Kerr has a good track record of closing out regular seasons

[videos/transcripts/commentary]

There’s a lot of talk about standings-watching and all that in nearly every interview of the Warriors you watch and sometimes you’ll come across a doubter who might be feeling a little mini-skress a la 😱 and say something like, “The Dubs are about to the play the current 5th seed, then the current 4th seed followed by the 3rd and then, after that, the 2nd seed.”

But like I always do, I’m here to present the other side of the same coin. Steve Kerr actually has a pretty darn good track record closing put regular seasons:

• 2020-21: won 8 of last 9

• 2021-22: won’t 5 of last 5 (lost 4 straight right before that) — FINALS YEAR 🏆

• 2022-23: won 8 of last 10

• 2023-24: won 10 of last 12

The one that stands out to me is the worst roster of the above, 2021. Coach Kerr had a starting lineup that included Kent Bazemore and a strict 8-man rotation with Juan Toscano-Anderson, Jordan Poole and Mychal Mulder off the bench, and nobody else off the bench. Somehow I don’t recall many “need a big man” tweets back then, mainly because James Wiseman was injured, but that’s about as thin — literally and figuratively — a front-court as you’ll ever see.

Somehow, the Dubs closed out with six straight wins including the last one versus a full-strength super-sized Memphis Grizzlies — whom we play tonight — which including a bruising front line of Dillon Brooks, Kyle Anderson, Jaren Jackson, Jr., and Jonas Valanciunus.

Of course, Golden State would fall to Ja Morant a week later (basically, a get-back game for him as he couldn’t miss from three after going 1-for-6 from deep in that 82nd game) in the second Play-in game. This was after LeBron James hit that deep three in the 7v8 Play-in opener, so nobody remembers the run to end the 2020-21 campaign, but Steve had that rag-tag team way, way overachieving.

So, for every young adolescent on Xitter spewing out “sky is falling” emo tweets about our squad, especially after the losses in Atlanta and Miami, just remember I’ll be right here reminding you that, as in life, you can choose to look at a task with doubt or with full confidence.

Get off that app and rejoin me and rest of the people in DubNation who still have a firm grasp of what it’s like to be a high-vibrational human being! LetsGoWarriors livechat playlist

Granted, I’ve been around the game too long to know that the basketball gods can do whatever they want. As such, I may have jinxed Kerr and his crew.

Even still, realistically with the recent dynamics of the standings and the addition of Jimmy Butler, let’s say the probable worst they could drop to is 7th. I don’t think that’s a horrible circumstance. Their team defense is the best out of the 2021 thru 2024 close-out versions and I just think this season’s Play-in teams are highly flawed (haven’t analyzed those of past seasons, though). We’ll be fine, but again, I’m fully confident the 6th seed or better will be earned when it’s all said and done.

As for San Antonio, two quickie observations:

• Fun time chuckling at Brandin Podziemski and Quinten Post’s sunburns. They got those while on a yacht in Miami, Podziemski confirmed on the postgame on-court Q&A with NBCSBA. Gui Santos even looked a little burnt, making me wonder if they were all on the same boat. Also, based on what I know here and there, I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe Lacob granted the team a “yacht day” that last off-day in Miami. The team left for New Orleans the next morning and had practice there.

• Have you ever faked a baseball pass to a teammate on the perimeter, then in a split-second, said to yourself, “F— it,” and abandoned the pass to splash a three from where you were standing, near the hashmark, no extra dribble? Yeah, me neither. One Wardell Stephen Curry has, though, and he did it in the game against the Spurs. See clip below:

• A local reporter asked Kerr about the ‘99 Spurs and Steve brought up a story (see transcript below) where Jerome Kersey tore out the stall of a bathroom. “Very strong man,” Kerr quipped. The question had to do with all the veterans the Spurs had to fill out their roster that year. I’d totally forgotten Kersey got a ring that year. I’d always remembered him as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.

• Kevon Looney hit his first three in four years and then moments after that, Trayce Jackson-Davis missed one from the opposite corner, all in garbage time. The one Looney hit was actually a play designed for him, see transcript below, but I’m not sure about the one for Jackson-Davis. I’d have to go back and watch the tape, but Dan Dibley of 95.7 The Game alluded to it being a set for TJD on Loon’s radio interview yesterday.

• Gui had a spot with KNBR yesterday and mentioned that he stays in touch with Anderson Varejao. That’s ironic because here’s a recent funny IG post about how similar they look (thanks to our loyal follower “Aloha” Arbel):

nbaonespn

A post shared by @nbaonespn

More notes from the Spurs game are in the livestream Comments.

