Golden State Warriors: Steve Kerr needs to be better in the NBA Finals

The Golden State Warriors dropped Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and will lose again if Steve Kerr doesn’t make better calls.

The Golden State Warriors were fighting an uphill battle from the tip off. The Cleveland Cavaliers led for every second during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. They were on fire.

The Cavs, clearly, fed off the energy from their crowd. With their backs against the wall, they responded. They hit hard and hit often.

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Cleveland knocked down an NBA-record amount of three-pointers, connecting from deep at an extremely efficient rate. The Cavaliers utilized the overwhelmed referees to their advantage, slowing the game down and getting free points at the charity stripe. The defending champs could do no wrong while Golden State couldn’t really get anything.

With the Warriors, however, no lead ever really feels safe. It took a three-pointer with about three minutes left in the game to push the lead back up to 18 to make the game feel like it was really out of Golden State’s reach. That’s how scary they are.

The Cavaliers dominated throughout the night. Still, the Warriors managed to fight and cut the deficit to 11 points. When that happened, Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue immediately reinserted LeBron James back to the unit on the floor.

The Warriors couldn’t score and then Kyrie Irving hit some deflating shots on the other end. Cleveland built the lead back up and the game, which felt like it was there for the taking, was pushed out of reach once again. Then Steve Kerr decided to put Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant back into the game.

This was a mistake that proved to be fatal. The Warriors had a golden opportunity to steal the game and win a championship and Kerr refused to ride his best players. He let Patrick McCaw and David West try to win him a title.

Now, subbing in Curry and Durant in that spot would not have guaranteed a full comeback. But, at this juncture of the season, you have to go all in. There’s no reason to rest your two MVPs. It’s not like there’s an extra round or another month of basketball to prepare for. This moment right now is what you rest your players all year for.

Curry, admittedly, did not have a great game. He struggled to get free and he never got into a rhythm. After three games of letting him run wild, the Cavaliers adjusted and played him much more physically.

Part of the problem is that he spent far too much time off ball. This is been the weakness in Golden State’s plan against Cleveland that Kerr has refused to adjust since he took over. He hurts his best player.

Back in January, we wrote about how the key to beating the Cavaliers is giving Curry the ball. They did and it worked. For whatever reason, it’s the NBA Finals and that issue is happening once again.

Kerr loves his offense and his system. It seems like there are times when he prioritizes that over maximizing his stars. He overcomplicates things when it seems like the easy fix is to simplify.

He needs to let Curry be the ball handler in the pick-and-roll. That is when he’s most threatening. It also preserves his body better than getting beat up trying to run around screens, dealing with all of the grabbing and bumping that the Cavaliers have figured out how to get away with.

It’s inexcusable that in a closeout game, the Warriors’ two superstars are playing under 40 minutes. There’s no reason to rest them that much. In Game 3, Kerr gambled and he lucked out that the Cavaliers folded down the stretch and the Warriors’ late push was enough to win.

He wasn’t as fortunate in Game 4. He played with fire and lost. The reigning Coach of the Year needs to be better than that.

Kerr needs to tighten his rotations, play his stars, and put them in positions to succeed. While they are the more talented team, they also need to have a gameplan in place that is strong enough to beat LeBron James and the 2016 NBA champions. They can’t get by on talent alone.

Kerr coached Game 4 of the NBA Finals like an average game in January. That’s a recipe for disaster. If he does that again, then there will most definitely be a Game 6.

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Steve Kerr’s stubbornness and refusal to make (sensible) adjustments may have cost the Golden State Warriors the 2016 NBA championship and the chance to be called the greatest team of all-time. It may have cost them a perfect postseason.

If he doesn’t change, then it may cost him this year’s title as well.

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