“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.

“I made some decisions at the end that didn’t work out.”

-Head Coach Steve Kerr says he’s partially to blame for the Warriors stunning loss to the Nuggets. #DubNation @kron4news

— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) February 17, 2022

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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.

Gary Payton II played his best/most impactful game tonight in weeks

12 pts, 4 rebs, 6 steals (t-career high), 1 block with 5 mins left in the game

— Grant Liffmann (@GrantLiffmann) February 17, 2022

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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.