FULL INTERVIEWS & TRANSCRIPTS

00:00 Steph good to go?

00:01 STEVE KERR, PREGAME GSW-SAS: Steph?

00:02 Yep. Good to go?

00:04 Was he on the injury — ? He was listed as probable because we have to list him for certain things. He'll be good.

00:10 That question surprised me. I forgot about protocol. Everybody's questionable every day, yeah.

00:18 Any through lines that you've noticed with the slow starts, the past few games?

00:23 The Atlanta game was, they scored 40 in the first quarter, so it didn't feel like we were ready to go. The other games, honestly, we're getting good looks. We're not really turning it over. I think we'll be fine. I think shots are bound to go in here. We've just shot it poorly and haven't gotten off to good starts, but it's definitely a point of emphasis. We talked about it at our meeting today and at practice yesterday. Best way to get off to a good start is with your defense. You can't worry about shots going in or not, but you can lock in on the game plan, get stops and get out in transition and that can be the focus. I think that's an easier way to go.

01:09 That group that started last game and that's been starting when healthy, 10-0 now, just what have you liked about the way that group's come together?

01:16 Well, the group complements each other well. You've got the playmaking of BP and and Jimmy, you've got the shooting of Moses and Steph, and Draymond anchoring everything. It's a small group, obviously, but pretty dynamic offensively. We can run stuff through Jimmy, through Steph, through Draymond. It's kind of a modern NBA lineup. but it's not without its challenges too, especially against certain matchups, size-wise, so 10-0 is 10-0. So we'll keep running it out there, but I am mindful of the matchups.

02:01 I guess Chris Paul is — it's kind of a knock-on-wood question — but he's on pace to playing all 82 games and I don't think anybody age 40 has ever, 39 or older has ever done that. Just what do you make of his longevity and his ability to get on the floor every game this year?

02:17 Chris is amazing. I loved coaching him last year. Just his IQ, his competitive desire, his commitment to the game itself, to the team, to his craft. I mean, it was a joy coaching him and watching him work every day and, more than anything, he loves to play basketball and I think that was the thing last year that I found is, like, he wanted to play all 48 and I couldn't quite do that, but I admired that about him. And he had a great run for us last year and then I think broke his hand and missed about 20 games, but yeah, he prepares himself to play every single night. I hope he plays these last, whatever, eight or nine that they have left.

03:09 And based on what you just said, would you be surprised if he gives it another go next year?

03:13 Oh, he's playing next year. Yeah. I haven't asked him, but just judging from what I know of Chris, he's playing next year.

03:21 Would he make a pretty good coach?

03:22 Yeah. Yeah, Chris would be an amazing coach, incredible feel for the game, emotional intelligence, curiosity. Yeah, he'd be a great coach and I'd be shocked if he didn't go into it because of how much he loves the game. We can't stay away from it, those of us who are obsessed with the game like this, we just can't stay away.

03:46 The San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame is inducting the '99 Spurs team this year. What stands out most to you about it? Sean (Elliott) was telling me that everyone on that team, for him in his mind, was on the same page, committed. You had the same sense of purpose? Is that how you saw it as well?

04:07 Yeah. What I remember about that season was we started 6-8 and there were calls for Pop's (Gregg Popovich's) job, believe it or not. I mean, it was before the run really started and he was so calm and measured and it was a weird year 'cause it was the Lockout, but that team was just dominant defensively. It was before the three-point point era kicked in. We started David (Robinson) and Tim (Duncan), they just guarded the rim like crazy and we were methodical. We weren't very dynamic offensively, but methodical and just nasty, defensively. And we had a lot of guys who really came through in the playoffs. Jaren Jackson had a great playoff run, Mario Elie, of course, Avery (Johnson). Fun to be a part of that team and to see it all come together and that was, like I said, that was really kind of the first year of the dynasty or whatever you wanna call it.

05:12 With Elie and (Jerome) Kersey and yourself, that veteran leadership, what did that bring to the group?

05:17 I don't think I brought a whole lot to the group.

05:22 Kersey and Elie brought a toughness, though.

