Two Warriors adjustments to expect in Game 2 vs. Kings that don’t involve a bump in Steph Curry’s minutes

Photo of author

By Webdesk



SACRAMENTO — Seen from the outside, the solution seems so simple. In the Golden State Warriors’ Game 1 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, they were outscored by 14 points with Steph Curry on the bench. The Warriors lost by three.

The math isn’t hard: more Steph minutes equals better performance. So just play Steph more. Boom, adjustments made.

Curry played 37 minutes on Friday, above his season average of 35, but well below the toll we’ve seen other superstars routinely tackle in playoff games — for example, Donovan Mitchell played 44 minutes in the Cavs’ opening game against the Knicks on Saturday, and Kings guard De’Aaron Fox played the Warriors for over 40 minutes, including nearly all of the second half. In the 11 minutes Curry sat, the Warriors were simply obliterated on both sides.

Warriors off. judgement

117.6

95.8

+21.8

Warriors def. judgement

108.5

160.9

-52.4

Despite desperate pleas from Dub Nation, playing Curry in Game 2 is simply not on the table, at least according to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.

“I don’t regret giving him a rest. I think he’s a player who has to work so hard on both sides – with the ball in his hands, but also defensively,” Kerr said on Sunday. “I think Steph playing more than 40 minutes is not the answer. The answer is to handle the non-Steph minutes better, and that’s something we need to do.”

So while you won’t be seeing Curry again in Game 2 (Kerr hinted that the two days off between Games 2 and 3, as well as Games 3 and 4 could be a factor in perhaps extending his star’s playing time), his here are two adjustments you can expect from the Warriors on Monday night in Sacramento.

Modification 1: Keep the kings off the glass

Every Warrior who has spoken to the media has pointed to a major cause of Saturday’s loss: Sacramento’s 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 21 rebound points. While it’s difficult to make major adjustments to your schedule or rotations at this point in the season, it’s quite simple and practical to tell your players to box out.

“You look at the tape, it’s just, the shot goes up and you look at the ball. You can’t do that,” Kerr said on Sunday. “The shot goes up, you have to find the free man and go get him. Go box him out. And we didn’t. So it has nothing to do with size.”

Domantas Sabonis, the king’s big man, stuck on five offensive boards—not too surprising, considering he averaged three per game while leading the NBA in rebounding this season. It’s the others, like Harrison Barnes and Keegan Murray, that Kerr expects his team to avoid.

Here’s a perfect example, one Kerr probably showed during his team’s filming session on Sunday, where Klay Thompson is the first to fail to knock out Barnes, who gets inside position for the offensive rebound. Then, on the ensuing jumper, Barnes races right past Curry, completely out of control for Murray’s miss backfire.

“We just have to hit back — better yet, hit first,” said Warriors guard Gary Payton II, who had four rebounds in 20 minutes in Game 1. “Make sure when the shot goes up, we find guys who crash, and we just make it an emphasis.”

Adjustment 2: Shot selection

The level of shooting by both teams in the fourth quarter of Game 1 was off the charts, leading to one of the most exciting postseason exchanges in recent history. However, when it came time, the Warriors made some questionable decisions. Thompson’s hard-fought step-back 3-point effort with three and a half minutes remaining cost Warriors fans a lot of sleep on Saturday night.

Then there was this series with just under two minutes left and the Warriors trailed by four. Thompson misses another much-discussed three-pointer, then Andrew Wiggins – who, by the way, played exceptionally well in his first game in over two months – quickly hoists another three-pointer after the offensive rebound.

The Warriors have long walked the fine line between confidence and impetuosity, and these shots bordered on the latter.

“We want our guys to be aggressive, loose and free and we want them to be open-minded,” Kerr said on Sunday. “But at the same time, we want them to recognize that we can go from good to great. We’ve taken a lot of good shots. We can take great shots, and we know that by rewatching the movie. We need to make sure to monitor them for longer stretches .”

Kings coach Mike Brown, who knows firsthand that a bad shot for someone else can be a great shot for Curry, Thompson or even Jordan Poole, took pride in the way his team contested shots in Game 1 without 3-points shooters to foul.

“I was impressed with them because they did exactly what we told them to do,” Brown said on Sunday. “If you jump to their bodies, they’re great at — whether it’s sticking their leg out or sticking their arm in you — and they’re going to get the call because of who they are. For our guys to compete without having to think i in general a big thing.

With the Kings disputing shots and the Warriors unable to commit three-shot fouls, you can expect better shot selection and patience to be focuses on Monday night. Golden State wants to play with speed, but they also have to make Sacramento’s defense make multiple efforts to get the best shot possible.

However, that certainly doesn’t mean the Warriors will be shy. Thompson, who went 5 for 14 from 3-point range in Game 1, said his looks “felt great” and that confidence in himself and his teammates will never waver.

“We’re just going to do what we do. We’re going to take hard shots, we’re going to take hard shots,” said Thompson. “I’ve been doing it for 10 years and I don’t get discouraged after a bad night of recording. Like freakin’ A. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”





Source link

Share via
Copy link