I have a breakdown video coming up that largely dispels the “Klay Thompson is chucking up shots” narrative, but I thought Steve Kerr’s postgame quotes were powerful — even if I finally disagreed with him on one point (Klay) — so decided I better throw up this post, especially after “Aaannnd1” thanked me in the comments yesterday.
As far as the breakdown video, the raw clips are done, but I’ve got to go and see Wakanda Forever before my YouTube account accidentally starts playing one of the many “easter egg” (S/O Ryan Arey of Screencrush) videos that await me on my home screen, so my soft goal is by tomorrow morning, another reason for this post.
I wish I had Steve as my coach back in the day when we had struggles on various Japanese League and Filipino tournament teams I played on. Can I bottle that postgame presser up and send it back in time? Once in a blue moon you run into a lm inspired buzzsaw where the other team is not only out-rebounding you inside but also raining threes in your face.
Look, the Phoenix Suns played incredible. I did not know Cameron Payne, Mikal Bridges and Torrey Craig could hit threes like that. But overall as Kerr said, don’t play with so much frustration and look for the team concept to get buckets. Hit singles. But also lock-in on defense with fire, albeit Phoenix is a tough team that is certainly a championship contender, so don’t get too down about last night.
The bench actually played okay last night. Rotations only went like 8-9 deep, very little playing time for Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga out with non-COVID illness, tons of burn for Anthony Lamb, deservingly. As far as the criticism on the bench overall, I only agree in terms of that 0-5 road trip which put the team in a huge hole, but hindsight is 20/20.
Yesterday, we ran into a struggling Suns team so they had urgency, too, and Devin Booker hit key shots whenever they had a mini-drought, they all rebounded well. These games upcoming with the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Pelicans are all winnable despite the HOU-NOP set being a road back-to-back, so this is an important stretch to get momentum.
The content below will be in chronological order so that Steve’s quotes are nearer to the top. That being said, I’ll also omit my notes from the game, which is the livestream game commentary” and save them for the forthcoming Klay post. General order of videos/content: Kerr, Monty Williams, Kevon Looney, Stephen Curry, Payne (who had a little celebration after the game) with an equally happy Bridges, and DBook.
MONTY & STEVE PREGAME
DISCLAIMER: These are all just notes for my main workflow of YouTube videos, tweeted by beatwriters, as listed, or transcribed by me. I used to transcribe every interview but it became too tedious and not worth the investment for the small amount of views we got on the soundbites on YouTube. 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.
• Chris Paul is out for tonight’s game. He’s been day-to-day for the last couple of games.. (Gerald Bourguet)
4:00 • On DeAndre Ayton struggling, per Monty Williams pregame. (me)
6:55 • On the Warriors’ struggles: “They’ve talked about stuff publicly about how young they are on the bench…Jordan’ one of the best players in the league now…Looney is underrated…their bench is not as old, but they’re athletic and quick and can score in bunches. It’s so early in the season I’m not sure it’s fair to make all these declarations.” (me)
• On when to assess the team: “We’ve always said…twenty games and then make some changes/improvements.” (me)
9:15 • On the refs and flopping: “We have had some drastic disparities when you look at the free throw line number.” (me)
• Jonathan Kuminga is under the weather (non-COVID illness) and will not play tonight. (John Dickinson, Madeline Kenney)
• Steve Kerr pregame on Klay: “In some ways right now Klay just has to get out of his own way and free himself up and just play, enjoy the game instead of wrapping himself up in every single shot.” Kerr added Klay’s in a good place physically. “He just needs to just relax and go play.” (Kerith Burke)
• Kerr elaborates on his comments that the Warriors’ dynasty is nearing an end: “Near the end of the run, yeah, but it could go on another three years.” (NBCSBA)
STEVE POSTGAME
• Steve Kerr on the Warriors’ 0-8 road start: “There’s no point in panicking. What we have to do is stay with it and find it…. I saw a lot of hanging heads tonight. I think guys are feeling sorry for themselves. No one is feeling sorry for us. So everyone can’t wait to play us and kick our ass. We’ve had a lot of success and a lot of fun, a lot of joy beating people over the years, and teams don’t forget that.” (CJ Holmes, Madeline Kenney)
• Kerr: “There’s no collective grit. We lack collective grit. And when you don’t have grit, the game is easy for the other team…We’ve got to get everybody on board, on the same page in terms of worrying about winning. Right now, we’re just scattered. There’s no execution. There’s no commitment to the group… It’s a pick-up game. It’s a pick-up game out there. it obviously starts with me… It’s a Drew League game. We’re playing a Drew League game…It’s this combination of joy and competitive desire and unity and purpose… it’s lacking right now.” (Madeline Kenney, CJ Holmes, Marcus Thompson, KNBR, Kendra Andrews, Kylen Mills, Marcus Thompson)
