Kerr appears to have settled on the Warriors’ starting lineup against the Thunder originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
After insisting that he would lean heavily into the Warriors’ roster depth by mixing and matching the starting lineups, coach Steve Kerr appears to have finally settled on a permanent unit.
Call it the do it all.
Kerr added rookie DeAnthony Melton to the group of regulars — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Trayce Jackson-Davis — and watched as that quintet set the tone and paced Golden State to 127-116 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night at Paycom Center.
The win, their eighth in their last 10 games, improved the surging Warriors to 8-2 in the Western Conference, a half game behind the Phoenix Suns.
On a night when Curry had his usual superstar performance with 36 points and Andrew Wiggins offensively piled up 18 points, Melton stepped up for his first start in a Warriors uniform and made up for slow scoring nights from Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis by pouring. in a season maximum 19 points to go with 10 rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Afterwards, Kerr told reporters he plans to stick with the same starting five when the Warriors return home Tuesday to face former Splash Brother Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks at Chase Center.
“I think it gives us a really good two-way lineup,” Kerr said. “You saw what [Melton] could do at both ends. He’s a really good passer, a great 3-point shooter [and] really good on-ball defender too.
“Melting in the starting lineup is something we talked about a lot in camp and here at the beginning. Really liked it. I think it makes a lot of sense for us.”
The Warriors didn’t sign Melton as much for their offense as they did for his defense. The 6-foot-2 guard has a massive wingspan, twice finished in the top 15 for individual steals and currently has a defensive rating of 96.
“It’s just what you expected,” Curry said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Postgame Live” show. “He was around the block. He is a gamer. When we played against them when he was in Memphis and we were in that [2022] championship series, he was a difference maker on both ends of the floor. [Tonight] that third quarter was huge. He hit big threes, playing great defense.”
Curry, Green and Jackson-Davis are the only players Kerr has started in every game this season. Wiggins started eight of the 10 games, but that fifth spot in the lineup had a revolving door.
Jonathan Kuminga had sporadic success as a starter earlier in the season but thrived since he was moved to the benchaveraged 17.4 points while shooting 51.7 percent (45 of 87) from the floor.
That’s one of the reasons why Kerr feels comfortable about finally settling on a starting group.
“I wish that starting group was tonight, I wish that group was our group going forward,” Kerr said. “JK has shown how important he is to us off the bench … he seems to fit that role really well.
“We’re looking for a really good defense to start the game, and that lineup gives us two on-ball defenders with Wiggs and Melt, and then two bigs with Draymond and Trayce. I think we’ll stick with it and see how it goes.”
