NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: ROCKETS vs WARRIORS

April 26, 2025

Steve Kerr

Game 3 - Pregame Media Conference

Q. Anything you can say about whether Jimmy is going to play tonight?

STEVE KERR: Not yet. He'll try to get some work done down stairs and see if he can go.

Q. How about Gary?

STEVE KERR: Gary should be good to go.

Q. Can you think there were any lapses many your coverage against Jalen Green in Game 2 and what are the points of emphasis against him now in Game 3?

STEVE KERR: Plenty, plenty of lapses. The main point of emphasis, we just let them get way too much separation.

Q. A lot of that was him kind of attacking your centres in space. I know you had to play them more because the rotation got jumbled up. How much of a concern is it not wanting him in action against the centers and how much do you have to tell Quinten to step up?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, I mean, that was a big adjustment they made was instead of going guard to guard, putting Steph in the action, they brought the fives in a lot more, and so we have to be prepared for that. That's part of our planning for sure the last couple of days.

Q. Some people say in the playoffs role players play better at home. Is that something you've known to be true over the course of your court reporter, and why might that be?

STEVE KERR: I think sometimes it plays out that way. It's not always the case. But the bigger thing to me is just the emotional swings in any playoff series when the location shifts. You get the home crowd behind you. There's just a level of energy that you get at home that is helpful. I mean, I think that's the thing I took from Game 2 is they played harder. They played more physically, and their crowd was into it. And it was probably something that we've seen in other series. It was something we've seen in other series, and throughout NBA history, is just, you know, a little bit of human nature. It's all part of it. So that's a big theme for today. We have to respond the way they responded in Game 2.

Q. Is there any one or two things that you want to see from your guys from the beginning, the very beginning?

STEVE KERR: Just the force. Just the force and the energy. That's the main thing.

Q. You said after last game, if Jimmy can't play, you have to recast everything, everything has to be redone. Do you basically have that plan already?

STEVE KERR: Yeah.

Q. And then you have a plan where he sort of can play? How many different plans?

STEVE KERR: That's Plan C. We've got A and B lined up. You saw Plan C the other night. When somebody goes out in the middle of the game, you're scrambling but at least we've had more time to prepare for that this time.

Q. Last season, your perspective played a part in some of the decisions that were made about the whistle and the league looking at how things are officiated. Now with things having swung a bit and the way the playoffs have been, what's your sense of how physical and how the whistle is now in this postseason?

STEVE KERR: I think the talk last year was about the foul gifting. That was the whole thing was just guys baiting the refs into fouls and I think the league did a fantastic job of eliminating that. You know, guys purposely driving in to draw contact, throwing their arms up, and the league did a great job of basically eliminating that all year. And I think what happens in the playoffs is teams basically just say to their guys, just foul every time, they can't call it every time. The playoffs become, to me, become much more an art for the officials than a science.

The way I've seen it in my NBA career is the best officials, they kind of know what's coming. You know, they know it's testy, first game, whatever, so you clean it up right away. You call a few things right away. You warn both teams. You say stop it, and then the game settles down. I think that's sort of the key to me when I look at all these games around the league, is are we handling stuff early; are we taking care of things early so that a basketball game can happen, and that's what about officiating is to me.

Q. In that same realm, what have you seen with the way they have defend Steph?

STEVE KERR: You don't think you're just going bait me into -- what are you, James Harden trying to draw a foul right now? I'm not reaching. I'm not reaching, Anthony.

Q. That's its own comment right there.

STEVE KERR: (Laughter).

Q. And did you see Ime's comment in one of the huddles that -- "grab them as much as they want, they can't call everything"? What are your thoughts on that comment?

STEVE KERR: I just explained that whole thing to Sam.