05:23 They did. They did. Yeah, I remember Jerome was pissed off after one game and ripped out a bathroom stall in the locker room. That was a strong — very strong man. But there was — it was very intentional, I think, Pop and RC (Buford) from the very beginning, to bring in, a quality of player, but also competitor, human being, and I think Pop was ahead of his time in that regard, and RC both just recognizing what wins, what kind of person wins. And, obviously, you have to have the cornerstones like we did with Tim and David, but once you have that, you build around it with experience, wisdom, skill, leadership and I thought that was a really well-constructed team.

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06:29 Starting fast was a point of emphasis yesterday. Just what did you like the way that you guys — what'd you like the most about the way you guys came out in that first quarter?

06:40 MOSES MOODY, POSTGAME GSW-SAS: Yeah, I think we put it on our own hands. We didn't wait on the rhythm to come to us. We went and found it ourselves. We played faster. We started faster. Defense was, I think, was the key to it, stopping them from scoring, but then we was able to get out. You get out in transition, get a couple easy layups, points.

06:56 Yeah, I mean, the live-ball turnover seemed to be nice with pace. Just what does pace do for you guys offensively when you're able to play that fast?

07:03 It does a lot. Good defense can be offense just that way, turning the ball over and now we getting easy layups on the other end and what that does to the morale of the team and the flow of the game has a lot to do with later on in the game, just that we was able to establish that early on.

07:21 It's been a while since you guys have had a wire-to-wire kind of dominant victory like this. What kind of confidence can you take from this, knowing the stretch of games and how crucial these next few are that you guys are gonna play?

07:30 It was definitely good to get this type of game in the end right now, for us to be able to come out and dominate the way that we did for as long as we did, put a whole game together. It was cool to see that that's the team that we are, that's what we're able to do, so it was cool to do.

07:44 I know all these games have been super-significant with where you guys are at in the standings for the last few weeks there, but now Memphis, directly above you guys in the standings, the Lakers, Denver, a chance to cut into some of these leads that these teams have ahead of you guys, how do you view this next stretch of games coming up, starting with the one on on Tuesday?

08:03 Yeah, it's a sprint to the finish. That's what it is right now, so it's hard for me to pay attention to what the other teams are doing. If somebody wins, somebody loses, whatever. I just know if we win then stuff's gonna go out how we want it to, so focusing on that, winning the next game, winning the game after that, just sprinting to the finish.

08:19 What was it like seeing Loon knock down that triple?

08:21 Man, I was excited to see it 'cause y'all know that's what Loon did back in the day. That's the player that he was in high school and college and it's been really cool for me to see somebody like him be able to get to the NBA and find a different role, change what he does and to conform and find his place. And that's what he's been able to do and I respect him and I respect that so much, but to see him go back to his old ways for the corner three-ball was cool tonight.

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08:55 Moses, the physicality that you bring, what you do at both ends, what would you tell your rookie self knowing what you've known and been through all the situations you've been through?

09:11 MOSES MOODY, POSTGAME NYK-GSW ON 3/15/2025: That's a good question. I would tell my rookie self that you're right. Keep doing what you're doing, keep working, keep getting better, taking the criticism, figuring out ways to get on the court 'cause eventually you'll be there and all the stuff that you're doing and working on is gonna pay off.

09:31 On that note, what do you think has most contributed to your two-way surge?

09:38 I've been working on technique, so the way that you move laterally, footwork, stance, knowing when you can be more aggressive. So I think it's been more figuring things out than even as much hard work.

09:53 Thank you. Moses, I was watching you playing defense and you guard the — sorry, I'm from NBA Rakuten from Tokyo. I'm Chris Sasaki. So I was watching your eyes, especially on the ball and where is your eyes focused on, especially when you're guarding the opponent's main ball handler.

10:19 I try to focus on the hips because you can move, you can do fake moves or whatever, but whatever your hips say you're going, that's where you're going. Also try to time your dribble sometimes because you kind of pick up on the rhythm and the cadence, so that's how you can get some of them pokes and steals, when you just reading when the ball is hitting the floor, when it's in it hand, so you can read the cadence on that.

10:43 Your eyes weren't moving that much. It seemed like you were kind of trying to see the big picture. Is that how you'd approach it, like just the hips?

10:55 On-ball?

10:55 On-ball, yeah.

10:57 Yeah, I'm either — I'm always looking at something, so sometimes I'm looking at the hips, sometimes I'm timing the dribble. Yeah, those are usually the two things I'm looking at when I'm on-ball, but maybe I'm looking at both, yeah.

11:11 When you talk about improving your lateral quickness, how do you do that? It can't just be like — it's gotta be more than just doing a million defensive slides.

