Kerr rules out the ‘Warriors’ struggles to get into Game 3 appeared in the original NBC Sports Bayara
All season long, the biggest mystery surrounding the defending champion Warriors was their inability to appear on the road.
Golden State fell to an 11-30 record away from Chase Center, with fewer wins on the road than seven teams not in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Steve Curry I didn’t have the answer woes of the road. Nor did Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Draymond Green never revealed the solution on his podcast.
But heading into the Warriors’ Game 3 matchup against the Lakers at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, Kerr wasn’t too worried. The past is the past.
“I’m taking away everything that happened in the regular season, honestly, because I feel like we’re a different team now,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Keith Burke and Festus Ezeli on Warriors Postgame Live after Golden State’s 2-game win. “We ran through the gauntlet with Sacramento, winning the last two games on the road.”
The Warriors’ struggles away from Chase Center spilled into the NBA series in the first round against the Sacramento Kings. They lost the first two contests of that series at the Golden 1 Center, allowing 17 offensive rebounds in Game 1 and committing 22 turnovers in Game 2.
After taking care of business at home and evening the series at two games apiece, Golden State was victorious in its return to Sacramento in Game 5, closing out the series behind them. Curry’s 50-point masterpiece On the road in Game 7.
the next? A trip to Southern California for Game 3. As a franchise, Golden State has lost 13 of their last 14 road games to the Lakers, dating back to the 1969 playoffs when they were still known as the San Francisco Warriors [h/t Josh Dubow].
Kerr might consider this statistic as relevant as the Warriors’ stark 11-30 record this season.
Related: Once again, Draymond shows unique value to the Warriors
“We’ve been through fire, and we’re a different group now,” Kerr told Burke and Isely. “We’re a different team than we were two weeks ago. I think this will help us in Los Angeles. We know it’s going to be a tough environment, but we’re ready to go.”
Game 3 between the Warriors and Lakers kicks off Saturday at 5:30 PM PT. Listen to “Warriors Pregame Live” at 4:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Bay Area Plus.