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00:00let's get out to the river islands guest line it's that time coach curry is here presented by
00:04great clips in sports success is about team effort and the same is true for your hair great
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00:12contractors homeowners and the community in marin for over 50 years visit their showroom today hey
00:20coach how you doing i'm good thanks how are you guys uh we're doing all right man obviously
00:25navigating through some uh some some new concern from uh from all the warrior fans today you know
00:31yeah well it's the nba you know it's uh it's not like we were uh a great team in phoenix and uh and
00:40all of a sudden got bad it's just uh you know everybody can everybody can play everybody can
00:45shoot um the modern nba man the shooting variance is crazy so you just got to keep moving forward
00:52coach i this is something that popped into my head when i watched the last couple of minutes
00:57last night uh there were some sloppy turnovers from some pretty big names on your team there's
01:02no doubting that and my mind went to a couple of weeks ago when you guys had that loss against
01:08denver where yokich missed the game and and you had sort of said that a sign of that emotional fatigue
01:15for you in watching mainly steph is is when you see some of that kind of sloppy play
01:22do you transfer that to last night as well does that feel the same to you or different
01:27no i don't i don't see any of that at all in fact um stuff was just incredible um last night in that
01:34second half when we were down and uh made huge plays i thought he looked good his energy was good
01:40uh yes we made some mistakes down the stretch but that's part of the game um i made some mistakes i
01:46could have done better myself we we we all are in this together and you know as much as you hate to
01:53lose that game given its importance um you look at how san antonio played making 18 threes uh seven of
02:00them in the fourth quarter alone uh you you have to give them credit you can't just uh expect to
02:06to win games now we did not play well there's no doubt and we missed a lot of shots uh but um this is
02:13this is all part of an nba season you take the whole 82 and you you add them up at the end and
02:20i'm very confident that um we're going to take care of business here the next couple games well
02:25you sure are making it exciting through all 82 so thanks for that question mark you know steve i'm
02:32normally big time captain positive guy at least i like to think i am but you mentioned mistakes that
02:38you made is there anything you want to highlight uh because i have a couple of if you're looking for
02:42suggestions oh thank you you're welcome no i you know we we uh we're in a in a um in a tricky spot
02:52with uh both uh quentin and gary out and so we made some lineup choices both in the second quarter
02:58and the fourth quarter you know just trying to find uh combinations that would fit and that would
03:03give us some spacing and um you know i probably could have tried some different things uh rotation
03:09wise i probably could have called a couple of different plays you know after timeouts these
03:14are the things as a coach you know when you lose a game you watch the tape you stay up at night you
03:20you know you think about all the stuff you could have done differently and uh it's all part of it so
03:26but if you do have suggestions i'm all ears what do you got for me what do you got the one that kind of
03:30sticks out is uh harrison barnes three the game winning dagger you had steph guarding the ball any thought
03:37to maybe putting a more active on ball defender to make things a little bit more difficult on the
03:41inbounder you know we sometimes we'll put a big on the inbounder but with three seconds left the
03:49inbounder himself is very dangerous because he could he can pass and get the the hand back you know get
03:55a get a pass back and so we decided to put stuff on the inbounder so that he wasn't involved in the
04:01the switches you know off ball um in case there were screens um and you know that were involved
04:07in the play so um yeah i mean it's a good suggestion and oftentimes we do put a big on
04:13on the ball but with that much time left i try not to do you guys have a suggestion box because
04:19we've got listeners who i think would have more you know more ideas really huh yeah it's interesting
04:27i have a i i get a lot of emails um with so with lots of suggestions and uh so yeah i'm always uh
04:35i'm always interested in those so yeah please keep keep them come on you guys to do a suggestion box
04:41and just pass them along if you ever go to a third row of coaches uh myself and about 18 people on the
04:46youtube would be happy to sit there i'm sure there's a lot more than that yeah and and what is
04:52your email address coach go ahead yeah exactly i see you steve kerr joining us uh by the way before
05:01we move off of the gp2 and quentin post thing anything on their availability for tomorrow night
05:06not yet we're hopeful they're both on the trip and and we're hopeful that they will play um i thought
05:12gary's absence was really big last night we had a hard time staying in front of castle you know when
05:19they uh when they went small and took the umbo out it was basically five out they had uh shooting
05:24everywhere and um and we really struggled staying in front of castle and and and that really um caused
05:30a lot of the breakdowns that led to a lot of the threes and uh you know that's a that's one of the
05:36reasons gary is so crucial to us is his on-ball defense you put him on the best ball handler the
05:42point guard and then at the other end he's he's one of our best finishers um you know as a roll man
05:47as a dive man he's kind of a he's a point guard on defense and a power forward on on offense as you
05:53guys know and uh so we missed him last night we missed quentin's um you know space um shooting
