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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 9, 2017

Steve Kerr

Cleveland, Ohio: Postgame

Cavaliers - 137, Warriors - 116

Q. Did you know you had been called for a technical foul in the first quarter, and did you find out then or did you not know until later?
COACH KERR: I thought they called it on Draymond. I thought I deserved it. But I thought I heard the announcer say, the PA announcer say that it was on Draymond. So then I thought the second one Draymond was going to get kicked out, but they explained that the first one was on me.

Q. You said before the game we have got to defend like crazy. That didn't really seem to be happening. What went wrong there?
COACH KERR: Well, first of all, I give them a ton of credit. They made some tough shots. They made 24 threes, and we knew that we weren't going to keep them quiet from the three-point line the whole series. They made some tough shots, but we were not sharp defensively, so always a combination. It's never one thing.

So our defense was not sharp. They made tough shots, they got it rolling. I thought they played a tremendous game. I think the biggest thing, though, was they brought a level of physicality that we did not match. We have to do a better job of that.

Q. Did you have any feeling that perhaps your team was aware of history and the building and might have come out a little tentative?
COACH KERR: I don't think there was any concern or thoughts about history. I think it was we played a desperate team on their home floor, a great team, with great players, and they came out and handed it to us. Simple as that.

Q. Steph almost went scoreless in the first quarter. I don't know when that has happened. Was that a matter of they taking them away, and were there no counters to that? What did you think of his offensive performance?
COACH KERR: Obviously it wasn't his night. Started slow, we had some turnovers early, couple careless ones. He just didn't get it going. It was just one of those nights.

Q. What did you make of that third quarter? A whole lot of stoppages, a whole lot of conversations, there were scuffles. Did that slow you down? Did that do anything to you guys, the fact that there were so many stops, it took so long that third quarter?
COACH KERR: It was just an incredibly physical game. That was obvious from the beginning. Ton of fouls called early, a lot of holding and grabbing and pushing and shoving. It got out of hand a little bit, and the third quarter it seemed like the game was stopping every time.

Q. After one day off and LeBron and Kyrie playing so many minutes the other night, were you thinking the same thing tonight; that they might run out of gas and that you guys would be able to come back? Or no?
COACH KERR: I was hoping they would get tired, but they didn't seem to get tired tonight. They were phenomenal. Both guys played tremendous games, really did some amazing things, one-on-one, making shots, and then they got a lot of contributions from others, too. I thought JR got going and Richard Jefferson gave them good minutes, and it was a great team effort for Cleveland.

Q. Why was Tristan able to impact the game tonight when he really hasn't been able to prior to this?
COACH KERR: That's who he is. He's a great rebounder and physical player, and he made an impact.

Q. You guys play with a lot of emotion, obviously, and you mentioned the physicality. Between LeBron and Kevin kind of jawing each other Zaza, Iman, and then obviously with Draymond, can it get to a point where it gets too emotional for you guys where it can kind of derail things when you're trying to make a comeback like you were in the third quarter?
COACH KERR: It was an emotional game. It's The Finals. They were down 3-0. We knew they were going to come out and fight. So there was a lot of fight and there was a lot of intensity. That's kind of what you expect at this level.

Q. Do you think a physical game like that, does that benefit the Cavaliers? Are they a more physical team in a situation like this?
COACH KERR: It benefited them tonight, for sure. I don't think they're necessarily a more physical team, but they were the aggressors, they came out, hit us first, and they deserved to win because of that physicality and aggressiveness.

Doesn't mean things won't change in Game 5. And obviously that is something that we have to make sure of, that we come in and we play our own style of ball and that we're defending and rebounding and playing tougher than we did tonight.

Q. Without trying to get you fined or anything, what did you think of the officiating overall, and is that something that the players just have to adjust to regardless of how they feel that they are being officiated?
COACH KERR: Nice try.

Q. Here we are again, 3-1, going back to the Bay Area. Last year you won Game 4; this year it flip flops. But in what way is this similar, dÃ©jÃ vu, and how is it dissimilar? How does it not feel familiar?
COACH KERR: It's similar in that it's 3-1. We felt great about last year, up 3-1. That's kind of what you want to do, right? When you have home court ideally you take care of business at home and get a split on the road. So we're in a great spot, and now we have to capitalize. But last year is last year, this year is this year. I'm pretty sure Draymond won't get suspended for Game 5. Maybe he will. I don't know. But we'll go back and tee it up again.

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