ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Now that the 2014-15 season is winding down, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will have to start shifting into playoffs mode after the season finale tomorrow against the Denver Nuggets.
Usually, teams play their starters more minutes during the playoffs, of course, and tighten the bench a little.
For example, the last two playoffs for the Warriors, point guard Stephen Curry‘s minutes jumped from 38.2 minutes per game in 2012-13 to 41.4 during the playoffs. Last year in the 2013-14 playoffs, his minutes increased from 36.5 per game during the regular season to 42.3 during the playoffs.
Fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson has seen a similar increase, going from 35.8 minutes per game during the 2012-13 regular season to 41.3 in that year’s playoffs. In 2013-14, it went from 35.4 in the regular season to 36.7.
Bay Area News Group columnist Tim Kawakami thinks that Kerr will go with an eight-man rotation.
After the Warriors’ bench unit of Shaun Livingston, Justin Holiday, Brandon Rush, Marreese Speights, and David Lee got outscored 41-18 in the fourth quarter of last night’s victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, Kawakami tweeted, “This is why I think Kerr will mainly go with a 7/8-man rotation in the playoffs. Speights is the 8th.”
The sixth would be Livingston, who would back up Curry, of course, and the seventh would be Andre Iguodala who will obviously be in the mix. That leaves someone like Festus Ezeli on the bench.
“Ezeli could get some of the Speights minutes behind (Andrew) Bogut. And there will be times for (Leandro) Barbosa and (David) Lee. But otherwise, mainly the core 7,” Kawakami later added.
Kerr isn’t so sure — yet.
Asked if Curry and Thompson could see 40 minutes per game in the Playoffs, Kerr replied before the Grizzlies game, “If the situation called for it, but I believe in the depth of our team and I believe one of the reasons why we’re good defensively is we play a lot of people and we don’t overload our key guys.
“So I’m planning on following that same formula, probably give or take a few minutes depending on circumstances. Playoff games are generally a lot tougher a lot more intense. You really have to balance the minutes somehow.”
At the same time, it appears Kerr isn’t afraid to leave certain guys on the bench, if necessary.
“It’ll be based on matchups and circumstance,” Kerr said. “Our guys understand that. They’ve been in the playoffs the last couple years. They know how this works and I’m not at all concerend with anybody getting their feelings hurt if they don’t play. They’ve got to stay ready. They may be called on and they understand that.”
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
