Warriors coach Steve Kerr declined to reveal what his rotation will be without Kevin Durant.
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HOUSTON – As a thunderstorm hovered over this city, Warriors coach Steve Kerr met with his players on Thursday to discuss something else that has formed a dark cloud.
How do the Warriors win with Kevin Durant staying sidelined with a strained right calf?
“We’ll just find somebody on the bench who can give us 35 points, two blocks, 11 boards and nine assists,” Kerr joked.
The Warriors will likely have to keep searching against the Houston Rockets in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals on Friday.
No one can emulate Durant, whom Kerr called “the best player in the NBA” after leading the league in post-season scoring (34.2) on 51.2 percent shooting. The Warriors also ranked 29th out of 30 NBA teams this season in bench scoring (29.2), which reflects both the team’s top-heavy roster and unproven reserves.
Nonetheless, Kerr argued there’s “no reason why we can’t go get a win” to close out the series against Houston. The reason?
The Warriors have won three NBA championships in the past four years. They still have a healthy Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. The Warriors have gone 5-1 in Game 6 during Kerr’s four-year tenure. They have also set an NBA record by winning at least one road game in the past 20 playoff series.
“We’ve got championship rings on our fingers and a lot of experience and a lot of confidence that comes from that,” Kerr said. “So let’s go out there and let it rip.”
The Warriors had that mentality after Durant strained his right calf with 2:05 left in Game 5 on Wednesday. The Warriors were in the middle of the Rockets outscoring them, 29-15, in the third quarter. Yet, the Warriors responded to Durant’s absence by leaning on a few qualities that had helped them win the 2015 NBA championship. Before Durant led the Warriors to two consecutive NBA titles with two Finals MVP’s, the Warriors leaned on their other All-Stars.
Stephen Curry scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson has 27 points, including a reverse layup that gave the Warriors a 104-99 lead with 4.1 seconds left. Draymond Green recorded his fourth consecutive double double with 12 rebounds and 11 assists, while Andre Igudoala recorded in double digits for the fifth time in six games (11 points). During that time, the Warriors increasingly relied on ball movement and pick-and-rolls as opposed to the isolation plays set for Durant.
“We obviously turn to Steph to generate most of our offense down the stretch,” Kerr said. “It’s not like we’ve gone completely away from that over the years. It’s just that with Kevin we have the ultimate weapon. So we’ve sort of mixed in different styles and different offensive starting points for our team over the last few years. We’ve had different rotations. We’ve had different ways to attack.”
Without Durant, the Warriors will have different rotations once again. What will it look like?
Will Kevon Looney start at center, while sliding Green to power forward and Iguodala to center? Will Kerr start seldom-used center Andrew Bogut like he did to open the Warriors’ first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers? Or will Kerr start Alfonzo McKinnie at small forward when Durant missed two games this season?
“I have a pretty good feeling for it,” Kerr said. “But I’m not about to share it with you or anybody else other than our team.”
Fair enough. After all, why give Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni a heads up so he can already make some rotation adjustments? It has been challenging enough slowing down Rockets guards James Harden, Chris Paul and Eric Gordon, while also accounting for P.J. Tucker’s physicality.
Still, Kerr at least admitted that “guys will get opportunities who haven’t had an opportunity yet.” So perhaps that means fourth-year guard Quinn Cook and veteran forward Jonas Jerebko offer more than token appearances. Maybe even second-year forward Jordan Bell and rookie wing Jacob Evans play after mostly staying on the bench all season.
Amid those uncertain combinations, the Warriors will likely still rely more heavily on Curry, Thompson, Green, Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. After all, they represented the team’s identity during its 2015 NBA title run.
“We’ve been successful,” Kerr said. “That’s not to say it’s the same. That was a few years ago. But we’re comfortable that we can be successful with that group.”
Will that be enough to make up for Durant’s absence? The Warriors sound eager to find out instead of feeling afraid about the result.
“It’s obviously a huge loss,” Kerr said, “but our team has a lot of confidence.”
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