After injuring his knee in the opening round against the Houston Rockets, league MVP Steph Curry was never quite the same for the remainder of the postseason. But he refused to use it as an excuse, despite the fact that he was clearly not as explosive or as consistently capable of beating his defenders — and overplaying bigs — off the dribble as he was throughout the regular season.
Steve Kerr, likewise, refused to blame Curry’s substandard play on his ambiguous health. Now, via Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com, the Warriors coach has admitted that the situation led to certain alterations in their gameplan as the postseason progressed:
“We made a few adjustments in terms of play-calling and actions that we tried to run,” Kerr told CSNBayArea.com in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.
“But there’s only so much of that you can do.“It’s still about flow and rhythm and pace. We tried a few different things – and let’s not forget, he was phenomenal in a few games.”
Kerr is absolutely correct about that last part. In Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Blazers, Curry went off for 40 points, 17 of which came in the overtime period, an NBA record. But that’s forgetting that Curry’s shooting accuracy declined steadily the rest of the way. Still, while Kerr admits injuries were a factor in both Curry’s play and the team’s overall schemes, he won’t blame that reality on Golden State’s ultimate inability to bring home a second consecutive title.
