First in 40: The Story of the 2014-15 Warriors | Ep. 2 – Perfect Balance

First in 40: The Story of the 2014-15 Warriors | Ep. 2 – Perfect Balance

fans. We like to thank y’all so much for coming out supporting us tonight. We look forward to an incredible season this year. We going to give you a lot of energy. We look forward to seeing you 41 times this year, plus the playoffs. Continue to get crunk for us. We thank you all for coming out. God bless. Good night. [Music] Steve and I got along really well just because we spoke the same basketball language. He and I, we had the same coach. You know, your college coach is very instrumental in your basketball career. Well, Andre and I had a connection both having played for Lud Olsen at University of Arizona. So, we shared a similar basketball mindset vision for how the game’s supposed to be played. We didn’t know each other well, but we shared that UOVA background and that was crucial. You know, we had the same principles. The game is played the same way, how to attack, you know, drive middle, no baseline drives, no spinning, you know, pivots, you know, all those things like the little things are very important. And so, as he’s teaching, it’s I’m picking it right up. And, um, it’s probably one of the best training camps I had. And I feel really good. So, I was really, really, really excited about, you know, the upcoming season. But sometimes uh doing good is not always good for you. Andre has been brilliant leading that second unit and um we’ll see if we go that way, but we’re trying to put the right combinations out there to help everybody and and make the team its best. I think everything is timing in the NBA. Andre was 10 years in. He’d been an all-star. He made he had made max money. he wanted to win and um if I had asked him to come off the bench five years earlier, I don’t think it would have flown. Uh so he was ready for it. Um but it took three or four conversations. Um and I was asking him, you know, what do you think? I had a lot of success with the the second unit against the first unit, but it’s just a competitor me and trying to win. But Steve saw something else in there. I told him I I see you as Manu Ginobi. You know, different player, but you know, Ginobi came off the bench for the Spurs for years and years. And a great great player solidifying the second unit, playing starters minutes, and then closing games. But it was tough. Like, it’s not it’s just a really hard thing because when you’re a professional athlete, your window of opportunities only for so long when you have to start thinking like, all right, I’m close to the end. He hated it. It was a tough situation. Andre probably wasn’t always happy about it. I think there was some frustration on Andre’s part because he’s a superstar guy who’s coming in. He had never come off the bench ever in his life. And so it was just a a very loud sign that this team is about winning. This team is about buying into your role. This team’s about doing whatever it takes to put the team first. And that message was heard loud and clear from day one, from game one. Our bench was so much fun, man. We had a squad. It was almost as if you had another starting lineup coming off the bench. We had Sean Livingston. Hook pass inside. Livingston goes up and slams it down. Sean Livingston was a guy who you same drive class as me. We go back to our childhood. like he was the next Magic Johnson is what they were saying. You had LB and le Andre Gdala myself. I started every game of my career and everything that I do. Andre to the rim. You got no buckets. [Applause] Space. Maurice Space. I played with him in Philadelphia. Very familiar with him. He was another guy who you can say six man of the year candidate throughout his career. And then we even have a guy like Brandon Rush work who was very very instrumental in that season too like his relationship with some of the guys his shooting ability. The fact that you had guys that actually can start and majority some teams in the league that come off the bench and play 10 to 15 minutes a game. Just having that in your in your back pocket is always something and Steve used that to his best abilities. You know, we were a confident unit and plus just having veterans on the bench always helps. It was just really a brotherhood, man. We know we had to do every time we get in the game. Sometimes we have to get the league. Sometimes we got to just maintain. So, we had that down pack. Every time we got opportunity to go out there and play, we did a good job doing it. It was like a passion, man. It was a joy. I mean, everybody would have touched the ball. Oh, it was a quick basketball. The flow was unbelievable. And whoever had the best opportunity would take the shot, would take the layup. It was just fun. It It didn’t matter who score. We were there just, you know, balling and having fun and and many many times we won games, you know. We brought uh uh the first unit back, you know, so it was good. How much development have you seen from the second unit? Uh I think it’s been great. you know, we we knew that we would have a great bench. As a matter of fact, we got some guys sitting over not playing that’s very capable of helping us also. So, uh obviously if you’re going to be successful later on, uh you’re going to have to have a deep bench and we’re we’re really happy with the with our bench play. Thanks, coach. A lot of people out there say, “Man, Draymond Green, his stock is rising.” I mean, they your name keeps getting brought up every single year now. And what are you going to do to kind of step up your game this year? Just continue to try to get better. You know, I got a few things I really worked on a ton this summer and just try to come out and showcase those things and, you know, obviously continue to do the things that has got you to this point as well. You know, one