Category: Basketball

Steve Kerr reveals Warriors' ‘adapt-or-die' mentality in ever-changing NBA originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

At 5-5 on the 2025-26 NBA season following a 4-1 start, the .500 Warriors have some work to do if they want to contend in the Western Conference.

But despite the steep road ahead, coach Steve Kerr explained why there’s no point in feeling a sense of urgency at the beginning of a long campaign — especially in a league that now is so fast-paced, focusing on the little things is more important than ever.

“We’ve given a couple games away for sure, and there’s absolutely a focus on that,” Kerr told 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” on Thursday, one day before Golden State’s blowout NBA Cup loss to the Denver Nuggets. “But you can’t just say, you know, ‘Hey, we got to get urgent here.’ There has to be a process that leads to the execution, that leads to the wins. And so right now, the focus is on the process. Take care of the damn ball, and we can help you with that as coaches with spacing and our offensive scheming, what we’re doing, that’s a collaboration.

“But ultimately, you know — adapt or die. I mean, the league has changed, and everyone’s playing with pace and 3-point shooting. I would say, seven or eight years ago, we could turn it over 18 times, and it didn’t matter, because we were going to shoot threes and play fast and out-talent people. Now you can play one of the worst teams in the league, and they will beat you by shooting, making 20 threes and playing really fast if you turn it over.”

The Warriors haven’t done a great job at taking care of the ball so far this season — they rank No. 20 in the league in turnovers per game with 16.0 and No. 22 in turnovers per possession (15.5 percent). In consecutive losses to the Sacramento Kings and Nuggets this week, Golden State allowed 28 points off 31 turnovers and has turned the ball over 15 or more times in seven of their 10 total games.

If the Warriors can limit their turnovers, Kerr believes the sky is the limit. But as he said, it’s truly do or die in an NBA that isn’t slowing down any time soon.

“And so our entire team needs to understand this message,” Kerr continued. “And obviously, I’ve given them that message. I’m not sharing it with you guys without sharing it with them, but I want them to hear this too on the radio like, you know, we have to adapt to what the league is doing right now, and that means take care of the ball, handle transition at both ends.

“And if we do that, I love our team. I think we’re going to go places.”

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With Cam Thomas sidelined due to a hamstring strain for the next three to four weeks, the Nets will need other young players to step up and fill the scoring void.

Insert third-year forward Noah Clowney, who came through with 19 points in Friday's 125-107 loss to the Detroit Pistons. It was Clowney's third straight 15-plus point game, as the 21-year-old has started the past three contests for head coach Jordi Fernandez.

After the game, Fernandez spoke highly of Clowney's recent stretch, while acknowledging there is still room for improvement, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

"Noah always takes positive steps. I need him to be better defensively and he knows it," Fernandez said. "His voice needs to grow, embracing the contact, they're playing with the two bigs. Whether you're the low man, whether your communication is on or off the ball, all those things. 

"He's really smart, he's about the right things, he knows it. Like everybody else, need to grow into that fast. I know he will. I like his aggressiveness, how he shot the ball. Got to keep taking, like I said, positive steps."

Clowney went 5 of 13 shooting on Friday night, including 4 of 8 from three-point range with all four makes coming in the first quarter. Across his three recent starts (31 minutes per game), the Alabama product is averaging 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent from three, and 75 percent from the foul line.

The scoring is a big jump from what he was doing off the bench across the Nets' first six games. Clowney had scored just a total of 26 points (4.3 points per game) over 20 minutes per night prior to starting the past three games.

His hot stretch has also been helpful for rookie guard Egor Demin, who assisted on three of Clowney's four triples. The No. 8 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft believes Clowney can continue being a reliable option with his strong shooting.

"I love him. I think it's really important for me, personally, and for the team, to make sure that he has this confidence to keep shooting, and everybody knows that he can shoot the ball extremely well, as he did today," Demin said.

The Nets will need Clowney to continue scoring at the rate he has as they search for their second win of the season. Brooklyn will take on the crosstown rival Knicks on Sunday evening at MSG in the first of four matchups between the Atlantic Division two teams.