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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 27, 2018

Mike D'Antoni

Houston, Texas: Practice Day

Q. Obviously the big question looms as far as Chris Paul is concerned. How is that injury progressing and the rehab of it?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think it's going good. I think he's listed as questionable. I'm sure the team doctors will take him out tomorrow morning and see how far he's gotten and see what the possibilities are.

Q. Will you take it all the way until game time before making a decision?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I'm not going to make that decision. That'll be the doctors. You know, maybe, but we're not going to be coy with it. As soon as we know, we'll say it. But we might not know until the afternoon. See how it goes. Or he's tested out. We'll just kind of have to play it by ear right now.

Q. Your guys have done a terrific job stepping up with the additional minutes, as they have all year. That supporting cast, P.J. Tucker, Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza. A lot of minutes. Will the rotation be extended at all heading into a Game 7 or pretty much the way it was in Game 6?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, you've kind of got to look at it -- you realize that Golden State's Big Four plays more minutes than our guys. It's kind of a misconception -- we're only playing seven, but I can divide up the seventh player within three players and it's, Oh you have a big rotation, but the same guys are going to play the same minutes. Not quite accurate about the minutes. Their load is below 40 minutes, most of them. Trevor is trying to mirror [Kevin] Durant, so if Durant plays 41, Trevor is going to play about that. We're trying to cut it down as much as we can, but we also have to have production. So we'll have to play about by ear.

Q. Obviously 21 turnovers, more than you would like, a lot now on James Harden without CP3 there as a floor general. What needs to be done for your team to limit those turnovers to have success in a Game 7?
MIKE D'ANTONI: We've just got to make better decisions. And they're good. A lot of it is their fault because they're playing really well. They're doing their part. We just have to make a little bit better decisions, take care of the ball. But that's a big key, transition. When we turn it over like that and they get out in transition, it's a double whammy. So if we can take care of the ball, we'll have a good chance to win.

Q. Out of the last four games, the two they've won have been blowouts. They've put up 110, 115, 120 points. The two you guys have won, it's been really tight; the score stays below 100. Does that feel like a key for you in Game 7, to keep it within that pace and you guys be the aggressor and kind of dictate the pace?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, I think so. Especially since CP didn't play last game, getting 115, 120 against these guys -- we were heading that way, with 37 points in the first quarter. But we'd have to be on, and hopefully we can do that. But at the same time, the problem with them getting 115 is because we turned it over around 20 times. It's a double whammy. We don't score, first of all; and they get out in transition. Yeah, we've got to dictate it by our good play in the sense of we can guard them but we can guard them in the half court. It's tough in transition, but that means we have to limit our turnovers.

Q. What, if anything, has Chris done to test that hamstring in terms of running or jogging or working out? And what would you need to see for him to be able to go tomorrow?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I don't think he's tested it at all. He's just getting treatment and trying to be sure it calms down and everything. Again, this is the doctors and trainers are working on it 24 hours a day almost. They will tomorrow morning re-evaluate it again; probably tomorrow afternoon again. I don't have to see anything -- if I get the nod from the trainers, Chris and the doctors, he'll be ready to go. Probably if any of those three disagree, he's probably not going. I think it's a game-time decision or -- what do you call it, whatever it is, probably doubtful, however they listed it, or questionable. They will eventually test it and see if there's any possibility whatsoever.

Q. Other than shooting very well at the start of Game 6, were there things that were executed well or done well in some sort of way that you feel can be replicated, besides just shoot a whole lot better than you did later?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah. Again, I mean, 37 [points]; I doubt if we can replicate that. Maybe we can. That comes from shooting a lot. We were up 17 at the end of the first quarter. If you look at the tape, we turned it over about four or five times. We should have been up 20 or 22 the way we were playing. We kind of let an opportunity go by. They're going to make runs. For us to beat them in Golden State, we had to either play unbelievably well or come down to the end of the game like last time [in Game 4]. You still won, but down 12 at the start of the fourth. We were down seven this time at the start of the fourth. So it wasn't out of reach right when we started the fourth. As a matter of fact, I think four minutes to go in the third quarter we were up four and we've got two wide-open threes that could have set them back a little bit. But we let them off the hook.

They're good enough to where they can get off the hook sometimes. We're going to have to be able to hit big shots in big moments and take care of the ball. We made way too many mistakes again defensively -- like we did in Game 3 -- that we cured in Game 4 and 5. We've got to get back to that.

Q. What is it about your guys that -- I don't want to say unfazed, but it seems like after games when things do go wrong, they have the same demeanor. They know what they have to do. What is it about the way they're kind of built, if you will?
MIKE D'ANTONI: I think they've been through all this. They've all had big Game 7s -- big moments, bad moments. They are unfazed about what happened. Then I think they're smart enough, and we talk about it a lot, that we know that we didn't do what we're supposed to do to beat them. We let them off the hook.

Regardless of what the other team does, we have the capability of beating anyone at any time. We've said that. We just have to get back to what we do, and they know it's completely within our grasp. And so we're confident. We know that it's a great team we're trying to beat, but at the same time we'll have home court as an advantage -- something we've worked all year to get. Hopefully we can take advantage of it. But just a confident group, and they know their abilities. Their abilities can be the best in the league at any time. We've just got to perform tomorrow.

Q. Throughout the year, you guys pointed to the best record in the NBA with a Game 7 in mind. But the last few weeks, the sort of ongoing line was that home court is not that important at this level --
MIKE D'ANTONI: Was that in the last two weeks (laughing)?

Q. When you lost at home, I guess.
MIKE D'ANTONI: Exactly.

Q. Are there things --
MIKE D'ANTONI: That's called spinning (laughing). Go ahead.

Q. Are there things that are valued, that make Game 7s at home more valued, parts of the game or handling runs or just anything that you feel is better about happening when you're at home than facing when you're on the road?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Yeah, I think so. And again, the reason we said it didn't matter is because we know each team is capable of winning on the road. So in a sense, it matters less. If we knew one team couldn't win on the road, then obviously, yeah, it's a big deal. But because of that, the percentages go way down. Now we do have home court, and there is a favorability of that. It might not be as high as most people want because we're playing against the best team in the league. But there is a little bit of an advantage. I think that the advantage comes on just the enthusiasm and when you get on rolls, you can hear the crowd, you can feel the energy. You can do all that.

I think also players that might not have a big role all the time feel more comfortable at home. They can play a little bit better. It's easier to play a little bit better in the surroundings. But again, they're good enough where they can go anywhere and we're good enough to go anywhere. I think both teams have proved that, and it should be a great game tomorrow night.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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