Kerr believes Warriors’ in-season hardships led to team’s late success originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors hope to make a deep NBA playoff run after a roller coaster 2023-24 regular season has them battle-tested and prepared to overcome any adversity they might endure should they advance through the play-in tournament.
Golden State officially will have to fight to earn a playoff spot after the Phoenix Suns’ win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes his team is capable of doing so.
In speaking to 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” on Wednesday, Kerr was asked if the Warriors’ hardships this season, from injuries to Chris Paul, Gary Payton II and others, to Draymond Green’s multiple suspensions to Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins’ struggles, made them into the team they are today: a red-hot veteran-led squad firing on all cylinders at the right time.
“Yeah, no question. No question,” Kerr said. “If you could draw it up, everybody would just be happy and right from the beginning and you just settle into roles and everyone supports each other. But that’s not how life works. Every single one of these guys has a unique set of circumstances, they’ve all got incredible pressure on them from multiple directions.
“So for me, coaching a team and coaching a season where it makes it so challenging but also so rewarding is you’re trying to get each guy to a place where he’s improving and rewarded for efforts and where the guys are all really looking across the locker room playing for each other, and I think you have to go through stuff to get to that point.”
The Warriors currently are the Western Conference’s No. 10 seed and would play a win-or-go-home matchup on the road in Los Angeles if the regular season ended today. However, Golden State still can climb as high as the seventh seed with three games remaining.
Regardless of where the Warriors finish, Kerr is confident his squad has what it takes to make noise in the playoffs.
Should they get there.
Source Agencies
