Barber: Warriors get what they need in 117-106 win against Lakers

OAKLAND

The Warriors found their formula. It was served in a rocks glass with a salted rim.

The road to recovery didn’t begin with an extra-long practice or a players-only meeting or a Rumpelstiltskin-like tirade from coach Steve Kerr. It started with a party.

Stephen Curry turned 30 on Wednesday. Two days earlier, his wife, Ayesha, had organized a surprise party with invites to a couple hundred of the two-time MVP’s best friends, including just about everyone in his basketball organization. The Warriors had so much fun that they called in sick on Tuesday; Kerr canceled the practice that was scheduled for that day.

Or, not quite.

“We didn’t really cancel practice,” Kerr said. “We had a get-what-you-need day. We call it get-what-you-need. And the beauty of the get-what-you-need day is that we are not required to invite the media. So get-what-you-need day means some guys come in and get a massage, some guys just get shots up, some guys get treatment done, they get their weight work in. So they came in and broke a sweat. We just didn’t invite you guys.”

Fine. And we didn’t invite the Warriors to our 3:30 p.m. story-budget meeting.

In effect, Kerr responded to his team’s two-game losing streak - a rarity in his tenure here - by giving the players consecutive soft days. The coach was taking a measurable risk. Not because an extra day off would so drastically affect his veteran team, but because he was certain to absorb a public flogging if the plan backfired. And by backfired, I mean a loss to the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

Warriors fans are a bit jittery these days. Their team exited the weekend two games behind the Houston Rockets in the column that matters, and with back-to-back losses at Portland and Minnesota. It’s getting harder to believe the Warriors can simply make a wardrobe switch whenever they feel like it and suddenly change from T’Challa into Black Panther. The paying customers want to see some urgency from their team.

Instead, they saw images of Curry (who is out with a sprained ankle) and Klay Thompson (broken thumb) and even Kerr (tragic lack of rhythm) dancing like happy fools on the San Francisco docks Monday night. Good for them. But if the Warriors had lost to the Lakers, the optics, as they say, would not have been great.

But they bailed out their master party-planner, Kerr, on Wednesday with a 117-106 win at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors should beat the young Lakers, of course. But these weren’t the real Warriors. They were barely more than half of the Warriors. They were like the Wars or the Wris.

Kevin Durant, one of Golden State’s two megastars, took his usual spot in the starting lineup. But Kerr apparently settled the other four positions through a game of rock-paper-scissors. The winners were Kevon Looney, Zaza Pachulia, Nick Young and Quinn Cook, who used paper to wrap up Chris Boucher’s rock in the final round.

The strange lineup was a result of the wave of injuries that has washed over this team lately. The recurring instability in Curry’s right ankle in the main concern. Now his fellow starter in the backcourt, Thompson, is out, perhaps for weeks with the thumb injury. Vital power forward Draymond Green (shoulder soreness), heady backup forward David West (arm cyst) and backup guard Patrick McCaw (fractured wrist) also missed the Lakers game. And super-sub Andre Iguodala (wrist) and rookie big man Jordan Bell (ankle), both of whom returned after injury absences, might have been something less than 100 percent.

Add it all up, and maybe the Warriors should have spent a couple days in a convalescent home. Instead, they shook their troubles loose on the dance floor. As usual, Kerr was one step ahead of the rest of us in gauging his team.

“I asked Coach - I went on the road trip this weekend - like how was the vibe on the team,” Curry said after the Wednesday morning shootaround. “And he basically mentioned that he was really happy with where we were. Obviously, we lost two games, but there’s fight, guys had an edge. And you can see that in body language and just the look on people’s faces when they’re out there playing.”

Wednesday’s win was another brick in the road to a productive postseason. Not that it was easy.

The Lakers played without one of their best players, Kyle Kuzma, but they pitched quite a battle against the half-Warriors. It was 55-55 at halftime, and Golden State spent much of the fourth quarter nursing a single-digit lead. The offense was muddled when Kevin Durant wasn’t hitting shots, and Bell and Pachulia had some defensive lapses inside. Without Curry and Green to control the ball movement, the Warriors turned it over 22 times.

But there was “fight” and “edge” to the Warriors’ game, just as Kerr told Curry there was. When they stretched their lead on the Lakers over the final five minutes of the game, Casspi and Young made significant contributions. And Looney was solid throughout, especially on the defensive end. Cook scored 13 points, his season high.

“These games are good for team morale,” Kerr said afterward. “Half my career I was 10th or 12th man, and didn’t play much. And when I could have a night where I got to contribute, it carried me for another month. Everybody needs that. Everybody needs to feel the impact that they can make.”

So the plan worked. The party and the get-what-you-need day didn’t dim the Warriors’ focus. It replenished them. So bring some kegs to the practice arena. Install a disco ball over center court and hire a DJ to spin tracks during 3-on-3 drills. The Warriors should wear lampshades in the layup line for the rest of the season.

Kerr isn’t worried about sharpening his players. He just wants a clean injury report. When he gets it, he believes the Warriors will be a better team for having had to play without the likes of Curry and Thompson. You can’t always get what youneed. But if you try sometimes, you might find, you need what you get.

You can reach staff writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.