Steve Kerr has been slowly cutting down Steph Curry’s minutes and on Sunday it was to the Warriors’ detriment.
The Timberwolves got their first lead since the opening quarter early in the fourth, while Kerr had Curry sitting on the bench for nine straight minutes down the stretch.
Curry played just 29 minutes and 51 seconds in the Warriors’ 114-110 loss to the Timberwolves and Kerr explained why he kept Curry below 30.
“We’re trying to get him as much rest as we can,” Kerr said. “We’ve played him a lot of minutes. We played him 35 [minutes] two days ago. So as long as we were hanging in there, we wanted to limit the minutes a little bit. Not limit them, but not overplay him.”
Curry himself seemed open to getting more time on the court when asked about it after the game.
“I want to play as many minutes as I’m fresh and able to, so I’m a little bit [surprised] knowing that [the Timberwolves] were going on a run,” Curry said after GSW’s third loss in five games. “Our lead was withering away. … I played the whole fourth quarter against Indiana and it didn’t work out, this didn’t work out [against Minnesota]. We’ve got to find somewhere in the middle.”
In 14 games since the All-Star break, Curry has played more than 32 minutes on just two occasions.
Kerr was adamant in defending his decision to play Steph for less than 30 minutes, even though the Warriors are dangerously close to dropping out of Play-In contention.
“We can’t expect to just ride Steph game after game after game,” Kerr said. “We’ve put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years. We can’t expect him to play 35 minutes … If you want to say that him playing 30 minutes instead of 32 is a difference between a win and a loss, I totally disagree with that. We’re trying to win the game. And we’re trying to keep him fresh, too.”
Is there a deeper meaning in all this? Or is Kerr just limiting Curry because he knows deep down their season is over?