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Steph Curry played his heaviest minutes in five years last season, carrying the undermanned team to the play-in tournament and turning in an MVP-caliber season.
The Golden State Warriors may be taking a more careful approach with his minutes this season, with head coach Steve Kerr explaining this week why a newly acquired backup took some of the time that Curry is normally on the court.
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Keeping an Eye on Curry’s Time
In the October 26 comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kerr threw a wrinkle in Curry’s normal routine, subbing him out with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter and bringing him back a little less than two minutes later. In his place came guard Chris Chiozza, who was signed this offseason on a two-way contract.
Kerr explained that Chiozza was helping give Curry a more extended rest, part of a plan to keep the two-time MVP’s minutes a little lower this season.
“We wanted to get Steph a little more rest tonight,” Kerr said, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “He’s been averaging over 35 minutes a game. We wanted to get him down to 32, 33. We knew we were going to take him out mid-first and buy a few minutes and wanted to do that in the third but didn’t feel comfortable because we were still climbing uphill.”
After Curry played 34.2 minutes per game last season — his most since the 2015-16 season — Kerr’s plan would keep him to one of the lowest minute totals of his career. But Kerr also added that he’s not getting too caught up in stats this early in the season, which includes trying not to over-analyze why the starting unit is at a collective minus-9 in plus-minus so far this year.
“I think it’s still early,” Kerr said, via The Athletic. “We’re winning games, so I’m not concerned with the plus/minus of the starters. To me, it’s a 48-minute game and you’re just trying to tee up lineups. So I like the way we start. It allows us to get into other rotations. To me, they’re doing fine. I’m not worried about the plus/minus. It’s a small sample size, and they’re doing fine.”
The Bench Comes Through
Chiozza’s first-half appearance against the Thunder was the first action he had seen this season, but another one of Curry’s backups has already made a big impression. Gary Payton II, who was waived at the end of the preseason and re-signed to a revamped contract just hours before the team’s season debut against the Los Angeles Lakers, has won the praise of teammates due to his tough defense and a better-than-expected offensive output. He scored 10 points in the October 24 win over the Sacramento Kings, connecting on both three-point attempts.
Kerr admitted that it was a bit worrisome when the team initially released Payton to bring him back on a new contract, with the Warriors coach hoping that he wouldn’t be lured away from another team.
“Gary’s been fighting for his spot in the league for years,” Kerr said, via The Athletic. “So if somebody picked him up, I would’ve been happy for him. But selfishly, I wanted him for our roster.”
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