Golden State Warriors

Steve Kerr says he 'won't run guys ragged' to get Warriors the No. 1 seed

Published Mar. 9, 2017 5:14 p.m. ET

Brett Pollakoff

The Warriors are in the middle of their most difficult portion of the schedule, one that head coach Steve Kerr called the most insane he's ever seen.

Golden State played Sunday afternoon in New York and Monday night in Atlanta, then flew across the country for a home game Wednesday against the Celtics, before leaving town again for a road back-to-back in Minnesota and San Antonio on Friday and Saturday.

That's an unusual amount of travel even by NBA standards, and a Warriors team that's dropped three of its past five seems to be set up for a schedule loss on Saturday against the Spurs, who trail Golden State by just 1.5 games for the best overall record in the league-wide standings.

San Antonio is certainly capable of making up that deficit and finishing the regular season with the best record in the league, and home-court advantage for every round of the playoffs. But it's not something Kerr is concerned about just yet.

“We still have the No. 1 seed, but I won’t run guys ragged to get it,” Kerr told reporters after Wednesday's loss to the Celtics. “We have to manage this stretch right here and get through this week.”