Steve Kerr pinpoints key moment when Dubs lost game to Bulls

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry and company had a golden opportunity to follow up Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks with three straight wins, gaining crucial ground in a busy race for sixth place in the Western Conference. THE Warriors of the Golden State led the Chicago Bulls by two with minutes left in the fourth quarter Thursday, seemingly en route to a hard-fought victory over an inferior opponent. Curry never got a chance to help his team close out the Bulls, heading to the locker room after twist your right ankle with 3:51 left.

So much for these three consecutive victories. As the game’s most critical moments unfolded as Curry was being evaluated by the team’s coaches, DeMar DeRozan‘s five straight points with less than a minute remaining sent the Bulls into a dire situation. 125-122 win at Chase Center.

With Draymond Green fouling out and Andrew Wiggins watching from the bench, DeRozan went to work on Golden State’s youngsters. He hit a spinning 12-footer over the outstretched arms of Moses Moody with 44 seconds left, then put Jonathan Kuminga in the air with a fake before draining another jumper on the Bulls’ next possession, sinking the throw frank that followed. put his team in two. Golden State played foul play from there after a wide-open missed layup by Brandin Podziemski, its hopes of victory dashed for good when Lester Quinones’ desperation as time expired landed well wide of the goal .

“DeMar is one of the best defenders in the game. He’s been doing it for 10 years. » Steve Kerr said. “It’s a great experience for all our young people. JK and BP were in the pick-and-roll exchange, so it’s good for them to feel that way. Moses too, to feel these great situations.

Shooting disparity doomed Warriors before Stephen Curry injury

No one would doubt that a different outcome was likely if Curry had been able to finish the game, but he never did on Wednesday before even twisting his ankle. Curry finished with 15 points and just one assist on 5-of-18 shooting overall and 3-of-12 from deep, absolutely stalked by Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu from the first tip.

These shooting struggles extended to the entire roster as well, as Golden State went just 11 of 42 from deep, good for 26.1 percent. Cumulative problems? Chicago made 16 triples on 44 attempts, consistently creating good looks after DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, who both had 33 points, drew extra defenders, constantly pushing the Dubs into multiple defensive rotations.

“The key to the game for me was late in the third, they made that run, made a ton of threes. For the game, they made 16 threes for 11,” Kerr said. “Nowadays, in the NBA, it’s hard to win when you make five fewer threes than your opponent.”

Curry’s status for the home-and-home opener against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday is uncertain. It would certainly not be surprising if joins Victor Wembanyamawho is suffering from his own sprained ankle, on the sidelines of the Chase Center.

Regardless, Kerr – opportunity to climb the standings be damned – isn’t sweating what can only be described as an abjectly disappointing home loss to a sub-.500 team that was missing several starters.

“Like I said, I have no problem with our effort and our execution. We have just been dominated. Chicago was great. They played well,” he said. “Watching them on tape before that game, I was pretty worried just because you could see the strength they were playing with and the confidence. They came out and have deserved.