The Golden State Warriors are dangerously near falling out of the Play-In event and Steve Kerr is holding Stephen Curry glued to the bench for greater than 9 straight minutes down the stretch of a decent sport in opposition to the league’s greatest protection?
Make it make sense.
“We’re making an attempt to get him as a lot relaxation as we are able to,” Kerr stated of Curry following the Warriors’ 114-110 loss at Minnesota on Sunday. “We have performed him lots of minutes. We performed him 35 [minutes] two days in the past. So so long as we had been hanging in there, we needed to restrict the minutes somewhat bit. Not restrict them, however not overplay him.”
There is a huge distinction between taking part in Curry 30 complete minutes and overplaying him. It is true, Curry performed 35 minutes on Friday in a loss to the Pacers, together with all the fourth quarter, which the Warriors entered with a 14-point deficit. Curry did not change a lot. They misplaced by 12.
Nonetheless, Kerr needed to attempt. With 12 video games to play, the Warriors are clinging to a one-game lead within the loss column over the Rockets for the ultimate Play-in spot. Each sport is huge. When Curry sat down on the 4:07 mark of the third quarter on Sunday, the Warriors held a four-point lead. When he got here again in on the 6:54 mark of the fourth quarter, they had been down eight. That is too huge a swing for a staff already working on a razor-thin margin.
“I need to play as many minutes as I am recent and capable of, so I am somewhat bit [surprised] figuring out that [the Timberwolves] had been occurring a run,” Curry stated after Sunday’s loss. “Our lead was withering away. … I performed the entire fourth quarter in opposition to Indiana and it did not work out, this did not work out [against Minnesota]. We have to search out someplace within the center.”
Curry clearly needs to play extra, however Kerr has made his place clear. In 14 video games because the All-Star break, Curry has solely performed greater than 32 minutes twice. He’s averaging fewer than half-hour an evening over 9 video games in March. He performed 17 in a blowout loss to Boston, 24 in a blowout win over Memphis, and simply 29 minutes in a brutal loss to the Bulls.
Sure, Curry acquired injured in that Chicago sport, however the ankle roll got here with underneath 4 minutes to play. Even had he completed the sport, he would’ve been underneath 33 complete minutes.
You might argue that Curry wants the remaining, whether or not he likes it or not. His manufacturing has plummeted fairly significantly — maybe, at the least half, due to the heavy scoring and creation burden he is needed to take tackle this season for an getting old staff that’s preventing uphill each evening. He entered Sunday averaging 21.3 factors on barely 40% taking pictures, together with 35% from 3, over 9 video games in March.
“We won’t anticipate to only journey Steph sport after sport after sport,” Kerr stated. “We have put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years. We won’t anticipate him to play 35 minutes … If you wish to say that him taking part in half-hour as a substitute of 32 is a distinction between a win and a loss, I completely disagree with that. We’re making an attempt to win the sport. And we’re making an attempt to maintain him recent, too.”
To me, there’s one other concept in play right here: Deep down, Kerr is aware of this Warriors staff is finished. All season he has performed the “I imagine this staff can compete” card, however let’s face the onerous info. It is over. They’re taking part in out the string. Whether or not the season ends in mid-April or late April is semantics.
It is both that, or Kerr nonetheless believes this Warriors staff can compete for a title, during which case his sitting Curry for 9 straight minutes down the stretch of a damn-near must-win sport would qualify as malpractice. I am not shopping for that.
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After Kansas’ loss within the NCAA Tourney on Saturday, Invoice Self stated: “For the final month, I have been fascinated about subsequent season to be trustworthy.” It was a blunt evaluation a couple of staff that Self knew did not have it. If Kerr harbors the same sentiment about this 12 months’s Warriors, may you blame him? The man is aware of what a contending staff appears like, and this ain’t it.
So why faucet Curry’s tank simply to lose within the Play-in or the primary spherical? Take a look at the timeline right here. Curry turned 36 this month. He’ll play within the Olympics this summer season. He has two years remaining on his present contract, and Kerr simply signed his personal extension that traces up instantly with the 2026 shut of Curry’s deal.
He isn’t simply trying to maintain Curry as recent as attainable for the weeks forward. He is trying to take action for the years forward. This summer season, Chris Paul and Klay Thompson might be gone. Jonathan Kuminga has made a leap. The Warriors have some future draft picks they’ll commerce. If there may be yet one more likelihood to tug a roster rabbit out of the hat and put a contending staff on the ground within the Bay, it could possibly solely occur if Curry is up for the duty of carrying an enormous load into his late thirties. Preparation for which may already be beginning.
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