The Golden State Warriors have only one person to blame for their 15-point loss to the Houston Rockets in Game 5 on Wednesday night, April 30 — head coach Steve Kerr.
That is the message Kerr sent to media members during his postgame interview following a drubbing in Houston, which saw the Dubs enter the locker room down 27 points.
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Stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler played just 23 minutes and 25 minutes, respectively, as the game was clearly out of reach by the middle of the third quarter.
Golden State gave up 76 points in the first half to Houston, which was at or near the bottom of the entire playoff field (both conferences) in almost every traditional and advanced offensive metric through Game 4.
“I didn’t have them ready to play, clearly,” Kerr said of his team, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
-All of that said, the Warriors’ blowout defeat could be something of a blessing in disguise. Curry and Butler are 37 and 35 years old, respectively, and got to rest for most of the second half ahead of Game 6 at Chase Center on Friday.
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Kerr played nine members of his bench double-digit minutes on Wednesday night. Jonathan Kuminga was the only non-starter who didn’t see the floor, though that was because of illness and not due to a coach’s decision, as several of his previous absences have been.
The No. 7-seeded Warriors opened as a 5.5-point favorite to best the No. 2-seeded Rockets in San Francisco on Friday and advance to the second round to take on the winner of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves, per ESPN BET.
Related: Steve Kerr Getting Praised for What He Did During Warriors Blowout
