, hopefully Dray won’t say anything to get another T from the bench
1:03:45 2m30 Steph throws the ball away, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
1:05:00 1m30 Loon bad screen = 13 tov in one half
1:05:45 1m15 Klay good job fending off the Nance-to-BI screen, why not do this every game?
1:08:30 0m00 Klay great steal, feed, JK great scoop but it’s after the red light
1:11:00 I would say Pels came to play, you can’t say Klay didn’t come to play when he came out firing, that’s coming to play, just not playing the right way. Also I think we have always feared this potential of the Pels led by BI at 6’10”, poor man’s KD, and Trey and Herb hitting shots
1:17:00 in the thesis of “this is hard”, here at halftime, how do you get through to Steph Dray Donte Loon that this is a must-win which demands precise execution and zero to single-digits turnovers combined with bad shots, when they already know that — the other multi-dimensional problem is that the character of this team is built on joy and if you’re stuck in a mode of non-joy, how do you get that back? That’s what makes this so so difficult, like, no PhD dissertation would ever be able solve some of these mental trials of the game of basketball
1:22:00 maybe the way to get back into this is to focus on the fundamentals that will then build the joy and remember that we still have the most potent offense (JK for Wiggs) in the NBA, with ironically the Pels demonstrating that they belong in that conversation because instead of SplashBrothers and JP raining threes, you have 3 6-foot-9 guys and CJ raining threes!
1:26:30 11m45 Donte putback dunk silencing my call to start JK instead of Donte rather than Loon
1:27:30 11m15 Donte and-1 on the cut, Steve will get zero credit from WarriorsTwitter for starting Donte 2nd half even after a poor showing at the start
1:28:15 10m55 most potent offense on display
1:31:15 we just dropped like 30 concurrents, so what that tells me is that people like to go online to vent negativity, rather than celebrate
1:32:30 Klay dropped on BI, Herb open for 3 10m45
1:33:15 good base by DPOY, JV misses fade 10m15
1:35:00 Steph Klay tiki, NOP can’t stop that 9m30
1:36:15 Donte early 3 makes no sense
1:37:30 Klay stopped moving 8m05
1:38:00 Steph curl gets away from tiki 7m40
1:38:30 Klay 3 off the Loon pick so that’s GSW basketball 7m15
1:39:15 Dray convinces Ed Malloy to review the CJ flagrant
1:41:00 Fitz: the choppiness doesn’t favor our rhythm, but for me the thing that is higher priority than rhythm is urgency/physicality
1:42:30 great team defense, JK, Steph, DPOY at the end 6m15 shot clock violation
1:43:45 5m40 Lamb’s close-out is actually very impressive to me
1:45:15 5m00 Steph underestimating the length again
1:46:30 4m40 Lamb 3 even after missing the screen for Klay
1:48:45 3m40 Lamb traveling, should’ve hit GP2 on the baseline
1:54:00 I prove that LGW did write about Trey Murphy in a draft preview
…Sam Vecenie of The Athletic had many wings in his latest board but hilariously had the Warriors picking a center
[unknown] Looney tap-tap on the board helps Steph reload
1:56:45 2m00 Lamb had the help on BI from Steph but maybe Steph should’ve yelled
1:58:00 1m00 two guys ended up setting picks for Steph
1:59:15 0m08 JP full-court press steal
2:02:15 Reginald Avance: “Looney is goated with rebounds”
2:03:45 DPOY steal and physicality to begin the 4th
2:05:15 tic tac toe Dray JK 9m00
2:05:45 JP getting the downhill step, Steph TD pass 9m50
2:10:15 ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS FEELING (JUST TOOK THE LEAD)
2:10:45 vintage Warriors basketball DPOY stop leads to JP downhill to JK dunk 9m00
2:13:30 7m10 JK tic tac toe dunk and1
2:14:45 6m35 Dray finding JP open vs BI very HoF level
2:16:00 5m35 Dray corner 3 close out on Nance is a block, he could run a camp just teaching that alone
2:16:30 Fitz and Kelenna suggested Dray went over to tell the scorekeeper that he blocked the shot, I don’t see it on the boxscore
2:18:15 Steve doesn’t challenge the Dray charge 4m45 Jones foot appeared to be on the circle, to his credit Dray yelled at some people
2:20:00 all the times that Dray has asked for a review and was actually wrong, I think that played into Steve’s distrust, I wouldn’t be surprised if the bench didn’t have the highlights with Jones’ foot on the circle
2:22:45 Loon clinic on when to move your arm to get the board, draws foul on BI, later Steph no look to JP for 3
2:24:00 Steve now challenges out of bounds call, so if he wins this, is he a genius for not challenging the Jones foul?
