Getty Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors (R) and Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors look on from the bench.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry was a “little bit surprised” with coach Steve Kerr’s decision to rest for an extended time which the Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of in seizing a come-from-behind 114-110 win on March 24.
“Obviously, you’re comparing it to the last game and my normal rotation like I want to play as many minutes as I’m fresh and able to, so a little bit [surprised] knowing that [Timberwolves] were just going on the run,” Curry told reporters after dropping their second straight loss.
Curry played the whole fourth quarter in their last game, but the Warriors still lost 123-111 to the Indiana Pacers on March 22. This time, Curry just logged 30 minutes as he sat the final 4:07 of the third quarter and the first 5:06 of the fourth quarter.
Finding the Middle Ground
Curry agonizingly watched from the bench as the Timberwolves wiped a Warriors’ four-point lead and built an eight-point edge by the time Kerr re-inserted him into the game.
“So you know, I played the whole fourth quarter against Indiana, it didn’t work out. This didn’t work out. So we gotta find somewhere in the middle,” Curry told reporters.
But they need to find that middle ground as quickly as possible as the loss cut their lead for the 10th place in the West to just one game with the streaking Houston Rockets (35-35) coming for them.
“The situation will define itself pretty clearly and it is kind of real-time,” Curry added. “So every game matters. We’re inching closer to the other end of the standings that we never thought we’d be.”
After an encouraging February where they won 11 of 14 games, they are mired at a 5-7 slump this month with only a dozen games left in their regular-season schedule.
Their next two games are against playoff-contending teams from the East — Miami Heat (March 26) and Orlando Magic (March 27) — on back-to-back sets on the road.
Steph Curry Disagrees with Steve Kerr
Kerr defended his controversial decision and adamantly disagreed that it was the culprit of their latest loss.
“We can’t expect to just ride Steph game after game after game,” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “These last few weeks have been really tough on him. We’ve put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years. We can’t expect him to play 35 minutes. We have five games in seven days on this road trip. If you want to say that him playing 30 minutes instead of 32 is the difference in the win or the loss, I totally disagree with that. We’re trying to win the game. We’re trying to keep him fresh.”
Curry disagrees with Kerr this time with their postseason berth on the line. There is no sense in keeping Curry fresh if they don’t make it in the play-in.
“So nobody’s gonna wave the white flag and say you’re mailing it in and if that means playing more minutes, I’ll be ready to do that,” Curry told reporters.
The Warriors superstar still believes they still have one more run in them to save their dynasty from completely collapsing in their most trying season under Kerr.
“NBA is such a weird league,” Curry said. “It just takes one little spark to get yourself going. Every team goes through it this season. You see what Houston’s doing right now. They got one little spark and they ran off eight in a row. So we’re capable of doing that. Until we run out of games, that’s the mindset.”