Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr thinks his team got exposed after losing in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023 playoffs.
“The Lakers exposed us,” Kerr said. “We were not a very well-rounded team last year. So, thinking about that series, watching it. They bottled us up defensively and we didn’t have a counter. So, we’ve got to make sure we have counters this year.”
(starts at 0:30 mark):
"The Lakers exposed us."
Kerr on what went wrong during the Warriors’ playoff run last season pic.twitter.com/0C02aLnOqo
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 6, 2023
Kerr is being quite blunt there when he says the Warriors were not well-rounded and that the coaching staff didn’t have counters in place for the series. Partly due to those factors, the Lakers’ defense was able to do a number on Golden State in that series.
The Warriors averaged 118.9 points per game in the 2022-23 regular season, but in the series against L.A., they managed to muster just 109.8 points per game. They shot just 44.2% from the field as well and were just comfortably second-best.
Klay Thompson Praised Anthony Davis For His Defense In The Series
Klay Thompson was just one of the many Warriors to struggle offensively in that series. The threes just weren’t falling for him and getting to the rim was just not possible, due to a certain big man.
Klay stated that Anthony Davis locked the paint during the Lakers-Warriors series, as he affected a lot of shots. Golden State didn’t get too many easy looks at the rim, and their offense was stuck in the mud at times as a result.
It will be interesting to see how the Warriors attack the Laker defense if the teams do meet again in the postseason in 2024. While Kerr should get some criticism for the failure to come up with counters last season, he has been one of the better coaches at making adjustments, so you’d assume he’d have something up his sleeve.
Steve Kerr Explained Why the Warriors Need Chris Paul
Speaking of adjustments, the Warriors have made one big change this offseason and that is trading for Chris Paul. Many have questioned the fit, but Kerr explained why the Warriors need Paul.
“Chris is such an incredible competitor. He’s one of the all-time great competitors in my mind,” Kerr said on Sports Illustrated. “He’s so smart, he controls games, he’s thinking three steps ahead at all times. He gets any shot he wants in the mid-range. Our team last year needed another way to attack. We became a little too one-dimensional with Steph [Curry] in high ball screens. We needed another playmaker to give us a different look.”
He brings a completely different element to their offense and gives them another playmaker as well, which is an added boost. Whenever Stephen Curry wasn’t on the court last season, Golden State struggled to generate offense, and the hope is that Paul can help fix that problem to an extent.
Another area where he’d help is limiting the turnovers. The Warriors led the league with 16.3 turnovers per game last season, and if there is one thing Paul doesn’t do, it’s turn it over. He also attacks from the mid-range, and the Warriors didn’t do a whole lot of that last season.
Paul just makes their offense that little bit more diverse, but there are going to be some growing pains during the season. If the Warriors can strike the right balance between their fast-paced game and Paul’s methodical style, this could turn out to be quite the trade.
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