Kerr explains Warriors' adjusted rotations in win over Kings

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For several days, Steve Kerr hinted at changes to the Warriors' rotations and he finally got to unveil them against the Kings at Chase Center on Monday.

Needless to say, despite the Warriors' 116-113 win over the Kings, Kerr and the coaching staff still have a lot of things to sort out.

Before the game, Kerr told reporters he planned to downsize the Warriors' second units, and he definitely did that against the Kings, garnering mixed results.

In the first quarter, two-way player Anthony Lamb and 2021 lottery pick Jonathan Kuminga were the first two players off the bench. Jordan Poole and Ty Jerome also played in the opening period.

In the second quarter, Moses Moody joined the fray, but James Wiseman and JaMychal Green didn't see any action.

With the Warriors trailing by 12 after the first half, Kerr made even more changes, inserting Poole into the starting lineup in place of Kevon Looney.

"First half was basically the way we planned," Kerr told reporters after the game. "And then at halftime, we decided to start Jordan for Loon, just to throw a changeup out there. We were not right in the first half. After the good start, we just lost our juice.

"So second half, it was more just figure it out. But we wanted to start Jordan to see if we could get him going a little bit and spread the floor."

After a good start to the game, the Warriors' level of play fell off. Poole (minus-19), Lamb (minus-12), Kuminga (minus-17) and Moody (minus-16) all struggled before halftime, prompting Kerr to make changes.

With their small-ball lineup, the Warriors opened the second half on a 13-4 run to get back into the game, allowing Steph Curry to take over and will them to a skid-busting win.

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"I really liked our energy in the second half," Kerr told reporters. "We held them from 4-of-18 from 3 in the second half as opposed to 10-for-22 in the first half and it just felt like we were making our presence felt just with the energy and flying around.

"So, second half, we did enough to get it done, but at that point, we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants."

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The Warriors still have a lot to figure out.

All five bench players finished the game with a negative plus-minus and none scored more than five points. Curry bailed them out with a masterful 47-point performance, including 17 in the fourth quarter.

Kerr and the coaching staff have three days off to work on things before the Warriors' next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

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