Warriors/Mavs Postgame, CP, Brandin Podziemski, TJD, Wiggins, Coaches Reactions | April 2, 2024

Warriors/Mavs Postgame, CP, Brandin Podziemski, TJD, Wiggins, Coaches Reactions | April 2, 2024

How you doing Steve so um Dallas they get out to a nine nothing start then in between the second and third quarter they scor 19 in a row and then in the fourth quarter they had a 13-2 run feels like a game if this game was like six

Weeks ago you might not have pulled it out but through the es and flows of the game you guys still hung on to win where do you see kind of the growth over I guess those last six just the level of competition was fantastic you know we we

Stuck with it through all those uh bad spells that you talked about um but you know it was our defense that that uh that got us a win I mean holding those guys to 100 points is U pretty difficult I thought wigs was brilliant you know he

Just um he put in so much effort just trying to make Luca work and um and Luka was amazing as he always is but um you know that effort really set a tone and I lik the uh the stretch at the end of the third I thought Chris uh Paul came in

And and really changed the game for us um with that flurry at the end of the third and that gave us the lead going into the fourth and and that was an important stretch stepen more on Wiggins did you sense that from the beginning that there was energy there that there

Was force there and do you think he kind of his offense kind of fed off his defense on on Don D yeah I mean wigs has been playing really well you know really um good two-way basketball now for a while he had a off night in San Antonio

The other night but um overall um you know he’s um he’s been been aggressive offensively he’s getting downhill um and he’s defending at a high level I just think he’s in a really good Rhythm he’s in um feeling good you know physically and um playing at uh playing at a high

Level he was uh definitely you know connecting the game tonight you know in terms of um the defense um on donic and just overall energy leading to some some really good offensive possessions as well it’s been kind of like all defense for you guys during this five-game win

Streak how how believable is this stretch and what about it you know makes you feel like it’s sustainable well um you know this team obviously is a is playing at a a really high level they were probably the hottest team in the league coming into tonight they they made a really

Difficult trip by the way and obviously with the schedule shift um you know they had they were in Sacramento for about four days and then flew to Houston and turned right around and of course now we’re about to do the same thing but for them it was a was a pretty rough rough

Trip and I appreciate um not that we had any choice but the fact that you know everybody you know shifted the schedule around to make this work um you know that’s that that’s meaningful but um I just think that um you know that’s a great team regardless of fatigue and the

Flight and all that they’re still really hard to guard and um we held them to 100 points so uh to to me that that’s a good sign that what we did on the road was was not flukish um staying on the defensive end what did you think of draymond’s Defense

Tonight specifically that that block on on Gafford and what did that do for you guys down the stet yeah that was that was probably the key defensive play of the game um was just a massive play I thought he was going to go up to try to

Foul him and he just had the uh the right angle for the block and um that was a huge play and um Draymond was uh was was brilliant defensively as he has been you know for for a while now and that’s um he’s one of the reasons we’ve

Been able to kind of turn the season around um you talked about Chris Paul’s flurry in the third to bring you guys up um in the fourth can you talk about what he’s done throughout the season in terms of leadership and his skills yeah Chris

Is amazing I mean for him you know he never came off the bench once in his entire career until this year so he set a a tone with our team of unselfishness and and commitment to the group and you know he started some games uh early and

Then came off the bench again and you know he’s sort of his role has shifted a little bit but every single day he’s in there working um he’s uh he’s such a great mentor for the younger guys and um he’s he’s the guy who kind of calms

Things down when he gets on the floor and and tonight we needed that especially because we were pretty wild offensively uh it it was not a great effort for us on the offensive end but you know Chris’s play was was really good and helped us um kind of settle

Things down Beyond Chris um how much did the bench sort of change things I mean psky is plus 17 and Payton seemed like he had a big impact there’s a stretch there third quarter where really the bench played better than the starters did yeah Moses had a great game you know

BP um I thought Lon played important minutes for us so um it did feel like the the the bench group kind of changed the game for us tonight Steve you guys have leaned on Steph and clay for your offensive punch for so long over the course this the course of this year you

Can see that that’s changed obviously and how important is it that you know other guys step in with Double J scoring game like Moses Off the Bench like wigs tonight I mean how important is that formula for you guys to try and make a run in the postseason yeah we need that

