Steve Kerr Calls Out Brandin Podziemski After Warriors' Loss To Nuggets

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was not happy with Brandin Podziemski's play in their 119-115 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena on Tuesday night. In his press conference, Kerr called out Podziemski, making it clear that the guard needs to be better at decision-making going forward.

"Podz is a hell of a player, but he needs to—and I've told him this—he needs to be a smart player," Kerr said. "He's one of our guys whose capable of making really good decisions. He had a lob when we were up 12 in the late second quarter that was frankly insane.

"It's a 5-on-4," Kerr stated. "You just keep hitting singles, throw the ball to the open guy. He had the same play last week against Brooklyn where he tried to throw a lob over his shoulder. He cannot be that guy. And he can't foul jump shooters.

"I love Brandin, he's a hell of a player," Kerr continued. "He's got a hell of a future ahead of him but I hope he watches this clip right now of me talking, because he needs to hear it. He's got to be a smart, tough, great decision-maker, and he's very capable of it. But that's his next step."

It's not often that you see Kerr go off on one of his players in this fashion, which lets you know just how frustrated he was with Podziemski. The second-year guard did indeed make one too many bad decisions in this one.

That lob in the second quarter which Kerr referred to was certainly ill-advised. It led to a turnover and what should have been two easy points for the Warriors ended up being two easy ones for the Nuggets.

Podziemski also fouled Michael Porter Jr. twice on three-point attempts in this game. After the first instance in the third quarter, Kerr was seen conversing with the 21-year-old on the sidelines and it certainly didn't seem pleasant. Podziemski was asked about that exchange after the game in his press conference.

"It was more so he was getting on me to do my job, know what I'm supposed to be doing out there," Podziemski said. "And he's like, 'If you can't do your job, I'm going to pull you out.' ... He just got on me a little bit, which I'm all for. I'm trying to get better. He knows he can get on me, and I'm not going to respond emotionally. I'm just going to go out there and hoop."

Podziemski also admitted he played poorly against the Nuggets, especially on the defensive end. He finished with 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the contest as the Warriors dropped to 12-8 on the season. It was their fifth straight loss and they're floundering after that hot start. It will be interesting to see if Kerr makes any changes to the lineup or rotation to turn things around.

Steve Kerr Also Blasted The Officials After The Loss

Podziemski wasn't the only one Kerr wasn't happy with after the loss. The 59-year-old criticized the officials for not calling a technical foul on Christian Braun in the dying moments of the game when he seemed to be asking for a timeout when the Nuggets didn't have one.

“Yeah, Braun called a timeout,” Kerr said. “He dove on the floor, he rolled over. Everybody saw it, except for the three guys we hired to do the game, and that makes me angry.

“That’s a technical foul,” Kerr continued. “They don't have a timeout left. That's a technical foul. We shoot a free throw, we get the ball and we have a chance to win the game. They all told me they didn’t see it.

“He dives on the floor and rolls over and he goes, 'Timeout!' It's up to the referees... That's why there's three of them. Somebody's got to see it. So yeah, that made me mad. With that said, that's not why we lost. We lost because we didn't close again.” 

Here is the sequence that Kerr was referring to.

I'll let you decide if you think Braun called for a timeout there or not. Whatever the case, as Kerr stated, that call wasn't the reason the Warriors lost. They led 113-107 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter but proceeded to make just one shot the rest of the way.

The Warriors are now 5-7 in clutch games this season and they need to start executing better down the stretch. They face one of the better clutch teams in the NBA this season next in the Houston Rockets at Chase Center on Thursday at 10 PM ET. If that game goes to the wire, my money would be on the Rockets to get over the line.