NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: WARRIORS vs KINGS

April 28, 2023

Kevin Huerter

Media Conference

Sacramento Kings - 118, Golden State Warriors - 99

Q. How good does it feel to see a couple of those shots get down and have you help contribute to the win tonight?

KEVIN HUERTER: Yeah, you got no idea. It feels good. Just got to see the ball go in sometimes. Second half, guys continued to find me, coaches continued to tell me to keep shooting, so hopefully it carries over next game.

Q. Game 7. What do those two words mean to you and being able to be play back in Golden 1 against the defending champs with that?

KEVIN HUERTER: Just a great opportunity for us as a team. Came in here with one goal in mind. That was to get back on the bus and go back to Sac. We fought all year for our positioning, to be in this position, and play home court on a Game 7 and, yeah, we'll bring it.

Q. Can you speak to the impact that guys off the bench had tonight, specifically Trey Lyles picking up when Domas gets in foul trouble and then Terence Davis?

KEVIN HUERTER: Our bench has been unbelievable all year, you know, different guys being able to step up. It was Trey's turn tonight, Terence Davis a couple games not coming in and just giving us great energy the floor, and Davion, what he's been able to do all series. Yeah, our bench all year, we've talked about we deep we are as a team, and you're seeing that in this series.

Q. How has it been for you these last 48 hours? We spoke to you in the locker room after the loss in Sacramento and you were Kevin, but you didn't have much to say, though, but it seemed like you was just trying to get your mind right and reset and come out and try to get this game.

KEVIN HUERTER: Yeah, just continuing to look forward to next game, trying to stay positive. Obviously teammates, coaches, have been a big part of that. Trying to find a rhythm, like I said, just trying to see the ball go in the hoop. I haven't been great from beyond the three-point line this series and saw a couple go down tonight, so hopefully we get some carryover in the next game.

Q. What you do you make of Malik, three games now as a reserve with 20 off the bench and just kind of showing that kind of effort on both sides of the ball?

KEVIN HUERTER: Malik has been huge for us all series. I think a lot of it is just his aggressiveness, just getting downhill making 2 guard him. He had a great first couple games. He was getting to the rim, and then they started to change up defensively and started to crowd the paint when he's driving and that just gets everybody else open.

Whether he was making shots or not, he just continued to stay aggressive through the six games and we need that from him.

Q. Kevin, you guys were better than them in just about every facet, including all hustle stats. Could you describe just the level of focus and what those conversations were like when talking about the attention to detail heading into this game?

KEVIN HUERTER: To be honest, that's the difference in this series. You look at the games that we've won and the games that they've won, those little battles within the game, offensive rebounds, hustle plays, turnovers, points off turnovers, like, those little things are what each winning team has done in all the wins. So we know that's a huge part of the game. Both teams play with great pace and get up a lot of threes. It's just the little things, who is going to do it better.

Q. I think after Game 5 a lot of folks assumed that then maybe the young Kings' spirit was broken. You got the Warriors looking like the Warriors again. In terms of the internal conversations and how y'all got the focus back and that spirit back to compete like did you, especially in the defensive end, how do you feel like everybody got it there?

KEVIN HUERTER: We've had a great spirit. We have all year. We responded all year. I think that goes to the guys we have in the locker room. HB has been a big voice for us this whole postseason. Domas is always trying to urge guys to keep going.

We didn't lose faith. This was a game we knew we had a Game 7 back at home. We're capable of winning in this building. Our offense has been asleep, I think, for most of the series and we just know if we can get back to ourselves, we could continue this series and we did that tonight. But our confidence never wavered.

Q. For people that haven't been able to see it, Sunday national television, Game 7, what do you expect in that arena and like you said, what does having a Game 7 in your building mean?

KEVIN HUERTER: Yeah, Sacramento's been waiting for a playoffs, let alone a Game 7, against a team that's right down the street. We expect its going to be electric, similar to the Game 1-type atmosphere, from both sides. I think both fan bases will represent well. It's a huge game. Obviously, a win or go home. It's been a great series so far and obviously we're glad it's on our home court, but we got to bring it again.

Q. The Warriors are obviously known for going on these runs, and you guys had a lead and it looked like a few times they started to get some momentum and you guys always answered 'em. Could you speak to your team's composure, and were there any conversations being had about sustain the run?

