“Steve Kerr is the best relationship manager in the league,” an insider recently told me. I agree. I’m starting to think that he has more belief in the 2023-24 Golden State Warriors than Oracle Arena itself in the #WeBelieve 2007 Baron Davis-led No. 8 playoff team.

Maybe it’s relative. Maybe a guy with so much belief in his squad in comparison to the general public stands out more to me than one of 20,677 (the attendance at the Game 6 DAL-GSW clincher on May 3, 2007) already all having belief in their team. Here’s what Kerr said on Saturday after the heartbreaking loss in double-overtime to the LA Lakers, after Stephen Curry ripped his own jersey in frustration while walking off the court:
…we’re going to get this turned. I believe in them. We’ve been through so much this year. But the season’s only halfway over. There’s a long way to go. and we got a lot of good stuff ahead of us.

(Full transcript is below.) Kerr even has belief in Brandin Podziemski’s hook shot, something Steve’s long-time friend Tom Tolbert didn’t even believe in (full transcripts from January 16th and 9th also below, tacked onto the bottom of this article, which I’ve been waiting to post since before Dejan “Deki” Milojevic’s passing):

TOLBERT: I gotta ask you one thing, because I know you love playing Podziemski. I love Podziemski. I love watching him play. He does so many good things that people don’t notice. But I’ve said this on the broadcast, so I can say it to you. Can we get rid of the skyhook, that thing?

KERR: “You’re not a fan of the George Mikan?”

TOLBERT: Oh, I love it. If it went in, it’d be fantastic. I mean, he’s shooting about 15 percent on those things, man. It’s like, I gave him about five of them. And then after that, I was like, ‘All right, let’s put that on the shelf for a little while. Work on that thing.’ And then he shot one last night. I don’t think it drew iron. I was like, we gotta put this one away. I love the sky hook. I love (that) somebody uses it. But I don’t love it as much when it doesn’t result in points.

KERR: “Yeah. I don’t know. I love BP’s approach and just the way he attacks and the way he probes in the lane, I kind of think he’s eventually going to make that shot. He just has so much belief.”

TOLBERT: Great.

KERR: “When? What did you say? When is he gonna make one?”

TOLBERT: No, I said, great. Eventually he’s going to make one. I mean, of course he’s going to make one.

KERR: “No, I don’t — I’m not saying one. I’m saying, eventually he’s going to make that shot consistently. And that’s going to be a part of his game. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I don’t know if you remember this, but, when Klay (Thompson) was really young, he missed a lot of layups and his dad told a funny story, Mychal (Thompson). He said, ‘Yeah, we used to call them Klayups. We were like, geez, Klay, can’t you make a damn layup? Those are Klayups.’ And I do think a lot of young players really struggle, first year or two, finishing, because those guys are so athletic and big in there but with time — and Steph’s another great example. I mean, he didn’t make those shots early on and now you see some of the shots he makes. So I really believe Brandin will eventually make that shot consistently — not make it once, make it consistently.”

Maybe because I’ve been watching this team up-close for more than decade, mostly in a literal sense as I attended nearly every practice, morning shootaround, pregame, game and postgame for eight years, the last three of which included road trips, but I really do appreciate Steve’s candor and nurturing style. This is a very steep learning curve for open-minded outside observers, let alone distant and outraged fans who unknowingly want to remain separate from the team.

But — and I’ve also said this before — his superb relationship management skills are “sometimes to a fault,” as my insider told me. We, as in readers of this website, will continue to explore this further as I try to teach y’all my lens of this franchise. Again, there is a better way to be a fan and I’m here to try my best for you to reach my summit, which is that I really do enjoy the process, win or lose. Like, genuinely, the way Steph says so every time on the podium.

Now, some of you have been the way you are since your brain started recording your environment since ages 2 through about 12, so I don’t hold your inability to stop the addiction to certain judgmental behaviors — which are all really just hormones of survival in an ever-increasing dog-eat-dog society — against you, but I will exit the room or block out as necessary any overly Sith Lord-like negativity. If you don’t want to be saved, you don’t want to be saved. And yes, of course, I know my audience is going to be the 1% of 1%. Not a very good business strategy, but I don’t live my life trying to just make money — I gave up that Matrix life eons ago when I resigned from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and it’s actually an ongoing process as I’m a way different person than my giving-up-PwC days and I’ve learned the most I’ve ever learned in my whole life the last two years.

And I’m with Steve on this one. I also believe what we saw in the waning moments of Q4, OT1 and OT2 against the Lakers was some of the best Steph, Klay and Draymond Green ecosystem we’ve seen in a long time. I wish I had the exact plus-minus or W-L record for when we’ve had those three on the floor at the same time this season, but I have feeling it’s very few and far between minutes. I do think the basketball gods will reward the attention to detail and locked-in desire the boys displayed on Saturday, if they keep doing that.

