\u201cIt\u2019s been up and down for sure,\u201d Kerr acknowledged of Podziemski\u2019s season. \u201cBut our season has been up and down as a whole, and sometimes a team\u2019s struggles impacts the individuals. But we know what he can do \u2014 for the last couple years, he\u2019s been one of our highest plus\/minus players. He\u2019s a very versatile player. The rebounding is what attracted us to him in the first place, coming out of Santa Clara. When a guy rebounds like that, you know he has great anticipation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Brandin Podziemski, left, was one of several Warriors who stepped up with Stephen Curry (knee), Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is (illness) and Draymond Green (back) out against the Nuggets. (Kelley L Cox \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Kerr noted that some of Podziemski\u2019s confidence, especially on Sunday, came from gobbling up every rebound he could find. While praising Podziemski\u2019s individual effort, Kerr also detailed one of the ways in which the Warriors\u2019 coaching staff is trying to help Podziemski grow in his game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a really confident guy,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe wants the ball. He wants the big shot. But like every player, he needs the rhythm, he needs the flow of the game. And he can help himself. That\u2019s one of the things we\u2019re trying to teach him: He can help himself by actually getting off the ball earlier in a possession and then getting it back. At times, he wants to make the play from the outset, and that\u2019s a lot to do that. So he\u2019s still learning and growing, but that was a fantastic night for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Podziemski, who turns 23 on Wednesday, is in the midst of one of his best stretches of the season. He\u2019s scored in double figures in five straight games and will be counted on even more as Curry remains out.<\/p>\n
But he is just one of several Warriors players who chipped in to make a huge difference on Sunday. Al Horford had 22 points and seven assists. Moses Moody continued his solid play with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists. The same goes for Gui Santos, who had 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds. De\u2019Anthony Melton had 20 points, Gary Payton II had 15 points and Will Richard had 11. The fact that the Warriors still won on a day when Nuggets star center Nikola Joki\u0107 had 35 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists made the game even more memorable.<\/p>\n
It was one Podziemski should remember for a while because it was a reminder of just how many different ways he can impact a game. Horford praised his assertiveness on the floor, and his all-around play, coupled with his late-game willpower, allowed the Warriors to outscore the Nuggets 33-16 in the fourth and slam the game shut. For his part, Podziemski said he trusts his basketball IQ and remains buoyed by the fact that it has gotten him to this point in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing you can do is go out there and second-guess your decisions,\u201d Podziemski said. \u201cAnd it looks even worse. So I just go out there and play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did exactly that on Sunday, and in the process, he helped the Warriors pull off their best win of the season. As the Warriors head down the home stretch of the season, his challenge will be to replicate games just like Sunday\u2019s, where he can find different ways to help the group instead of trying to do everything on his own (as he\u2019s done sporadically throughout the season).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really more about finding that sweet spot,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cWhere he\u2019s making plays, but he\u2019s not dominating the ball. And that\u2019s his next step. You can see tonight there was a little of both and he got himself in trouble a couple of times, but when he gets off it and then the ball starts moving, then he gets it back, it\u2019s totally different \u2026 he\u2019s a really unique player, but he\u2019s still finding his way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 After celebrating up and down the Golden State Warriors\u2019 sideline throughout his team\u2019s impressive 128-117…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1753,2243,355,99],"class_list":["post-485527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}