Steve Kerr says Golden State Warriors star trio have ‘plenty left in tank’ after play-off ouster

LOS ANGELES – Golden State coach Steve Kerr acknowledged on Friday that the 2022-23 iteration of the Warriors is not a “championship team”, but he believes Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green can still form the core of one.

Shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers ended the defending champions’ season with

a 122-101 home victory

in Game 6 of their National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference semi-finals, winning the best-of-seven series 4-2, he insisted that the star trio are not done yet.

“I think it’s probably too raw right now for me to think about,” Kerr said when asked about possible future moves for a franchise who won four titles in the previous eight seasons, reaching the NBA Finals six times.

“The thing I will say is that Draymond, Klay, Steph, our core guys, they’ve got plenty left to offer. There’s still plenty in the tank.

“I thought they all had great seasons and may not have ended on a high note, but all three guys are still high-level players and I still feel like this team have championship potential.

“We didn’t get there this year, but it’s not like this is the end of the road.”

Things started going wrong for the Warriors as early as October when a video surfaced of Green punching teammate Jordan Poole during a pre-season practice.

Kerr called it a crisis, and it may have carried over as the Warriors got off to a rough start that included losing their first eight away games of the season.

Golden State’s road struggles and their slumping defence saw them fighting for play-off position in the West. They needed seven games to subdue the inexperienced Sacramento Kings in the first round.

“To be honest, I think this team finally maxed out,” Kerr added.

“This is not a championship team. If we were, we’d be moving on.”

While the coach was not ready to sound the death knell of a dynasty – one that had not lost a Western Conference play-off series since he took the helm in 2014, he said this time, at least, the Lakers were just better.

“I feel sad for our team, for our players. At the same time, very realistic – the better team won,” he said.

“There’s no regrets, but losing sucks.”

Curry scored 32 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 16 off the bench, while Thompson struggled for the fourth consecutive game, going two of 12 from three-point range, three of 19 overall and finishing with eight points.

The Warriors were 13 of 48 (27.1 per cent) from beyond the arc.

Green scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Warriors. He was slowed by a calf injury in the fourth quarter, while Andrew Wiggins played with a rib cartilage fracture and scored just six points.

The Lakers were led by LeBron James’ 30 points and Anthony Davis’ 17 points and 20 rebounds as the 2020 champions returned to the Western Conference Finals for only the second time since 2010.

Austin Reaves scored 23 points and D’Angelo Russell had 19 as the Lakers also improved to 6-0 at home in the play-offs.

They move on to face the Denver Nuggets on the road in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday.

“Not many (players) on our team have been in a close-out game,” James said from the court after the win.

“After Game 5, I knew we had to come in with a lot of aggression but be very efficient on how I play this game.

“It was great to be able to play one of our most efficient games, one of our best games of the series, and it started because of the defensive match-up we had.

“We defended at a high level, and when we do that, we can be extremely good. I thought we were locked in for as close to 48 minutes as possible tonight.” AFP, REUTERS