The Golden State Warriors did it again Thursday night. They blew another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and lost a game in which they led for most of the second half.
Sure, they came close to defeating the defending champion Nuggets, but at 16-18, Dub Nation is far from claiming moral victories.
Instead, attention turned to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who kept Moses Moody on the bench for the entire game and sidelined Jonathan Kuminga for the entire fourth quarter.
This is far from the first time Kerr has rightly come under fire. He also made some confusing decisions last season.
He has been more critical of Draymond Green’s antics this season than he was after seeing Green punch a teammate in practice.
Kerr also bafflingly played a 20 minute per game role for Anthony Lamb, missing an excellent opportunity to give Kuminga crucial minutes to develop.
This season, Kerr was slow to give rookies Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski a chance to break into the rotation.
Kuminga and Moody also remain promising, but are still looking for consistent roles.
Even with Green out, Moody hasn’t played any minutes in the last three games and Kuminga still doesn’t consistently get 30 minutes per game. With Green and Gary Payton II out Thursday, Kuminga didn’t even play 20 minutes, although Kerr admitted after the game, “He played really well.
“But as critical as I am of Kerr, a few youthful mistakes would also mean more opportunities for younger players.
There are certainly losses that would turn into victories with these changes, but there may also be victories that would have turned out differently. In my opinion, it’s worth the risk given the inconsistency of the team’s veterans, but it’s hard to believe it would completely solve the problems.
I find it hard to believe that a mentality change on Kerr’s part (or a coaching change mid-season) would make the Warriors one of the top seeds in the West.
After all, one would have to assume that Kerr was single-handedly responsible for a third of Golden State’s losses to say the players played well enough to be in the top four in the conference.
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Green are all good players, but Thompson and Green are significantly weaker versions of themselves that we saw during the dynasty.
And as the NBA got deeper and more talented over the years, the Dubs had Kevin Durant to make up for those advances.
