"I think we're perfectly capable of winning games where Steph doesn't have a huge night" - Warriors' coach Steve Kerr on reliance on Steph Curry, Draymond Green's impact, and the road ahead in NBA Finals
There was no panic. The Golden State Warriors remained cool, calm, and collected, and they wanted to send a message. Despite what was described as a rough locker room after their Game 1 loss in the NBA Finals, the Warriors were still confident.
The Warriors got their approach spot-on
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who has never trailed 2-0 in a playoff series, stressed aggressiveness, physicality, and intensity leading up to Game 2. Kerr stressed that before the game and at half-time, which helped Golden State even the series at a game apiece.
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Like they have all playoffs long, Golden State bounced back. The Warriors are now 5-0 this postseason following a loss, outscoring their opponents by an average of 15 points in those games.
Draymond Green was called upon, and he delivered
Bringing the intensity and setting the tone was Warriors forward Draymond Green, who was on a mission to rebound from his rather dismal Game 1 showing.
Green was physical and intense, just like Kerr wanted. Green and Jaylen Brown went at it, which also included Green getting physical with Al Horford.
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Green was jawing with Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and just about anyone on the floor for the Celtics. It appeared as if he wanted to send a message and it's safe to say he did just that.
“Yes, I wanted to come out and be more aggressive on that side, and I think I did a good job of that. But that's a full team effort. It doesn't just work because of one guy”, Green said.
Steph Curry was among the Warriors who believed Green took his Game 1 performance personally and he responded.
“About 5 minutes after Game 1. That's all I needed to see and hear from him just in terms of he knew what he needed to do,” Curry said of Green. “You could have put Draymond on Coach Udoka, and it would have been a different ballgame from yesterday just based on the way he approached the game. Matchups are matchups. But everybody has to bring the right intensity and Draymond did that from the jump.”
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Kerr saw Green more engaged which set the tone defensively.
“Yeah, I thought everybody was more engaged. It was pretty obvious, just our level of force and physicality was ramped up quite a bit, and it had to be. What Boston did in the 2nd half, you know, 4th quarter the other night, we knew we had to come with a much better focus and sense of aggression, and I thought that started right from the beginning, Kerr said. “Draymond played a huge role in that.”
Green made a huge impact, however, Boston Celtics big man Al Horford downplayed Green’s physicality.
“Nah, no impact,” Horford said. “I mean, he's going to do what he does. We're not worried about him. We're going to do what we do, focus on us.”
Read more on Al Horford's reaction in our article here as he discusses Draymond Green's physicality post Game 2 of the Finals
Adjustments were made at the half as Kerr stressed on intensity and physicality. Their 21+ point differential in the 3rd quarter was their most in a quarter in Finals history, which also included 14 of Curry’s game-high 29 points.
Subsequently, Golden State blew it open over the final 4 minutes and 30 seconds of the 3rd quarter, going on a 19-2 run.
Speaking of their intensity and physicality, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “It was obviously ramped up tonight, and it needed to be, given what Boston did in Game 1. So that's the name of the game in the Finals.”
Boston had more turnovers than field goals made in the 3rd quarter, allowing Curry to go off and carry the team.
“I think this year, there's definitely a need for me to be aggressive throughout the game, to create, draw attention, get shots up and just continue to apply pressure”, Curry said. “Obviously the first two games, it's gone well. I don't know what it will look like on the road, rest of the series. It's just always about being confident with the ball in my hands and make plays.”
“There's plenty of concern about plenty of things. Boston is a hell of a team. They have a great defense. They have got guys who are athletic and powerful and can get to the rim. And so whatever it takes.”
How much does this team rely on Steph Curry?
“We're going to need contributions from a lot of people, and I think we're perfectly capable of winning games where Steph doesn't have a huge night. Just means other guys have got to step up and score for us. But that's something they have done all year”, Steve Kerr discussed relying on Steph Curry to carry the team offensively.
Big stage. Big performance.
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Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson have won 18 NBA Finals games together, which is only one win shy of matching the most by any All-NBA trio in the last 50 seasons, but this group has their eyes set on 3 more to win another championship.
If Curry needs to carry this team, he’s prepared to do so. The work he has put in in the off-season to make sure he’s in top shape might just pay off now.
“I've always had that since high school. But again, it's not like one thing you do in the summer. It's an accumulation of every year, all the work that you put in that continues to show itself throughout your career, throughout the season, playoffs and every year that I get an opportunity to play on this level,” Curry said.
“So I do pride myself on trying to be the hardest worker, the most consistent worker. Maybe the last two or three years, you work a lot smarter than harder. Just a little bit more often, especially in the off-season. But it's that old saying, like what you do in the summer shows up at moments like these. So, doing my job.”
The job is not done for the Warriors, they are three wins away from the championship as the series now shifts to Boston.
“We put ourselves right back in position to take control of the series. Now, we haven't taken control of it yet, but we have put ourselves in position to go and take control of it. That's the important thing”, Green said.
Following a playoff loss, the Warriors have a 23-8 record since 2015 with this core group.