The Golden State Warriors defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 104-96 on Saturday, but only shot 41 percent from the field and 26 percent from distance. Head coach Steve Kerr might not have been happy with his team’s shooting numbers, but is confident that his squad will improve these marks sooner rather than later.
“The shots will start going in. We got a really good shooting team,” Kerr told 95.7 The Game. “Those numbers will come around.”
The Warriors are towards the bottom of the league in terms of field goal percentage. They’ve shot roughly 45 percent this season, and only around 36 percent from range.
Golden State benefitted from a stellar Jimmy Butler performance on Saturday. The 36-year-old posted a team-high 24 points along with eight rebounds and 10 assists. Butler also drained 10 of his 14 free throw attempts.
“Fourteen free throws and 10 assists,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told Nick Friedell of The Athletic. “We ran everything through him and he delivered. But that’s to be expected. He’s a superstar for a reason.”
Steph Curry was sidelined due to a quad contusion, and Butler had to step up and be more aggressive than usual.
“Jimmy doesn’t necessarily want to shoot the ball,” Kerr said. “He really prefers just making the right basketball play. He reminds me so much of Andre Iguodala in that regard. He’s very principled in his approach to basketball. He wants everybody to play the right way. He wants to make the right pass. But there are times, and tonight was one of them, where we just need him to take over and to attack, and look to score. And he did that tonight.”
The Warriors are 11-10 to start the season. They will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
