Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr can pinpoint the moment where Game 6 slipped away from his team — and knows who is to blame.
The Warriors lost to the Houston Rockets 115-107 on Friday, allowing a 3-1 series slip out of their grasp as the Rockets forced Game 7. The Warriors battled through three quarters of Friday’s game but fell apart in the fourth, giving up a 20-5 run to start the quarter and allowing the Rockets to roll to victory.
Kerr said it was a play early in the fourth that started the team’s nosedive, and blamed the coaching staff. Rockets guard Fred VanVleet got loose on the first possession, nailing a 3-pointer just six seconds into the quarter and turning it into a four-point play when he was fouled by Gary Payton II.
“That’s on us as a staff, we’ve got to make sure they’re matched up,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “We didn’t guard VanVleet, they threw it up the floor and he knocks it down and gets the free throw. That felt like a game-changing play because, like I said it was a two-point game and we had it right where we need to be despite not having played very well and turned it over quite a bit.”
Kerr also said his team committed too many turnovers, with 10 in the first half, but were able to overcome the setbacks until VanVleet’s 3-pointer.
“I didn’t like our first half with the turnovers, I think we had 10, and that’s the key to the whole series is the ball security,” Kerr said. “So, the 10 turnovers in the first half got us off to a rough start.”
“With that said, we’re down two going into the fourth.”
The Warriors and Rockets meet in Game 7 on Sunday.