Latest / Bleacher Report / Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Steve Kerr Talk Warriors Being Eliminated | 2025 NBA Playoffs

Transcript

Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Steve Kerr Talk Warriors Being Eliminated | 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: How how tough is it to end a season like
0:04
Speaker 1: this under these circumstances without Steph.
0:06
Speaker 2: That sucks to end without stuff. But they beat us.
0:10
Speaker 2: You know, injuries are a part of it. We've won
0:12
Speaker 2: championships when guys got hurt. That's a part of it.
0:20
Speaker 2: You know, you try to, you know, you want to
0:23
Speaker 2: be as good of a team as you can be,
0:25
Speaker 2: but you will always say you need a little luck
0:28
Speaker 2: just because health is a huge part of it. So,
0:31
Speaker 2: you know, we definitely miss Steph. That obviously goes without saying.
0:34
Speaker 2: But I'm not gonna come up here and harp on
0:39
Speaker 2: Steph not being there and make it like that win
0:42
Speaker 2: is less of what it is. They're moving on. You know,
0:45
Speaker 2: congratulations of those guys. They beat us, regardless you're on
0:50
Speaker 2: the other side. You play who's on the floor, and
0:52
Speaker 2: that's what they did and they want so you gotta
0:54
Speaker 2: get them a lot of credit.
0:55
Speaker 1: You obviously thought that this team had, you know, championship
0:58
Speaker 1: potential when everyone was fully healthy against the Rockets and
1:01
Speaker 1: in game one, how close do you feel like you
1:03
Speaker 1: guys got to your ceiling.
1:07
Speaker 2: I think we've continued to improve. Uh, there's no way
1:13
Speaker 2: to really say, you know, how close we got to
1:16
Speaker 2: a ceiling is over, So that's kind of I really
1:21
Speaker 2: don't matter. But like I said, get 'em get him
1:25
Speaker 2: a lot of credit. Uh they were they were incredible.
1:28
Speaker 2: Uh Jew Jew played great entire series. Uh you a
1:34
Speaker 2: at Man's patience was beautiful, Rudy played really well. You know,
1:39
Speaker 2: so you gotta get all these guys a lot of credit. Uh.
1:43
Speaker 2: Our ceiling is it is what it is now. We
1:46
Speaker 2: were second round team and a second round exit, so
1:50
Speaker 2: that's what it is. How how do you view the future?
1:54
Speaker 3: Uh, you know in next year, next couple of years.
1:58
Speaker 2: Now that you've got you think we'll be right back
2:00
Speaker 2: at it. Sucks to end this way, but we think
2:06
Speaker 2: we got the pieces to make another run out and
2:08
Speaker 2: do it again. And that's going to be our mindset
2:12
Speaker 2: going into the summer. You'll do all that got to
2:16
Speaker 2: do to improve. We got one of the best ownership
2:21
Speaker 2: groups in front offices in the NBA. You know, they'll
2:25
Speaker 2: do whatever they feel as needed to help the team improve.
2:28
Speaker 2: And us as players, you gotta get back in the
2:30
Speaker 2: lab and do what you gotta do to get better.
2:32
Speaker 2: But I think it'll come next year, we'll be right
2:36
Speaker 2: back at it. And give ourselves a chance again.
2:39
Speaker 4: Dream on your final game of the season and your
2:41
Speaker 4: two big scores. Obviously we're both twenty two years old,
2:44
Speaker 4: Pods and Jonathan, how would you sort of characterize their
2:48
Speaker 4: growth this year and what do they need to do
2:50
Speaker 4: next to be more of a factor next year.
2:53
Speaker 2: I think anytime they're starting to grow in age years experienced,
3:00
Speaker 2: the one thing you can always do are the one
3:04
Speaker 2: focus that I would say, Uh, it's your consistency doing
3:10
Speaker 2: it on a nightly basis. And I think you know,
3:13
Speaker 2: you look at those guys and Moses as well, Gie
3:16
Speaker 2: Santos QP. Pat. You know, they all made tremendous rides
3:22
Speaker 2: throughout the course of your trace, you know, and it'll
3:25
Speaker 2: be a big summer for all of them. Uh. Obviously
3:30
Speaker 2: JK has got the contract situation. You know, I always
3:36
Speaker 2: wishing him the best with that. You know, been in
3:39
Speaker 2: that situation, whether it's here or elsewhere, you know, you
3:43
Speaker 2: just wish them the best. Uh. But I think you
3:46
Speaker 2: know we saw of growth from those young guys. Uh.
3:50
Speaker 2: You know, next year for all of them, you hope
3:53
Speaker 2: to see them take that next big step that they're
3:56
Speaker 2: all capable of.
