Getty Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors who lost an embarrassing home game to the Boston Celtics.
After the Golden State Warriors embarrassing loss at home to the Boston Celtics, head coach Steve Kerr didn’t pull any punches in the post-game press conference with the media. Kerr gave a brutally honest (and accurate) assessment of his team’s effort against the Celtics when asked about the matchup. At one point, Kerr said:
“Well right from the beginning, the just the level of competition wasn’t where it needed to be. It was 11-0 in about three to four minutes. It looked to me like we were jogging up the floor. You can’t play basketball jogging, you gotta sprint. Your cuts have to be hard, you have to be going all out and we didn’t go all out. It was embarrassing.”
Watch: Steve Kerr Rips Warriors, Calls Loss to the Celtics Embarassing
Steve Kerr said it “looked like we were jogging” and called the loss “embarrassing.”
Missing star shooting guard Klay Thompson, the Warriors were shorthanded, to begin with. After DeMarcus Cousins and Draymond Green got themselves into early foul trouble, the Warriors began to play on their heels and looked as if they realized the Celtics were going to win from the jump.
The Warriors defense, in particular, was a no-show tonight, allowing 73 points in the first half alone. In fact, the only quarter that saw the Celtics score under 30 points was the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand and the bench had taken over for the Celtics.
The Celtic bench far outplayed the Warriors bench unit and didn’t allow the Warriors to even consider mounting a comeback at any points after the early run. Led by Gordon Hayward and his team leading +32 net rating (along with 30 points), Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier both posted extremely efficient nights that saw them post a net rating of over 20.
Warriors Rest of Season Outlook
Despite missing Klay Thompson against the Celtics, Thompson isn’t expected to miss an extended period of time and should be back in the lineup before long. The bigger issue that the Warriors need to face is the very real fact that this Celtics team can match them blow for blow.
The Celtics have struggled to find balance on the year and have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NBA. However, tonight they showed why they are so dangerous when fully operational and how their endless depth can put the Warriors in tricky situations. Already down Klay Thompson, the Celtics attacked Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins early and often, forcing them into playing a slightly more conservative game.
Thompson is likely the key moving forward as with him in the lineup, teams pay a much steeper price for dedicating their best guard to covering Steph Curry. Historically one of the best pure shooters in NBA history, Klay’s defensive versatility also helps to make up for the lack of bench depth.
As long as Klay is healthy and good to go for the NBA playoffs though, the Warriors quest for a third straight title and a fourth in five years should be just fine.