Um you know and and this season has been I think about that transition you you know um the younger guys playing more and producing more and you know the older guys um you know handing over some of the responsibilities and and um I think we’ve found a pretty good mix you

Know um it’s um we’re we’re finding a Groove at the right time a lot of guys are playing well and um we need everybody because um every night feels a little different with this team Steve what was what happened with a double timeout there was that just you wanted

Extra time or uh no because we inbounded the ball and took the um and didn’t take the timeout before we inbounded we used the second one to advance the ball so I didn’t want to get a a turnover in the back court underneath our own basket or an 8sec

Violation uh because two seconds had already come off the the floor off the clock and so in order to advance it you have to take another timeout and I think I’ve asked you this before some other games but almost a playoff field do you want your players to feel like this is

Like a mini playoff like you gota I mean these games are good for us because um you know we’re we’re right on the edge and um we have to win almost every game and forces us to be sharp part of Chris Paul’s big night you’re talking about was he just hit was

Hitting his jumper um how much how useful can that be and how much more maybe do you want him to to at times look for that mid-range that that he made a career out he’s he’s had a great shooting season after the you know the first month or so he didn’t shoot the

Ball very well but uh over over the last few months he’s really shot the ball well um we need the scoring you know he comes in and he generates shots for others but also for himself and um it’s really been a great um Dynamic to add to

Our team you know it’s always been an issue when Steph comes off the floor over the last decade but Chris to me gives us probably the best uh ability um over the last decade with that second group just to come in and and take over a game and um he’s done

That numerous times this year Steve you’ve been pretty open about checking the standings every day um I mean how in that in that context how crucial was tonight you know Houston loses so it pushes you up three on them and you’re still only one back of the Lakers in the

Lost column so what how does it matter to you what do yeah that that’s meaningful and we’ve got a tough trip now to Houston and Dallas so um it’s it’s helpful but just got to keep going now as a person who’s coached a dynamic back court with Stephen Clay how

Do you assess the back court of Luca and Kyrie especially in a game like tonight not bad not bad yeah no those guys are amazing they they’re both playing at a really high level and um that’s why Dallas is uh where they are right now they’re they’re having a great season thank you Chris you came to this team knowing that you’re going to be playing with some veterans but how important have the other guys been for this team whether it’s wigs or BP or Trace just the younger guys how important have they been for you guys as you guys make this

Run uh really important I mean everybody with the season that we didn’t have with all the injuries and um yeah it’s it’s it’s really been by committee every night it’s five straight like you know Pretty good overall defensive games from you guys what are you seeing on that end

Just overall that that has kind of changed what you guys have been doing um probably a little bit more aware um and understanding like our coverages and trying to communicate early uh it’s funny All Season we sort of just we didn’t known where to be just sometimes guys not there and I

Think uh we starting to understand um you know defense is what we got to be able to hang our hat on you know the offense we got some amazing Shooters and scores or whatnot but if we defend it opens everything else up Steve has been pretty upfront that

He’s been checking his standings pretty much every day down this stretch do you do the same or are you more we got to worry about we’re doing and just make sure that we’re playing the best basketball I just try to Once Upon a Time probably you know but now I just

Try to worry about what we doing it’s the only thing you can control you ain’t going ain’t nothing going to happen in the standings unless you win you know only bad thing going to happen when you lose you talked about the younger players how much of a uh Rapport do you

Feel on the court with with BP and Moody and it seemed like second you know late third quarter you guys really kind of flipped the game and and it wasn’t one guy taking over it was all of you playing together really well yeah I think um that’s when we had our best

When we sharing the ball and moving it but it still goes back to our defense when we not taking the ball out the net we can play at a better pace and just trying to read guys we play so many different lineups on a given night

You’re not sure what group you going to be playing with so you just sort of you figure it out but one thing like I said got to be a constant is the defense after uh Chris after years of bumping heads with Draymond as an opponent as an opponent

How is it different being on the other side and seeing the other side of him it’s easy it’s easy cuz uh he’s a cerebral player like myself and uh Dre thinks the game defensively like me too you know he’s a great passer and all this stuff but he does all the little things

Setting screens and this game man it’s actually a simple game if you pay attention to it you know it ain’t always about the speed and the thrust it’s about angles it’s about the reads and he uh one of the best I’ve seen my whole career and I appreciate playing with

Somebody that sees the game like I do do you ever worry about uh you know his temper getting away and and causing him to miss miss games or anything like that you know nope nope not at all and um I don’t know if you seen it but shout out