3:58
Speaker 5: Tremon You had said this team had the capability of
4:01
Speaker 5: winning a championship. Is there anything you guys needed you
4:05
Speaker 5: differently to reach that or do you think it's just
4:06
Speaker 5: a matter of staying healthy next season?
4:09
Speaker 2: I mean, you go into the offseason, you better get better,
4:13
Speaker 2: because everybody gets better or attempt to get better, I
4:16
Speaker 2: would say, And so that's always got to be the goal,
4:23
Speaker 2: and so that'll be our focus. I think I still
4:26
Speaker 2: have that belief wholeheartedly. That has not changed one bit.
4:31
Speaker 2: And you know, you retool, you do whatever it is
4:33
Speaker 2: that you gotta do to take that next step and
4:36
Speaker 2: give yourself a better chance. And here at this place
4:40
Speaker 2: that we are, I have no doubt in my mind
4:42
Speaker 2: that they'll be looking to do it.
4:43
Speaker 5: With Jimmy these last two games. Do you think it
4:45
Speaker 5: was the illness he was dealing with that kind of
4:48
Speaker 5: impacted him?
4:50
Speaker 2: Oh well, I think number one eight, you know, their
4:53
Speaker 2: their defense just kind of started loading up on them.
4:57
Speaker 2: It made it a little tougher, But I know he
4:58
Speaker 2: was definitely under the weather. But you know, we're not
5:01
Speaker 2: a group that's going to make excuses. Get those guys credits.
5:05
Speaker 2: They defended well, they did a good job. Go back
5:07
Speaker 2: to the drawing board. Figure out what we need to
5:09
Speaker 2: figure out and come back next year. But the credit
5:12
Speaker 2: goes to them as you know, not going to sit
5:14
Speaker 2: here and say, oh, man, he was sick, or you know,
5:17
Speaker 2: he would have played better if he wasn't sick, or
5:18
Speaker 2: we would have played better if Steph was out there.
5:20
Speaker 2: Got to get them guys a lot of credits. They're
5:22
Speaker 2: moving on to the Western Conference finals, and they put
5:26
Speaker 2: the work in to get there, regardless of who didn't score,
5:29
Speaker 2: who was out there out they're moving on and you know, kudos,
5:33
Speaker 2: congratulations to them. They played a hell of a series.
5:37
Speaker 6: You and Jimmy and Steph led the charge down down
5:39
Speaker 6: the stretch and the playoffs and everything until entries and
5:42
Speaker 6: stuff like that. But people are going to say going
5:45
Speaker 6: to next year that you know, they can point out
5:46
Speaker 6: how old you three guys are.
5:48
Speaker 2: Is that a factor?
5:48
Speaker 6: Is that a legitimate concern or is that some of
5:50
Speaker 6: you can get past.
5:52
Speaker 2: They pointed that out last year in the year before too.
5:57
Speaker 2: One thing I can assure them is there year we
6:00
Speaker 2: will get older, just like every year You'll get older,
6:05
Speaker 2: and he'll get older. He'll get older. You don't age
6:09
Speaker 2: Han Scott, but I don't worry about that one bit.
6:17
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm still improving. I feel like Steph's
6:19
Speaker 2: still improving, I feel like Jimmy is still improving. As
6:22
Speaker 2: long as you're improving in this league, it'll treat you well.
6:25
Speaker 2: So when you stop improving, that the bottom falls out.
6:29
Speaker 2: And I still think I personally got a lot of
6:32
Speaker 2: room for growth, and I'm sure to those guys feel
6:34
Speaker 2: the same way. So yeah, I don't worry about that
6:37
Speaker 2: one bit.
6:39
Speaker 7: You feel like you guys pretty much got all you
6:41
Speaker 7: could out of this postseason considering the circumstances. I mean,
6:44
Speaker 7: Jimmy coming mid season, Steph going down. I mean, just
6:47
Speaker 7: do you think that you guys went about as far
6:49
Speaker 7: as you're going to? Do you think you guys still
6:50
Speaker 7: could have gone, should have gone farther?
6:53
Speaker 2: I definitely think we should have gone further, but we didn't. Yeah,
6:56
Speaker 2: so you know it is what it is. Yeah, we lost,
7:03
Speaker 2: so I guess we didn't get all we could. But
7:05
Speaker 2: I still think we coulda went further. And I always
7:07
Speaker 2: think that.
7:08
Speaker 7: But with Aunt being at and Julius playing like he is,
7:12
Speaker 7: how good is that team?
7:14
Speaker 2: They got a chance, They got a real shot. Anytime
7:19
Speaker 2: you gotta number two that can just go get it.