thing I always live by, it’s real easy to be me. I can’t It’s hard for me to be somebody else, but it’s real easy to be me. The real key ingredient though was was Draymond Green. Him filling in for David Lee. last preseason game, all of us looking to round ourselves into shape and uh and Steve Kerr looks at me with 5 minutes to go against Denver. It was the final preseason game and he goes, “Hey, I mean, I know it’s a blowout game, but do you and Steph want to go back in and work on a few more of the pick and roll things that we had talked about in practice.” Steph and I were like, “Sure, we’d love to go back in. We’ll get some more cardio.” And I go to get a long rebound and I get shoved and I feel a pop in my hamstring and I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” as David Lee took a hit. He immediately grabbed that upper leg area. Some concerning injury news for the Warriors. Star forward David Lee is out there aggravating that hamstring strain suffered in the preseason. Are there any positives we can take away from Lee not playing? The positive would be Draymond Green gets a chance to really earn that starting role. So an expanded role and more experience for Draymond Green. That’s probably a good thing for the Warriors. go off this side. Well, leading up to that, it was super frustrating for me because we had just played the Clippers in that series the year before. I averaged like 20 and 10 that series [Applause] on Re. And so coming back into that next year contract year, I’m excited like, yo, this is my chance. But then when Coach Kerr comes in, I’m playing, it’s the preseason. I’m playing like 10, 11 minutes a game. So, I’m frustrated. These are the minutes I’m going to be playing. I’m about to be out the NBA. Once he gets hurt, Steve’s like, “All right, Draymond, you’re starting.” Dy’s hurt and we start the year. [Applause] Draymond Green. How about Draymond? Remember game seven, five threes against the Clippers. Draymond Green forcing another turnover. I’m telling you, Draymond, he is the Swiss Army knife. He’s defended at least three to four different people tonight. You know, he basically had an opportunity in front of him with a big shoes to fill with with, you know, D and his his career and his resume. But Draymond knew he just had to go be himself and figure out a way to, you know, play consistent basketball on both ends of the floor that impacted winning and allow his presence to be felt. I think that’s when we really first started to see like the outspoken, like demonstrative, uh, loud, aggressive Draymond that we all know and love. So, he took full advantage of that opportunity, but it wasn’t in spite of Dy. It was like that I’m doing this, you know, for you and with you. Um because you know we’re all again trying to win. There was something going on there and it was Kerr kind of unleashing the you know an offensive flow that they probably needed with Steph and Clay. They had obviously incredible amounts of talent and then the Draymond Greens get moving in the starting lineup for David Lee. Everything was just kind of like it was happening before you. There was something happening very quickly and very early. And if you were watching it, you saw it. [Applause] Batting it away. Clay out to Curry. Step to the rim. Andre with the dunk. Stay away from Blake and Henderson with the right hand. was open had an angle. How hot is dream Curry and Chris Paul Steph flipping it up knocking it down. I remember early in the season it was a blowout at home over the Clippers. This the team that they lost to. It was supposed to be the Clippers time and the Warriors just blew them off the court. Shout out former Warriors employee Lisa Goodman. I was sitting next to her during the game and said, “Oh my god, you’re going to win a bleeping championship. the bogus and five. Curry for the lead. [Applause] Warriors win. I’m in my third year and was a second round pick. To be starting on a team of this caliber, you know, it’s an amazing feeling and one that I enjoy, but at the end of the day, I have no right to sit and worry about or think about if I’m going to start or come off the bench. I mean, if Andre Iguodala can take a back seat and take a spot on the bench after starting 807 games in a row, who am I to sit and say I got to continue starting? That’s absurd. So, I just got to continue to worry about what I can control, and that’s going out and playing hard. All of that stuff will take care of itself. The thing I remember most about the transition from David Lee to Draymond Green was the difficulty that Steve Kerr was in. Like, that’s it was a tough spot. The first tough spot was telling Andre Igodala, you coming off the bench. The second tough spot was telling David Lee, you lost your job while injured. And in basketball, that you just don’t do that. If you’re injured, you don’t lose your spot, you get it back. [Music] Steve came to me as I was starting to get healthy and said, “Hey, I want to be respectful here. Like, you know, you’re a veteran guy that’s been an all-star twice. You’ve proven yourself. You’re one of the captains of our team. Like, I I don’t want to insult you.” And I said, “No, the insulting thing would be if I came back and I said, I want to play all the minutes and we’re what, like 19 and three right now. Like I want to disrupt this.” When D came back, he came back shootound. Steve’s like, “Oh, you’re playing today.” He’s like, “Yeah.” So we started to walk through to go through the plays, who whatever team we were playing. And I just walked to the sideline like, “Oh, De’s back.” And Steve’s like, “No, we’re going to keep starting the same way we’ve been starting.” I was like, “Yo.” [Music] And like I think the first person I called was like my mom like my do you leave back but Steve’s still going to start me. You know Draymond comes across as you know to some people