DENVER — As irate Steve Kerr was that the three officials missed Christian Braun’s attempt to call a timeout that the Nuggets didn’t have in the waning seconds of Tuesday night’s loss, he reserved his table-pounding for calling out Brandin Podziemski.
“Podz is a hell of a player, but he needs to — I told him this — he needs to be a smart player,” Kerr said before repeatedly tapping his left hand on the postgame podium.
Podziemski only committed two turnovers against Denver, but they were costly. One was a pass airmailed into the first row with 5:44 left and another was an ill-advised lob on a fast break. He also fouled Michael Porter Jr. on two separate 3-point shots, bailing the Nuggets out and contributing to the 35 foul shots they took.
His mistakes were emblematic of common Warriors lapses this season: mental mistakes and careless miscues.
“He’s one of our guys who’s capable of making really great decisions,” Kerr said. “The lob when we’re up 12 in the late second quarter — that was frankly insane. Five-on-four. Keep hitting singles, throw the ball to the open guy. He had the same play last week against Brooklyn when he tried to throw a lob over his shoulder.
“He cannot be that guy. And he can’t foul jump shooters. And I love Brandin. He’s got a hell of a future ahead of him. I hope he watches this clip right now of me talking, because he needs to hear it. He’s got to be a smart, tough, great decision-maker. And he’s very capable of it, but that’s his next step.”
The 21-year-old, second-year guard agreed with Kerr’s assessment. He said he played poorly and admitted to pressing.
Instead of trying an alley-oop to Trayce Jackson-Davis, he should have thrown a bounce pass, Podziemski said. The late turnover slipped out of his hands.
And the two fouls on Porter were inexcusable back-breakers.
“I played poorly,” Podziemski said. “To foul (Porter) twice, it’s definitely not like me and something I’m not proud of. I know they kind of made their run because of me either fouling or turning the ball over. I know I’ve got to get better, I know I’m going to be better. It just sucks we didn’t win.”
On the fourth-quarter foul on Porter, Podziemski had just missed an ill-advised, step-back 3 over Nikola Jokic instead of feeding Andrew Wiggins with a mismatch.
The scout on Porter — the 6-foot-11 shooter whose jumper has significant lift – is to close out with a high hand. But the priority is to run Porter off the line and force him to put the ball on the floor. Podziemski didn’t do that in either instance.
“I should have contested to the side and run out, but landed in his space,” Podziemski said.
Podziemski finished the game with 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting, adding four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Several times, he punished the Nuggets for playing drop coverage in the pick-and-roll with midrange fallaways and floaters.
Podziemski puts a lot of pressure on himself to perform, and he hasn’t had the start to the season he or the Warriors had hoped. He was a First Team All-Rookie selection last year, but is shooting just 20.6% on 3s and has seen decreases in practically every statistical category.
Curry and Draymond Green have pulled Podziemski aside and encouraged him not to dwell on missed shots. They’ve reminded him that he shouldn’t beat himself up, and that he impacts the game in so many ways besides his outside shot.
“The amount of pressure he puts on himself on each shot is insane,” Green said on Nov. 20. “I’m saying this also so I hope he hears it. Me and Steph talk to him everyday.”
It’s notable that both Green and Kerr have now each used postgame media availability to address Podziemski publicly through 20 games.
One way or another, the Warriors clearly want to get through to the young guard.
“He’s not the reason we lost the game, by any stretch,” Curry said. “I don’t want to put that on him. But his growth will be to try to let the game come to him as easy as possible. Still play with a lot of energy and aggression. But just get over the hump in terms of connecting both ends of the floor and lifting whoever he’s out there with. He’s been able to do that. You deal with criticism, you get better.”
