Following weeks of struggles with consistency on the court, the Golden State Warriors appeared to get back on the right track on Monday night with a convincing win over the Phoenix Suns.
It was done in a bit of an unconventional manner with the players taking over much of the coaching duties during the contest. It saw forwards Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and David West call plays over timeouts.
According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed that this player takeover of the coaching duties was already happening in the morning shootaround prior to the game.
Steve Kerr said Andre Iguodala ran shootaround this morning and JaVale McGee was on the MacBook with film: "Best computer guy we have."
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 13, 2018
The Warriors responded in a major way with a convincing win over the Suns that saw them cruise to a 129-83 win on their home floor. It featured a balanced offensive effort with every player that took the court scoring while four out of their five starters all hit double figures. The Warriors also had a 58.4 percent shooting from the field including 42.3 percent from beyond the arc while dishing out 36 assists.
It was much of the same on the defensive end, forcing the Suns to shoot just 34.7 percent from the field and 13 percent from the beyond the arc along with committing 17 turnovers. Granted, Devin Booker didn't play in the game, it was still an encouraging outing on both ends of the court for the Warriors.
With the All-Star break around the corner, it will give Golden State an opportunity to regather themselves and prepare for the stretch run in the second half of the season. This will be the time of the year that the Warriors can work out any kinks while gearing up for the playoffs with eyes toward winning another NBA title.
For the time being, this experiment with the players taking control of the coaching could turn out to be a much-needed mental shift to get them back into championship form.
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