Kerr admits Warriors made playoff 'adjustments' for Curry's injury

Curry wasn't too hurt to play, but he wasn't himself either

After injuring his knee against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, Stephen Curry downplayed any lingering effects for the rest of postseason. The rest of the Warriors and his coach Steve Kerr did the same, continually saying that Curry was banged up but more than capable of playing.

However, Curry's play in the playoffs did seem to take a minor step back after his injury as at times it looked like he lacked the explosion and quickness he displayed during his MVP regular season. He was still sensational by most players' standards throughout the postseason, averaging 25.1 points on 43.8 percent shooting and 40.4 percent from three. But overall Curry just didn't appear to be himself and in a conversation with Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com, Kerr admitted that the Warriors did have to make some adjustments due to their star player not being at 100 percent:

"We made a few adjustments in terms of play-calling and actions that we tried to run," Kerr told CSNBayArea.com in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

"But there's only so much of that you can do. It's still about flow and rhythm and pace. We tried a few different things - and let's not forget, he was phenomenal in a few games."

...

"We didn't hide anything," Kerr said. "If there had been a diagnosis, we would have told you. We don't hide stuff like that. He was banged up. But that's not an excuse. It's not an injury; it's just that the reality of the season and it kind of hit him at the wrong time, given that everything started in the playoffs and carried through. We wouldn't have sat him out. We wouldn't have said anything different than what we said. It's just the reality of sports. It always takes a little bit of luck to win a title. We always say that, and it's the truth. You've got to get a break here and there."

Kerr is right. The Warriors just had some bad luck in the Finals and it's not all because of Curry's injury. Draymond Green's suspension in Game 5 and Andrew Bogut's injury are just two of the few ills that affected the Warriors against the Cavaliers. The worst luck of all was running into a possessed LeBron James.

All told, the Warriors were pretty transparent about Curry's injury and, as Kerr says, the MVP still played at a high level and had a few monster games in the playoffs. But Curry not being at full strength did force the Warriors to adjust how they played at times, and that change may have contributed to their Finals loss.