Warriors still trying to figure out Steph Curry's fourth quarter role
You’d think by now — in his 10th season with the team and after four-straight NBA Finals appearances — that the Golden State Warriors would know exactly how to utilize star Stephen Curry.
That, though, is still a work in progress.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has started playing Curry in the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, and then taking him out midway through the fourth. While he has put Curry back in late in the game on occasion — he re-entered their overtime loss to the Houston Rockets last week with less than four minutes left in regulation — he has generally sat.
That change, though, has come with mixed results. The Warriors are 5-4 since making that change. There are a lot of factors that have gone into that record, but it’s still interesting to note the change during that time.
Kerr, though, thinks the criticism surrounding that move is “ironic,” as Curry is actually playing more minutes in the fourth quarter now than he was before.
Steve Kerr explains the Steph Curry stagger role pic.twitter.com/4cyjqXosvt
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 5, 2019
Via Mark Medina of the Mercury News:
We’ve tried a lot of different things this year … This is the one that has looked the best, that’s felt the best. It’s ironic, but people were talking about Steph’s fourth quarter minutes. Well, now he plays 10 minutes in the fourth quarter. He used to play six minutes in the fourth quarter. So it’s not like the overall fourth quarter volume is waining. In fact, it’s increased. He’s playing more fourth quarter minutes. It’s just different.
Again, we’re in the middle of the season. We’re exploring different things. This may or may not be what we do the rest of the year, but for right now, given what we’ve watched … this has been the most successful and it looks the best. So we’ll keep doing it, and we’ll continue to explore as we go.
Yes, this Warriors team looks significantly different than previous Warriors teams — which is why Kerr is continuously tweaking their lineup. Don’t expect that to stop anytime soon.
Curry is even putting up near-career-best numbers this season, too. He’s averaged 29.4 points, 5.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game this year, while playing nearly 35 minutes per contest.
And even though they have gone just 5-4 under the new system, Kerr said they’ve looked the best that way — and Curry knows that, too.
“He’s done a great job of handling it,” Kerr told the Mercury News. “It may not be ideal for him. But he understands this is the best thing for us right now. We have to put the best groups together.”
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