SACRAMENTO – The Golden State Warriors’ powers have been waning for a while now, and coach Steve Kerr has no idea what the future holds for his team from here onwards.
On April 16, the Sacramento Kings ended the play-off hopes of Stephen Curry and his teammates, routing the 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) champions 118-94 in the play-in tournament.
The Warriors had finished 10th in the Western Conference and needed a win against the ninth-ranked Kings in Sacramento to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Instead, the Kings will play the New Orleans Pelicans – who lost to the Los Angeles Lakers – on April 19 for the eighth and final play-off berth in the West.
The resounding defeat is bound to raise questions about the future of the Warriors’ star trio of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the pillars of the dynasty that won titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.
Following their last championship win, Golden State lost in the Conference semi-finals to the Lakers last season and now they have failed to make the play-offs.
“It’s too early for me to even think about that,” Kerr said, when asked about his plans moving forward.
“You invest so much in the season and there’s so much that goes on. It’s so emotional.
“The highs of this business are incredible, that’s why we’re all kind of addicted to it. But you have to absorb the lows.
“We’ve been really blessed here with amazing players and multiple championships and Finals appearances, the highest of highs. This is the flip side.”
He added: “What happens this summer and going into next year, we’ll worry about that later.”
Curry was equally downcast, saying: “It’s definitely frustrating and disappointing to say the least. But you hold your head high knowing that there’s a lot more in the tank. For me personally, that’s the mindset.”
The last three regular-season games between the Northern California rivals had been decided by one point.
But the Kings dominated this one, with the Warriors never leading after the opening minutes.
Kings forward Keegan Murray led all scorers with 32 points.
De’Aaron Fox added 24 and Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Warriors offence struggled.
Curry shook off a slow start that saw him score just five points in the first half to finish with 22, while Green had 12. But Thompson failed to score a point as he missed all 10 of his shots.
“Tonight was tough to see him struggle,” Kerr said of Thompson.
“But as I told the guys in there, it’s all part of being an athlete and being an NBA player. There are incredible highs and really tough lows, and this was a tough one for Klay and the whole team.
“We didn’t play very well and it hurts.”
The victory was also a dose of payback for the Kings, who blew a 2-0 lead in a first-round play-off series against Golden State last season as the Warriors won four of the last five.
Towards the end of the game, Sabonis scored four straight points and Harrison Barnes followed with a jumper to give the Kings a 97-78 advantage with 9min and 35sec remaining.
Golden State crept within 13, but Murray and Barnes drained three-pointers to push the lead to 105-86 with 6:09 left.
Barnes sank four free throws to make the margin 23 with 4:39 to play. Murray then drilled his eighth trey to make it 116-90 as the Kings closed it out.
“I felt like I’ve had a lot of good games,” Murray said when asked if this was his best game as a pro.
“You could call it, but I think it was a really good game by a lot of guys on our team.”
Fox added of the win: “I think it’s great. Getting over that hump is one thing that we talked about. But we got another game to go to get into the play-offs.” AFP, REUTERS
