Moses Moody hit several big shots in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, but he wasn’t on the floor for the closing minutes as the Warriors fell to the Kings. That’s something coach Steve Kerr may have to change if the third-year guard remains productive, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
Moody scored 11 points in the first seven minutes of the quarter, making all four of his shot attempts. However, Kerr opted to replace him with Andrew Wiggins with 4:26 remaining.
“Moses was awesome tonight,” Kerr said. “We needed (Wiggins) on the floor for defense against (De’Aaron) Fox, and we decided to go with Klay (Thompson) and our vets. We thought about keeping him out there. But we made the move that we made.”
Kerr’s loyalty to his veterans cost the Warriors an important division game and a possibly a chance to reach the in-season tournament quarterfinals, according to Marcus Thompson. With Moody and rookie Brandin Podziemski both playing well, Thompson believes Kerr will eventually have to trust them with a game on the line.
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Stephen Curry remains as productive as ever, but Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are no longer playing at a championship level, contends Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. He notes that Thompson has been forcing shots and can’t stay in front of quicker players on defense, while Green’s intensity has been out of control lately, resulting in a five-game suspension for an incident with Rudy Gobert and a near ejection for mocking the officials in Tuesday’s game. O’Connor’s recommendation is for the Warriors to shake up their roster with a trade, using Chris Paul‘s salary and some of their young talent. He suggests targets such as the Raptors‘ Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, the Bulls‘ Alex Caruso, the Wizards‘ Kyle Kuzma, or possibly Lauri Markkanen from the Jazz or Kawhi Leonard or Paul George from the Clippers if those teams continue to struggle.
- Golden State could be heading toward a difficult place with Thompson if he can’t shake his early-season slump, observes Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. Thompson has an expiring contract, and if he can’t prove that he’s worth the four-year, $220MM extension that he reportedly expects, his only choices next summer will be to either leave the Warriors or re-sign for significantly less.
- A pair of injuries added to the team’s woes in Tuesday’s loss, notes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Paul was ruled out with lower left leg soreness shortly after halftime, and Gary Payton II hobbled to the locker room with a right calf injury late in the third quarter.
Time to move Thompson to a lesser presence and utilize Moody more…..he is still young, but his hustle and toughness are needed more than a one dimensional player like Thompson
Kerr is the main reason they lost. Ownership needs to sit him down and discuss playing the young players/rookies so they can get the experience needed for the playoffs.
Kerr challenge the offense foul on Curry was plain stupid. No refs are going to overturn that call. If they had that last time out it could have made a huge difference
arc……couldn’t agree more
Nobody expects Klay to get a 4yr/$220M extension. I also seriously doubt that Klay expects it. That’s what you get when you quote Letourneau from the Chronicle.
Curry has to ask for a trade if he want to win a last ring …
CP3 is a good lieutenant when Curry is out. Klay, Kuminga or Wiggins has to go
At some point Kerr is going to have to cross the Klay bridge. He’s just delaying the inevitable at this point. If Klay gets upset and causes friction within the locker room, so be it at this point. Because the alternative is trying to walk a tightrope that only ends up resulting in a lost season. And it’s not going to get any better with Klay’s skills and ego moving in opposite directions.
The Warriors simply aren’t good enough to placate Klay in key moments when you need your best players from that game on the floor. If he at least played the game the right way it would be one thing, but this version of him is a detriment if he’s not hitting his shots. You simply can’t trust his decision-making down the stretch.