San Francisco – Chris Paul made his Warriors debut in a new lineup that we’ve not seen before. Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr went extremely small when he paired Paul along with Stephen Curry. The duo faired well with Paul creating more opportunities to score on the floor.
The Warriors cruised past the Lakers 125-108 without LA stars LeBron James and Austin Reaves. While Golden State’s starting five did well, it was the second unit that took flight behind Jonathan Kuminga’s 24 points and eight rebounds.
“I just liked his aggressiveness,” said Kerr on Kuminga. “He shot the ball with a lot of confidence, had eight rebounds so he was much more active on the glass than his first couple years playing. We want that to continue and he showed his athleticism, did a good job.”
“I thought they were great,” Kerr said on the second unit. “You know Brandin, you can see with Brandin, he just knows how to play. He’s a count ahead on everything, whether it’s a long rebound, a cut, a pass, he sees the game beautifully. He’s a guy who can really help other people, and I thought he helped Moses and JK, and I think Saric is another guy who helps others. The game makes sense when Dario’s out there. It was fun watching the group.”
Kuminga now in his third season feels more prepared than his previous years. He said during his press conference that he’s holding himself more accountable especially on the glass. Kuminga has asked his coaches in practice to make sure he gets it. In his first preseason opener, Kuminga score 24 points in 23 minutes.
KUMINGA:
ON THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAST SEASON’S CAMP AND THIS YEAR:
“Honestly I feel comfortable. Been around these guys now for three years now, I know everybody’s personality, they know mine. I think just being around them every single day kind of helped me grow as a person and as a basketball player. So mostly I feel more comfortable just being around here.”
ON HOW HE IS FEELING ABOUT THE FIRST WEEK:
“I mean I feel good. It all comes with all of it, trusting every day. I’m going to keep earning their trust every single day and like I said, just being more comfortable coming here knowing my role, knowing that it’s a big year. Not just for me, for the team, and I feel like we have something special that we could do. It makes me even happier and more comfortable to just be here every single day.”
ON HIS REBOUNDING TONIGHT:
“That’s something I’ve been really working on. If I don’t do it in practice they’re going to stop practice. So it’s been a consistent thing every single day. I’m not great at it yet but I’m working on it.”
Photo by GSW/Twitter
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Warriors Steve Kerr pregame press conference
San Francisco – Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham pregame presser:
ON IF THERE IS AN UPDATE ON DRAYMOND GREEN:
“No nothing new to report.”
ON COACHING AUSTIN REAVES THIS SUMMER WITH TEAM USA:
“Way better to coach him than to coach against him, for sure. I loved coaching him. Austin’s a fantastic guy, talented. I think a lot more talented than people give him credit for. I mean he’s really skilled, he’s athletic, he’s smart, tough, he’s got all that. There’s a reason he gave us a lot of trouble and gave everybody a lot of trouble last year. He’s really emerging as one of the better young players in the league and a great guy. Really had a great summer with him.”
ON HOW KLAY THOMPSON CAME INTO TRAINING CAMP:
“Well he’s really in good shape so that’s a good starting point. He’s got the foundation to have a good camp. What we’re really hammering home with Klay is the rebounding. If he can get more engaged on the glass, and it doesn’t necessarily have to show up his rebounding totals, it’s more getting engaged in the fight; boxing out, hitting bodies. Because we know as a team we have to be better in the margins this year, this is not 2017 where we can out-talent people. We’ve got to be able to cut back our turnovers this year, rebound better, foul less, and Klay is a part of all of that. That’s what we’re hounding home during camp.”
ON CHRIS PAUL’S MINUTES WITHOUT STEPHEN CURRY:
“Well when Chris is out there without Steph there will be–we’re just going to lean into what he does so well, which is spread pick-and-roll, orchestrating the offense. We’re not going to try to get too cute. I mean I want him doing what has made him one of the great point guards of all time. The good thing, as I mentioned the other day, is that Chris is so smart that whatever set you’re in, it’s really the next–what happens after the initial set that matters in the NBA in my opinion, in basketball in general. So Chris makes plays out of nothing all the time by getting the ball, running pick-and-roll, spread floor, finding an open shooter, or making a mid-range shot, and that’s what we’re counting on from him this year.”
LAKERS HEAD COACH DARVIN HAM
ON PLAYING WITHOUT LEBRON JAMES OR AUSTIN REAVES:
“I think it is just a little bit of both you know you take these opportunities whether it’s training camp or these preseason games, just to start to build your habits, build winning habits, again transition defense is something we really zoned in on and try — it’s one of the areas of our game that we really need to excel at so we will be looking at that, as well as our pick-and-roll defense our closeouts our contest how we battle on the glass, the defensive glass in particular, our running habits our spacing our screening just again building those winning habits you know and trying to create continuity as well as consistency with the combinations that we put out there.”
ON EARLY SEASON ROTATIONS ON THE ROSTER:
“Again man, looking at and seeing who is picking up the information, who — all of these guys have embraced it we have had a great camp up to this point so just allowing the guys to go out there and play against some different opposition, so, other than themselves so it will be great to go out there and see them in a real live game setting.”
ON KLAY THOMPSON AND HIS GROWTH AS A PLAYER:
“I mean just his confidence man I think that it is infectious he just has this aura about him where you know he’s just going to get it done even when he struggles he doesn’t hesitate and so, you know we were very fortunate to come out on the right side of that series last year but again those guys are champions multiple times over and they have a huge sense of pride and passion about the way they represent their team both individually and collectively and he is at the forefront of that, I’m a huge fan, I have been a fan since he came in the league and start to make his bones so to speak but he is just a killer man, and just his mentality and their mentality as a whole is the reason why they have been able to win four championship and him being in that mix I mean it’s one of the best trios I think the league has ever seen, him, Dray (Draymond Green) and Steph (Stephen Curry) and so you don’t look forward to playing against them but as a fan and a pure attraction of the game I totally love watching him play.”
