Kerr: Steph Curry to Stay on Minutes Restriction, Warriors Won't Chase Wins

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Monday he won't increase the playing time for superstar guard Stephen Curry to "chase wins" during the rest of the 2020-21 season.

Kerr told reporters after the Warriors' 105-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs there are no plans to remove Curry's minutes cap of around 34 or 35 as the team fights for a playoff berth:

"I'm into the long game. We're counting on having Steph here a long time, many years ahead. And I'm not interested in grinding through this season, which is already a difficult season given the COVID regulations, just the nature of the games themselves, these eerie, empty stadiums.

"For me, for our organization, we're not throwing Steph out there for 40 minutes to chase wins. We got another game [Tuesday]. We want Steph to be playing at a high level for many years, so we're going to stay very disciplined and try to keep him at that 34-, 35-minute mark."

Curry was removed from Monday's game at the start of the fourth quarter with the Dubs holding a slight 80-78 lead. He didn't return until there was 5:33 left in the game, with Golden State trailing 93-86.

The two-time NBA MVP finished with a game-high 32 points to go with seven rebounds, six assists and a steal in 36 minutes.

Golden State is trying to protect its most impactful player, who's set to turn 33 in March, after he missed most of last season with a hand injury.

Curry explained after Monday's loss he feels "great" and has been hinting to the staff he's ready to handle a little more responsibility.

"It's a topic that comes up a lot," he said. "Of course, I want to play as many minutes as possible. Of course, I want to keep subtly letting them know how I feel based on a night-to-night basis. We got to be in a position where we do things throughout 48 minutes that that plan of attack works more nights than not."

That said, the Davidson product also noted it's important to play better when the starting five is on the floor, so there's enough margin for error when they do head to the bench.

"We shouldn't have to play 40-plus minutes to win," Curry said. "We got to do things in the momentum of the game to put ourselves in position. ... We have to make those adjustments as a group."

The loss dropped the Warriors to 12-12, which puts them ninth in the Western Conference, a half-game behind the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets.

Golden State will be back in action Tuesday night for another road clash with the Spurs, and it doesn't have more than one day off in a row until Feb. 21-22.

The condensed schedule adds to the difficulty of trying to increase Curry's minutes without pushing him too far during the 72-game season, so it's no surprise Kerr plans to stick to the script.