2:27:00 3m30 Steph gets the mismatch vs Nance but actually wants the other mismatch with CJ so he calls Klay over to screen and fires the 3 over CJ
2:28:15 DP: “JK is the sub for Wiggs” — but he doesn’t strike the same fear and JK can’t create with 7 secs left so that’s why all the nailbiters
2:29:15 I would rather seal the game on tiki plays like at 2m40
2:30:45 Steve shakes his head at the hashmark 3 by Klay, probably at Steph for the crazy possession 1m40
2:31:45 Steph airball, some things you can’t take out of the DNA 1m15
2:34:00 who do we root for, PHX or MIN tomorrow?
2:34:15 JaMychal Green didn’t even play tonight
STEPH ON-COURT AUDIO
2:58:00 looking at the standings and remaining games for PHX LAC MIN
3:00:00 STEVE POSTGAME AUDIO
3:05:15 based on Kerr’s postgame, if you said “trade Draymond” at any point in the season, you should be permanently from watching Warriors game
3:10:00 JP and JK are getting some playoff reps right now
3:14:00 I thought the channel today did a good job of getting through a full half of negativity
3:18:15 is it possible to draft a personality like Draymond?
3:19:30 Steph on-court: “belief and that killer instinct” sounds like a NYT best-seller
3:43:45 STEPH POSTGAME AUDIO
3:50:00 Draymond TNT audio postgame
3:56:00 Poole postgame radio
4:05:45 Willie Greeen postgame video
4:20:45 Nicole: “All of the sudden 95.7 is all about hyping the Team.. 😂🤣😂 Jordan Poole is a brain ninja!!”
4:26:00 remainder of KERR POSTGAME VIDEO
4:35:00 all of DRAYMOND POSTGAME VIDEO
0:00 • Willie Green postgame: “can’t give this team any life. Once they get going, once they get this building going, it’s tough to stop them.”
• On Looney: “just can’t give them extra opportunities.”
• On the Warriors’ hot third quarter: “Experience. They’ve seen every defense there is to see and they know how to turn it on.”
1:45 • On the physicality: “this is what they do… thrives off altercations, especially Draymond.”
4:00 • On Steph and Dray: “been doing this for idk how many years, but a decade, so they understand chemistry… the moment… for them this is a ramp-up.”
• Steph Curry postgame on Draymond: “brings out that competitive fire that we’ve demonstrated for a decade… will yourself out of a situation… heard him say, not a lot of people can talk when they’re down 20… competitive will that we’ve had… no matter how bad we’ve played… we can pull off a night like tonight… has a feel for when we were a little sleepy.”
• On how emotional he was getting: “Nah, that’s just — I’m not a big talker… engaged on getting into the flow of the game… all the trash-talking and the fire. I like to be in there and feel that energy.”
• On the emotions in the runs: “Our crowd gave us a big boost and we gave them something to cheer about… we finally connected the game… we gave up 20 fast break points… (then later) we were just unstoppable… ran away with it.”
• On the slow start: “Our energy was okay. It was deflating plays over and over again… gave them extra possessions… Draymond lit a fire… we have to play better if we’re gonna beat a lot of teams in the playoffs, but not a lot of teams can do what we did.”
• On 50-40-90: “It’s always on my radar.”
