Warriors-Heat postgame: Stephen Curry’s tailbone, habits & decision-making
Draymond: “no play-in is gonna motivate me at this point in my career”
Here are notes & quotes from Warriors-Heat postgame from Miami, with Steve Kerr, Andrew Wiggins, Stephen Curry, Kevon Looney and Draymond Green.
Please visit our YouTube channel for more visuals, but the video at the top of this article is clickable and talks about all the injuries: tweaked ankles for Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney, and of course Stephen Curry’s ongoing issue with the bruised tailbone.
The second video is Draymond saying he hates losing so much, there’s really no other motivation needed to fight for a play-in spot in the playoffs:
KERR:
- Looney and Poole ankles? “They’re both doing well.”
- play tomorrow? “No idea…we’ll see how they’re doing in the morning, same as Steph.”
- Steph tailbone? “Yeah.”
- recap? “a game is just 48 minutes of decision making and habits, you just have to be solid with both…the good teams, they take care of those (habits/decisions)…”
- turnovers and fouls early in game: “they were detrimental throughout the game…at least half of them (turnovers) were unforced…no way you’re gonna get away with that (on the road vs Heat).”
- clock ticking? “24 games is actually a lot when you’re talking about being within a game…with teams that are in your group. There should be a sense of urgency but there is time for us to get it going, but it’s just cheap talk if we don’t actually play like it…we can’t keep fouling jump shooters, we work on this everyday…it’s very frustrating.”
- Asked more from Steph? “No…always competes, always fights. There was a slow start for all of us…Miami (played yesterday)…again it’s decision making and habits.”
- Steph taking charges: “he almost has no choice, you’re there…you just have to play basketball.”
- just a pain thing? “It’s a pain tolerance thing. Rick and Steph both feel really good about his strength…(can’t) hurt it worse, so that’s why he’s playing.”
WIGGINS:
- fouls? “Just mindset, we can be aggressive but we just gotta be mindful of little ticky tack fouls.”
- turnovers? “Maybe at times we got rushed…gotta value the ball more, make better decisions.”
- tough to lose winnable game? “Never fun to lose especially when you’re in a position to win…we’re not playing good but we’re still in it…we got a game tomorrow.”
- 3pt increase? “I’m just focused, locked in…preparing…in the gym…a lot of work.”
STEPH:
- fouling? “It’s just mindfulness…I don’t mind aggressiveness…gotta know time and score…gotta be smarter…me getting caught up at halfcourt with 5 seconds left…closer and closer to being in the penalty.”
- pressing with standings? “Sometimes a lack of discipline but sometimes it just is what it is, we just gotta change it…gotta stop fouling.”
- tailbone comparison? “That’s kinda hard to say, they’re all different…playing quote unquote hurt it isn’t anything you’re trying to think about…try to put it in the back of your mind, try not to land on it, I haven’t done a good job of that the last two games.”
- tailbone: “I’m hopefully progressing where I wake up and I feel good (we’ll see tomorrow).”
- ups and downs: “Not one thing that you can highlight…fouling…rebounding…defense…mediocre at times…offensively…haven’t found our bread and butter lineup…haven’t sustained it long enough where you form an identity…we gotta get gritty to find something that will get us over that hump that we’ve been talking about…new territory.”
- hard to cope? “Nah, but it’s basketball…you have to embrace it…it is frustrating…not what we expected but kinda what we expected…we can play our best basketball down the stretch…a lot left in the tank.”
- harder than envisioned? “Nah. Winning is hard in general…when you’re winning that cures a lot of the ups and downs in the emotions…4 out of 5 together or 8 out of 10…emotional kind of burden that’s hard to carry but you have to embrace. I know for me and Draymond we try to be conscious of the development…growing…our leadership needs to be consistent and nobody has time to sulk.”
- Miami defense: “they have a lot of length…know how to grind out a game…got a lot of veterans out there…game of runs…physical…ran out of gas.”
- Oladipo: “he’s talented on both ends of the floor…good pick up for a good team…he’ll enjoy his time here.”
LOONEY:
- ankle? “Should be good for tomorrow.”