7:25
Speaker 2: You give yourself a chance at the you know, to
7:28
Speaker 2: to go and make it happen, and and and get
7:30
Speaker 2: a ring. And like I said, the way Jewe has
7:33
Speaker 2: been playing since he came back from the injury, By
7:37
Speaker 2: the way, it ain't just start like he been. The
7:38
Speaker 2: way he's been playing since he came back from his injury,
7:41
Speaker 2: he been lights out. So you know, I I have
7:46
Speaker 2: no doubt that he'll continue to play that way. He's
7:49
Speaker 2: aggressive as hell and he he he gonna go after.
7:54
Speaker 2: He got that mindset, always have had that mindset, so
7:58
Speaker 2: and it's clicking for him, you know. So I think
8:02
Speaker 2: they got a real shot at it. You know, when
8:05
Speaker 2: you got too and then they got all the pieces
8:08
Speaker 2: right like they got Nahs coming off the bench. Jada
8:10
Speaker 2: McDaniels is a hell of a young player, Rudy four
8:13
Speaker 2: time Defensive Player of the Year, Mike Conley and his experience,
8:16
Speaker 2: Dante flying around and defending the shooting Alexander. They got pieces,
8:21
Speaker 2: you know. So it's just not one or two guys.
8:22
Speaker 2: They got a real team, and so I think they
8:26
Speaker 2: got a real shot at it.
8:28
Speaker 8: Draymond the best teams in the West at the top.
8:30
Speaker 8: They got a combination of young players who are getting better,
8:34
Speaker 8: not just Minnesota, Oklahoma City, some of the other teams.
8:37
Speaker 8: You guys are a little on the older side when
8:39
Speaker 8: you think about.
8:40
Speaker 2: We got young players still getting better as well.
8:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, I was gonna ask, do you feel like those
8:45
Speaker 8: young players can make enough of a leap to get
8:47
Speaker 8: you into that conversation or do you think you need significant,
8:52
Speaker 8: you know, personnel help that's not in the building.
8:55
Speaker 2: I think every team in the NBA feel like they
8:57
Speaker 2: need personnel help that's not in the building. That's just
9:00
Speaker 2: the way this league works. I don't think any team.
9:04
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't know any team that
9:07
Speaker 2: came back with the exact same roster next year. So
9:10
Speaker 2: I think everybody feel that way. And it has nothing
9:13
Speaker 2: to do with who's young, who's all who. That's just
9:17
Speaker 2: the nature of the business that we're in. Contracts happen,
9:20
Speaker 2: money situations happen, All those things happens, and so I
9:26
Speaker 2: think that's everyone. But do I have confidence in our
9:29
Speaker 2: young guys that they can take the next step? Absolutely,
9:32
Speaker 2: one thousand percent.
9:34
Speaker 1: In what areas do you feel like you're improving and
9:36
Speaker 1: in what areas do you want to improve more?
9:38
Speaker 2: I want to continue to be better with the ball.
9:46
Speaker 2: I think I turned the ball over way too much
9:48
Speaker 2: this year, and I think for me, my role has
9:54
Speaker 2: changed quite a bit. You know. I've always kind of
9:58
Speaker 2: been in the middle of the offense, running offense, making
10:01
Speaker 2: the plays, which allows you to take more risks because
10:04
Speaker 2: you just got the ball so much more. And I
10:06
Speaker 2: think for me, I continue to take the risk without
10:08
Speaker 2: having the ball as much, and so it looks different.
10:12
Speaker 2: And so that's an adjustment that I have to make
10:16
Speaker 2: going into next year, is just understanding what that means
10:19
Speaker 2: and learning to play better and the uh you lit
10:22
Speaker 2: huh respect and learning to play better in the role
10:27
Speaker 2: that I am in now. I think that's something that
10:31
Speaker 2: I continue to improve on. So yeah, I think that'll
10:36
Speaker 2: be one of my main focuses for sure.
10:39
Speaker 9: Right, Jimmy, to what degree did the fall Game two
10:43
Speaker 9: in Houston effects?
10:45
Speaker 2: How are you feeling the rest of those season? Fine?
10:48
Speaker 10: Good enough to go out there and compete. We're not
10:53
Speaker 10: gonna use anything as an excuse, so just in way.
10:58
Speaker 9: And how would you just canta actualize how different things
11:02
Speaker 9: were throughout the course of the series without having stuff
11:04
Speaker 9: out there?
11:04
Speaker 10: Yeah, uh, obviously it's very different. Whenever you don't have
11:07
Speaker 10: stuff on the floor, the smaller and I feel like
11:15
Speaker 10: everybody has to take home more and everybody has to
11:17
Speaker 10: play a little bit of a different role. Uh, but
11:20
Speaker 10: that's just the game. Injuries happen, but it is a
11:25
Speaker 10: lot different with stuff not out there.
11:27
Speaker 3: How do you view just I guess your your few
11:29
Speaker 3: months here in in what the future franchise?
11:33
Speaker 2: Uh? Great? Uh?
