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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORSMay 21, 2015Kevin McHaleOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Two Warriors – 99 Q. Kevin, to get that close after coming back in that game, on that last possession, what would you have liked to have seen happen? Harden has the ball, he kicks it to‑‑ KEVIN McHALE: No, when we got the rebound, someone fell down for him, I'm not sure who, and someone was out of bounds for them. I could drop a lot of plays and it wasn't going to be one guy laying on his back and one guy out of bounds so I just let him go. We'll take our best player coming downhill. He's a great downhill player. And that thing, they kind of pinched him, had a little bit of a bobble, I was trying to get ‑‑ then the ball got loose and I was trying to get time‑out late at that time ‑‑ if we had a time‑out, could have probably called it with about two, two‑and‑a‑half. But when I glanced up and I saw two guys behind the play, there's just no way I was going to call a time‑out at that point, and I don't know who fell down, but one of the guys had fallen down on the right side of the court, and I think Barnes missed the reverse and he was out of bounds. I figured if nothing else, we had a four on three. Q. Two nights ago was a lot of small ball. Tonight everybody played bigs. What did you think Bogut's impact on the game was for them? KEVIN McHALE: I thought Dwight did a really good job first of all with a bad knee. He had 19 and 17 and did a great job. And Dwight got caught a couple times coming over. They had Bogut in the spot there. We got to crack back, and we're switching some things so they're trying to post‑up some of those guys and Dwight has got a natural tendency to drift over to the ball. He's a shot blocker for us, but you know, I thought Dwight played great, I thought Bogut had a solid game for them hanging around the rim. Q. One of the things that impressed so many people was the fact that you guys have come back with the injuries that you've had and managed to make this‑‑ both these games very, very tight. After the Warriors kind of dominated you in the regular season, how‑‑ KEVIN McHALE: Regular season means nothing. Q. But I'm just saying, how much better of a team are you guys right now? KEVIN McHALE: We've just got to battle. Like I said, I'll take‑‑ hey, we made some mistakes that we've got to correct. They did what they were supposed to do, they won two home games. We had a chance in each game to win. As I said, I will take our best player coming downhill in a broken court any day of the week to win the game. That's where James feasts, and you know, that's where he's at his best. Our team fought back. They got no quit in them. We forced an eight‑second violation. We just kept on grinding away, and we had the ball with our best guy after a hell of a defensive effort by Dwight to make Barnes miss, and then an attack. You know, I mean, hey, they did what they were supposed to do, they won two. We've got to come home and win three. That's what it comes down to. We've got to win three and we've got to do it by scrapping and fighting. We made mistakes that we can correct, and we had a couple things that‑‑ there's some things we can correct and some things we can get better at, but you know, I thought, again, that‑‑ you know, we didn't quit. We just battled back, and as I said, you know, on the road in the Western Conference Finals, you have a chance to win it, you'll take that. Q. Dwight played with basically one leg. Just your thoughts on how he looked? KEVIN McHALE: Dwight did a great job for us. We were really struggling to rebound the ball if he wasn't on the floor, and James came in and got nine defensive rebounds which is huge for us. What can you say? I mean, the guy played fantastic. His knee is bothering him a lot, and you know, one thing about Dwight is when Dwight starts a game, he very seldom wants to come out. In Game 1 when he told me he couldn't go, I was like, oh, boy. I mean, that is‑‑ that's really saying something. I think the brace that the training staff got with him and he was this morning gave him some confidence in that knee, but that's just a hell of an effort by Dwight Howard. There's really nothing else you can say. He played his ass off. There's just nothing else you can say. The guy played really, really well. And again, like I say, we have stuff that we can clean up. We're not going to go anywhere. We're just going to keep on standing here and swinging. That's what we do. We've just got to keep standing here swinging. As I said, I told our team, I said, we battled back, and I'll take our best player on a broken floor any day of the week. Q. It looked like in the locker room you gave Harden some encouragement. Could you share a little bit about what kind of encouragement you gave him there? KEVIN McHALE: We talked about a few things, you know. If I wanted you in my locker room, I'd give you a pass. (Laughter). Q. Jones wound up on Curry a lot. KEVIN McHALE: Yeah. Q. Any more than you had thought before the game? KEVIN McHALE: No. I mean, just got to get up and‑‑ we have a plan on Curry, and you know, Steph got loose when we made mistakes. Early in the game for some strange, unknown reason, we left him a couple times, we got in the break and we ran to the ball, we ran to Livingston, I think a Livingston drive and left Steph. We had a switch, and we didn't get out to the weak side when the ball got swung to him for three. He had like three or four catch‑and‑shoot threes off our mistakes. You know, hey, you take those away and at least you've got him somewhere. Look, the shot he made over Terrence late, we're going to have to live with some of those, and then we're going to have to make him drive and try to shoot over our bigs. But the guy is a tough handle. We're trying to take the other stuff out of the game, and again, you know, they had 19, 22 and 22 in the last three quarters, and we made less mistakes. He does make you pay when you make mistakes. That's why Steph is a very good player. Q. Going back to Steph, it seems like the trap was working for you at the end of the game. Is that something you think you might be doing earlier in the game moving forward? KEVIN McHALE: I bet if you come to the next game you'll find out. (Laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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