Steph identifies Warrior change that could be here to stay originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
DENVER – Steph Curry knew change was needed. Team-wide, no doubt. The Warriors had lost four straight games against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, with a lot of cleaning up to do.
Change was also in store for the Warriors’ superstar. Curry’s rotation coming out of the game and back in was different than usual in the Warriors’ eventual 119-115 loss to the Nuggets, something that was his idea before anyone else.
“I just wanted to change it up,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We lost four times in a row. We lost the Steph minutes when he sat for eight minutes straight. Those parts of the game were tough. It was actually his suggestion the other day.
“He came to me and said, ‘If that’s what you need from me, I’m happy to do it.’ We liked it.”
Curry was already out of the game at 7:24. He played the first four minutes and 36 seconds, then chipped in with three assists and the Warriors led 14-13. Curry sat for just over four minutes, playing the final three minutes and 12 seconds of the first quarter.
His teammates should remain steady midway through the quarters. Curry had the start and finish covered for them. The whole point of the strategy is to have Curry on the court during the opening and closing minutes of each quarter.
Kerr went all in. The Warriors have struggled in those areas during their recent slump, giving Golden State’s coaching staff the green light to shake up the status quo.
“Traditionally he didn’t like three stints, but two stints,” says Kerr. “But he recognizes that we have to do that now. I thought it was effective. It’s hard because you have to take him out around the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter, but he needs rest.
“He played about 34 minutes tonight. I think this is the number that is achievable to keep him going all season. But we have to make better decisions whether he is on the field or not.”
The loss to the Nuggets was only the fourth game. Curry has surpassed the 34-minute mark in his first sixteen games played this season. Curry played that number of minutes seven times in his first 16 games last season. The bigger difference is how little Curry has played even 30 minutes in his 16th season.
Curry was a hit in all but one of his first 16 games last season. Now he has only done that nine times this season.
In the ninth, Curry scored a team-high 24 points, but on 8-of-23 shooting (34.8 percent) and 4-of-15 on threes (26.7 percent). Curry was a plus-5 in a four-point loss, producing a double-double of 11 assists with seven rebounds, but a game-high five turnovers.
Why did Curry consult Kerr now about his idea of change? Curry recognized the Warriors’ dry spells at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second, and the same with the third and fourth.
The biggest factor was simply being tired of losing. Whatever needs to happen for the Warriors to win, Curry’s play will do it.
“When you lose, you have to experiment,” Curry says. “You have to try different things. I’ve done it over the years when the opportunity arose, I’ll say. Obviously I will find my rhythm, I have to make more shots and be able to put the ball in the basket more consistently. I think the offense we created, the energy we played with, I adapted to that really well.
‘Who knows how long it will take, but we are trying to get out of this hole in any way we can. At this point you have to play a little bit desperately and do desperate things.”
The Warriors were a plus-1 in Curry’s first stint and a minus-1 the first time he sat. They were plus-11 with him then and were now up to eight the next time Curry was replaced. The Warriors were once again minus-1 without Curry, and in large part due to the Nuggets closing out the first half on a 15-3 run to end the first half, they were outscored by eight points before sitting with seven minutes left . the third quarter.
The Nuggets were a plus-3 in the next non-Curry minutes, and they even outscored the Warriors by two in the final three minutes of the third quarter with him on the floor. The fourth quarter is what this change in Curry’s rotation is all about.
It’s a quarter since the Warriors were outscored by 23 points in their first 19 games. The Warriors needed last season’s Clutch Player of the Year early in the fourth inning in the Mile High City, and would be ready to unleash him to close out the game. The Warriors were plus-12 with Curry on his first shift of the fourth quarter, jumping out to a 16-4 run and now leading 101-94.
Golden State held on even without him. The Nuggets scored just one more point than the Warriors when Curry took a breather, and a big reason was a ridiculous three-pointer by Michael Porter Jr. right before Curry returned for good.
In the final five minutes with him, the Warriors were outscored 16-6. After Curry’s turnaround fadeaway jumper over Jamal Murray with two and a half minutes left and his team up 115-109, the Warriors never scored again as the Nuggets shut them down with a 10-0 run to the finish.
Curry, 36 years old with bilateral knee pain, says he doesn’t know how long this method of use will last him. Kerr hinted that the plan may have a lasting future – at least for a while – believing it will be beneficial for Curry and the rest of his Warriors teammates.
“This is a type of team where we feel like we probably have to do it in shorter stints for him, but also shorter stints without him for the rest of the guys,” Kerr said.
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