Warriors’ Kerr follows his own course of action Tyler Johnson dishes on teeth, thumb, contract
HOUSTON — Steve Kerr’s tenure as coach of the Warriors has been defined by a couple of things.
The first, and most obvious, is a ridiculous number of wins. Another, and more subjective, is the conservative nature of his decisionmaking.
Kerr has often been prodded to go for the jugular more often. Even when Stephen Curry was at his peak a couple years ago, Kerr resisted going away from his egalitarian, ballmovement offense to allow Curry just to run one pickand-roll after another. He’s constantly declined to start his best lineup — going small, and featuring Draymond Green at center — until he’s absolutely had to.
That’s what made Kerr’s decision to start Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Monday night with that small-ball lineup so telling of his mindset — as well as his team’s — heading into this series.
“We felt it was important to get off to a good start,” Kerr said after the Warriors defeated the Rockets 119106. “That’s why we made the decision (to start small). We had good momentum from the last series, and the matchups were good.”
That explanation also leaves out something else: the Warriors knew that a win Monday night potentially could end this series before it began.
Kerr’s actions underscored that belief. So did his team’s play. So, frankly, did the desperation with which the Rockets came out of the gates, and their slumped shoulders in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter as it was clear nothing they did was going to be able to change the outcome.
Suddenly, after spending seven months building to this moment, the Rockets were right back to square one.
“Obviously we lost,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Now, the next most important game is Wednesday. Let’s see if we have a short memory.”
There is a moment in Kerr’s past that is analogous to this situation.
In 2001, the Lakers — featuring Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal — came to San Antonio to face backup point guard Kerr and the top-seeded Spurs in the Western Conference finals. It was a highly anticipated showdown between the last two NBA champions, who were a combined 14-2 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The Lakers promptly won Game 1 by 14, then won Game 2, before taking the series back to Los Angeles and crushing the Spurs in Games 3 and 4 to win that series on their way to a second straight title.
That’s how fast this get away from teams.
Now, there’s still plenty of basketball left. The Rockets won 65 games this season for a reason.
But all of the Rockets’ effort wasn’t enough for a Game 1 victory.
“We have to look at the film, see what we can do better,” the Rockets’ Chris Paul said. “But, for us, our focus right now is just on Game 2.” can News services
The thumb is healing, the teeth remain a work in progress. And yet when it comes to his next NBA step, Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson said Tuesday that it is the mental aspect of the game that is his priority.
“The physical part, I have a lot of tools that I haven’t even really tapped into yet, because I haven’t known how to,” he said at the annual Heat Academy youth celebration at AmericanAirlines Arena. “It all starts with my mental stability and my mental understanding of the game. I think the physical aspect can, obviously, get better. You can always improve, and get bigger, stronger and faster. But I think aside from that, it’s all up here.”
This offseason actually has been heady stuff for Johnson, who finally is addressing the two missing teeth that defined his smile at season’s end.
That, too, remains work in progress.
“What it is is that I had to get implants put in the post,” he said of the recent dental Instagram posts he offered. “This one is already fake, so they gave me a tooth down here as a temporary. And then up here, they couldn’t do because this one is also fake. So they couldn’t put it together. So in about two months, I’ll have a surprise for you all.”
That also meshes with recovery schedule from the late-April surgery he underwent to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb.
“It’s going really good,” he said. “I got a couple more weeks and I’ll be out the cast completely and just rehabbing. So, it’s going well.
“Right now, it’s a little bit of a special cast. So I can tighten it and untighten it, so it’s not as restrictive as what it would be like fully, fully wrapped up. That’s a plus, I guess.”
He said he was informed of the possible need for surgery after sustaining the injury during Game 3 of the Heat’s five-game firstround playoff ouster at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I had found out after I did it, that night after the game,” he said. “They had told me I was probably going to get it operated on. It was a matter of pain tolerance, ‘If you can play with it, awesome and that’s a plus. If not, it’s understandable and we can operate it.’
“But it really wasn’t super painful. It was just going to be something that was going to restrict some movement in my thumb and obviously it was going to have some sort of effect on basketball. I was able to play with it. We had a special tape job, so it didn’t move too much. So the pain was manageable.”
The Heat initially reported that Johnson would be in the brace for six weeks and is expected to make a full recovery and be available for training camp.
“First week, I didn’t do anything,” he said. “Now, I’m doing a little bit of rehab on everything from feet to all the way up. I just can’t do anything really with my left yet just because they don’t want to put any strain on the thumb.”
Johnson appeared in 72 games (39 starts) this season averaging 11.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 28.5 minutes. He set singleseason career highs in 3-pointers (119), starts and free-throw percentage (.822).
It largely was an uneven ride, including playoffs, with his salary now rising to in excess of $19 million each of the next two seasons.
“It don’t bother me,” he said of the increased expectations. “It’s just a nicer paycheck when I go home. It’s no bother to me, though. I know for other people maybe on the outside looking in it’s, ‘This guy is not worth what that is.’
“But I would say, the Heat wouldn’t have matched that contract if they didn’t. It was all laid out from the get-go. So it’s not like a surprise. It’s not like salaries are unveiled every year. It’s been known what it was going to be. I also think any time people on the outside looking in want to be doing what you’re doing or maybe wish they had a job in the NBA. It’s not any added pressure to me. Maybe it is to everybody else who think I should be this or that.”
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