Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr stands on the court during the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference semifinal playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday, May 8, 2023. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors 104-101. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The Warriors weren’t a championship team this season for a variety of reasons. But one of the key missing ingredients for Golden State’s success this season has been on display throughout the Miami Heat’s improbable postseason run to the NBA Finals.
Joining Draymond Green on his podcast to break down Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Kerr on Monday praised several Heat players, including Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin and Kevin Love, for their willingness to embrace varying roles.
“None of those guys on Miami are sitting there saying, ‘Well, I didn’t play’ or ‘Man, they put in so and so,'” Kerr said. “They’re just all about winning.
“And you know this from our groups that we’ve had,” Kerr said, referencing the Warriors teams that won four titles, “when you have that championship mentality, every guy is bought in, every guy is just trying to win, nobody cares about any of that stuff. You don’t go into the locker room saying ‘Well, I should’ve played more.’ You just want to win. And that’s the beauty of finding that magic when you have a championship team is that everybody’s bought in and it makes the decision for the coach really simple. You just go with your gut and go with whoever’s playing well.”
Much had been made throughout the Warriors’ playoff run about Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga expressing frustration with their reduced roles. JaMychal Green also said he was unhappy with his playing time.
The Warriors managed to beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round behind Steph Curry’s historic Game 7 performance. But before Curry dropped a record-setting 50 points, the Warriors star gave an emphatic speech to rally the troops, during which he implored his teammates to check their egos.
Kerr said the Warriors were “maxed out” by the time the Los Angeles Lakers were done with them in the Western Conference semifinals. In the aftermath of Golden State’s series-ending Game 6 loss, several of the team’s leaders, including Kerr and Green, said they were not a championship team, pointing to the team’s 11-30 road record as well as their inability to consistently play disciplined defense.
But another underlying issue was the championship culture wasn’t what it had been in the past, and the Heat are showing just how critical a team-first mentality is when contending for a title.
Originally published at Madeline Kenney