By the way, we’ll have Lakers Fastbreak podcaster Sean Grice aka “Magicman” on halftime on tomorrow’s PHI-GSW livestream to give us his outside observer takes to what he saw from Steph-Klay-Dray on Saturday.

onathan, just what’s the kind of emotions after such a hard fought back and forth game like this?

JONATHAN KUMINGA POSTGAME LAL-GSW: “We fought till the end and it’s nothing that we didn’t try that was gonna help us win. We fought till the end. You could see a lot of people play a lot of minutes. So we tried pretty much everything and didn’t go our way.”

The starting lineup was the same as the closing lineup pretty much all through all of the overtimes. What do you like about that group of yourself? Draymond, Andrew, Steph, and Klay, what works there?

“That group been playing really well. And Coach wanted to try and see how it’s going to look like. And I feel like so far it did look good. It’s just a bunch of the guys, and we had two, two people fouled out, almost three, I almost fouled out too, So but I like that group, we’re playing well, we’re playing pretty much well.”

Specifically adding Draymond back, because before when Draymond was suspended, when you and Andrew shared the court, was there was a little bit of struggle? What does adding Draymond to that just allow you to do and allow Andrew to do?

“I would say, it’s just me and Wiggs, we figured out how to play off each other. And with each other at the same time on the floor, it’s not that much about Draymond being in there or being out. They help us with a lot of things. But it’s just we kind of have a feel for each other now. Like we know how we play. So we just figured it out.”

With Draymond back, have you noticed anything different about what he’s brought to you guys since his return? Is his approach different as the way he’s acting, or is this just the same Draymond you’ve always seen?

“It’s always the same Draymond I’ve always seen, and just his absence, we’re missing that Draymond force, and I feel like him being back, he’s bringing that every night, night in, night out. It’s still the same Draymond.”

Steph, you’re walking off the court, ripping your jersey. Just what are the emotions after a game like this that ends the way it does, but also goes through all the overtimes, all of the incredible shot making?

STEPHEN CURRY: “Our whole season we’ve had some tough breaks, some self-inflicted wounds. Some games that obviously you should have should have won and there’s disappointment walking on the floor and like tonight is a night where you feel like you played well enough to win almost like the Sac game and again, have nothing to show for it. We fought the whole way. stayed in it even when things weren’t going our way, gave ourselves an opportunity, goes on the last possession three or four times regular regulation, both overtimes and it just shows that we really want it. We’re playing with a little bit of desperation trying to change the tide of our season and just don’t have nothing to show for right now.”

Steph, you said the other night after the loss, that you view that loss differently in terms of closing than some of your prior losses. How did you look at tonight with the two overtimes, but the inability to still close it out?

“It’s the same vibe doesn’t make it any better. Actually makes it worse. Like I said, played well enough, had a tough stretch in the middle of the fourth quarter. And you could see we were flying around, playing aggressive, understanding every possession was important and makes and misses or whatever. Like, there’s just an energy about what we were trying to do. So the good news is if we can keep doing it, you would like to think that you could build momentum and that’s what our hope is. But it’s just a tough way to, back to back games at home that you play well enough to win and just don’t get it done.”

Bigger scope. Do you feel like you might have found something with Draymond primarily at the five and then that new starting and closing lineup you guys are using?

“He’s had plenty of experience there. He provides such a big presence. That lineup, we got some speed, we have some athleticism, we have Draymond’s brain and mind, and just the way that he sees the floor defensively. We had a pretty good start to the game tonight, so It’s one of those situations where you have a lot of confidence with that group, but it is a different lineup again that we’re trying to build an identity around. And there’s a lot of good to see out there with that group. So I’m sure we’re probably gonna roll it back.”

Steph, just curious, bigger question about the league, had a lot of 70-point games lately. it used to be something very few and far between. We saw a lot of great offensive skill in this game. What is your opinion on that? Why do you think we’re getting more of these games than ever? Is it the offensive skill at the league being higher than ever or other things? How do you see it?

“It’s probably a combination of a lot. There’s guys that know how to put the ball in the basket, with Luka, Joel, KAT, Book. They’re perennial scorers. That’s what they do. The level of it and how, in the short time span, how many games like we’ve had like that. Guys get hot, build confidence, floodgates open. And that’s when the momentum kind of like they’re obviously capable of doing that. It’s interesting, though, like how the game is refereed and things like that. You’ve seen a little bit tonight. It’s hard to be as physical as you want with some of the patterns of how things are called. And guys are taking advantage of it in (that) if you can obviously score at all three levels and get to the foul line, you’ll have a night. So it’s great for the league in the sense of showcasing skill sets and the variety of how guys score. But there’s some stuff to correct as well.”

Steve made sure to point out the free throw discrepancy, 43 to 16. And also that you only got three free throws in 43 minutes. How much do you feel like that tilted the game and what played into all that?

