Kerr echoes Green’s sentiment that defense has been too quiet
MIAMI — On Sunday, Draymond Green referred to the Golden State Warriors as a “very quiet team” on the defensive end of the floor.
On Tuesday, head coach Steve Kerr didn’t disagree.
“We’re very quiet across the board. We don’t have a lot of guys who are loud defensively,” he said before the Warriors beat the Miami Heat.
“Draymond is, obviously. (Kevon) Looney is. And we’ve missed that,” Kerr added.
Looney rejoined the rotation Tuesday with backup big Trayce Jackson-Davis scratched because of right knee soreness.
Kerr referenced a couple of defensive breakdowns in Golden State’s 114-110 loss at Minnesota on Sunday: a bungled switch that left guard Anthony Edwards open for a 3-pointer and a high pick-and-roll that freed center Rudy Gobert for an alley-oop dunk.
“If you’re quiet, switching is a lot harder,” Kerr said. “We definitely need to be louder.”
Kerr said communication can be effectively coached with some players. Looney, for instance, “didn’t say anything for two years” before evolving into one of Golden State’s better defensive communicators.
“I’m hopeful that our younger guys … eventually get there,” Kerr added. “Some guys can adapt and get there. … Others don’t, so you just keep working.”
Game within the game: After Golden State’s loss to Minnesota on Sunday, Edwards told reporters the Timberwolves knew what action the Warriors were running to generate what could’ve been a game-tying 3pointer.
The play called for Klay Thompson to run off a flare screen set by Stephen Curry at the top of the key, but Minnesota forward Kyle Anderson evaded the pick and contested the shot with relative ease.
“There’s great scouting these days,” Kerr said. “Every team — we have 12 assistant coaches — we know what other teams like to run at the end of games, too. Generally you go into a game and there are four or five things that a team might run at the end of the game. And that’s part of it.
“We all kind of know what each other likes to do and we get ready for it,” Kerr added. “They did a good job preparing for it.”
Starting lineup changes: The Warriors changed their starting lineup. Again.
Rejoining the first five at 2guard was Thompson, who replaced Brandin Podziemski alongside Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Green.
Thompson was a reserve for 14 games, averaging 19.8 points on 46.4% shooting and 42.8% from 3-point range.
In his first 53 games as a starter this season, Thompson averaged 16.6 points on 41.1% shooting, including 36.9% from beyond the arc.
The lineups have yielded similar effectiveness this season: The one with Podziemski has a net rating of plus-12.9 points per 100 possessions, and the one featuring Thompson is plus-12.3.