The Warriors are 5-0 on their current trip and have just one game left to play before returning to Oracle Arena.
If it was left up to Steve Kerr, Golden State would probably forfeit its contest in Detroit on Friday if he could fly home earlier.
On Thursday afternoon, Kerr called in for his weekly appearance on KNBR with Tolbert & Lund, and the fourth-year head coach had the sound of defeat in his voice when calling in from the team hotel.
“Well I am at the MGM Casino Hotel in downtown Detroit and you want to talk about a soul-sucking experience, man, we’ve got to get home, Tom,” Kerr said. “I don’t need a casino right now in Detroit.”
The Warriors are staying in downtown Detroit for the first time under Kerr’s watch because the Pistons opened up Little Caesars Arena this season after playing at the Palace in Auburn Hills since 1988. After decades of playing in the suburbs, the Pistons have a new home, but not a home that appeals to Kerr at this point of the season’s longest road trip.
“It’s a new road trip this year because of the new venue downtown we used to play out in Auburn Hills and you would stay in Birmingham, it was this quaint little town and now, no,” Kerr said. “The casino in downtown Detroit.”
The Warriors will fly home after their matchup with the Pistons, and will not play a game outside of California for the rest of the month. After playing home games next Monday and Thursday, Golden State has a road contest at Staples Center against the Lakers before returning home on December 20 for a homestand that will last through the rest of the year.
That homestand sounds like it can’t come soon enough.
“Just the whole idea of it combined with the smell and the sounds of a casino and 10 days on the road, it’s time,” Kerr said. It’s time. We need to come home.”
To listen to Kerr’s full interview with Tolbert & Lund, click the podcast link below. To hear Kerr’s comments on staying in Detroit, skip ahead to the 0:58 mark.