Steph Curry identifies Warriors’ change that could last – NBC Sports Bay Area and California

DENVER – Steph Curry knew change was needed. Team-wide, no doubt. The Warriors had lost four games in a row on the road against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night and still had a lot to clean up.

The Warriors’ superstar was also facing change. Curry’s switch in when he came out of the game and back into the game was different than usual in the Warriors’ eventual 119-115 loss to the Nuggets, something that was his idea before anyone else.

“I just wanted to change it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We lost four times in a row. We lost the Steph minutes when he sat for eight minutes straight. These periods of the game were tough. It was actually his suggestion the other day.

“He came to me and said, ‘If I need this, I’m happy to do it.’ We liked it.”

Curry was out of the game after just 7:24. He played the first four minutes and 36 seconds, then chipped in with three assists to give the Warriors a 14-13 lead. Curry sat for just over four minutes and played the final three minutes and 12 seconds of the first quarter.

His teammates had to stand firm in the middle of the quarter. Curry had the beginning and the end covered. The point of the strategy is to have Curry on the court for the opening and closing minutes of each quarter.

Kerr was all in. The Warriors struggled in these areas during their recent crisis and gave Golden State’s coaching staff the green light to shake up the status quo.

“Traditionally he hasn’t loved three and a half stints, he likes two stints,” Kerr shared. “But he recognizes that we have to do this now. I thought it was effective. It’s hard because you have to shut him down about eight minutes into the fourth quarter, but he needs some rest.

“He played about 34 minutes tonight. I think that’s a manageable number to keep him going through the season. But we have to make better decisions whether he is on the pitch or not.”

The loss to the Nuggets was just the fourth game in which Curry has exceeded the 34-minute mark in his first 16 games played this season. Curry played seven times as many minutes in his first 16 games last season. The bigger difference is that Curry didn’t play 30 minutes at all in his 16th season.

In all but one of his first 16 games last season, Curry hit the mark. He has only managed to do that nine times this season.

In the ninth, Curry scored a team-high 24 points, albeit on 8 of 23 shots (34.8 percent) and 4 of 15 shots on three-pointers (26.7 percent). Curry was a plus-5 in a four-point loss, posting a double-double with 11 assists and seven rebounds but a game-high five turnovers.

Why did Curry consult Kerr now about his idea for change? Curry recognized the Warriors’ losing streaks at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter, as well as in the third and fourth.

By far the biggest factor was simply that I was tired of losing. Whatever needs to happen for the Warriors to win, Curry will play a role in it.

“When you lose, you have to experiment,” Curry says. “You have to try different things. I’ll say it, I’ve done it over the past few years when I’ve had the opportunity. Of course I will find my rhythm, I have to take more shots and be able to get the ball into the basket more consistently. I think I adjusted really well to the offense we created and the energy we played with.

“Who knows how long it will take, but we are trying to get out of this hole in every way we can. At that point you have to play a little desperate and do desperate things.”

The Warriors posted a plus in Curry’s first outing and a minus when he sat for the first time. They were plus-11 with him back then and were now leading by eight when Curry was next substituted. Without Curry, the Warriors were once again down-1, and thanks largely to the fact that the Nuggets ended the first half with a 15-3 run, they were outscored by eight points with him before being tied with seven minutes left third quarter.

The Nuggets went a plus-3 over the next few minutes without Curry and even outscored the Warriors by two points in the final three minutes of the third quarter with him on the floor. The fourth quarter is what this change in Curry’s rotation is all about.

It’s a quarter in which the Warriors had been outscored by 23 points in their first 19 games. The Warriors needed last season’s clutch Player of the Year to start the fourth quarter in the Mile High City and would be ready to use him to close out the game. The Warriors were plus-12 with Curry on his first shift of the fourth quarter and went on a 16-4 run to now lead 101-94.

Golden State even held on without him. The Nuggets scored just one more point than the Warriors when Curry took a breather, and a big reason for that was a ridiculous 3-pointer from Michael Porter Jr. just before Curry finally returned.

In the final five-plus minutes, the Warriors lost 16-6. After Curry hit Jamal Murray on a fadeaway jumper with two and a half minutes left to give his team a 115-109 lead, the Warriors never scored again as the Nuggets took them to the finish line with a 10-0 run ended.

Curry, 36 years old and suffering from bilateral knee pain, says he doesn’t know how long this type of use will last. Kerr hinted that the plan could stick — at least for a while — and believes it is beneficial for Curry and the rest of his Warriors teammates.

“This is a type of team that we think we probably need to do in shorter periods for him, but also in shorter periods without him for the rest of the guys,” Kerr said.

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