Moses Moody of the Golden State Warriors was having a perfect game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
He sank all of his shots, even three three-pointers, and was also strong on defense.
So why did head coach Steve Kerr pull him from the floor as the Kings made up ground and challenged the Warriors’ thinning lead?
Speaking to Anthony Slater and the press after the game, Kerr revealed that he benched Moody in the fourth quarter in favor of Andrew Wiggins.
“Moses was awesome tonight. We needed to get Wiggs on the floor for defense against [De’Aaron] Fox,” Kerr said.
“We decided to go with Klay and our vets. We thought about keeping him out there, but we made the move that we made,” he added.
Steve Kerr explains why he pulled a hot Moses Moody in the fourth quarter. Said he wanted to get Andrew Wiggins on the floor and opted to go with his other veteran options over Moody. pic.twitter.com/GzBUGLaQhX
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 29, 2023
To some fans, this was the wrong call and it highlights a problem they have with Kerr’s choices this season.
He has repeatedly decided to go with a lineup featuring Thompson and Wiggins over others, favoring the veterans even as they have struggled.
Some have assumed that Kerr continually turns to both Thompson and Wiggins because he is hoping they can play their way out of their slumps.
That seemed to be the case on Tuesday, as both Thompson and Wiggins seemed to shake off their rash of bad games.
Thompson scored 20 points and 9 rebounds, while Wiggins was good for 29 points and 10 rebounds.
Kerr believed that having Wiggins and Thompson on the floor together would lead to success but they just couldn’t stop the Kings’ late-game surge.
If he knew what he knows now, Kerr might have made a different choice, but he did what he thought was best.
NEXT: Steph Curry Makes His Thoughts Clear On Warriors Slump
