While the Warriors were without Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins for the first round against the Pelicans, Steve Kerr chose to come out Jonathan Kuminga of the starting five! And the person concerned only became aware of it at the last moment.
“I’m not the coach…”, reacted Kuminga. “It’s the coach, he made a decision. It's not my decision. This is my fourth year, it's not the first time things like this have happened. It's his decision. »
To attack the match against the Pelicans, Kerr decided to trust a five composed of Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis. After three games, Kuminga was averaging 8 points and 3.3 rebounds on 33% shooting, and Kerr assures us that this should not be seen as a sanction.
Steve Kerr is not at all worried
“Three games is nothing, I don't worry about a small sample like that. JK had an excellent preseason, he will come back” Kerr justifies himself. “We're going to need his power and athleticism, and he could be a big game depending on how the game goes. We're playing with 12 players every game, so it's hard for guys to find their rhythm individually because they're not playing as much as they used to. I'm not worried about JK at all, he'll be fine. »
Kerr was right since the electroshock took place. Against the Pelicans, the young Warriors winger had his best game with 17 points in 28 minutes.
“It’s different… We can’t just be good enough every time” defends Kuminga about his poor start to the season. “I'm just trying to find solutions, with new players and a lot of different systems, different actions. You just have to get used to it.”
Kuminga assures that he has not changed anything in his game
One thing is certain, he does not want to change the way he plays. “I'm not looking for 3-pointers… I shoot them but it's not something I look for. What I'm looking for is to get the upper hand on my defender.” he concludes, before ensuring that he had fun again against the Pelicans. “It's because I scored more that I gave the impression of being more fluid, but I did the same thing as in the second and third games… I continued to attack the circle , to put pressure on my opponents. Today things are back to normal. It seems like I played differently, but that's not the case. My gift and my nature is to attack the circle as much as possible. »
