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“Why would Steve Kerr bench Gary Payton II in the final minutes?!”: Warriors’ Head Coach Steve Kerr takes blame for tonight’s loss, says it would give him sleepless nights

Raahib Singh
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"Why would Steve Kerr bench Gary Payton II in the final minutes?!": Warriors' Head Coach Steve Kerr takes blame for tonight's loss, says it would give him sleepless nights

Warriors’ Head Coach Steve Kerr takes responsibility for today’s loss, fans can’t get over his decision to bench Gary Payton II

The Golden State Warriors hosted the Denver Nuggets for their second meeting of the season. It was supposed to be the third time they played each other, but the 2nd time got postponed due to the COVID outbreak. The Nuggets, after trailing for 47 minutes and 45 seconds, took the first lead of the game with 14.6 seconds on the clock. Stephen Curry got the lead back for the Dubs in the subsequent possession. However, the Nuggets went on to drill a buzzer-beater 3 to win the game. Nuggets are now 2-0 against the Dubs for the season series.

After the game, Steve Kerr talked to the media, and claimed the blame.

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“Why would you sub Gary Payton II out?!”: Dubnation asks Steve Kerr

Gary Payton II, aka, the Young Glove or the Mitten, was given a start tonight, at the Power Forward spot. GPII played some of the best basketball of his career tonight, giving a master class on defense.

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At times, GP2 was switched onto Nikola Jokic, and he handled the assignment beautifully. His one block came against the 2021 MVP. With 5.50 minutes left in the game, Steve Kerr subbed out his best defender, with it being a 101-94 scoreline. What makes it worse, with 5.9 seconds remaining, the Dubs had a 2-point lead, and Denver called a timeout to advance the ball. Kerr had a chance to bring back GP2 instead of Curry, yet decided not to.

This led to Monte Morris hitting a 3 over Curry and a Dubs loss. Why Steve Kerr did so, there is no explanation for the same. However, one hopes he keeps the same in mind, as the Dubs would use this much-needed break to re-center and come back fresh.

About the author

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh

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Raahib Singh is an NBA Journalist and Content Strategist at The SportsRush. A Computer Science Engineer by qualification, Raahib's passion for sports drew him towards TSR. He started playing basketball at 14 and has been following the NBA since 2013. His entry into the basketball world perfectly coincided with Stephen Curry putting the league on notice. Having followed the league for a long time, he decided to use his knowledge to become a sportswriter with The SportsRush in 2020. Raahib loves to put up some shots in his spare time, watch Cricket, Formula 1, and/or read a nice thriller.

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