11:19 Yeah. Yeah, that's why I say it's more figuring stuff out than even hard work. Watching other guys, Stack (Jerry Stackhouse) has been talking to me a lot, as well as AD (Anthony Darmiento) and Rick (Celebrini) on the strength staff, but just figuring out if your feet are too wide, then sometimes it's harder to move laterally, even though that's — you wouldn't think that, but if you're closer together, then you can step faster, you can move faster, but figuring things out like that, I think has been the biggest difference, rather than doing a million defensive slides.

11:51 And what was the key tonight just defensively holding them to 94 points as a team?

11:58 Pressure. We had a good game plan going in. Shout out to my man Everett (Dayton), who had the scouts tonight, so we had a good game plan going into the game and we executed it, ball pressure, picking up, as well as the help behind ball pressure. Draymond guarded KAT really well, as well as helping everybody else on defense. It was a team effort and it was a good one.

12:27 How valuable are reps like this or games like this for you guys against another top team, slow pace, kind of playoff basketball stylistically? How valuable is that at a time like this in the season?

12:38 Extremely valuable. Every rep that we can get as a team is beneficial for us. We haven't had as much time together, but we are seeing a lot of different good teams that play different ways and we're able to adapt and come out with wins and that's what the playoffs is about.

00:00 STEVE KERR: Such a bummer (on Kuminga’s injury), just coming back, find his rhythm playing well, so hopefully it's nothing too serious.

00:09 What did you like the most about general performance?

00:11 I liked the start of the game. We've been talking about getting off to better starts and we got off to a great start. The offense was pretty crisp and guys did a good job defensively. They missed some shots early that it's kind of the nature of the modern NBA game, shots go in, shots don't and we were due for a night like this, to make some threes and we haven't shot it well recently, so really good start and that set the tone for the whole night. Haven't had a wire-to-wire kind of dominant win like this in a while.

00:44 This is the kind of game that can develop some confidence, knowing the stretch you're going into.

00:47 Yeah and everybody feels good and you get a night where nobody plays more than 25, 26 minutes, that's very helpful. Big game coming against Memphis, so we'll be well-rested and in rhythm for that and yeah, so big, big stretch coming.

01:04 Did you watch any of the Lakers, Memphis last night?

01:07 I did not.

01:08 Just what — given that, like you said, big stretch, but all these games are meaningful, but games where you're playing teams directly in front of you, how consequential are those at this time of year?

01:17 Yeah, I mean if we can beat Memphis, we get the tiebreaker over them. That's huge. We're right there with the Clippers and the Lakers are only a couple ahead. We got them after, so it's quite a race going down the stretch and we have a difficult schedule. Our last eight games are pretty tough, so we're gonna have to continue to play well, but tonight was a really good effort and it's a good momentum-builder.

01:46 If Jonathan does have to miss time, we presume that would be more minutes for Gui, like we saw, just how steady has he been these last couple months?

01:54 Gui's our highest plus-minus guy on the year and obviously he doesn't play a ton, but he plays a really important role. He comes in and he gets offensive boards and he moves the ball and he plays with great energy. He's a difference-maker and so I feel great about playing Gui. If he has to play more with JK's absence, he'll be ready to go.

02:18 Games like this can offer opportunities for your bench. What did you see from your bench tonight that impressed you?

02:24 Just a lot of solid play, a lot of good connection. Nobody really had a monster game. Buddy had a big second half, but it was more just the overall team effort. 42 assist, 13 turnovers, those are great numbers and that's just everybody coming in off the bench and playing solidly.

02:48 You've had a relationship with Coach Pop. You've been able to see his mentorship up close and now that his future's uncertain, have you been able to speak to him or have any conversations with him?

02:57 Yep. Yeah, we've stayed in touch. I went and saw him today and he looks great, doing great and he's one of the most important people in my life, so hoping that everything continues to progress, but it was wonderful to see him.

03:14 The Spurs kind of have had a challenging season without Coach Pop. How difficult do you think it is for a young team to navigate without that type of leadership?

03:24 Yeah, I mean, Pop has basically been the leader of the franchise for 26, 27 years, whatever it is, and that's a huge loss. I think their coaching staff with Mitch (Johnson). They're doing a great job and they have stayed competitive. Tonight was a one-off. This was not indicative of how they've been playing, so they were hanging tough, but with the injury to Wemby and in Pop's absence, there's been a lot of adversity for them this year. Thank you.

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03:59 Talk to me about that three.

04:02 KEVON LOONEY: Oh, it's been about time I got one up. Steve finally drew up a play for me, so I had to shoot it.