05:59with that second second group that we start or i shouldn't say second group but uh top of the second
06:05top of the fourth lineup that we've gotten very comfortable with so uh we miss those guys but it's
06:10all part of it everybody has injuries and uh we we needed to respond a little bit better and we just
06:15sure we didn't do it but now we got to respond again um coach also in 90 minutes there's a
06:20basketball game that that you'll probably find interesting will will you guys all kind of get
06:25together and watch this or what what's your plan no i you know we'll uh we'll all be following it but
06:31everyone's got you know different plans and friends in town going to dinner whatever it is but
06:37yeah we will be paying close attention from our phones for sure can you remember another year in
06:43the western conference that's been like this not only the standings but you know your former
06:48colleague mike brown fired and taylor jenkins fired and then now michael malone fired with four games
06:53left and them in a top four spot what did you make of of that firing and just the west in general this
06:58year yeah i mean i know the firings um this late in the season um really are seem unprecedented to me
07:09but i i don't know my full nba history i just don't remember during my time in the league anything
07:14like this happening uh so those are both surprising uh given the status of of both teams you know
07:21denver and memphis both being you know playoff teams and uh the mike brown firing was uh was to me um
07:28rushed and um not you know not the move to make with a guy who's turned your program around but
07:38well you know that was the history of the nba is every franchise gets to do what they want to do
07:45right that's how it works and so lots of great coaches have been fired and i'll probably be one
07:50of them at some point in my career too so this is the business we're in and and uh we all know what
07:56we're signing signing up for and but it is uh it does seem a little strange this late in the season
08:01well so many of them coach they they feel like and i think this is the nature of the league now that
08:07there's some sort of discord either between a coach and a front office or a coach and their star
08:13player or players or maybe a mixture of all of it and and so all of this going on certainly led me to
08:19want to ask you like how has your group at least seemingly all stayed on the same page through through
08:28a decade plus well we are great people and we understand the value of stability and sticking
08:35together and that we have a lot of healthy conversation you know behind the scenes and
08:40plenty of arguments and all that stuff but it's we are always connected and aligned and and uh it's
08:47crucial it's the only way it can work um and and i have to say that um you know one of the reasons
08:53it works is because of steph curry too when you have this kind of stability and leadership from
08:58your best player uh it just um it really filters through the entire organization and uh so we're
09:05blessed we've got a lot of great people uh great organization and uh and we've stuck together through
09:11thick and thin it's uh it's the only way i can do it you can do it it's been more thick than thin and
09:16that's been awesome but i wonder about the messaging because now it's 11 years in and
09:20steph's been here for all of it and draymond too and at some point it's human nature to kind of tune
09:26somebody out when it's the same thing over and over so how have you evolved not only in your style
09:31but in your messaging with guys who've been there as long as you have well we have a lot of fun we
09:36we uh we really care about each other uh i think um i think most coaches who are able to stick around
09:45for a long time um you know i think of greg popovich who i played for phil jackson um i don't know i think
09:53there's a a comfort level with um the fact that this is an emotional business but you you can't
10:02approach it uh with an emotional manner it has to be um you have to be measured you have to be able to
10:10deal with the losses like last night uh you have to be able to tell the truth but you also um
10:17you know have to give guys uh the the space they need to get through an 82 game season and
10:23uh you know i've got my flaws as a coach uh there's plenty of stuff i can do better but i do think that
10:30um we have a great vibe in our building and and most of that is our players but i think i've learned how
10:36to try to foster that vibe and create a good environment where everybody feels um safe and
10:42and uh productive and and uh joyful and and i take a lot of pride in that coach kerr with us here as he
10:48is every week on whether the dibs 95 7 the game you know it's kind of funny steve like the the whole
10:54two timelines phrase that became such a a lightning rod with warrior basketball over the last few years
11:00when you hear of the things that are going on around the western conference it feels like that's a
11:05subject for a lot of teams the balancing of veteran players and going for it now versus development of
11:12our young assets and that's clearly been something that i'm sure you guys have talked about and argued
11:19about what is your philosophy on that like how have you been able to navigate that over the last three
11:25four years well my philosophy number one is that um the coach and the gm are two separate jobs and
11:33they need to stay separate jobs um i just don't think it's possible for one guy to do both jobs
11:39um it's always been my philosophy that uh you know first bob and and now mike it's it's their job to
11:46put together the roster and i respect uh the the work that they do and then uh it's up to me and our
11:53coaching staff to coach the guys we have and you know we're for sure going to give our opinions on on
11:58personnel matters but ultimately there's a good healthy separation of church and state and then
12:04from there it's really important um to work together and collaborate and um and that's where it gets