“We’ve had this conversation, especially playing against them. They draw a lot of fouls that last year they had some crazy free throw disparity, and advantage. Tonight is just one of those where it’s just not consistent, and that’s the most frustrating part. because you want to be in a place where the players decide the game, and it’s either the players decide the game, or it’s consistent on both ends of what you’re calling. And so like, not to say, obviously, we shoot a lot of threes. I know that there’s a different style, but there’s probably like three plays I was involved in where It’s just a clear bad call in this in the sense of giving guys unnecessary free throw attempts and then on the other end, contact or plays that just, they look the other way for whatever reason. So like in a single game when you have inconsistency on both sides, that’s the most frustrating thing of all. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to go to the line 58 times. It just means that there’s a tone of the game and there’s a flow that we can adapt to and adjust to. And it wasn’t like that tonight. So it’s tough.”

Steph, LeBron said he hopes he’ll be cool with his grandkids someday, the fact that he got to battle with you in so many games over the years. He plans to talk to his grandkids about all these thrilling games with you and hopes it makes him cool. Do you sense that, that these games will be something that you guys look back on years from now?

“Absolutely. Every year that we get to do this, and the back and forth, the battles from all the finals runs to the playoffs last year, after the horn sounded tonight, like, there was a little laugh of, can’t imagine a scenario where a game like tonight happens his year, what, 21? My year 15, all the other guys in the league that have been doing it for 15 plus years, KD, CP, like, it’s insane. So you look forward to the battles, but you also appreciate the mutual respect of what it takes to keep doing what you’re doing at this level because only a few people know how hard it is. I’m happy being in that group.”

Steph, what have you seen from Wiggins over these last few games and how much of a difference has it made?

“We just love aggressive Wiggs that, obviously, making his presence felt on the defensive end, taking what is there on the offensive end. There’s probably a little bit more opportunity to feature him on offense, especially with some mismatches and stuff. And when he has that aggressive nature to his game, it only helps us even more. So he’s been through obviously a lot this year. Understanding when he plays well, we’re a much better team, and we obviously need that when he’s out there.”

You guys have mentioned how many heartbreakers you’ve lost this year, but Steve came and said how optimistic he was after this one. Do you feel more positive threads to pull after something like this, despite how heartbreaking it was?

“It’s just you just stay in the moment like you feel the pain of it. And embrace it. But you need to find something again. It’s all like winning is contagious and these last two games, if they go the other way there’s just a different vibe in our locker room, even if it’s a one-point win and you’re still like, ‘Oh, we can play better. We can do this,’ isn’t there, so Y=yeah. The challenge is to not let the pain of it last until when we come back to practice, and get ready for Tuesday, we have to come with this, the same desperation and energy and competitiveness, try to have a short memory. But losing sucks. It’s the worst feeling in the world. And until you get over the hump, you kind of have to just sit in it. And that’s where we’re at.”

Steph, you seem to have good success taking Davis off the dribble, but I was curious if you were determined to take a three in the second overtime. Was that going to be the three pointer you made? Were you going to take that regardless to end it or not?

“Was that In the second overtime? Yeah. No, that was a read just because it was a catch and shoot. Draymond set a good screen. I turned around and saw Vanderbilt’s on the ground. That’s a shot I got to take. It wasn’t one where you’re dribbling around, a little bit of chaos and trying to force one up. So honestly, whether it was tied up, down one, up one, or tied down one, down two, didn’t matter. That was a shot I was going to take based on the way the play unfolded.”

STEVE & KLAY POSTGAME LAL-GSW

Coach, you mentioned this last game. The games are close towards the end, and you guys are having a hard time closing. What does this team need to do to be able to close games out on the other side than a loss?

STEVE KERR POSTGAME LAL-GSW: “Well, they did everything. Our guys did everything to close that game. They executed beautifully on offense, and they were scrapping and clawing defensively. And give the Lakers credit, give LeBron credit. He made the move at the end and to draw the foul and shot their 42nd and 43rd free throws of the game and knocked them down. So give them credit.”

You just made sure to note their free throw attempts. They obviously are the more physical team, but did you feel like that’s what tilted the game?

“I might comment on the free throws that they shot, but my mom is here right now and I want to be on my best behavior. So I’m not going to comment on the 43 free throws to our 16. I’m not gonna comment on Steph shooting three free throws in 43 minutes. Yeah, so I’m not gonna comment on that.”

You mentioned it earlier. But despite the loss, what do you take away from how your team executed or performed?