• On Bob Myers keeping Draymond in line during the fifth foul: “whether it’s front of 19,000 on the bench or whether it’s a phone call or a text… you don’t see him come down that often… timely… something that Draymond responds to… idk whatever he said in that moment… but it goes a long way.”
• Draymond Green postgame ON FIRING UP THE TEAM: “I knew we needed a boost. We were just kind of flat. We had no energy. We let those guys get wherever they wanted to go. I just wanted to get us fired up and once the foul happened, they started talking. It was a hard foul, but it wasn’t dirty, he didn’t jump or anything. I caught him on the floor, I hit him with a shoulder. Once they started talking they gave me an in to get us fired up. I used that and we got going.” (Warriors PR)
• ON WHETHER CJ MCCOLLUM SAID ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR: “Yes. He started talking about the foul. I have a lot of respect for CJ. The guy has been good in this league for a long time. That is my type of situation. I enjoy that. I appreciate him. It is good.” (Warriors PR)
• ON WHETHER HE FELT THAT THIS GAME WAS A PLAYOFF SITUATION: “It did and as it should. There are two teams fighting for positioning they could possibly be in a tie-breaker situation, you have to take care of home court. We gave one away last game. Me in particular and we have to do something to get that back. We can’t lose two in a row at home, especially at this time of the year, understanding our circumstances, so it definitely felt like a playoff game as it should have.” (Warriors PR)
• ON WHETHER THIS WAS A TACTIC HE USES TO GET THE TEAM FIRED UP: “It was perfect. It was perfectly executed. We looked dead, those first 18 minutes of the game. We had to find some energy somewhere and I knew it just wasn’t going to come, especially losing the game like we lost the last game. That can carry over and I felt like it did. I knew we had to do something and do it fast before the game got out of control. They hit a couple of shots there at the end of the half to increase their lead, but it didn’t feel real. It felt like they hit a couple. We turned the ball over a couple of times, they hit a couple shots in transition but right before that CJ had a wide open layup and he missed it. BI (Brandon Ingram) had one of his shots and he missed it, so you could just feel that they were just out of sorts, yet we turned the ball over a couple times and gave them some stuff in transition and they boosted their lead but coming into the half, I knew we had them right where we needed to have them. We came out a minute and sixteen seconds in on an 8-0 run. That was huge and it turned the game for us.” (Warriors PR)
• ON BOB MYERS: “If Bob comes and tells me something, that’s bible to me… (Myers told him) Listen. Alright, you proved your point. You may have been right but if you stay that way, guys are going to follow you. If you turn it around right now and get back in the huddle, guys will follow that… Y’all don’t always get to see Bob’s worth other than putting the team together. But he’s so important to everything that we do.” (Warriors PR)
• Kevon Looney postgame in-studio recap: “Every game is important. We didn’t come out with great energy… Draymond challenged us and we followed his lead.”
• On how they followed his lead: “increased his intensity… he didn’t have to say anything… that’s all it took for us.”
• On adjusting to coming off the bench: “When I start I know I gotta make sure I set the tone with physicality… when I come off the bench… adjust and see how the game is going.”
• On the Pelicans becoming intimidated: “We’re used to seeing Draymond doing this… we gotta respond… made everybody’s antennas go up… sometimes you just get used to playing every other day.”
• On offensive rebounding: “it’s fun getting offensive rebounds… coming into the year I wanted to be top five… our first couple years here we always used to lose the possession battle… Coach (wanted them to get better).”
• On how he gets position: “It’s about the mentality… doing your work early, hitting them guys first… nobody wants to box out and work hard… once you get one, you get two, it starts to wear them down… set the tone with that, other guys follow.”
• On if he were to win MIP: “That would mean the word to me… all the work I put in.”
• Steve Kerr postgame on Draymond: “willed us to victory… intensity… frustration early… mad at the world, yelling at everybody… frankly we all deserved it… that’s what makes Draymond special, it’s not just the amazing basketball IQ and defense and playmaking… his sheer will.”