12:11tricky you know sometimes you know you're reading about it right now with with different teams you
12:15know you you get uh you know management wants to play one guy coach wants to play another you got you
12:22have to work through that and and there's there's there's ways to do that and collaborate and stay on the
12:27same page even if you have disagreements and it's tough especially this time of year where you get
12:32into virtual must win territory is it safe to say that you feel more comfortable leaning toward a
12:38veteran as opposed to a younger player if all things are created equally um i wouldn't say that at all
12:47um so i mean i i just think it's safe to say that i lean towards the best lineup combinations that i can
12:55find um regardless of the age of the players um coach i i know we we touched on this a little bit
13:02earlier um i and i realize where you the position you guys are in nobody wants to sound like they're
13:09complaining this time of year but but sort of a two-pronged question a how do you see fatigue
13:17affecting your team because of that recent road trip and and and the b part of the question is
13:23how vital is some rest for you guys next week well that i think the uh the road trip that we came off
13:32of followed by this you know the stretch uh you know denver houston at phoenix on last night on the
13:39back-to-back um there's no question that that um that factors in um now when you say that you go okay
13:48so what 29 other teams have the exact same stuff we all have our schedule issues uh during the season
13:55some some stretches are better than others um you acknowledge it but you don't use it as an excuse
14:01so uh none of that matters i mean we are where we are i would argue we're in a great spot um 22 and
14:09seven since we got jimmy um you know if we made that trade when we made that trade can you imagine
14:15sitting here going oh yeah and by the way you're going to go 22 and seven you're going to have top
14:19five offense top defense top five defense and this is where you'll be with two games left in the season
14:25you don't think we would have jumped yeah yep you know so the entire narrative has shifted the entire
14:31vibe has shifted since jimmy's arrival so you can't let you know one loss or a couple losses uh dampen that
14:40when you just have to recognize the west is loaded there's a bunch of great teams uh there's a bunch
14:45of great organizations who have put together you know really good programs and this is competition
14:51at its highest level and we are in the mix and and i can't wait for tomorrow night and then sunday
14:57and then whatever comes after that and hopefully whatever comes after that is not until the following
15:01saturday or sunday is there a sense of added pressure and a desire to avoid those play-in games just to give
15:09a team with an older core a little bit of additional rest after the gauntlet you've been through
15:14there is of course there is i mean we want we want the week off we're also well aware that um there's
15:21plenty of ways to to to get you know get through this stuff and you know you don't even know how
15:26matchups are going to play into this um you know who you can play how it plays out uh i know the lakers
15:33made the conference finals two years ago um through the play-in you know i mean this is
15:39like it's not like it's a death sentence to go to the play-in um but there's no doubt you'd rather
15:44avoid it just to to not have to deal with uh the extra game or two but also the uh you know the
15:51stress of having to to get through those games uh steve kerr with us uh coach we we we of course
15:57have to have some fun with what turned into a viral moment the other night let's play it for our
16:01listeners uh from tnt this was uh not uh not last night but the game against the suns with you talking
16:08to buddy healed on the sideline there buddy i love you buddy i love you all right take us through
16:24introducing buddy healed to steph curry the other night i was just having fun buddy is the greatest
16:31guy of all time this guy brings so much joy and laughter to our locker room every single day and
16:36so he's a guy who can laugh at himself he missed steph steph was wide open in transition for a
16:41corner three buddy launched one and during the next time out i just wanted to have some fun with him
16:47and just uh you know just remind him that when you're playing with steph curry it's kind of a
16:51good idea to throw him the ball if he's open yeah and pretty funny that buddy immediately he got open
16:56late like i was already into my thing i just wonder about the general nature of the three and last night
17:02you shot 48 threes as a team did you think especially in that fourth quarter that you got a
17:07little bit two three happy well as long as they're open um i i love threes and i think it's important
17:14for us to shoot them because uh frankly we're you know we're not a team uh that finishes uh really well
17:21inside you know we don't uh we don't get a lot of easy buckets now jimmy has changed some of that he gets
17:26to the line so so easily and but you know what what jimmy does i thought last night was a really
17:33interesting box score right he took eight shots um and scored 28 points because he got to the line
17:3817 times but what jimmy's game is about is uh putting pressure on the defense getting to the rim and
17:45then either getting drawing a foul or kicking it out for a three and um and so we had a lot of really
17:53good looks last night and um shots didn't go in uh when they don't go in we all tend to say well
17:59maybe we shot too many threes but like that's who we are we're in the top you know it's three or four
18:04teams in the league uh maybe second i think right now and three point attempts um we we need to do
18:10that uh as a team we need to shoot a lot of threes uh because it's the modern nba and you know we uh
18:17other than jimmy we don't have a lot of guys who are you know scoring uh and and drawing fouls on the
