Steve Kerr Ripped The Warriors’ ‘Embarrassing Effort’ In Their Blowout Loss To Indiana


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From a regular season standpoint, the Golden State Warriors will fall short of expectations. Some of that can be attributed to injuries, with Stephen Curry still on the shelf and every member of this team’s quartet of stars having missed time somewhere along the way. Still, the Warriors put forth a less than ideal performance in a 20-point loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday evening and head coach Steve Kerr wasn’t pleased about it.

Even without Curry against a playoff-bound team from the East, the Warriors entered the game as three-point Las Vegas favorites, but after a defensive catastrophe, Kerr posited that “caring in general was the main problem” on this particular night.

From there, he wasn’t done, telling Chris Haynes of ESPN that he was “embarrassed” by the team’s showing.

“Yeah, I’m embarrassed,” Kerr said. “I’m embarrassed. I know this game doesn’t mean anything in the seeding, but the playoffs start next week. It was an embarrassing effort. A pathetic effort… Well, maybe they are [bored]. Maybe the game doesn’t matter. So, we’ll try next week. Hopefully we will.”

Indiana shot 54 percent from the floor and 52 percent from three-point range on the way to 126 points and, even on a night where they broke 100 points on the offensive end, Golden State wasn’t terribly competitive. Not everyone shared Kerr’s view of what transpired, though, with Kevin Durant telling ESPN that he “thought (the Warriors) cared tonight” and saying that he “disagreed” with his coach.

Whether this was intended as a motivational tool or not, Kerr certainly wasn’t wrong about the way the performance looked from the outside, where the Warriors appeared wholly disinterested. That isn’t to say that the Pacers, who are playing high-level basketball, weren’t capable of holding serve at home against the undermanned visitors, but a 20-point margin isn’t exactly indicative of an A-plus showing from the reigning champs and Kerr’s viewpoint reflects that.

With nothing to play for in the standings or when it comes to playoff position, it is easy to see why the Warriors wouldn’t be grinding through every regular season game at this stage. Still, there is some level of concern for a team that hasn’t put together many high-level performances lately and, with the uncertainty surrounding Curry’s injury timeline, not everything is beautiful in Oakland.

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