Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant found himself in a bit of a disconnect with his head coach after Thursday’s game against the Indiana Pacers.
Following the 126-106 road loss, Steve Kerr was rather heated and blasted his team for a “pathetic” effort, saying that they did not care.
What was the Warriors’ main problem tonight? “Caring in general,” Kerr said.
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) April 6, 2018
Kerr was as heated postgame as we’ve seen all season. Called tonight’s loss “embarrassing” and “pathetic.”
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) April 6, 2018
When informed of Kerr’s comments in the locker room however, Durant, who finished with team highs in points (27) and assists (seven), had to disagree.
“I thought we cared tonight. We cared,” said the former MVP, according to Mark Medina of the Mercury News. “Last few games, we cared.
“They played better basketball than us,” Durant added. “They came out with a better strategy. They were more aggressive than us.”
Whatever the root cause was, the flat effort dropped the Warriors to 57-22 on the year, making it increasingly likely that they will fail to win 60 games in the regular season for the first time since Kerr arrived in 2014. Granted, they have had some lousy injury luck this season, most notably Stephen Curry being limited to 51 games with various leg troubles. But the physical and mental fatigue of going for a fourth straight Finals berth may be starting to wear on Golden State, and others on the team seem to sense the slippage as well.