• On if he has on overall view of the issues without pointing fingers: “Sure, and that’s what being a coach is all about. It’s not just about drawing up a play. It’s about really trying to know your players, building relationships them, trying to give them a vision that they can collectively shoot for. Clearly I have failed at that, to this point this year. So I have to do a better job and I’ve gotta reach these guys. We gotta pull them together and that’s what we gotta do.” (me)
• On Klay: “Took a lot of quick shots. Klay continues to come down and try to shoot his way out of an early season slump every night. He’s pressing…The guy’s got a lot of weight on his shoulders…we have to help Klay…when he can get through his frustration the game will come to him…he’s still got it. Right now he’s playing in a frustrated manner…leading to a lot of quick shots. And he knows that.” (me)
• On Kuminga not playing (illness): “We just played Lamb the minutes that JK would’ve played.” (me)
• On Moody not playing that much: “We were gonna put him in in the first half and then the way the game fell with Wiggins’ early foul trouble and the combinations that we had out there, we felt better with just staying with the group that we had.” (me)
• On Poole not shooting well: “Suns played great defense and that led to great offense. Monty had them ready…played with a lot of force.” (me)
• Kerr about leaning on Steph to get back to the joy: “Steph is the anchor of our team and the anchor of our culture, and that won’t change. We will work together. Steph is not only one of the greatest players of all time, but is one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met in my life…He’s gonna do everything in that locker room along with Draymond and Andre, Loon…to pull the team together…I think we’re can find our way back…delicate balance. Pop used to tell us in San Antonio, when things weren’t going well…those guys make millions of dollars a year to play basketball , too…the NBA is loaded with the guys who can play. If you’re not right emotionally, spiritually, you will get exposed every night. And that’s where we are right now” (Dalton Johnson, Madeline Kenney)
• More on how to handle things with Klay: “privately.” (me)
• On the bench not scoring and if that puts more pressure on Steph and Klay to score: “None of that matters. Everything that I just talked about, that’s everything. That’s the game.” (me)
LOON POSTGAME
• Kevon Looney on searching for joy: “It’s always hard to find joy when you’re losing…guys have the right intentions and we’re getting closer and closer to finding that joy…taking a step forward and two steps back.” (me)
• On if there’s a disconnect: “I wouldn’t say disconnect. We just keep losing. And when you’re losing… the overall feeling is down. We lose a few games and we have a lot of pride in the locker room, guys want to win…We got to come together as a group. I think everybody has the right intention. We’ve all been hanging out and doing the right things, everybody likes each other, just trying to find that same connection on the court.” (Madeline Kenney, me)
• On Kerr saying it was a pickup game: “our defense wasn’t as good as it can be…they’re a tough team to guard. The game was slowing…that’s been our calling card, we’ve gotta pick it up on that end.” (me)
• On the quick shots: “We take some quick shots sometimes but that’s been our offense for awhile…the ball was moving…when we get down we kinda get into hero ball a little bit…it starts on the other side with defense.” (me)
• On the disparity in rebounding: “The times we did play great defense, we didn’t finish the play…that’s on me and the bigs…deflating…small things. We know what to do…don’t pay attention to details sometimes…against a team like Phoenix it’s gonna add up.” (me)
STEPH POSTGAME
• Stephen Curry game recap: “It’s a struggle right now, keeping it real. We have to understand that it’s going to be really hard to dig yourself out of the situation that we’re in because there are a lot of issues … losing becomes a habit if you don’t fix it,” explains how the Warriors can get “scattered” in games. (Kendra Andrews, Kylen Mills)
• Curry says it’s great that he’s scoring but it’s also a part of his responsibility to get the group in the right collective mindset to win. Curry says he’s ready for that challenge and to figure it out. (Kylen Mills)
• On Klay Thompson’s shooting struggles: “Klay Thompson shots are always ones that you wouldn’t tell anybody else to take…they try to take it away because they’re afraid of what Peak Klay looks like…his presence out there…It’s going to come. Just trust it.” (me, CJ Holmes)
MONTY/PAYNE/BRIDGES/BOOK POSTGAME
(video is same as Looney video above)
• Monty Williams on out-rebounding the Warriors: “(Steph Curry) would’ve ended up 60+ if we don’t rebound the ball tonight.” (me)
• On Jordan Poole: “He has All-Star talent…Our guys respect him. He hurt us a ton when we played them last year. He’s a big part of the scouting report.” (me)
👍👍💛💙