The Golden State Warriors have lost their last two games. In both of those outings, Steve Kerr believes his team’s off-ball movement has become stagnant, with multiple players standing still around the perimeter, thus piling more pressure onto Steph Curry. Kerr believes that pressure is part of the reason why Curry had such an uncharacteristically poor shooting night against the Miami Heat on Thursday (Dec. 28.)
When speaking to the media, Kerr noted how the Warriors need to create openings and provide space for Curry to excel. He credited the superstar guard for his ability to continually move without the ball in his hands but accepted the rest of the roster needs to play their part in ensuring Curry has enough space to get his shots off without having multiple players closing out on him.
“That’s been an issue lately,” Kerr said. “What makes Steph who he is is how good he is off the ball as well as on the ball. You can always put Steph in high pick-and-roll, which we do a lot of. But if you do and he gets the ball out of his hands, what happens next is what makes Steph unique…Execution is most important when not making shots, and that’s where we really struggled last night. We did have some open looks that we missed, and that’s fine.”
As the Warriors prepare to face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday (Dec. 30) they will likely be putting an increased focus on what they do without the ball and the movement that is expected from everyone on the floor.
The Warriors are at their best when Curry is playing at an elite level. Finding ways to make his life easier on a nightly basis has to be a primary focus, especially if the team wants to get back to winning ways and begin getting their season back on track.