“Just taking it all the way to double-overtime. Fantastic. Our guys were amazing. They were amazing. The way they battled. The way they competed and stayed in the game. And made so many plays. Just felt like we deserved to win that game, the way the guys fought. And there were just so many plays that could have gone either way, that just felt like a game that we deserved to win. But as long as we keep playing the way we played tonight, then we’re going to turn this around and have a great season. I really believe that. I love our guys. They’re amazing and they’ve been through so much this year. And I know who they are. I know how connected they are. I know how much they care about each other and about the game. And we’re gonna turn it around. Tonight was, we didn’t get the result, but our guys showed, you know who they are tonight.”

Same starting lineup that closed the game last game. What jumped out about the way that group played today?

“Well, it gives us a little more size and athleticism across the board. And we’re trying to maximize the number of possessions that those guys play together. And we’re in a position now with Wiggs playing at a high level and JK having come around and Klay, Steph, Draymond back after the suspension, we’re in a position where we can put those guys on the floor together and it’s probably our best five. So we want to maximize the number of possessions they have together.”

Trayce was initially a DNP and then you brought him out later in the fourth, I believe it was. What went into your decision to do that? Also do you expect he’ll be in the rotation going forward?

“We just wanted to get his finishing at the rim, the way the Lakers were guarding us. We felt like Trayce was a good option in that spot and he played well and came in and got a couple of buckets and yeah, he’s played well for us all year and he’ll continue to get minutes.”

You mentioned Draymond before, just before he was a plus-31. What does having him back just allow? Because before, we talked about it last game, Kuminga and Wiggs previously not having played very well together, Draymond comes back and everything’s just clicking. What does Draymond specifically unlock for these actions?

“Well, Draymond’s one of the great defenders of all time. When he’s with a group, he automatically connects the group defensively, and he covers up for mistakes, but he’s also behind the play talking and communicating. And then on offense, he’s another playmaker for us, so, Draymond, he’s a Hall of Fame player for a reason, and he was brilliant tonight.”

You almost primarily went with him at center, and obviously started him, closed him at center. I know you have plenty of options at the five, but do you feel like that can become the identity of this team?

“Yeah, yeah. The bulk of the minutes of him just at center. Yeah. It’s just the way the game is played, the scoring that’s happening around the league. It’s so hard to defend. You have so much space to cover, so many shooters. So Draymond at the five with JK and Wiggs, it allows us to cover more ground defensively.”

Coach, there was obviously a lot of frustration after this game, a game like this where the emotions are high. Steph ripped his jersey after the game. What do you do at this stage of the season, what do you tell your team after a loss like this when you guys have had a season of similar type losses down the stretch?

“Exactly what I just told you guys, that we’re going to get this turned. I believe in them. We’ve been through so much this year. But the season’s only halfway over. There’s a long way to go. and we got a lot of good stuff ahead of us.”

What do you think ultimately kind of decided this one?

KLAY THOMPSON: “I would probably say, I mean, it’s a tough question. There are a lot of factors. We played, we just got to limit our fouling, I guess, 43 to 16 free throw discrepancy is not ideal if you want to win. So, just gotta limit our fouling and play well offensively. We had great looks to win the game. I had a few. It just didn’t go down.”

You guys went with a different starting lineup tonight with, Kuminga and Wiggins and Draymond at center. What do you like about how that worked out?

“Just a lot of versatility amongst that group. defensively, offensively. and great athletes, shooters. Draymond was incredible tonight at plus-31 shows his impact. And yeah, just a lot of versatility with that unit.”

Steve sounded actually pretty optimistic about where you guys are at with Draymond being back and playing the way he is. Do you, obviously this game is going to sting, but are you feeling pretty good about where this is trending?

“A lot of games have stung this year. We’ve had a lot of heartbreaking losses. But yeah, I’m going to continue to be optimistic along with Steve. And it’s a long season, so we know that we can be even better. No need to get discouraged, with plenty of basketball left.”

You mentioned it there though, you guys do have kind of an abnormal amount of games that have come down to this, one-point losses, even two this week. How does that start to wear on you, when you have that many of those type of losses?

“Not really, because we know how talented we are as a group, and what we’re capable of, so although it sucks to lose, anytime, at a high level, we can learn from it, and like I said before, there’s plenty of basketball ahead to right the ship. And yeah, we got time, but there needs to be a sense of urgency, obviously. But we’re not going to get discouraged.”

Klay, does any part of you appreciate this in a way differently than when you were younger, because you don’t know how many more times you and Steph and Dray are gonna battle LeBron. with LeBron getting up there in age and you and Steph into your mid thirties now.

“Jeez, I’m still 33. That’s young. Whoa. But yeah. But oh, yeah. It’s been since 2015. Nine years. That’s incredible. Credit to LeBron for what he’s doing at his age. As a freak of nature, as far as his ability to just play at this level for so long. Same with Steph. And yeah, when you’re younger, you don’t really ever think that basketball will stop because it’s what you love, it’s all you do. But when you do get in your thirties, you realize, there’s an end point to being an athlete. And knowing that, I am very grateful to step on the floor with those guys and play against LeBron.”