Steve Kerr Reveals Warriors' Plan vs. Lakers: 'Trying to Wear out Davis and LeBron'

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes he may have found his team's key to success: get Anthony Davis and LeBron James tired.

"We want to push their guys," Kerr told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic after the Warriors' Game 5 win. "I'm sure they feel the same way. Last game they were putting Steph in all those pick-and-rolls, so they're trying to wear Steph out. We're trying to wear out Davis and LeBron. Long series. So it is a little bit of a battle of attrition, and we've just gotta keep pushing the tempo."

The Warriors raced their way down the court throughout Wednesday's 121-106 victory, with Draymond Green often pushing the pace to force the Lakers outside their halfcourt comfort zone. Green scored 20 points thanks in large part to his work in transition—by far his best total of the 2023 postseason—as the Warriors shot 51.1 percent from the floor.

"Any time we play a team that good in the halfcourt, you've gotta get out and run just to create advantages so you're not going against a set defense. I thought the guys set that tone in the first half. Draymond was pushing the ball like crazy; so was Steph—guys were running lanes.

"The fast-break points never tell the story. Sometimes you just push the ball ahead, and that creates a scrambled defense with cross-matches, and then you get the ball swung and somebody gets an open look. It may not be a fast-break bucket, but it's a bucket as a result of the pace."

Golden State is seeking to become the first team since the 2020 Denver Nuggets to come back from a 3-1 series deficit. Ironically enough, the Warriors were the last team to blow a 3-1 lead in a non-bubble series, dropping the final three games of the 2016 NBA Finals to James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

A team has only recovered from a 3-1 deficit 13 times in NBA history.