• On when he saw Draymond start to fire up: “I’m liking it. I’m liking it because I’ve seen this movie before. We need his fire… we do some crazy stuff out there, we get sideways, we get too casual with the ball… this thing doesn’t together, but he ties the skill together… it has to be ignited through competitive, energy and ultimately execution… in the second half was totally different.”
• On when he took out Draymond: “He had the three fouls so I took him out. I was worried about the extreme energy he had at that point… that would lead to his fourth and then they immediately went on an 8-0 run… mad at the body language in the huddle… ultimate winner.”
• More Steve Kerr on what changed in the second half: “Force the pick and roll too much in the first half, that’s my fault… flow (in the second half).”
• On Steph taking his focus to another level: “he doesn’t say anything but he’s every bit the competitor that Draymond is… a killer… comes out in his confidence, his shot-making, getting the crowd into it… his defense… was great… 8 boards, 3 steals… overall game really come into play and then he takes over… pretty amazing to watch. These guys, they still got it. They’re champions for a reason, it’s harder now than it was before… decade-long run and the energy that it takes… the core.”
• On reminding the team about the urgency at halftime: “We’re not thinking about that at halftime. We’re just thinking about how yo win the game… we lost a heartbreaker the other night… maybe trying a little bit too hard… these games… take forever… especially with our firepower.”
• On Donte: “big stretch to start the third… big plays… loved his energy… that team has been hot, they’re hard to guard… Ingram… CJ.”
• On Kuminga: “his defense from the beginning was huge for us… his offense has gotten better and better, playing behind the play… couple free throws.”
• On Klay having the most threes in a season in his career: “He’s probably proud of that given how good he was before the injuries… return from two major, major injuries.”
• On end of the third with the Poole steal: “We made some pushes earlier in the third… closing to within four… very important.”
• On turning it around in the second half: “We always talk about the game being connected… our offense got better which in turn (helped our defense)… they were taking the ball out of the net, we could play five on five.”
• On the Ingram box-and-1: “We always into each game with adjustments we see that we can make… might do a little box and one and Gary’s the perfect guy… can deny everywhere… speed and athleticism… it wasn’t his best night… turned it over and fouled Ingram before the end of the quarter at sixty feet… settled down.”
• On Draymond guarding Ingram with five fouls: “We had a ten-point lead… all about getting stops… best defensive lineup with Draymond and Loon… I trust Draymond.”
• On the late turnover two nights ago: “always moves forward… play hard… season filled… can’t look backwards.”
• Steph Curry on-court postgame recap: “We know what time of the season it is… first half it was kind of like nothing going your way, self-inflicted wounds… Draymond… competitive spirit that’s unmatched and it’s been like that for a decade… that belief and that killer instinct… we’ve done it, we know it… JP… JK… Loon… Donte.”
• On his defense: “We understand that’s how you win. First half it was turnovers… our halfcourt defense was amazing, we just kept making turnovers… everybody was locked in (second half).”
• On coming back at Chase Center: “Let’s not forget the origins of this franchise on the other side of the bridge… add that on top of the championships… that’s just a belief.., toe to toe with whoever comes to this building.”
• On closing out games: “what a difference 48 hours makes, right?… focusing in mentally… having next play mentality… a lot of guys on a lot of teams would still be thinking about that Minnesota game.”
• On having old man strength, bow your neck: “gotta send that clip.”
• Steve Kerr pregame Pelicans on GP2 being listed as questionable: “should be good to go… will play tonight.” (Dalton Johnson, 95.7 The Game)
• On Andrew Wiggins: Still no timetable, but he is “working out every day” on his own right now, but team wouldn’t know about his game conditioning until he got back in building. 20th straight missed game tonight. Kerr added that Wiggins’ absence remains indefinite but idea of shutting him down “hasn’t been discussed… Once he’s back, our training staff will get with him and see where he is (physically)… There’s hope” he returns. (Dalton Johnson, Anthony Slater, Kerith Burke)
• On his 2-for-1 philosophy: “Should mean let’s get two good looks. Not just, let’s launch.” (95.7 The Game)
👍👍💛💙