The Golden State Warriors won in a blowout against the Suns on Monday night, but according to some they didn’t win the right way. Warriors coach Steve Kerr let the players run the show on Monday, the result of which was a commanding decision at home.
Coaching the defending NBA champions who have reached the NBA Finals in each of the last three seasons might not sound like a gig that’s full of potential pitfalls, but Kerr thought the team needed a change and took Monday’s game as an opportunity to improvise and let the team coach itself during timeouts.
The reaction was divided throughout the league. Some questioned the lack of respect Kerr had for his opponent, while Suns players suggested they needed to play better to avoid these kinds of situations. But Kevin Durant isn’t having any of that. Durant said that a certain group of people simply love to “hate on the Warriors” no matter what, and rhetorically asked “Who gives a sh*t?” when asked about the reaction of others to Kerr’s experiment.
https://twitter.com/highkin/status/963870768621735936
Kerr defended himself on Monday night after the game, saying he was worried first and foremost about his team. But he knew the backlash would come. Asked about said backlash, he also seems to not much care about what anyone is saying about him, or his team.
Kerr on the criticism he took for turning over the huddle to players: “I don’t care.”
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) February 14, 2018
It’s clear the Warriors aren’t concerned with opinions outside the team, and everyone there seems pretty happy with the results of the experiment. Maybe it’s a tactic they break out again at some point this season, or it was a one-time deal. But it appears to have, at the very least, made those inside the organization trust and defend on another a bit more.