11:34
Speaker 10: A bunch of great guys that work incredibly hard, young
11:38
Speaker 10: talent that's gonna be incredibly successful in this league. It's
11:43
Speaker 10: all about, you know, staying healthy is it always is?
11:46
Speaker 10: And getting more and more comfortable playing with one another.
11:50
Speaker 6: When do you and dream it on the stuff get
11:52
Speaker 6: together and start talking about next year?
11:56
Speaker 2: That's a good question. That is a very good question.
11:59
Speaker 8: Uh.
12:00
Speaker 10: Maybe on the plane. I don't know, uh for sure,
12:02
Speaker 10: sometime this summer. But when it happened, it will have it.
12:11
Speaker 2: I have you have you seen enough? I know you
12:13
Speaker 2: played what eight playoff games with Steph? Yeah?
12:15
Speaker 9: Have you seen enough to really be convinced that healthy
12:19
Speaker 9: this team is a a contender for sure.
12:22
Speaker 10: I think we we all know that, we all believe that.
12:26
Speaker 10: But like I said, injuries is part of it. Nobody
12:28
Speaker 10: wants to be injured. Uh, it's all about player or basketball,
12:32
Speaker 10: the best basketball at the right time and being healthy
12:34
Speaker 10: at the right time. Unfortunately that wasn't us and we
12:39
Speaker 10: came up short.
12:40
Speaker 8: Jimmy, the last couple of times you've been in the playoffs,
12:43
Speaker 8: you've had to maybe carry under man rosters further than
12:46
Speaker 8: maybe where we projected where you guys should have been.
12:50
Speaker 8: Does this collection or group or at least you ste you,
12:53
Speaker 8: Steph and Draymond at the top, does that give you
12:56
Speaker 8: a little bit more optimism maybe despite your age, despite
13:00
Speaker 8: I'll you know, tough the Western conferences, Like, do you
13:02
Speaker 8: walk away feeling a little bit different than you have
13:05
Speaker 8: your last few playoff rounds?
13:07
Speaker 2: Yeah?
13:08
Speaker 10: Uh, it is tough, but it's it's tough on both sides,
13:12
Speaker 10: West Andies. And like I just said, if if we're healthy,
13:16
Speaker 10: if all of this, and if all of that, then
13:18
Speaker 10: it may be different. We don't know, but we gonna
13:21
Speaker 10: take our chances for sure if Steph is out there,
13:25
Speaker 10: but you know, we'll we'll come back and figure this
13:28
Speaker 10: thing out and next year do.
13:30
Speaker 2: The same thing.
13:32
Speaker 7: Juman, You guys were y so close in Game three.
13:35
Speaker 7: You had 'em with six minutes to go. You were
13:36
Speaker 7: up and they blitzed at the end there. When you
13:39
Speaker 7: look at what they were able to do to you
13:41
Speaker 7: guys on off what to your offense? What what made
13:43
Speaker 7: them so successful defending you guys?
13:46
Speaker 2: Uh?
13:47
Speaker 6: I don't know.
13:48
Speaker 10: Maybe some physicality making us take tough shots, but I don't.
13:53
Speaker 10: I don't think it's ever the offense. I think what tonight,
13:56
Speaker 10: they shot sixty two percent. So if we can't stop
13:59
Speaker 10: gus from putting a ball into the basket, it's gonna
14:02
Speaker 10: be hard either way.
14:04
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna say that our offense.
14:05
Speaker 10: Was a problem, you know, reguard to three, you know,
14:10
Speaker 10: make a miss a little bit more.
14:11
Speaker 7: On the other side, then you guys had a really
14:13
Speaker 7: strong defense last few months of the regular season. What
14:16
Speaker 7: did they do to sort of take that apart?
14:19
Speaker 9: Uh?
14:20
Speaker 10: Moved the ball and credibly well get into the paint.
14:23
Speaker 10: I don't feel like we took too much away from them.
14:26
Speaker 10: You know, we talked about what we wanted to do.
14:29
Speaker 10: We did it at in some spurts, but not the
14:31
Speaker 10: entire game, which we needed to do.
14:33
Speaker 2: So they played well, you gotta you gotta.
14:35
Speaker 11: Give 'em that, Jimmy.
14:37
Speaker 5: It feels like, you guys have been going a hundred
14:39
Speaker 5: miles an hour since you got here when you were traded.
14:42
Speaker 5: What was it gonna be like a fole season? See,
14:46
Speaker 5: would you guys do more basic games?
14:50
Speaker 2: Yeah?
14:50
Speaker 10: Uh, I think it's gonna be fine. A lot of
14:54
Speaker 10: great basketball to be had and to be played. And
14:57
Speaker 10: I can't wait to to get to that point because
15:00
Speaker 10: I don't want to be basketball.
15:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:15
Speaker 10: Uh, the new destination for myself, Gage coach Organs one
15:22
Speaker 10: of them we.
15:23
Speaker 2: Didn't take into the nation year.
15:26
Speaker 11: First of all, congrats to the Wolves. They were fantastic. Uh,
15:30
Speaker 11: you know, had a great series, beating us four games
15:34
Speaker 11: straight after after that first one. Uh, you know, congrats
15:39
Speaker 11: to uh, to Chris Finch, Tim Connolly. They've done a
15:43
Speaker 11: great job here the last few years building this team.
15:45
Speaker 11: And you know, back to back Western Conference finals pretty
15:50
Speaker 11: damn impressive. So it was, uh, it was a fight.
15:55
Speaker 11: Really proud of our guys. They hung in there and
15:58
Speaker 11: they battled the whole way through. And quite a turnaround
16:02
Speaker 11: in our season, you know, from where we were a
16:04
Speaker 11: few months ago to to giving ourselves a chance and
16:08
Speaker 11: having a swing at the plate, you know, for.
16:13
Speaker 2: For some.
16:15
Speaker 11: You know, some some real chances to to go deep,
16:19
Speaker 11: and we were right there and obviously didn't go our way.
16:24
Speaker 11: But again the Wolves were great. They deserved it, and
16:28
Speaker 11: I'm very proud of our team.
16:30
Speaker 2: How the aspect to this kind of live, Yeah.
16:36
Speaker 11: I mean, injuries are you know, part of the playoffs.
16:40
Speaker 11: I learned a long time ago. You know, the the
16:43
Speaker 11: playoffs are really about health and then just guys stepping
16:48
Speaker 11: up and making some big shots, big plays, you know,
16:51
Speaker 11: in key games. That's what decides every every series. And
16:56
Speaker 11: so we've been on both ends of that and that's
16:59
Speaker 11: just part of it. So there's no sense in dwelling
17:02
Speaker 11: on it. And you know, I don't want to take
17:04
Speaker 11: anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished, So no sense
17:10
Speaker 11: in even talking about steph.
17:11
Speaker 9: How much carryover do you feel like there was from
17:13
Speaker 9: going seven with Houston, from the last series, end of
17:16
Speaker 9: the series, just.
17:17
Speaker 2: The attrition that that series required.
17:20
Speaker 11: Well, we obviously came in here in one game one,
17:24
Speaker 11: coming right off of Game seven, and so I don't
17:30
Speaker 11: think it was an issue. You know, I thought.
17:36
Speaker 2: Game three was the key to the series.
17:38
Speaker 11: You know, we're at one one and we've got a
17:42
Speaker 11: six point lead in the four at mid fourth and
17:45
Speaker 11: they made huge plays down the stretch of that game,
17:47
Speaker 11: and that was the one we needed to get. And
17:51
Speaker 11: then I thought the last two games they broke free offensively.
17:56
Speaker 11: I mean they shot sixty three percent. Tonight we couldn't stop.
18:00
Speaker 11: We actually did everything we wanted to accomplish. We dominated
18:03
Speaker 11: the possession game. You know, we got thirty nine threes up,
18:08
Speaker 11: but twelve more field goal attempts, the fifteen more free throws.
18:12
Speaker 11: We did everything we needed to do to win the game.
18:16
Speaker 11: But they shot sixty three. So ultimately, you've got to
18:21
Speaker 11: be able to guard and get stops, and we weren't
18:24
Speaker 11: able to do that.
18:26
Speaker 7: You guys were only down by six with about two
18:28
Speaker 7: minutes left in the second quarter.
18:30
Speaker 2: Then they go on the nine over run, kind of
18:32
Speaker 2: like what they did in the last game. I guess
18:33
Speaker 2: what happened there.
18:36
Speaker 11: Yeah, they broke free. It felt like the transition stuff
18:40
Speaker 11: in the first half, who was really key. You know,
18:44
Speaker 11: I looked at the statute at halftime they only had
18:46
Speaker 11: six transition points. I think that was misleading. Those stats
18:49
Speaker 11: are a little nebulous sometimes too. It felt to me
18:53
Speaker 11: like they were getting out in transition and then getting
18:57
Speaker 11: into the paint and then their passing was spectacular and
19:01
Speaker 11: they had twenty assists in the first half. Had us
19:04
Speaker 11: on a string. We kept having to rotate because the
19:07
Speaker 11: ball would get free and we'd had to bring help.
19:11
Speaker 11: And the ball started to move for them, and they
19:14
Speaker 11: played a beautiful first half and that last nine to
19:17
Speaker 11: oer run was a big, big part.
19:19
Speaker 6: Of the game.
