Inevitable changes coming for deep Warriors rotation after latest loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
If winning cures everything, losing exposes the leaks in your foundation.
The Warriors after Saturday night’s 113-105 road loss to the Phoenix Suns now have dropped four straight games, sending them from first in the Western Conference to fourth with a 12-7 record. Changes appear to be coming.
Steve Kerr’s grand experiment of testing Golden State’s depth has been far from the norm for an NBA team. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer used four players off the bench against the Warriors, with each seeing at least 15 minutes of time. That gave them rhythm without having to look over their shoulder at the next guy down the bench ready to come in for them at the next whistle, and it showed.
Oso Ighodaro played 31 minutes and was a plus-14 with six points on 3-of-4 shooting, eight rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Dunn, plus-8, also had two blocks in 20 minutes, plus two points, four rebounds and two assists. The scoring spark the Suns needed off the bench came from Royce O’Neale and Monte Morris.
O’Neale, plus-15, scored 11 points in 19 minutes, going 4 of 6 from the field and 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. Morris saw the least amount of time by the Suns’ reserves, playing 15 minutes but scoring eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and was 2 of 3 from deep. He was a plus-9, adding five rebounds, three assists and one steal.
The only Warrior with a positive plus/minus off the bench was Kevon Looney, who was a plus-1 in 16 minutes.
“It can get difficult at times to find a rhythm, kind of not knowing what to expect from game to game,” Looney said to reporters in Phoenix. “But I think the guys are doing a good job of staying ready. Everybody knows they’re going to get in at some point. … I think with this group we know he’s going to play all of us at some point and we just have to be ready at the time to bring a spark and bring energy and make plays.
“I think for the most part we’ve been doing that, but when we’re losing you’re trying to find a reason why we lost and get a little frustrated, but I think the…
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