Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says that the team will not stretch the minutes played by superstar guard Steph Curry just to “chase wins” as the regular season continues to roll on, according to ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
Kerr spoke about Curry’s usage following the Warriors 105-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, a game that saw Curry on the bench for half of the crucial 4th quarter.
“I’m into the long game,” Kerr said following the loss. “We’re counting on having Steph here a long time, many years ahead. And I’m not interested in grinding through this season, which is already a difficult season given the COVID regulations, just the nature of the games themselves, these eerie, empty stadiums.
“For me, for our organization, we’re not throwing Steph out there for 40 minutes to chase wins. We got another game [Tuesday]. We want Steph to be playing at a high level for many years, so we’re going to stay very disciplined and try to keep him at that 34-, 35-minute mark.”
Curry spoke on the minutes restrictions as well.
“It’s a topic that comes up a lot,” Curry said. “Of course, I want to play as many minutes as possible. Of course, I want to keep subtly letting them know how I feel based on a night-to-night basis. We got to be in a position where we do things throughout 48 minutes that that plan of attack works more nights than not.”
Curry, who tweaked his ankle during the first half of play said that all is good with his health. “I feel great,” Curry said. “I feel great.”
“I don’t need to do anything,” Kerr said. “Steph’s a grown-up. He’s an incredible teammate. He has full awareness of what we’re doing right now and what this season is about, bringing along young players and trying to be a playoff team and make a push — trying to do all that at once. Steph’s all-in, and he never gets down; that’s part of his brilliance is just his overall attitude and approach and joy for the game. So Steph’s not frustrated. He doesn’t like to lose — he’s a big-time competitor — but he’ll hang in.”
“Losing sucks,” Curry said. “We all know that, no matter what the reason is … we don’t want to be in a situation where we get used to a losing feeling. That’s not who we are; that’s not what we’re about. We’re playing well enough, as of late, to be in most games, and down the stretch, we just haven’t been able to get it done for a myriad of reasons. So it is frustrating. There’s obviously no secret about that. You don’t like walking off the court without a win.”