To Dre’s podcast we talked about it on there and that I I play with the same passion that he does you know so when he talk talks or yells or anything like that I’m listening to what he’s saying and not how he’s saying it and I think

That’s what a lot of people don’t do in all types of situations so I can appreciate his passion you know if he wasn’t like that that mean he wouldn’t care you know what I mean so I know how bad he wants to win and I can have those

Conversations with him how much do you live how much do you live for these high level games um obviously you’ve been around you played a thousand games or whatever but you know when you’re on the court and you’re facing Kyrie and luk and those guys how much do you live for

Those moments playing against guys that you know are are stars in this league that’s why you do it I wouldn’t be out here 19 years if you know if I didn’t love to do this and and think that I was more than capable of doing it you know

I’d go spend time with my kids and my family you know what I mean it’s a lot of years of this and um uh that’s that’s why you do it you in these situations over and over again and and you keep trying to um you know get

To the top you were a great Rive with the jumper tonight when do you decide on this team when it is time to to to Really look for for your own jump I don’t know I just just saw to play Just seriously you just figured out on what

Night it’s going to be this or that you just I’m literally out there just trying to help figure out how we can win what what told you tonight was it just their defensive coverage or personal yeah um defensive coverage two for one um situations you talk about understanding draymond’s passion there was that

Timeout early in the game when I guess he wanted trace or or pmy a couple passes where he he didn’t get them on and he definitely looked upset I saw you kind of talk to him not asking what you said but is that a moment that you can

Understand maybe better you can you can feel what he’s feeling and you can talk to him a little bit no question no question and I tell you I mean you pay attention long enough and there guys where plays happen and don’t nobody say nothing you know then they just go home and you

Know I mean show me I tell you somebody show me somebody that’s okay with losing and I’ll show you a loser you know what I mean so Dre’s passion is why they didn’t won championships and stuff around here so um I I respect it I ain’t

Like it when I was on the other team you know what I mean but I um I definitely obviously got to know him a lot better and I appreciate him and that passion is why those blocks and those plays happen at the end of the game

So you know if are you trying to calm him down at all or you just talking to him in a moment like that it’s both but I understand it cuz people don’t had to do the same to me you know what I mean but it’s like his

His will to win it’s a passion man so obviously it’s always people who’s going to say oh he needs to do this he needs to do that but I I appreciate him for for who he is you haven’t played a ton of minutes this season obviously come

Off the Bench uh you miss some games do you feel like there’s a gear in you late in the season do you feel like your legs are there and strong uh I I would hope so yeah do you feel it like feel what like you got strong legs like this is

This is like not a late season Chris Paul this is a this is a and I don’t know I’m here I’m I’m here ready to play when when when it’s called on you know what I mean I I’m yeah I don’t I don’t think I read yeah I I don’t know I

Yeah just having such a big impact tonight in only 20 minutes um how different is it you know playing in shorter burst knowing you might not have as much time as you you wanted to kind of feel the game and find a rhythm just try to um be effective in

The time that I’m out there that’s that’s your mindset cool thank you Mavericks came in hot winners of seven straight but how did the defense you guys put on the floor tonight put the clamps on him um just being in our shell um trusting the next guy trusting

Rotations obviously Luc is a great players but they have a lot of other pieces too so I’m keying on them as well and um just helping each other tell me a little bit about Luca and the job Andrew Wiggins did on him tonight and then Wiggins also being the leading scorer on

The offensive end uh wiggss did a phenomenal job on him I mean he had 30 points but on 22 shots and so um that’s what we were trying to do just take him out of his rhythm a little bit and then on the offensive end on the floor I know

I said this before but when he’s playing at that level we’re really tough team to beat really similar stats tonight small margins of victory in each of these you know box score columns one of the ways that you guys won this game was rebounding you had 10 of those rebounds

What are you thinking about out there being aggressive um just trying to limit their TR or Li Li limit their chances and um try to steal possessions for us as well because I know um kick out kick out three off of the offensive board is one of the highest percentage of made

Three so what does five consecutive wins for the Warriors at this time in the season say about the team um it’s great uh four in a row on the road but coming back home I know we’ve been struggling a little bit so coming back being able to

Get one against a really good team um gives us a lot of confidence thank you very much thank you he standing by with the great KB carth Burke the Mavericks average 119 points per game you guys held them to 100 just one of those ways the defense showed up tonight what was

