The Golden State Warriors suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, subsequently ending their regular season in the seventh-seed of the Western Conference.
With a win against the Clippers, the Dubs would have sealed a playoff spot. Instead, the Warriors will now battle Memphis for another chance at getting into the 2025 NBA playoffs.
Given the back and forth nature of Sunday's game, there's no single play that could necessarily be pinpointed as to why the Warriors lost. With Golden State's stars -- most notably Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler -- playing just about as good as you could have expected, the eyes need to turn to the coaching staff on why the team came up short.
Steve Kerr made some critical coaching errors against the Clippers
There has been a spotlight on Steve Kerr and his coaching decisions since his second year as an NBA head coach. After leading the Warriors to a championship in his first season and the greatest regular season of all-time in his second, Kerr was criticized for some of his rotational decisions in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Since then, the expectations for the Warriors have been sky-high, and so have the expectations of Kerr as coach. Now, after the Warriors fell short in a must-win game to get a playoff spot, the questions about Kerr’s decision-making are coming up once again.
Kerr made a few key coaching decisions on Sunday night that may have sealed the Warriors’ Play-In Tournament spot. First and foremost were his rotational choices down the stretch, having kept Gary Payton II on the floor despite the veteran guard getting killed in the James Harden matchup during overtime.
Payton continuously couldn’t keep Harden from getting by him, causing multiple key scores and assists for Harden down the stretch. The former MVP had 12 of the Clippers' 13 points in overtime, including a pair of dagger threes that immedietly put the Warriors on the back foot.
It isn’t uncommon for Kerr to lean on veterans like Payton heavily, but with the way Moses Moody had been guarding earlier in the game, it was a critical error to let Harden continuously cook a (now) step-slower GPII.
Kerr also only played Stephen Curry and Draymond Green for 38 minutes in the game, while Tyronne Lue played Kawhi Leonard and Harden for 47 and 48 minutes respectively. If the Warriors were as desperate to win this game as they claimed, Curry and Green should have been on the floor for longer periods. Some may argue that Jonathan Kuminga, who was benched for this crucial game, should have seen game-time as well.
The final play of the game has also brought on Kerr criticism, having drawn up a classic Curry decoy play for a Buddy Hield 3-point attempt. Hield had been seated on the bench for a long stretch before getting the game-tying attempt, and barely touched rim on the shot as a result. The greatest shooter of all-time was left to watch on from the other side of the floor, having finished with 36 points on a red-hot 7-of-12 from beyond the arc.
As a result of these errors, Golden State are headed back to the Play-In Tournament. They face Memphis on Tuesday for a chance at grabbing the seventh-seed and facing the Houston Rockets in the first-round.
The Warriors will be favored in the game and should have a great chance at winning. but before they do Kerr and his coaching staff should look long and hard at some of their decisions from Sunday’s loss and see if adjustments need to be made.