Getty Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors.
After losing 11 straight games on the road, the Golden State Warriors finally picked up a win away from home. Monday’s 121-108 victory over the Houston Rockets helped to elevate the team back over .500, bumping them up to sixth place in the Western Conference.
Though his Warriors were able to pick up the victory, head coach Steve Kerr still wasn’t impressed with their performance in H-Town.
“Yeah it’s been a long time. I don’t remember the last road game that we won, it’s been a while…” Kerr said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I actually felt like we played decently in the first three games of this trip. Lost all three. But, had our chances in all three and I liked our effort, I liked a lot of the execution. Ironically, I thought this was the worst of the four games on this trip. But obviously, we were playing a different caliber team. The first three we were battling with all of those teams for the playoffs. Memphis has one of the best records in the league, and Houston has had a rough season. But, they are playing better as of late and have had some good wins. I though we had to come into tonight with a focus that unfortunately wasn’t there, and that was the issue with that first half. But, we eventually got there.”
“Ironically, I thought this was the worst of the four games that we’ve played on this trip.”
Steve Kerr talks about the Dubs’ first road win since Jan. 30
Draymond Green Rips Warriors’ for ‘Pathetic’ First Half
Star forward Draymond Green, much like Kerr, wasn’t impressed with what he’d seen from the Warriors against the Rockets.
In fact, Green sounded pretty upset while speaking with reporters after the win. He even went as far to say that the team’s first half focus was “pathetic.”
“Our focus level was pathetic to start the game,” Green said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “We were coming into a game like this. You know, it’s a young athletic team like this they’re going to be in passing lanes and we were careless with the ball. We were able to lock in. Coach challenged us coming out of the half and we were able to lock in, after those first couple minutes of the third quarter. I think we turned it over what, five or six times there in the second half? Two or three of them came in the first few minutes of the third quarter. So, I thought we did a pretty good job of cleaning it up after a while.”
Draymond says the Warriors’ focus in the first half was “pathetic”
Stephen Curry Credits Warriors’ Turnaround vs. Rockets
Make it a hat trick! Golden State’s starting point guard Stephen Curry echoed a similar message to both Green and Kerr.
Curry sounded disappointed with the first half effort, but was sure to shine light on the way the Warriors turned things around after halftime.
“Having 14 turnovers in the first half was rough,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We could never really create enough separation. And then [in the] second half, we were a little bit more mindful. I think we only had four turnovers and got decent shots. We didn’t make as many as we wanted to, but we got stops. Ran in transition. Played pretty disciplined. They made a little run. We got a little sloppy for two minutes there down the stretch but got back to good offense [and] connecting the game. Klay hits a big shot. And somebody else hit a shot. But it was just mindful basketball that we needed to finish strong.”