Did Steve Kerr make the right call conceding to the Jazz?
The Golden State Warriors pulled their stars in the fourth quarter in a close game against the Utah Jazz. Was it the right call?
For the first time in months, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant were playing a real basketball game together. Playing on their home floor, the Warriors were almost at full strength. Steve Kerr let Klay Thompson rest, but everyone else was playing.
With just a few days left before the playoffs, the Warriors don’t have a lot of time to waste. They were playing extremely well, but re-integrating Durant into the lineup is no easy task. They hadn’t figured it out before he got hurt and, with Curry rolling, it would be challenging now.
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One of the points of tension with incorporating Durant into what Golden State has done for two years was late game execution. The Warriors had not done well down the stretch in close games. There was the famous Memphis Grizzlies meltdown in Oracle Arena, but overall, they were not nearly as effective as they had been pre-Durant.
The Utah Jazz were playing extremely hard. They were knocking down threes while Durant couldn’t find the range. Neither team could gain any kind of separation.
It was close well into the fourth quarter. While the Jazz were making their push, Kerr decided to pull his stars. For the last few minutes, he ran with a unit of Ian Clark, Patrick McCaw, James Michael McAdoo, Zaza Pachulia, and JaVale McGee.
The game was within reach, but Kerr basically conceded. Rudy Gobert and co. were just too much for the Warriors’ reserves and they pulled away at the end. The Jazz ultimately snapped the Warriors’ thirteen game winning streak.
So did Kerr make the right call? Yes and no. It’s complicated.
Perhaps he didn’t want Golden State to go into the postseason with the pressure of a winning streak. That could weigh down on the team. No one wants to lose, but there are benefits. It gets the team back on track and helps them see things that went wrong.
Sitting Curry, Durant, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala was a way to buy them some rest. The league is trying to crack down on teams resting stars so coaches have to get creative. Kerr was able to keep his guys in shape while keeping them pretty fresh.
It also gives Kerr a chance to observe the guys that are trying to get into the postseason rotation. There will be less minutes to go around and he needs to figure out who should play in the most crucial moments. Green should play more minutes at center so he’ll need to figure out how McGee and Pachulia fit into the equation.
But here is the big drawback of siting them and conceding the game: the Warriors need practice. Yes, they are the best team in the league. Yes, they tend to blow teams out. But the playoffs are different.
The game changes in the postseason. Blowouts aren’t as common and teams have to really grind for their victories. Execution becomes paramount.
The Warriors have played the fewest clutch minutes (100 min.) in the league per NBA stats. But in those minutes, they are 15th in the league in offensive rating and 7th in defensive rating. Last year, they were first by quite a bit in both categories.
Conventional wisdom says that with all of the talent Golden State has, they should be dominating. But that’s part of the problem–they have too much talent. They need to learn how to execute.
Golden State hasn’t really found a balance between letting Curry and Durant do what they do best on their own and running a play. They’ve struggled and faltered more than they had before the superstar took his talents to the Bay. They need to learn.
Getting a rep against a solid team like a Jazz would have been good for the Warriors. It could have allowed Kerr to try a few things out. This concern is more for the offense so having to get crucial buckets against a Gobert-led defense would be good practice.
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Golden State wasn’t going to figure out how to play in the clutch in one night, however. It’s a long process. Ultimately, getting into the playoffs healthy is the top priority right now. So letting this one get away isn’t the worst thing in the world.
They’ll have one more chance to get Durant into a rhythm against the Los Angeles Lakers then it’s the real deal. The playoffs are right around the corner.