as a very difficult guy to deal with. For me he felt kind of like a little brother type figure. We’ve always had a great relationship and and I think he’d be the first to tell you when he arrived not many people expected a lot out of him being a second round pick. He quickly as he arrived both through his words and his actions told everybody, “Hey, I’m I’m here to be a big part of this long term.” We were completely polar opposite players. So what he brought to the lineup was less about scoring, more about defense, more about the toughness things of pick and rolls on defense, blocking shots, getting rebounds. And he did things and setting screens on offense versus looking to score and really distributing the ball, which when you have guys like Stephen Clay that had stepped into their own the way they had, that’s what the team really needed at that point. And I feel like that was something that earlier in my career, ego- wise, I would have never been able to do. But I think a bunch of people on that 2015 team said, “You know what? We have a real chance to be a contender here.” Whereas, you know, maybe last year we were proud to be in the playoffs, but this year, like, we feel like we have something really special. And and it kind of just took off from there. [Applause] Turning the corner. Wow. Rises in appreciation. Hurry the ball, the body, and the bucket. The steel. Thompson on his way running with the to [Applause] him again. He’s got it. His three. Have you ever seen anything like it? It does not get any better than that. 37-point quarter for Klay Thompson. Clay start with competition. I mean, these guys not the boisterous type of guy like a Draymond, but quietly, you know, just so competitive. There’s players that make shots, but these guys ability to make tough shots without a lot of separation in tough moments in overtime in the fourth quarter game on the line. That’s where they really elevate themselves over everybody else. I think they put a lot of fear in the opponents. I mean, even some of the times Clay would catch the ball, it just would barely sit in his hands. It just be gone. The size that he had, but it was just a lethal combination. I mean, the my my most proud um as far as assembling that group is how well they fit. And you never really quite know that, but to watch how it all came together with the shooting and the passing uh just made it so fun to watch that group and the confidence that they had and were starting to develop um was just contagious. And when you’re playing basketball with guys that can make shots like that, it just makes you feel like you’re invincible. Push ahead. Steph found shooting a three. Banked it in. Curry for the lead. [Applause] Spectacular move here. Somehow holds on. Fires up the three. Watches head coach Steve Kerr as this play was developing. [Applause] Steph was you could see it coming. You can see it coming. You know, in 2015 it started to all take shape. I mean, you saw the flashes of his shooting and his shot making and the and the range he took and the three-point shot was starting to change the game and the volume of the three-point shot and he just pioneered that whole thing. I mean, he just grabbed on to that freedom um and and ran with it. Like Steve said, there isn’t a bad shot for Steph. And this was when the analytics were creeping in. the three was greater than the two and he was is and was the best shooter ever and then the team helped him with that and that we had a lot of guys that that wasn’t their strength besides Clay Draymond don’t want to shoot threes on didn’t want to shoot threes Shawn didn’t want to shoot threes and so it just opened it up and it was just a perfect balance of things and Steph was coming into his own and he was even becoming a better defender but he was also figuring out who he was and a lot of it was off ball stuff a lot of it was off ball stuff. So, he started accepting that, right, and could handle the ball, could play off the ball, and to watch him just shoot the way he did with the efficiency that he had, just to have that kind of symphonyike offense and to have him being the kind of one at the end where the ball would end up with him and he would take a shot. It was just beautiful to watch and you couldn’t pick a better guy to finish a possession offensively than Steph. [Music] step behind the back. Barbosa three. Oh man, Livingston [Music] [Applause] looking Harrison Barnes and two Harrison for the win. Yes, [Applause] we’re going to be championship. Thank you, Landro. Awesome. All right, we want to thank all you guys for your support all season. It’s been a great year. We’ve accomplished a lot, but we’re just getting started. So, thanks for bringing the energy every single night. We feed off of it and look forward to the playoffs. Thank you. 67 and 15, 39-2, and bring on the postseason. What a year for the Warriors. Uh before we start, I just want to say uh thank you to all our fans this year for coming out and just making such a unique homec court advantage for us. 39 and two has a lot to do with uh the the environment, the atmosphere, and the energy of all of our fans. So, I want to say thank you. And then to our players, I mean, wow, what a what an amazing job they’ve done. 67 and 15. Um, you guys will know the numbers. I don’t know how many teams have done that before. I know it’s not many, but uh, they’ve been phenomenal. What an amazing group of guys to work with. And, uh, they should enjoy what we’ve accomplished. And, uh, obviously we got to get to work.

As the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors head into the regular season, expectations were high. 67 wins later, it was clear their contender status was solidified.

Episode 2 of First in 40 chronicles how the team perfectly came together for a historic regular season run.

Episode 3 (of 4) drops Thursday, August 21 at 2pm PT!