The best part of the defensive clamps yeah I think Andrew Wiggins um his intensity he bring to start against LCA um really set the tone for us defensively and then we kind of all chipped in in our own ways and then Draymond with the huge block down the

Stretch um so just a collective effort and you know I think we have a pretty good record when we hel hold teams under 100 points and we did a few times on the road trip and um you know it’s good to keep that going at home especially because we

Haven’t really you know put a full game together at home Wiggins guarding Luca that expends a lot of energy then he came through on offense to be your leading scorer tonight what do you think of this game from Wiggins yeah I mean he’s been doing this for a decade now um

You know he’s a pro he comes in gets his work in and um you know he loves taking that challenge every night of guarding the best player and to be able to be a two-way guy like he is um is pretty important you were a plus 17 in this

Game part of a huge bench effort as well outscoring the Mavs 30 to 13 what are you guys thinking as a bench unit to contribute to these wins yeah just to help the starters out um you know when me and Chris come in there and then Moses tonight chipping in Gary loon um

You know just contributing in any way possible and making it as easy as we can for when that starting group has to come in because they’re fighting and battling they’re best players um every time they’re out there so any way we can make it as easy as possible whether it’s

Rebounding passing the ball not turning over getting good shots I think that’s what leads to the you know the good plus minus and just because we never know what people have going on in their personal life you lost a coach who was very dear to you that happened on the

Road trip what did that coach mean to you yeah he meant everything um he kind of was the reason I really started taking basketball serious he kind of saw the potential I could have before I saw it and he pushed me and you know some

Days I didn’t like it but it was all out of you know good heart and he knew what I could do and um to lose him on the 21st was you know obviously sad um but now it’s just about how can I you know live in his legacy and kind of do the

Things that I know he’d want me to do um if he was here what was his name and and what year was he yeah uh Dwayne mnik um I met him my my ninth grade year he recruited me um to our St John’s High School played for him my sophomore

Junior and Senior year of high school um he passed away he was 61 so um good perspective of you know never taking anything for granted and you know cherish the moment you have with people you love thank you very much course oh Andrew just how important has it been

For the past few games to for you to be aggressive especially without Jonathan um I mean it’s it’s been important you know just trying to you know help and do my part you know especially you know JK is out the lineup and you know he’s a huge part of what we

Do you know so everybody just has to pick it up cuz JK is a force when he’s in the game how much how much better do you feel like your Rhythm offensively is now compared to where it was earlier in the year um I feel a lot better than

Before for sure I feel like I’m in a pretty good Rhythm offensively and you know defensively you know I feel like our team’s playing great basketball right now so beyond uh Beyond JK not being there how much more of a responsibility do you feel when Steph’s obviously not shooting

The way he normally does I mean you obviously filled that void tonight um I mean yeah you know every every game is is different um and you know Steph has a lot you know on your shoulders you know what he does is you know amazing every night

Um but that’s the thing most step even when you know if he’s not scoring the ball a lot or you know shots aren’t going in you know he’s still the most dangerous person on the court and attracts so much attention you know and he can miss 100 shots you still got to

Play him and put two people on him because he’s that good and that dangerous um so I just do my part and do what I can do I was just watching the replay of the Draymond block on Gafford what was your Vantage Point on that play Man Draymond special uh very special uh

Defensive Mastermind you know he’s he’s everywhere you know he’s everywhere he he’s got everyone’s back you know that’s that’s what gives everyone else you know um the advantage to just play Pray play freely you know defensively because you know you have gerine behind you he’s you

Know he’s going to pick up any slack or anything that happens from a distance it felt like tonight’s game had more intensity than normal which would make sense given what’s at stake does it feel like that to you the these you know the last week or so and now going forward in the

Playoff push uh for sure for sure you know we’re fighting for our lives right now you know we’re fighting to stay alive um to put yourself in position to you know have the chance to do something special you know when you see the Mavericks you’re GNA see LCA you know

That right so um how important is it though as part of your plan to try and make him work on the other end because obviously that’s when you can maybe take advantage yeah I mean you know Luca’s Luca you know I thought I played pretty good defense still had 30

Point triple double you know but you know my job is to make it hard on him um and do what I can to kind of disrupt him a little bit on the other side just attack and be aggressive 17 below what he had last game oh there you [Laughter]

