Although the Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets on Saturday at Chase Center, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr noticed that the team still needs improvement.
After the game, Kerr spoke to reporters about what he identified as Golden State's biggest challenge this season.
"And then halfway through the second quarter, maybe eight minutes left in the second quarter, we didn't have any turnovers, we had like 16 assists, we were defending, rebounding, doing everything right," Kerr said postgame. "Then we just lost our focus."
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With 7:37 left in the second quarter, the Warriors held a 25-point lead, 52-27, -- which was the largest of the night after a Jonathan Kuminga dunk.
The Rockets then went on an 18-3 run to cut the Warriors' lead to 10 points, 55-45, with 3:32 left in the same quarter.
Golden State was able to build up a 16-point lead to end the first half. But Houston cut the Warriors' lead down to four, 100-96, with just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Golden State Warriors
Although the Warriors eventually pulled out the 120-101 win, Kerr wants his team to maintain the pressure for all 48 minutes, instead of just specific portions of the game.
"And that's our biggest challenge right now is trying to maintain our focus long enough to not give up leads and allow teams back in," Kerr continued. "And I thought that's what happened tonight."
Kerr also credits Andrew Wiggins and the rest of the Warriors' hot shooting from 3-point range, but reiterated that being engaged was the most important thing.
"But we know we have a lot of improvement to make, mainly on that focus dynamic that I talked about," Kerr concluded.
This isn't the first time Kerr has highlighted the Warriors' lack of focus.
On Oct. 24, three games into the 2022-23 NBA season, the Warriors coach shared that his team had a "total lack of focus" in transition defense.
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While it's clear that the Warriors have a handful of things to work on, that is to be expected with so many new faces and young players that are thrust into heavy minutes for the defending champions.
Warriors fans have to be hope that because Kerr already identified the issue, it only will be a matter of time before Golden State regains its championship focus.