- previous ankle? “Earlier this season was a bad tweak…same ankle…everything DET good, I was able to go back into the game if coach needed me.”
- clock ticking? “Everybody in the NBA fees it…both teams got after it…every game matters.”
- said anything to Wiseman? “Every once in awhile, he kinda knows what to do…Bam is a good player…I think he played solid, watch film…he doesn’t need much motivation…a lot of good players in the league so players are gonna make plays…he wants to be great.”
DRAYMOND:
- urgency? “I don’t go into these games thinking that we need (to win for playoffs)…I hate losing…fighting for a playoff spot does not motivate me…I wanna win every game I play in because I really hate losing. That shit bothers me.”
- season harder? “No it hasn’t been hard. We just gotta keep improving as a team…you win some games, you lose some games…it’s been a hard season for various other reasons not named basketball.”
- Bam respect: “I got a lot of respect for Bam, man…idk if many people saw him become who he is today…incredible player…understands the game, really undersized for a center, but he’s the mismatch…I absolutely love watching him play…when you watch him play you can see that impact in every aspect of the game…he’s traveling the right road.”
- mentally dealing with losses: “it’s all about what you focus on…how can I help develop these young guys quicker?…in order to win at a high level…if I put my focus solely in winning then I’d probably be pissed off and (not be able to help them as much)…these guys don’t have much experience.”
- mindset since beginning? “Up until last year I was the young guy…but don’t get me wrong, the mindset is always to win…that’s hard to turn off…just try to go into it with an understanding that it’s not going to be what it was in 2018 (et al).”
- Steph being tough, dealing with pain: “he’s definitely in pain, you can see the pain in his face…but he’s one of the toughest guys…misconception of him and Klay because they’re light-skinned…it’s something to follow and I hope our young guys see that…I got banged up in a couple ways…but when you got Steph out there…that’s motivation…come here in the back and get back out there…it’s motivating for me and I hope our young guys see it.”
NOTE: Because I was busy uploading pregame views of Steph and Oubre with Wiggins, I never got around to any of the pregame, so here it is below:
KERR PREGAME:
- Steph vs Butler: “Miami is always tough to play…we just have to execute, take care of the ball, make hard cuts, set screens.”
- anything long term with Paschall? “No…day to day.”
- Steph good? “Yeah Steph is good. Really good.”
- Miami during COVID? “The pool was great today…I didn’t leave my hotel room last night so we’ll still play it safe…one of the best cities to come to.”
- looking ahead to schedule? “The biggest thing is just playing well, putting together some good defensive games…coming off probably a ten game stretch where our defense wasn’t great…overall the schedule is favorable, a lot of home games to finish the season…keep searching for consistency on defense.”
Kerr offers congrats to Roy Williams: “what an incredible coaching career…made me a little sad because I’ve always enjoyed watching his teams…wish him well in retirement.”
SPOELSTRA PREGAME:
- Dragic: “he did not suffer a setback…how he felt and trying to scale him back up, we think this is the best decision…he’ll be available Saturday.”
- Oladipo starting? “I’ll let you know when I turn in my card…he’s really been anticipating this…not a lot of prep time…individual workouts, then a team walkthrough and boom…his best month in two years was in March.”
- Nunn? “As long as everything goes well with this workout, he was able to go through the walkthrough.”
- Precious backup center? “He’s been learning everything through a firehouse…this is what the rookie class looks like without a training camp, without summer league and the whole player development program that they get…depending on matchups and how the game is going…I wouldn’t read too much into it…last night…better fit with Beli.”
- grinding, finding space, Pat Riley: “we did talk about that…show some toughness and fortitude…our team embracing our identity this season…giving us the best chance of winning games…while our offense will continue to get better.”
- starting frontcourt started 0/12: “a lot of ways to impact the game in winning…Bam/Jimmy/Trevor…throwback games…rotations, block out, deflections…all that stuff is winning basketball.”
- Oladipo said they sent him a lot of film, you watch his film, balance? “There will be a natural adjustment period…be himself as much as possible…yes of course we watched film to see how we can utilize his strengths…good feeling about him before he got here.”
/end