19:23
Speaker 4: Two of your youngest guys had the biggest scoring outputs tonight, obviously,
19:27
Speaker 4: Jonathan and Brandon. What did you see from them tonight
19:30
Speaker 4: and in the series? Brandon obviously had struggled, but I
19:32
Speaker 4: thought it.
19:33
Speaker 11: Was our best offensive game of the series. Even though
19:35
Speaker 11: we didn't shoot well. The ball really moved. We had
19:38
Speaker 11: great pace, great tempo. I thought Brandon did a really
19:42
Speaker 11: good job of you know, pushing the ball, getting it
19:47
Speaker 11: swung side to side. We were able to attack them
19:50
Speaker 11: on closeouts because the ball was moving, we are spacing
19:54
Speaker 11: was much better. It was a big, big problem for
19:57
Speaker 11: us earlier in the series, just a lack of basing, obviously,
20:01
Speaker 11: playing some new lineups that hadn't played together. A lot
20:06
Speaker 11: of lineups that had, you know, guys who are used
20:10
Speaker 11: to being in the paint and we were asking them
20:12
Speaker 11: to be on the perimeter. Tonight, we did a much
20:14
Speaker 11: better job of that of getting spaced and that allowed
20:17
Speaker 11: us to move the ball, and both both JK and
20:20
Speaker 11: Brandon Uh, you know, had big scoring nights. I was
20:23
Speaker 11: really thrilled for Moses. You know, it's been a tough
20:25
Speaker 11: postseason for him, but he showed exactly who he is,
20:30
Speaker 11: you know, as a player, as a as a person,
20:32
Speaker 11: just staying ready, coming in having that big fourth quarter
20:36
Speaker 11: that was that was meaningful. And and uh, I love
20:39
Speaker 11: our guys, like I said, we we we This was
20:42
Speaker 11: a hell of a run for us, you know, considering
20:44
Speaker 11: where we were at the trade deadline. You know, Jimmy
20:48
Speaker 11: changed our season, flipped everything for us, gave us a chance.
20:53
Speaker 11: We became one of the best teams in the league.
20:55
Speaker 11: And obviously, you know you get to the final eight
20:59
Speaker 11: in the NBA, you're one of the best teams. And
21:02
Speaker 11: we had had a shot, but you know, things didn't
21:06
Speaker 11: go our way. But like I said, Minnesota deserves the credit.
21:09
Speaker 2: They were the better team.
21:10
Speaker 3: With that said, how do you feel about the future,
21:12
Speaker 3: And I'm talking more just next season, you know, with
21:14
Speaker 3: with with Jimmy now here and what you guys can.
21:17
Speaker 2: Maybe you know, build up yeah.
21:18
Speaker 11: I mean I'm excited we got obviously, you know, Jimmy
21:22
Speaker 11: and Dre and and Steph all coming back our you know,
21:26
Speaker 11: our young players performed really well this year.
21:29
Speaker 2: There's a lot to look forward to.
21:31
Speaker 6: Not trying to say yep with excuses, I know you
21:33
Speaker 6: don't want that, but was Butler pretty much hundred percent
21:36
Speaker 6: or was he compromised physically?
21:38
Speaker 11: Well? I think he was definitely compromised through all series.
21:42
Speaker 11: You know, I think the injury in Houston definitely impacted him.
21:47
Speaker 11: He's been playing through pain, and I think the biggest
21:51
Speaker 11: thing in this series is that without the spacing that
21:56
Speaker 11: Steph gives us, you know, Minnesota did a great job
22:00
Speaker 11: of just playing us one on one. They guarded us
22:02
Speaker 11: on the perimeter. They were trying to take away our threes,
22:05
Speaker 11: and that forced Jimmy to play a lot of one
22:08
Speaker 11: on one against a long athletic team. And his whole
22:13
Speaker 11: game is to iso get the ball into the paint
22:16
Speaker 11: and then move it to generate shots. And they just
22:19
Speaker 11: made the decision not to leave our perimeter guys, even
22:23
Speaker 11: our you know, non shooters on the perimeter. They just
22:26
Speaker 11: stayed with them everywhere and made Jimmy play one on
22:28
Speaker 11: one and because they have a lot of length and athleticism,
22:32
Speaker 11: it wasn't easy for him to get anything, you know,
22:35
Speaker 11: at the rim and in the paint. And obviously they've
22:37
Speaker 11: got Gobert back there, so they made things difficult on Jimmy.
22:40
Speaker 11: You know, once Steph went out, it changed changed everything
22:43
Speaker 11: for our whole team, but especially for Jimmy.
22:46
Speaker 7: So if you guys did a nice job, especially in
22:48
Speaker 7: the first half, of getting Anthony off the ball, just
22:51
Speaker 7: what you wanted to do. We had six points at
22:52
Speaker 7: the halftime, but you guys were down fifteen. Is there
22:54
Speaker 7: an adjustment that you can make from that? Or I mean,
22:56
Speaker 7: what do you go from that when you're down fifteen
22:58
Speaker 7: and he has six points?