18:23team coach no surprise to you there's always a lot of discussion about jonathan kaminga after
18:28every game what what are you seeing right now as far as his continued you know getting comfortable
18:35with with the new jimmy butler warriors and and and what kind of plans do you have for him in the
18:41postseason assuming that you get there of course yeah i mean every game is different and and uh i think
18:47you know jimmy's arrival took away a lot of uh jonathan's minutes at the four and um you know
18:54there's no doubt that um you know as soon as jimmy arrived and we started winning we leaned into lineup
19:00combinations that uh enhanced jimmy because we were winning and uh jonathan was out um for that whole
19:07stretch we went like you know 17 and three or something um so we're we're going to keep doing
19:13what's been winning um but it's the uh the lineup with uh jimmy jonathan and draymond uh doesn't fit
19:22real well frankly it just doesn't um we need we need more spacing um we've found other lineups that
19:28have clicked and it's just part of part of the deal you know being in the nba and and uh you you got to
19:34adapt to whatever you know whatever's happening with the team jonathan's done a great job of that he's
19:39working hard he's playing well when he's out there um but i'm just going with the lineup combinations
19:44that i think are going to give us the best chance to win and you know he uh there's going to be nights
19:49where he's absolutely part of that like uh the laker game and then there's uh there's going to be nights
19:55where i go to buddy or moses or they're peyton um it just it just changes every every game based on
20:02what's happening and i have to read that as a coach and thanks to you steve i now look at combinations
20:07all the time two man three man four man five man and as i look at your best combinations
20:12they all have a guy named b podziemski as a part of it what does pods do to make all of these
20:19combinations that he's a part of so successful he's got incredible feel uh for the game and uh he he um
20:28he attacks uh the rim in a really unique way you know he runs through we call running through the
20:35catch where you know somebody throws you the ball and you've got a slight angle on your defender and
20:40you instead of waiting and catching the ball and holding you run right through the catch put it on
20:45the floor and get into the paint and then move it again so brandon is constantly breaking down
20:50the defense uh for us and that's one of the reasons he's in all the best lineup combinations
20:55because that's ultimately what the game is about is you want to break down the defense uh you want
21:01space the floor and you want to generate shots and he's a guy who does a lot of that uh coach i know
21:06you haven't seen the clippers in a while uh but you also haven't beaten them this year are they
21:11uh for some reason matchup wise a more difficult matchup for you guys than other teams
21:17so number one they're a great team you know i think that's uh that's the first thing they uh i think
21:23they're one of the best teams in the league i think they're a top five defense uh and then you
21:28know now that kawaii is healthy uh they're they're loaded with talent between uh between
21:33hardin and and kawaii norm powell uh zubats i think is one of the best centers in the league
21:39and uh and ty's a great coach so let's say they just they're just really good and uh you know so
21:45we're uh we got to take care of business here in portland tomorrow and then uh give ourselves a
21:50chance going into sunday so we're excited about it and about portland in the opener you you smashed
21:55them and then you played them again in march and it was a high scoring affair but this portland team
21:59continues to look better and better and a team that's not waving the white flag when you look
22:03at them tomorrow what is the thing that maybe concerns you most about the blazers just how hard
22:10they've played and and uh how good they've been defensively um you know they've really uh gone
22:16through a transformation here the last couple years under chauncey and with the lineup changes
22:21uh roster changes i should say um adding a lot of length i think denny avia is fantastic
22:27really impressive young guy um camara also um you know good young player they've had a lot of length
22:35and athleticism shade sharp as well so it's a good team and uh they've been um excellent here the last
22:42couple of months i don't know coach maybe this is just what makes you so good to talk to but you
22:47don't sound stressed at all everybody else sounds very stressed i'm not stressed i'm excited uh we
22:53have we have a really good team we flipped up last night but had a lot to do with the other team and
22:59i've been through this a long time the nba you know pop used to tell us the guys the other guys make
23:04millions of dollars a year too for a reason they're pretty good at basketball so you know we're it's not
23:09supposed to be easy and uh and that's how it works so there's just nights um where you know even
23:17against a team with a worse record there's nights and last night was one of them and it's all about
23:22how you respond and we've we've got to respond and we've got to take care of all the the details and
23:28the little things in order to you know offset some of the shooting variants that you can get
23:32uh did you have any uh any any special words on the way out the door for either barnes or chris paul
23:38last night no no i mean i love both those guys uh you know that after the game it's pretty
23:45emotional it's not really a time where you you know uh to end up visiting but uh if i see him
23:52this summer i'll mention the game okay maybe next time you see harrison just tell him to knock that
23:57off i mean where was that nine years ago hb i mean come on what are we doing uh coach great to
24:04have you as always thank you so much best of luck the rest of the way we'll talk to you next week
24:08all right thanks guys thanks steve there it is steve kirk