Go you know for for many years the Warriors you know you you were getting going to get 50 or 60 from Stephen Clay combined almost every night you don’t see it as much now because you know they’re getting on a little bit and you guys are being more of a part of the

Offense how important is that formula that you know guys like you and and BP and Moses and JK when he’s available that you guys are able you know to kind of give those guys a little little bit of a hand um I mean yeah it’s important you know every game is different you

Know especially this time of the year you know it’s been a long year um so you know the younger guys definitely have to step up and you know even you know Moses JK BP uh uh tra B they’ done a a hell of a job you know you done [Laughter]

All the uh the past week or so is probably the best like stretch of defense this team has played what has been different that you guys are doing in the past four or five games um we’re just locking in you know that’s that’s what it comes down to you know guarding

Your man and having each other’s back you know we’re trusting each other defensively and having a a tight show cool thank you we’ll have Jason I thought uh when you guys got down by 13 in the second quarter you might be running out of gas but then you guys

Like a 23-2 run where do you think you guys summon that from yeah I think it’s in the past that could have easily been a a uh bigger lead at halftime where it could have been 20 down at half but it’s tied and we just felt we didn’t play

Well um we have some great looks on the offensive end um but I think it’s just the character of the group when you look at um this this road trip uh we’ve been down we haven’t played well um we’ve stayed together and we’ve understand that there’s two halves to the game and

Um again we get off to a good start in the third they make a run um but again that fourth quarter our defense kept us in the game we got some great looks um that you know when you look at Luca and Kai and PJ we we had some great looks

That just didn’t go down and that just happen sometimes but um the road trip um you were on it is long but we’re not going to use that as an excuse we’re we we truly believe we put ourselves in a position to win tonight’s game but we

Came up short how much did you guys uh Miss loby tonight I noticed you didn’t get a lot out of your backup center position yeah yeah anytime uh we miss Josh too I mean we miss dive and Josh uh but uh you suit up the guys that can

Play and and DP gave us uh eight good minutes um out there um looking at maxan Gaff we just couldn’t take advantage of when they were small to get the you know offensive rebounds um and that’s something in the past that we’ve done but um give them credit they they played

Hard uh they they found a way to win um there’s a lot of good things that we can take from this game um being able to execute late um being able to you know execute late game plays offensively and defensively I thought Maxi had a heck of

A block there um you know after the Trap and then we get an opportunity to score so there’s a lot of good things um we’re sitting in a good seat um now we got to prepare um for Atlanta hey coach kind of building off what you

Just said uh you weren’t able to finish the job tonight but how confident are you in this group uh in finishing games particularly with Luca and Kyrie out there yeah we got you know our our two leaders got great looks if not they were making plays for other guys uh and PJ

Makes a big three there um at the top of the floor um just the trust that they have with one another on both ends offensively and defensively so there’s a lot of um you know positive things um there’s a lot of trust and chemistry is

At a highlight right now so I I truly believe in this group um we’re going to learn from this and get better Jason welcome home first of all good to see you good to see you too given the playin and the cluster of teams that are 78 9

10 what’s the mindset let’s say that you try to instill in your players coming down the stretch because one win here or there can dramatically affect what your your playoff Situation’s going to be yeah I think it’s that’s a great question it’s you know taking one one game at a time we can

Only play what’s in front of us and and tonight was the Warriors and on the road um we put ourselves in a position to win um they made plays we came up short and this just something that we can learn from but again our defense is is at a

Very high level we’ve been talking about that of late if we’re not making shots we got to be able to get stops and and tonight we did that uh we just couldn’t capitalize on the other end but it’s just taking one game at a time and and

And learning from wins and losses and then going forward with the next game and that’s Atlanta that’s the only one we’re focused on we can’t scoreb watch we can only take care of what’s in front of us and we control what will be seated at the end of uh seven more

Games oh what challenges did you see uh facing Draymond Green in short rols especially in the fourth quarter yeah you know that’s uh something that he is uh perfected um being able to play make out of the short rle um and so uh being

Able to try to you know he he found a way to score and find and find guys and so whenever you put two on the ball with Steph up you when draymond’s involved in pick and roll um we just have to be a little bit better um we play those guys

Here shortly at the end of this week and so um we can see what we can do better to to make it tougher on him but he’s seen every defense Steph has seen every defense and so we just got to try to keep those guys off balance thanks

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