Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has defended Steph Curry’s low minute total after the loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Dubs suffered a 114-110 loss on Sunday night.
Curry remained on the bench for straight 11 minutes. The talisman was taken out with five minutes remaining in the third quarter and then re-entered after six minutes into the final frame.
“I want to play as many minutes as I’m fresh and able to, so I’m a little bit [surprised] knowing that they were going on a run,” said Curry, who ended up playing just 30 minutes. “Our lead was withering away.”
Curry scored 31 points on 9-of-21 shooting in his 30 minutes, including five 3-pointers.
Kerr feels they have been over-reliant on the shoulders of Curry and they must manage his workload along with winning.
“We can’t expect to just ride Steph game after game after game,” Kerr said. “We’ve put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years. We can’t expect him to play 35 minutes … If you want to say that him playing 30 minutes instead of 32 is a difference between a win and a loss, I totally disagree with that. We’re trying to win the game. And we’re trying to keep him fresh, too.”
Meanwhile, Curry played for 35 minutes against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night but they lost that game too as they struggled to find any momentum.
“I played the whole fourth quarter against Indiana and it didn’t work out, this didn’t work out [against Minnesota]. We’ve got to find somewhere in the middle,” Curry said.
He added: “The situation will define itself in real-time. Every game matters as we’re inching closer to the other end of the standings we never thought we would be in. No one is going to wave the white flag and say we are mailing it in. If that means playing more minutes, I’ll be ready to do that.”
Kerr highlighted that the team must build the right habits to advance to the playoffs.
“What Steph is saying is if we don’t build the habits, it doesn’t matter,” Kerr said. “You make the play-in, you don’t, if you don’t have the habits you’re not going anywhere.”
The Warriors will next take on the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.
