ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors had just put on a clinic against the youthful Utah Jazz, and immediately after the game from the locker room, after two straight dominating wins, there were indications that the Dubs were looking forward to hitting the road and taking on new challenges.
“I’m actually really happy we’re going on the road,” head coach Steve Kerr told reporters at the post-game press conference. “You have to feel that threat of the opposing crowd.”
Kerr said that the team didn’t shoot very well (50% from the field, but just 26.1% from the three-point line), but he was pleased that the team took care of the ball with just two turnovers at halftime, 13 overall.
“That’s the mark of a good team,” Kerr said. “I think we will play a lot better on this road trip offensively and we will get back to our rhythm. Having said that, we shot fifty percent and had 28 assists. It shows that our guys have a lot of skill and a lot of talent, but I know we can play better.”
None of the starters except for Harrison Barnes played more than 30 minutes, so the team is well-rested heading into the road-trip which starts with the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow, the Miami Heat on Tuesday, the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, an off day for Thanksgiving, the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, and the Detroit Pistons next Sunday.
“At one point I asked Luke (Walton, assistant coach) if I should take Harrison out and he said, ‘He’s 23 years old, he’s fine,'” said Kerr. “We should be good to go on this trip.”
Andre Iguodala led all scorers with 17 points, going 7-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from downtown, a step up from his performances this past weekend and in stark contrast to his struggles against the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs, which seem now like a distant memory.
“Andre was great,” said Kerr. “It was coming. He’s been shooting the ball well in practice and throughout training camp. I think, more than anything, it was just the adjustment to coming off the bench.”
“Andre has dominated our scrimmages since our first day of training camp,” Kerr added. “Seems whatever team we put him on, that team wins. The sacrifice that he has made for this team establishes everything that we are about and that this team is buying into.”
Iguodala credited his teammates.
“We have a lot of hungry guys,” Iguodala told reporters in the locker room after the game. “The second unit’s getting better and better rhythm especially with Shaun (Livingston, coming back from a toe injury).”
Also, Marreese Speights re-iterated something he had said after practice on Wednesday, when explaining the bench’s mindset: that other teams had to worry about them, not the other way around.
David Lee, who has been shooting around in practice but out with a hamstring injury, will accompany the team on the roadtrip and be sidelined indefinitely, after being evaluated yesterday at halftime.
“He said he feels great,” Kerr said in the post-game presser. “This time we want to make sure that we are careful. Last time we brought him back and he tweaked it again and we don’t want that to happen again.”
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