22:59
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean we we blitzed him early in the game.
23:01
Speaker 11: We were trapping him and they got free and they
23:03
Speaker 11: they scored several times against our blitzes. And that's the
23:07
Speaker 11: risk you take, you know, when you when you go
23:10
Speaker 11: to that coverage. So I thought, all in all tonight,
23:14
Speaker 11: we you know, we we threw a lot of stuff
23:17
Speaker 11: at him, boxing one you know, one possession, a lot
23:21
Speaker 11: of zone trapping in the back court. But they're a
23:25
Speaker 11: hell of a team, you know, They've got shooting everywhere,
23:28
Speaker 11: and that's you know, that's the name of the game
23:31
Speaker 11: in modern NBA. If you can space the floor with
23:35
Speaker 11: you know, four or five different guys, it makes defense
23:38
Speaker 11: really really difficult. And I thought, they're they're spacing, they're shooting,
23:43
Speaker 11: just spread us out and that allowed their guys to
23:46
Speaker 11: attack and get into the paint.
23:48
Speaker 4: Following up on there their question about Pods and Jonathan,
23:50
Speaker 4: you're younger guys. Obviously with Stef's injury, they had a
23:53
Speaker 4: bigger role in this series. How much can this playoff
23:57
Speaker 4: experience sort of help them going forward.
23:59
Speaker 11: Fantastic playoff experience for both guys.
24:02
Speaker 2: Uh.
24:02
Speaker 11: Very proud of Jonathan, you know, to to go from
24:05
Speaker 11: where he was in the Houston series not really being
24:08
Speaker 11: part of the rotation. Uh. And then when Steph got heard,
24:11
Speaker 11: you know, staying ready and coming in and you know,
24:14
Speaker 11: he played really well here these last four games and MVP.
24:18
Speaker 11: You know, this was a great, great experience for him.
24:21
Speaker 11: You know, he said there were times in the series
24:23
Speaker 11: where he was hesitant to shoot. Even tonight he was
24:25
Speaker 11: four for six. I thought he could have gotten ten
24:27
Speaker 11: or eleven threes off and we needed those. And I
24:31
Speaker 11: told him that after the game. So when when we
24:33
Speaker 11: get back here next year, you are not going to
24:35
Speaker 11: turn down a single shot. And that's part of the playoffs.
24:38
Speaker 11: I lived it as a player.
24:40
Speaker 2: It is a.
24:42
Speaker 11: A mind it's a mind game. I call it, you know,
24:45
Speaker 11: something more profane, it's you know, but the playoffs are
24:48
Speaker 11: a you know, they are a mind game, and it's
24:52
Speaker 11: really easy to lose your confidence. Teams throw different schemes
24:55
Speaker 11: at you. You have a bad game and everybody's talking
24:58
Speaker 11: about your shooting percentage and you feel like you're on
25:01
Speaker 11: an island. I've been there, and it's great for Brandon
25:04
Speaker 11: to go through that and then finish the series with
25:07
Speaker 11: a great game because he's got to understand this is
25:09
Speaker 11: what it feels like. You know, nobody cares in January
25:12
Speaker 11: if you have two games where you know you're four
25:15
Speaker 11: for twenty, But in the playoffs, everybody's writing about it,
25:19
Speaker 11: everybody's talking about it. You feel exposed. And that's a
25:22
Speaker 11: big part of playoff experience is understanding you got to
25:26
Speaker 11: keep firing. You've got to stay aggressive, keep your confidence
25:30
Speaker 11: any way you can steve.
25:32
Speaker 5: You mentioned earlier, we had a shot. When you look
25:35
Speaker 5: back at this series of the playoffs, the way you
25:38
Speaker 5: guys played to get out of Houston, the way Staph
25:40
Speaker 5: and you guys were playing that game one right before
25:41
Speaker 5: you got hurt. Will you wonder what if? Like what
25:44
Speaker 5: did you think how far this team could go with
25:47
Speaker 5: the potential?
25:49
Speaker 11: Yes, the next few days, you know, I mean, actually
25:53
Speaker 11: I don't even I don't even have to think what if.
25:56
Speaker 11: I know we had a shot. I know we could
25:59
Speaker 11: have gone the distance. Maybe we wouldn't have, But it
26:03
Speaker 11: doesn't matter. Again, everything, uh in the playoffs is about
26:08
Speaker 11: who stays healthy and who gets hot. You know, are
26:12
Speaker 11: you playing well at the right time, do you have
26:14
Speaker 11: multiple guys step up in key games, make shots, and
26:17
Speaker 11: do you have good health? And you know, you see
26:20
Speaker 11: it every year in every series, and so there's a
26:24
Speaker 11: there's there's a little bit of luck involved, you know,
26:28
Speaker 11: and we, like I said, we've been on both sides
26:30
Speaker 11: of that and it's just part of it.
