[jwplayer KH1SqyKp-z6KDnl0B]
While it wasn’t a win the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr likes what he saw from the team in Friday night’s 105-100 loss to the Boston Celtics.
In particular, the level of effort from a team riddled with injuries to critical players—now including All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell, who exited the game in the third quarter with a sprained thumb after logging 12 points and seven assists—was promising.
The home crowd was engaged as a result, with the game within a possession or two for much of the contest.
“Warriors fans have always appreciated high-energy, hustle, toughness and competition,” said Kerr (via Let’sGoWarriors). “You could feel it in the building tonight. Our fans really enjoyed watching our guys compete and that’s important.”
Went down to the wire. pic.twitter.com/xira0K6bO4
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 16, 2019
“We want people to come into this building and be excited about our team and it’s been a rough start, but I think if we can compete that way and play that way we are going to win some games and our fans will enjoy what we are doing,” the coach offered, alluding to the difficulty of putting posteriors in the seats of the team’s new arena with so many marquee players riding pine while recuperating.
Kerr tinkered with the lineup in the hopes of finding some traction after dropping the previous five games, going with a more defensively-oriented approach. Rookie standout, Eric Paschall entered the lineup to play next to Draymond Green.
“We just wanted to take a different look,” explained the coach. Struggling rookie, Jordan Poole, who started the previous eight games was sent to the bench as a result.
“We had lost five games in a row and we wanted just to see Eric [Paschall] and Draymond [Green] play together. We like the physicality that brought to our defense and so we had a more physical front line with both Eric and Draymond and Willie [Cauley-Stein].”
“We give up a little something in spacing, but we pick up something defensively and we get a look at,” he continued, noting a shift away from the offensive onslaught the team has depended on so long in the absence of effective shooters.
Steve Kerr: "We played our best defensive game of the year…It was the first night, all year, I thought we looked like we knew what we were doing defensively."
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 16, 2019
A move to rely more on defense to keep the team close against superior scoring teams (Golden State currently is in 17th place for points scored per game in the league) nearly paid off against the league-leading Celtics, and should provide dividends against lesser opponents.
“I thought the defense was excellent, we didn’t turn the ball over for the first nine minutes or so and we executed offensively”, noted Kerr. “The game is so connected, when we were taking care of the ball our defense was great.”
“As soon as we started turning it over the defense struggled and it’s no coincidence,” he explained, referring to the Dubs issues finding their defensive footing when reacting to the team’s many second-half turnovers, including a few key late ones.
“It’s hard to guard a fast-break when you’re just not in position, so the turnovers shifted the tide of the game but I was really proud of the way the guys fought back and took the lead, and the hung in there and we had a chance.”
“We just couldn’t get it done,” he added.
On to the next one.