04:11 So he drew it up?

04:12 Yeah, he drew it up for me. So he asked me, did I want one? I said, yeah, so I got one.

04:15 How did you feel — how'd it feel to see the bench react?

04:19 I ain't get to see it yet. I didn't wanna look. I ain't — I wanna act like I've been there before, but it was fun to get. I mean, I worked hard enough on it all summer, man. I was planning on shooting more this year, but you know how the game goes. But I was finally able to get one up. I made it, so it's all that matters.

04:35 What did you like most about this performance, just two-ways?

04:39 That we had a game plan, we stuck to it, we was able to execute, start a game off — started off 1 through 5. It's not our normal defense. We was able to have a game plan, go out there, execute and do it for a whole 48 minutes, so we gotta keep building on that, keep building the momentum. We got a good rhythm out there. We just wanna keep building.

05:00 What kind of — seeing the shots going in, right? You guys have been struggling from deep a little bit, but collectively seeing shots go in like they did tonight, what kind of confidence does that give you going forward?

05:09 Just gives us a lot of confidence. We had confidence going into the game, we just missing the shots. We just had to get back on the right path. We was playing the right way. The ball was moving. I think we had pretty much a low-turnover game, so at least it felt like it. Yeah, we only had 12, so that was good and we was playing the right way. The ball was moving, we set better screens today and our shooters made shots. That's gonna vary from game to game, but if we play the right way and play with the right intent, I think we'll be in a good spot.

05:39 Memphis next, they're right above you guys in the standings and then, obviously, lakers, Denver after that, teams right ahead of you in the standings. How consequential are games like that against teams you have a direct opportunity to make up ground in the standings.

05:52 Yeah, we know every game we've been playing has been important, probably for the last 20 games and these last seven, eight are gonna be just as important. We know the opportunity that we have in front of us. We gotta make sure we can capitalize. Each game's gonna be difficult, definitely, playing on the road and those teams know it's gonna be a big game as well, so it's gonna be a lot of fun and it's a chance for us to grow. It's a chance for us to gain some ground and so it should be fun games.

06:18 You watch the Bruins?

06:19 Yes. Go Bruins. Shout out to Coach Cori (Close). I know she's been there a long time and get that team to the Final Four. I've been — I was cheering real hard. I got to see some of them girls work out this summer, so to see their growth and their maturity, it's a lot of fun, so I can't help — hopefully they can bring it home.

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06:46 Quick start tonight after a few slow starts, what did you like the most about the way you guys came out?

06:51 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think we were just. conscientious of our start. Coach challenged us yesterday in practice to get off to a good start and it helps that kind of second wave of guys ease into the game and not feel like they have to fight back for us. But he said he was gonna stick with the lineup just 'cause we're 10-0, or now 11-0, with this group that we're starting, so just emphasis on moving the ball, getting easy early shots and then playing good defense and just kind of putting the two things together.

07:19 Regarding putting defense and offense together, forcing a lot of turnovers in the first quarter, how did that pace open up offense for you guys?

07:26 Yeah, I think defensively we understand how good of a ball-screen player Chris (Paul) is and how much better Stephon (Castle)'s getting in the ball screen and so by us switching just 1 through 5, we tried to make him play a little bit more stagnant and have to beat us one-on-one and I think, to start the game, we did a really good job of keeping our man in front. And so that led up to run-outs, a couple easy ones for Jimmy, early. And so I think, like you said, we put both together.

07:54 How good did that third quarter feel for you?

07:56 Yeah, I mean, shots went in, which is nice, but I think it was collective effort. We shot 48% tonight after two bad shooting nights in a row in New Orleans and Miami, so it had to come around at some point and tonight was the night.

08:12 Memphis coming up, did you watch them play the Lakers last night?

08:15 I did.

08:15 What'd you see?

08:17 They're different with their new coach, play a little bit differently on offense. Obviously, it was a good thing for us that the Lakers won, 'cause we have the tiebreaker, at least right now, with the Grizzlies and so putting them down a game, they can lose against Boston and that we can beat 'em, that'll put us in the 5-spot and so just excited to play against them, another opportunity. And the good thing about our schedule, we play everybody that's above us except OKC.

08:43 What was — how was it seeing Loon knock down a three?

08:45 It was amazing. We've been joking with him all year to shoot the three and so to see him work on it when he plays 3-on-3 with the "stay ready" group and for him to knock that down was pretty cool.

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