‘This is not a championship team’: Warriors head coach Steve Kerr admits his eliminated Golden State team is ‘maxed out’ after falling to the Lakers
- Kerr said the Warriors had a rough season after barely making the playoffs
- Golden State lost to the Lakers in six games, losing 122-101 on Saturday night
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
In the wake of the Golden State Warriors’ elimination at the hands of in-state rival Los Angeles Lakers, head coach Steve Kerr indicated that the title winners were doing the best they could this season.
Reflecting on their season, Kerr said the team has probably hit its ceiling when it comes to potential after a shaky start and just made the playoffs without a play-in game.
“I think I’m more focused on what went right, to be honest,” Kerr said when asked what went wrong this season.
“As the season started we were disjointed and had that 0-5 road trip and it felt like we were swimming upstream from the start.
“I think we were on the trajectory and in the first round of the play-offs. To be honest, I think this team probably maxed out in the end.”
Head coach Steve Kerr said his Golden State Warriors team was “exhausted to the max” after a difficult season
Golden State lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games on Saturday night, losing 122-101
Kerr is still happy with how the team performed in the second half of the season – a strong push to reach the playoffs and do great in that first round against Sacramento.
“I think we were barely in the playoffs for most of the year,” said Kerr. “So to give that push, to get there, to win an epic series in the first round and then give the Lakers a fight in this series and get our chances, that puts us in the top eight teams in the competition.
“That’s probably where we should be. This is not a championship team. If it were, we’d move on.’
There are a number of uncertainties regarding the future of this franchise, especially when it comes to the aging core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
All three players are in their early to mid-thirties and have shown varying degrees of success in these playoffs.
It was a great run from Stephen Curry – dropping at least 20 points in all six games
Curry played like the All-NBA talent he was this season going into the series against the Lakers—dropping at least 20 points in all six games and dropping a triple-double in the Game 4 loss.
Green also remained relatively strong throughout the series – with two double-doubles in games 2 and 5.
But Thompson was inconsistent. After dropping 25 points and 30 points respectively in games 1 and 2, the typically reliable shooter went a staggering 14-56 in the last four games of the series. That includes a terrible 10-36 line of 3-point range.
There are also questions about Green’s contract. He has the potential to renege on his current deal and become a free agent.