Bob Myers isn’t used to criticism, but he seems to take it well.

The Warriors’ general manager normally receives adulation for the amazing rosters he’s built during his six-year tenure. Under his watch, Golden State went from “potential” to “potent,” winning two titles in the past three years, and is on the brink of a third.

But during the early stages of these playoffs, you could hear rumblings of dissent about the Warriors’ bench. The team plays “center by committee,” and there are five pivots on the pine for head coach Steve Kerr. When the backcourt wore thin because of injuries, the Warriors looked lopsided.

When the Western Conference finals against Houston rolled around, and the Rockets went small, Kerr didn’t play any of his centers. Suddenly, it looked like the Warriors were built wrong. They were lopsided.

Myers took the criticism in stride, and things worked out for his team.

“Everything’s fair. I criticize myself, too,” Myers told The Chronicle, just before the start of the NBA Finals against Cleveland. “I don’t know. You just try to get here and win. At the end of the year, you look at things you might have done differently. ... Certainly, it’s fair to say there’s a lot of things people say to me that we didn’t do right.”

Against Houston, Kerr coached his way past the problem, which was exacerbated by injury.

“With Andre (Iguodala) and (Patrick) McCaw out, we’re lopsided. If they’re in, we’re not,” said Myers. “If we had McCaw in that series, and Andre, I wouldn’t have felt as vulnerable at the wing.

“This series may be different. We (may) have to go bigger ... to use some of those (centers). I don’t know. You build something, you want to be covered for injury, but sometimes it’s difficult.”

If the Warriors’ Game 1 victory over Cleveland is any indication, those centers gathering dust on the bench should get dusted off. Kevon Looney, Jordan Bell, David West and JaVale McGee all saw time in the 124-114 victory over the Cavs.

Kerr liked what he saw.

“Game 1 is always important to get a feel for how the series could go, for matchups. I thought JaVale gave us good minutes, but I also liked Looney and J.B. and David made some good plays,” Kerr said on a media conference call Friday. “I don’t think anything is going to change in terms of center by committee. It’s how it’s been all year. As a staff, we’ll continue to look at our situation and decide if we want to make any lineup changes or rotational ones. We learned a lot from Game 1, and we’ll adapt accordingly.”

If Kerr can go deeper into his bench, he could send waves of fresh legs at LeBron James, who looked unstoppable in Game 1, scoring a career-playoff-high 51 points while playing a taxing 47 minutes, including overtime.

Cleveland coach Ty Lue played a nine-man rotation Thursday night, while Kerr used 11 players, the last of whom played more than six minutes. That’s spreading the minutes out, much more than Kerr had in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Like all things NBA, however, it could all change game to game. Momentum doesn’t last. Staying focused is the key.

Myers was surprisingly candid about that last topic. This is the fourth straight year the Warriors have made the NBA Finals, meeting up with Cleveland each time. It’s the pinnacle of the sport, for sure, but it’s human nature to lose focus, or hunger, the longer you do something.

“I like the example of a band that’s on tour. It’s fun for the first year, making these hits. Third, fourth year, you need a little kick to go play in that stadium or in that venue, because you’ve done it before. But it’s still fun. You still want to do it,” said Myers. “I think the challenge is to stay connected. And that comes with the character of the guys, obviously Steve being the leader.

“But that is the challenge. You take any group of people and kind of shepherd them through — four years, two years — and you’re going to see fissures. How do you keep it so it maintains itself? How do you navigate that? It’s a big challenge.

“You just try to hire good people.”

Mission accomplished on that front. Now let’s see if the team can finish its journey with a trophy in tow.

Al Saracevic is Sports Editor of The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: asaracevic@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @alsaracevic