Amid losing streak, Steve Kerr says Warriors ‘need some practice time’

SAN FRANCISCO — Attempting to snap their six-game losing streak Monday night against the Houston Rockets, what the Golden State Warriors need, coach Steve Kerr said, is more practice.

“We need some practice time and kind of sharpen some things up,” Kerr said before tipoff.

The losing streak, longer than any they had last season, has been a trying stretch of basketball. Without Steph Curry for two games, and with Draymond Green missing his third straight Monday serving a five-game suspension, the Warriors’ offensive rating has sunk to fourth from the bottom of the league over the six-game skid.

They entered Monday night at 6-8, in 10th place in the Western Conference.

Kerr chalked up their early struggles to a feeling-out period, as he attempts to trim down his rotation.

“By my count, if we’re healthy, we’ve got 12 guys who are not only capable but maybe deserving of rotation minutes,” Kerr said. “And that’s a good problem to have, but because there hasn’t been separation, we’re also kind of mixing and matching and trying to find combinations that make the most sense. We’re gathering data, gathering tape, but we do need to settle in on our top nine or 10 and go from there.”

Minus Green and Gary Payton II against the Rockets meant more extended playing time was in line for Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and rookie Brandin Podziemski (Trayce Jackson-Davis was a gametime decision with lower left leg soreness). But upon their return, Kerr will have some tough choices to make.

Despite being lottery picks three years ago, Kuminga and Moody have yet to establish themselves as permanent rotation pieces.

In the case of Moody, who scored in double figures both games Curry missed, Kerr said he believed he had earned more playing time. But newcomers Chris Paul and Corey Joseph also need floor time to get acquainted, and Klay Thompson isn’t going to take a seat because of one cold snap.

“He’s played really well. He just has such a great approach,” Kerr said of Moody. “But there’s a lot of factors as to why he hasn’t. Some of that is we’re trying to get Klay and Wiggs going. Some of that is we’re trying to play some other guys as well and see what those combinations look like.”

Kerr believes his patience will pay off with Thompson, just as it did with Andrew Wiggins, who erupted for a season-high 31 points Saturday night.

“You look at Klay and Wiggs early on, they both have struggled. But I’m of the opinion that we’ve got to show some patience because we know what they are,” Kerr said. “Look at Wiggs the other night, he looked great. I think our patience has been rewarded. I think you’re going to see a different Wiggs from here on, and I think the same thing is going to happen with Klay.”

The Warriors haven’t had much time on the practice court since the regular season started, but that will begin to change soon.

With only three games this week, they’ll get in two practices, Kerr said. And the week after that, they have only two games.

By then, perhaps a tight, nine- or 10-man rotation will have emerged.

“Sometimes it’s really clear and it just happens, and then other years it’s not as clear and you have to experiment and you have to give guys opportunities,” Kerr said. “It’s really hard when you’re losing to decide on your top nine or 10. …  It’s a good sign, though. We’ve got a really good roster. But we’ve just got to figure it out. It’s going to mean there are some people who are unhappy, and that’s how it’s going to be how it goes.”

Curry closes in on more history

Nobody is as synonymous with the Golden State Warriors than their sharpshooter extraordinaire, and soon nobody will have worn the uniform for more minutes on an NBA court.

If Steph Curry logs his season average of 33.2 minutes per game Monday night against Houston, he will pass Nate Thurmond as the franchise’s all-time leader in minutes played, adding to a list of accomplishments that includes the most 3-pointers in NBA history, four NBA championships and a unanimous MVP.

Thurmond, who died in 2016, spent the first 11 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Warriors. Remarkably, he averaged 40.6 minutes per game, racking up enough time on the floor to hold up as a franchise record for 49 years, a number it took Curry 15 seasons to reach.

A little further down the list are Curry’s championship-winning companions, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

In sixth place, Thompson is about 500 minutes — or about 17 games’ worth — away from passing Rick Barry. Despite a two-year absence, Thompson holds a slight edge on Green, who is a little further away — about 1,500 minutes — from passing Jeff Mullins for seventh all-time.