Warriors coach Steve Kerr worried about an opponent that’s just as dangerous as the Raptors
TORONTO — Steve Kerr still looks youthful, but the boyish charm he had the day he took over as the Golden State Warriors’ head coach five years ago is fading and being replaced by more wrinkles.
His charm and wit are unaffected by the championship fatigue his team has experienced at various points the last few years, but he knows the bodies get worn down and minds grow weary following years of high-level championship competition.
As much as the Warriors’ series-opening loss in the NBA Finals can be attributed to the absence of Kevin Durant or the Toronto Raptors’ team length and excitement of representing a country at this stage, Kerr knows his team’s biggest opponent is in the mirror and the numbers tell the story.
Not the 16 turnovers that spelled doom, but the 16 playoff wins required to hold up the Larry O’Brien Trophy, a feat they’ve accomplished three of the last four years. Not the 118 points they gave up to the Raptors in Game 1, but the 100 playoff games the Warriors have played the last five years.
At some point, the bill comes due. Usually, the signs are ignored and written off as anomalies before an unstoppable freight train derails even the greatest of teams. Kerr is keenly aware of the signs and hoping his team can ward them off for one more June.
“I think you feel it more than you see it,” Kerr told Yahoo Sports shortly after his news conference at Scotiabank Arena on Friday afternoon.
“I knew from playing my third year in Chicago, that third year of that championship run, ’97-98, you could just feel the wear and tear not just physically but emotionally, getting up for so many games, being circled on everybody's calendar, making deep playoff runs.”
In that season, the Bulls were wracked with turmoil. From Scottie Pippen’s unhappiness to Michael Jordan’s contract expiring and wish to keep the Bulls together, to coach Phil Jackson openly feuding with management, it was nearly a wonder they were able to put all that aside to win a third straight title — one that was more difficult than the other five championship runs.
There was an air of finality to that Bulls team, but with the Warriors there’s more uncertainty about the future. The talk of Kevin Durant’s next destination has seemingly exhausted the team, while his injury gave it a boost of confidence before Game 1 brought matters back to Earth.
But the overall fatigue has been at their door for a while.
“We started feeling it on this team, in my mind, last year. We went to the Finals the first two years, dream run. Then we got Kevin,” Kerr said. “It kinda relit the fire. The first year with Kevin, nobody could touch us. Sixty-seven wins [in 2017], 16-1 in the playoffs, it was a new cycle. Last year was when I could kind of feel the length of the journey kick in.
“This [year] is a continuation of that.”
Teams have banded, disbanded and went into rebuild mode since Kerr took over. LeBron James has changed addresses twice since. The Houston Rockets have been the consistent contender, but they’ve drastically remade their rosters in an attempt to dethrone the Warriors. Draymond Green put a humorous spin on matters when asked about the country of Canada and talked about how a lot of fans on U.S. soil are hoping for a new champion, but keeping that energy for nine months a year, five years in a row, is bound to take down the most indomitable.
“People in the States are rooting against us because we beat all their teams. So it's all good,” Green said Monday. “When you're at the top, no one's ever cheering for you to stay there. People want to see you get to the top, and they want to see you fall.”
Usually, the fall happens from within. Kerr has had to straddle between treating team issues with the appropriate seriousness while risking his voice turning into background noise. The Warriors’ eight losses of 20 points or worse doubled their output from last season, although there weren’t too many who believed they wouldn’t at least get this far this time around.
The weight of those expectations come at a cost as well.
“That's why I'm so proud of us even getting to the Finals,” Kerr told Yahoo Sports. “To be here with a chance to win another championship, all these years behind us, all these teams trying to knock us out, it's an incredible achievement. We have a shot.”
The Raptors pose a different challenge, but it’s one that’s as familiar as whom the Warriors see in the mirror.
“When I say [the Raptors] remind me of us, I mean athletically and playmaking-wise. They have a lot of good basketball players. Some teams are specialized,” Kerr said. "When you have a team that's versatile and can make plays from multiple positions … it's impressive. They're fast like we're fast. [Pascal] Siakam is pushing like Draymond is pushing. They're really impressive.”
His eyebrows were raised as he spoke of the Raptors’ versatility, as if he were on high alert just thinking of all the different ways things can go wrong in Game 2. But when asked if his team could match the energy of the challengers, as if all the years of heavy games and wear and tear would stop his team from responding on Sunday night in the face of a country and a loudmouth rapper egging on their demise, his eyes lit up and the youthful smile returned.
“Oh yeah, of course, we can.”
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