The Warriors lost 109-108 to the Cavaliers on Christmas Day, but the fallout is going to include more than a regular season defeat.
On Cleveland’s final possession, Steve Kerr pulled Steph Curry from the floor for Shaun Livingston. Kyrie Irving sank the game-winning fadeaway right in Klay Thompson’s face.
Curry (15 points on 2/7 from downtown) was seen on the bench sulking with his head down.
A reporter asked Curry afterwards if he was frustrated by Kerr’s decision and he simply responded, “Yeah.”
“It’s his call, obviously,” Curry said when asked if he would talk to Kerr about it. “But we’ll … you love the competitive nature, you want to be out there trying to make a play. So that’ll never die in me.”
Kerr was somehow not asked about the benching, but these were his quotes about Steph following the loss in Cleveland.
“I think he can be a little smarter, I think he can make better decisions, and that’ll help against anybody,” Kerr said. “But I’m not worried about him missing shots; I’m more worried about just decision-making and making sure that we’re where we need to be as a group.”
In grand scheme of things, this isn’t something to panic about.
But besides Draymond Green’s occasional antics, the Warriors have been a drama-free zone since Kerr took over in 2014. One of his best traits is eliminating drama and integrating fun into the Warriors’ everyday routine.
And to be completely honest, Kerr has every right bench Curry if he wants too. Isn’t Kerr the coach that helped make Curry go from borderline All-Star to a top three player in the NBA?
Still, there aren’t many back-to-back MVP winners who would ever find themselves in this situation. Kerr essentially called out Curry’s defense and thought the Warriors had a better chance of winning without him on the floor.
Expect Kerr to patch things up quickly and the Warriors to continue their quest to win the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference without many hiccups.
But the bigger issue here is Curry vs. Cleveland. We wrote that even though it’s a regular season game, his disappearing act against the Cavs is concerning for a Finals rematch in June.