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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 28, 2016

Steve Kerr

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Game Six

Golden State 108 - Oklahoma City 101

Q. Coach, can you just talk about the second half, especially the fourth quarter, just what enabled your Warriors to be able to come back, take the lead and be able to hold on to it?
STEVE KERR: Well, obviously, Klay Thompson was ridiculous. I mean, the shooting was some of the most incredible shooting you'll ever see. I mean, I think he set a record for threes. But our defense was fantastic. We kept getting stops and we couldn't get the board, but we stayed with it. I think we just defended really well and came up with key stops. And obviously, Steph [Curry] and Klay were both really rolling there in the fourth.

Q. What are you telling -- you start the fourth quarter down eight, are you saying just stay in it? What are you telling them at this point when it looks like maybe things aren't going your way?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, just stay with it, stay with it. We know how explosive our guards are in particular, and we've got other guys who can knock down threes. Main thing was getting stops and getting rebounds. We fought hard on the glass tonight, 49-43. It wasn't the debacle that games 3 and 4 were obviously.

So fought hard. Made enough stops, and got enough rebounds to give our offense a chance and both, as I said, both Klay and Steph hit huge shots. Harrison [Barnes] hit a big three from the corner, and I thought Andre Iguodala was kind of the unsung hero. His defense throughout the fourth was huge, and then he made that big-time lay-in with a couple minutes to go.

Q. Draymond [Green] was playing so well in the third quarter. He picked up a fourth, and then the fifth foul was pretty tight. Did that feel like a gut punch at the time he had to come out?
STEVE KERR: Not really. We were right in it. I wanted to get him a couple minutes rest anyway. So it didn't hurt us too badly. The main thing was if he could stay in the game, not foul out. So he got his two and a half minutes rest at the end of the third, and we played him the whole fourth, and he was able to finish the game. I thought he was terrific.

Q. Iguodala was going one possession after the other sometimes on Russ [Westbrook], and sometimes on KD [Kevin Durant]. What gives him the ability to stop two unique guys like that?
STEVE KERR: Well, Andre is one of the smartest not only basketball players, but he's an incredibly smart human being. He just sees everything kind of before it happens, and he's blessed with great speed and length and strength. So there's a reason he's been one of the best defenders in the league for a long time. He's really a key part of every game for us, because we ask him to do so much.

Q. Steph Curry had nine points at the half, but then he scores 14 in the third quarter and gets going in the fourth, and obviously Klay Thompson was going crazy there in the second half. Were you drawing specific things up to get them going or were you just telling them, hey, if you've got it, catch and shoot it and get it out there?
STEVE KERR: No, we didn't draw a whole lot up that created shots for them. They were mostly just kind of playing the way they play. If we can get a stop, get out in transition, the defense isn't set. So once we started making consistent stops, it opened up our offense because we could kind of flow, flow into the half court rather than having to walk the ball up.

Q. You played in two Game 7s as a player. What, if anything, can you take from those experiences and convey to your players for Monday?
STEVE KERR: I think it was three, but who is counting? Knicks-Bulls, Pacers-Bulls, Cleveland, I was playing for Cleveland and we played Boston in a Game 7 in '92, I think. Not that I remember these things.

But Game 7s are fun. They're pressure-packed. But I don't think there could be any more pressure on us in Game 7 than there was tonight.

So we feel fortunate to get that opportunity. We're in this position because we struggled in Game 1 closing that game. But we got it back tonight, and now we've got our home crowd, whatever it is, Monday, I guess. But we've got to play a great game. Our crowd's not going to be enough. They'll help, but we've got to play a great game.

Q. You called the last two games in this building debacles. What was the key to this team keeping their composure, considering the energy of the crowd tonight?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I just thought we had so much more grit tonight. The toughness was lacking in 3 and 4. We were out of sorts. We were on our heels, and I think it took us Game 5 to kind of get our footing again. Game 5 helped us kind of regain our confidence and some traction in the series. We saw some things that we did well, and we knew we could come in here and play a much better game.

Q. Klay was making a lot of three-pointers, but when he pulled up on that like 30-footer above the key, I mean, were you having a good feeling at that point?
STEVE KERR: No (laughing). That was the only one all night that I thought, what are you doing? But that's the beauty of Steph and Klay. They kind of walk that fine line between lethal and crazy, and we have to live with some crazy shots, some crazy misses because they make more than their fair share. So Klay hits several tough, tough shots tonight. But I know the one you're talking about. I didn't think that had any chance.

Q. You talked about winning last game that created some momentum. What does this, the way you did it, do you feel an emotional momentum that's going to take you through Game 7?
STEVE KERR: Obviously we have the momentum now. We've won two in a row, just like they've won two in a row, and now we go home. So we feel a lot better now than we did a few days ago, obviously. But doesn't guarantee anything. Momentum can change. We still have to battle like crazy against this team on every possession, because they're so athletic, so big. Just getting a rebound against these guys seems like a tall task.

So we've got to fight, we've got to scrap, and come up with loose balls and rebounds and see what happens. But it's nice to be going home.

Q. Iguodala, I know you've talked a lot about his savvy in these situations and his driving lay-up and then that steal that set up Klay's three. Can you speak to the significance of that?
STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, Andre is always guarding the other team's best offensive wings or even point guards, and Durant's as difficult as there is in the league in terms of trying to slow him down. So Andre was great. Harrison did a good job as well. But Andre made some huge plays down the stretch defensively to give us a chance to win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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