Even in a tough loss to the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets, Warriors coach Steve Kerr still saw some positives from an otherwise disappointing game.
Speaking with reporters after Golden State's 134-117 loss to Denver on the second night of a back-to-back, with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green out, Kerr was happy with certain aspects of his team Thursday night.
"... I really liked how the guys played off the bench," Kerr said postgame. "I thought everybody contributed well."
Of note, Kerr mentioned James Wiseman, JaMychal Green and Donte DiVincenzo as players who stood out the most to him during the game.
"James, it was the first time he's played in four or five games and came in and looked good," Kerr added. "I thought JaMychal had a really good first half -- it was good to see him out there after missing the last couple of games, and Donte continues to play at a high level.
"So I like what we saw from our bench tonight but again, we didn't have enough."
After not playing in the Warriors' last 15 games and rumors surrounding the embattled big man, Kerr turned to the 21-year-old Wiseman in the second quarter and in six minutes of action, he had three points and one rebound.
Overall, Wiseman scored nine points, grabbed two rebounds and had one steal in his 16 minutes of action. More importantly, he was plus-7, the highest on the Warriors.
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Green, on the hand, played well all-around in the first half. Seeing 8:39 of first-half action, the veteran had six points, three rebounds, three assists and one block as he continues to play himself back into game shape.
Lastly, DiVincenzo continued to be a stabilizing presence off the bench. In almost 22 minutes, the 26-year-old had 14 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
He and Ty Jerome had the most minutes off the bench, with the former playing 21:53 and the latter 23:34. However, they were a minus-14 and a plus-1, respectively.
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Thursday's loss dropped the Warriors to 26-26 on the year, a record unbecoming of the defending NBA champions, and pushed them into ninth place in the jam-packed Western Conference playoff picture.
And though Kerr might have found positives with the Warriors' bench production after a lackluster performance, Golden State can ill afford to have back-to-backs like it just had if it wants to properly defend its title.