KEVIN HUERTER: It is. Yeah, that's what makes these Warriors. They have been doing this for years. And what makes them so dangerous is the way they can compound threes and play in transition and use their crowd to get you out of games. That was the focus for us coming into the series is trying to limit those runs and go right back at 'em on the offensive end of the court. We did that. Sometimes you're able to respond, sometimes you're not, and today we did.

Q. In years past, people used to wonder who is the dog on this team, and then -- I hope you know what I mean by that, just having that kind of grit. To see Fox play through an injury, Domas play through an injury all year for you guys, as a group to come in and win in this building in an elimination situation, what does that say about who you guys are and how you're built?

KEVIN HUERTER: It does. You look across the board and we've had tremendous -- I'll call it luck in injuries this year with guys being available, staying on the court, and guys have fought through stuff all year, been dinged up just as much as any other team, and guys have always fought through. Domas, his thumb injury at the start of the year continuing to play knowing we needed him. Fox in this moment, I think he came out right after the injury and said, like, I'm definitely playing, I'll be out there. Other guys that are playing through injuries. We need everybody. You're seeing it. We're in super high-level series. Each game it feels like somebody else is playing well, stepping up. And our numbers all year have been a big reason for our success and guys just staying on the court. But we have a lot of dogs inside the locker room that are playing through stuff, for sure.

Q. Along the lines of having an answer every time they came up with a big shot, I mean even Steph had a three and then a layup, but guys had something in return every time, it seemed like. How much does that take a raucous crowd out of it and the defending champs out of it a little bit?

KEVIN HUERTER: Yeah, if you watched us all year, all year we played in transition. I think we've been one of the best transition teams all year. So it's not really something new that we're doing, taking the ball out of the net and trying to beat them down the court and score. Finding open shots before defenses are able to get set. That's something we've been doing all year. You said it, the way that they're capable of going on runs, that was a part of the series that we knew we had to continue and try to continue to play with pace, and in transition limit them as much as we can.

Q. Can you talk about Keegan, where he had a big start, he finished the game with 12 rebounds so he was really effective for you guys?

KEVIN HUERTER: He is. Keegan's rebounding tonight was huge. We went small for a lot of the game. That was something we talked about in the huddles is everybody needs to go rebound. He's playing with tremendous confidence. 45 minutes tonight. Really starting off getting us going on the offensive side of the ball and for the whole game was just super solid for us. As a rookie that's big, the way he's responded this whole series.

Q. I don't doubt that you guys believed you were going to win tonight. But I would question, did you think you could hold the Warriors under a hundred points?

KEVIN HUERTER: It wasn't something we talked about a point total, I guess. We just talked about getting back to playing ourselves. I think tonight the identity of how we played is how we've been playing all year. Shooting a lot of threes, playing fast, trying to space the court, find open shots, getting to the rim. That was more true of who we are. That's really kind of all we talked about was just, if we were going to go down, we were going to go down swinging. We were going to shoot a lot of threes, we were going to get 'em up, we were going to offensive rebound, we were going to play super hard and win the little battles like we talked about. That wasn't -- if we were going to get beat they had to beat us in every facet. So we responded the right way, did the little things and continued to play fast.

Q. A little bit of a smaller lineup for you guys tonight overall. Do you think that gives the Warriors problems, just a little bit of a smaller lineup, I think you said it spaced floor and you got open shots like that.

KEVIN HUERTER: We'll see. It's something we haven't shown 'em yet. I'm sure they'll have adjustments, just like we've adjusted to things they have done over the course of the series. It was a good look for us just trying to create more space on court, giving 'em a different look, trying to play faster, especially in their building and the way they get up and down the court. This was a game that we were probably going to have to win by scoring the ball and we did.

Q. A lot of talk about confidence and belief. Talk about your own confidence, belief in yourself when things weren't going well for you, just your inner confidence and strength, can you share that with us?

KEVIN HUERTER: Yeah, just trying to stick with it. There's so many ups and downs of the season. This isn't the first time I've gone through a mini-shooting slump. Throughout the course of my career I've gone through 'em and always been able to bounce back. So I knew it was just a matter of time continuing to get your work in, staying in the gym. There's no secret to it, you just got to get back in and mentally see the ball go in the hoop and get your confidence back and trust that it's going to come back on the court. And so for me I knew it was only a matter of time and like I said hopefully get some carryover into Game 7.