Call it the “Death Lineup.”
Call it the “Hamptons 5.”
But whatever you call it, just know that the group of five Warriors –Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green– that closes games isn’t playing dominant basketball.
On Thursday, Anthony Slater of The Athletic wrote a piece detailing the struggles the Warriors’ death lineup has experienced compared to how it fared last year, and included several key stats that highlight its ineffectiveness.
From today's piece (https://t.co/ssXUeMJMmG) here are the ugly Hamptons 5 numbers this season compared to the domination the past 2 years pic.twitter.com/Jy3VHX32Hn
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 30, 2017
On Thursday evening, Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr joined Tolbert & Lund, and explained why he thinks Golden State’s death lineup is facing challenges it didn’t deal with a year ago. Kerr noted that while his stars may not have a sense of urgency coming off an NBA Finals victory this summer, other teams deserve credit for the way they’ve adjusted to the once unstoppable unit.
“I think it’s a combination of first, if you play small like that, everybody has to play really hard,” Kerr said. “There’s a reason we don’t use that lineup for long minutes. It’s a taxing way to play. But I think those guys haven’t really been engaged enough yet as a group. The other thing is, I think teams have adapted to what we’ve done over the last few years and so more and more often we’re seeing lineups where you’ve got four wings out there, maybe one big guy, but switching everybody, kind of playing the way we do. And that means we have to execute better. We can’t just rely on a simple screen and roll we have to actually execute and think about what’s happening and we’re not doing a good job of that.”
The Warriors’ fourth-year coach maintains that he isn’t concerned by his team’s production at this point in the season, even though Golden State sits 1.5 games behind the Houston Rockets for first place in the Western Conference. Kerr believes his team has the depth and experience to be even stronger than it was last season, so he said one of the main challenges moving forward is finding a balance between offering coaching points and easing up on a group he’s certain will gel.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do is walk the line. I don’t want to work them too hard on the practice floor knowing the mileage both physically and emotionally that they’re dealing with over the years. I just feel like we’ve got to wait on them a little bit. We can’t expect them to just be in top form right away, but we’ve got to constantly remind them of what’s important, too. What’s important is hard cuts and good sharp passes and the fundamentals. Making a good basketball play to start a possession and the effect that has on the rest of the possession.”
To listen to Kerr’s full interview with Tolbert and Lund, click the podcast link below. To listen to Kerr talk about the Warriors’ death lineup struggles, skip ahead to the 13:00 mark.