Steve Kerr was notably frustrated by how the Golden State Warriors responded to a bar-measuring matchup against the Boston Celtics, taking their worst loss of the season with only 19 games left in their 2018-19 campaign.
The coach pointed to the lack of urgency and resolve while also offering a mea culpa when it comes to Xs and Os — claiming the spirit needs to be there for all involved, starting with himself.
“We were not flying around. We were not giving the sort of effort it takes to win NBA game,” Steve Kerr said, according to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “The other stuff, I’ve got to do a better job in making sure we are in the right defensive schemes and get the right combinations on the floor. It’s a group effort and I’m the coach, so I’ve got to make sure I’m doing my job.
“It starts with a passion, an anger, an intensity, and it wasn’t there tonight.”
The Warriors have now trailed by 10 or more in the first quarter in 12 of their last 14 games, a habit that has become hard to break for this team.
While many would like to trace the struggles to incorporating DeMarcus Cousins into the fold, it has been much more than that, as he only counts for one of the five starters responsible for closing out on 3-point shooters, attacking efficiently and keeping control of the basketball early in the game.
The Warriors have been playing catch-up for most of the past month, until they finally ran into a team that made them pay dearly for it, hammering out a 33-point win over the defending champions.
