Steve Kerr believes the Miami Heat found ways to demoralize the Golden State Warriors during their Dec. 27 matchup. Erik Spoelstra‘s team won by gaining an advantage in the hustle stats. The Heat imposed their style of play on the game.
During his postgame press conference, Kerr noted Golden State was outworked and outcoached by last season’s finalists. The Warriors’ performance was uninspiring, especially after the improvements they had made in recent weeks. Golden State’s overall performance level has trended in the right direction since Draymond Green’s suspension: The rest of the roster pulled together in the difficult circumstances,
“They took control of the game,” Kerr said. “I thought that run at the beginning of the second quarter. … They had control of the game from there. One of those nights. In every game all year, every game’s been close. We’ve been competitive and tough. Tonight, we kinda lost that competitiveness. It felt like we got demoralized. Shots weren’t going in. They just took it to us. … They controlled the game. We got outcoached, outworked and outplayed.”
Following the loss, the Warriors remain 11th in the Western Conference with a 15-16 record. They have lost two consecutive games and need to get back into the win column quickly to avoid embarking on another losing streak.
"It felt like we got demoralized … we got out-coached, out-worked, and out-played."
Kerr reacts to the Warriors' loss to the short-handed Heat pic.twitter.com/prC6M9Fvjf
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 29, 2023
The Warriors will be back in action on Saturday when they face the Dallas Mavericks.
