BOSTON – What do you think? It’s a statement. If we don’t win, everybody says, ‘Oh, they ain’t played nobody.’ You gotta come make a statement, right?
Playing the defending champion Boston Celtics at TD Garden, the Warriors answered every question about their early-season success with a 118-112 win Wednesday. The win mattered. It was a big deal, as reflected in Buddy Hield’s words above after being asked about the significance of the Warriors’ victory.
Watching how coach Steve Kerr paced the sidelines, it was clear this wasn’t another November game on the Warriors’ schedule. Kerr was animated, focused and intense. His emotions weren’t held back, including at his superstar Steph Curry.
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“The beauty with Steph is he lets me yell at him, which sets the tone,” Kerr said. “He accepted it. He knew it.”
The play and interaction Kerr is referring to occurred with five minutes remaining in the first half with the Warriors leading by four points. Curry grabbed a rebound off a missed Derrick White 3-point attempt, turned his shoulders and instantly heaved the ball ahead to the other side of the court. His pass attempt fell way short of his intended target, Kyle Anderson, and landed in the hands of White.
That mental lapse of a turnover then turned into a Jayson Tatum 3-pointer, bringing the Celtics within one point. Kerr called the mistake a five-point swing off one bad decision, immediately calling a timeout.
The second the ball left Curry’s hands, Kerr’s anger wasn’t masked. And he didn’t hold back on Curry walking back to the bench, too. Lip readers commence. There easily are at least a few words that can’t be typed here.
Golden State Warriors
Steve Kerr wasn't happy with Steph Curry after this second-quarter turnover 😳 pic.twitter.com/SciAPNvNNQ
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 7, 2024
Kerr learned early in his coaching career that Curry can handle yelling when it’s needed, another of the many attributes that remind him of Tim Duncan with how he responded to San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Kerr’s message is simple: The Warriors can’t afford these kinds of mistakes anymore.
For how strong and impressive their 7-1 start has been, reality has sunk in that these aren’t the dynasty years with a peak Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Co. The margin for error is too slim to make silly errors.
“Boston shot 20 more threes than we did in the second half,” Kerr said. “So it’s tough to win if you are giving away possessions. I’ve been all over Steph and Draymond. It’s incumbent upon them because they are our leaders and they’re the guys who handle the ball most. They got to cut back on their bad decisions like that.”
As Curry reminded us at his locker after the win, he didn’t commit another turnover the rest of the way. How he accepts Kerr’s criticism as one of the faces of the league impacts the rest of the team, which is another example of the leader Curry is.
“It’s a mindset that, one, I want to be coached just like everyone else,” Curry said. “I don’t get sensitive about getting yelled at if you make a dumb play, especially because it led to a three on the other end. It’s avoidable. We have to be able to take care of possessions.
“Me and Draymond are going to have turnovers. We have the ball in our hands a lot, gonna take chances here and there. But there are turnovers like that where even if [Anderson] catches it, it’s a tough play.”
The Warriors went on a 5-0 run after the timeout and outscored the Celtics 14-4 the rest of the second quarter to take an 11-point lead into halftime in an eventual six-point win. That five-point swing could have been back-breaking. Instead, Curry at center court coming out of the timeout repeatedly tapped his chest as a sign of accountability and a reminder to lock in for the final 29 minutes.
This is a team that only has seven players left from the 2022 championship they won in Boston. Multiple new players are being relied upon, and the training wheels have been taken off for their youngsters. Everybody has been bought in, as seen in their ferocious defense that held the Celtics to only 40 points in the first half.
But other teams still will pounce at any crack in their armor. Nobody has the ability to super glue it all together and patch the pieces like Curry.
Now on his fifth team in his nine-year career, Hield is thriving with the Warriors. The fellow sharpshooter has been around some great talents before, but none like Curry, whose direct effect is felt way past his season-high 27 points – 10 of which were scored in the fourth quarter.
“Steph just … he’s the ultimate superstar,” Hield said. “He’s just coachable. I’m learning a lot ever since I’ve been here. Every day you’re learning something new. That’s humbling, Steve coming at the best player. He’s won two MVPs and four championships, but that’s how coachable Steph is, man.
“He leads by example by being coachable, and he responds. And that’s what we’re all going to do.”
Parades aren’t scheduled in November. Curry knows there isn’t a reason to celebrate from eight games. It also can’t be ignored that the Warriors now have won five consecutive road games to start a season for the first time since their record 73-win campaign, or that he ratcheted up his playing time to 34 minutes his second game back from missing three straight to injury, joking to tell Kerr he can play 40 Friday night in Cleveland.
Everything starts and ends with him, and the relationship he and Kerr displayed is another bright spot for every Warrior following their lead into battle.