26:33
Speaker 2: Next season of knowing what this team is for sure for.
26:38
Speaker 11: Sure, second half of the season, we became one of
26:41
Speaker 11: the best teams in the league. We had, you know,
26:43
Speaker 11: really I think the number one ranked defense for the
26:46
Speaker 11: last thirty games. We became a two way basketball team.
26:52
Speaker 11: I think Mike dunlea Dunleavy is a superstar. I think
26:56
Speaker 11: what he's done in the last couple of years, I
27:01
Speaker 11: have total faith in Mike and his ability to look
27:04
Speaker 11: at our team, figure out what we need and help
27:06
Speaker 11: us get better this summer, and I'm excited for what's ahead.
27:12
Speaker 11: And yeah, disappointed, but Minnesota was great.
27:16
Speaker 2: Man. I wish them well, Steve.
27:19
Speaker 8: Given the ages of Steph and Draymond and Jimmy, how
27:21
Speaker 8: much is luck just the part of when you get
27:25
Speaker 8: to this point, Luck that they stay healthy, Luck that
27:28
Speaker 8: you know, older players stay up right at this point,
27:32
Speaker 8: you need.
27:32
Speaker 11: Luck when they're younger too, you know, you do. We've,
27:36
Speaker 11: like I said, we've been on both sides of it.
27:38
Speaker 11: You know, twenty fifteen, we go to the finals and
27:42
Speaker 11: you know, Cleveland's without Kyrie and Kevin Love. And the
27:46
Speaker 11: next year, you know, we're in the playoffs and Steph
27:48
Speaker 11: goes down and he's banged up, and Draymond gets suspended,
27:51
Speaker 11: and you know, stuff happens. And we've been on both
27:56
Speaker 11: sides of it. And so yes, we're our main three
27:59
Speaker 11: guys are older now, so we're going to have to
28:02
Speaker 11: navigate that as best we can.
28:04
Speaker 2: But you just you just go for it and you know,
28:09
Speaker 2: do the best you can.
28:11
Speaker 9: Given the arc of the season where you guys, you
28:13
Speaker 9: know finished, How do you think you'll remember twenty four
28:16
Speaker 9: to twenty five.
28:17
Speaker 11: I will remember this season for the way this team
28:21
Speaker 11: was connected and persevered and what an incredible group going
28:28
Speaker 11: back to you know, October training camp, playing thirteen guys
28:34
Speaker 11: out of the gate, and then our team transforming with
28:39
Speaker 11: the trade for Jimmy. But I enjoyed coaching every single
28:44
Speaker 11: guy on this team. And all you can really ask
28:47
Speaker 11: as a coach is if for your team to commit
28:50
Speaker 11: to each other, to the cause, and for guys to
28:54
Speaker 11: fight through adversity when things don't go their way. And
28:58
Speaker 11: we saw that over and over again with all of
29:00
Speaker 11: our guys, and that's that's really satisfying. So I thoroughly
29:06
Speaker 11: enjoyed this season, love our guys, and like I said,
29:09
Speaker 11: it's sad that it's over, but it's a really fun year.
29:13
Speaker 7: Draymond said something. Steve Draymond said something after Game four.
29:16
Speaker 7: He said that it seemed like every time we get
29:19
Speaker 7: a little run going, they have an answer for it.
29:22
Speaker 7: Does that take an emotional lot, a psychological toll on
29:24
Speaker 7: a team? When you see you're coming back to coming
29:27
Speaker 7: back and they that back at you.
29:28
Speaker 11: Yeah, for sure, but look, they were the better team.
29:32
Speaker 11: I mean, Julius Randall was incredible. What a series, you know,
29:36
Speaker 11: and he's always been a really good player in this league.
29:39
Speaker 11: I think he has taken a leap. I remember playing
29:43
Speaker 11: here early in the season and it looked like a
29:46
Speaker 11: tough fit and they didn't have the spacing, you know,
29:48
Speaker 11: they missed towns and and you fast forward to now
29:53
Speaker 11: he's thirteen for eighteen to night. It was just incredible
29:56
Speaker 11: the whole series. We couldn't stop him. Obviously, Edwards is
30:01
Speaker 11: just a superstar. So they were the better team. And yeah,
30:07
Speaker 11: it's demoralizing, but that's you know, that's that's what the
30:11
Speaker 11: game is about. Can you get stops? And we couldn't.
30:13
Speaker 2: We couldn't get stops.
30:15
Speaker 11: Thank you,