Warriors' Steve Kerr Explains Decision to Rest Starters, Discussed with Draymond at HT
The Golden State Warriors faced a 27-point deficit heading into the second half of Game 5 against the Houston Rockets, and Steve Kerr ultimately decided to waive the white flag early in the third quarter.
After the loss, Kerr explained that he and veteran Draymond Green made the decision at halftime to pull the Warriors' starters if they were unable to cut into the deficit quickly.
"I wasn't going to chase this game, obviously, with Game 6 coming up in 48 hours," Kerr told reporters. "Talked to Draymond, said 'what do you think?' He said, 'five minutes.' So, we gave the starting group the first five or six minutes. Unless we made a huge run, we kind of had in mind that we would pull the plug."
The Rockets dominated the first half and held a commanding 76-49 lead heading into the third quarter. Kerr allowed his starters to try to make a run, but they could do little against Houston's stout defense, and Golden State made a business decision to start resting for Game 6.
Ime Udoka quickly followed Kerr's lead and pulled his starters. Once the Rockets' starters came out, the Warriors' bench ended up putting together a nice run behind Moses Moody's 22 points, Kevin Knox II's 14 and Pat Spencer's 11.
Golden State's reserves managed to cut the lead down to as few as 13 points about halfway through the fourth quarter. That spurred Udoka to bring back some of his starters, but Kerr never brought Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and the starting five back into the game.
After the Warriors' late run, the Rockets managed to pull away and hang on for a 131-116 win.
The bad news for Golden State is that it couldn't close out the series and get some additional rest before the second round. The good news is that the Warriors' starters should be fresh for a pivotal Game 6 at home on Friday.
Kerr will need much more than his starters gave him on Wednesday. Curry was the only starter in double figures, posting just 13 points. Butler had eight and Green had seven as Golden State shot 41.7 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from deep.
