Returning to San Francisco satisfied with a complicated but successful start to the season with seven games away from the Chase Center, did the Warriors fool us? Yes, Stephen Curry started the season with a bang. Yes, Chris Paul showed that he could blend into the team and raise the level of play of the second five. Yes, they won five of their first seven away and held off the defending champions at home for 48 minutes. All of this made the Warriors optimistic and allowed Steve Kerr to proclaim last season as an exception to the franchise’s standard of excellence.
A trompe-l’oeil impression
If we look in more detail at these first matches, we quickly realize that everything is not looking good for Golden State. The major five is disappointing and behind Curry there is no constant second blade. Klay Thompson is the team’s second-highest scorer with 16 points per game on 46% shooting, including 35% from 3-point range. Jonathan Kuminga, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green follow him, all with less than 43% success. With the exception of Curry, no Warrior has scored more than 20 points this season and last night, against Cleveland, the double MVP (30 points), once again lonely, lacked the juice to finish the game, missing his three shots in the last quarter.
The narrow buzzer-beating wins against the Kings at home and the Thunder came while they were missing De’Aaron Fox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, respectively. The victory in Detroit against the young Pistons, also diminished, took three and a half quarters to take shape. And the Cavaliers have dominated them twice in the last six days, using their size and physical power to bring the Warriors’ attack to a standstill (41% on shots, 34% on 3-pointers, 20 lost balls).
“It’s no coincidence that they had the best defense in the league last season” recalled Steve Kerr. “They put a lot of pressure on the carrier because they know they have two blockers behind. It’s a difficult opposition for us, they dominated both games. »
A defense on its heels
The Warriors had the same problems against the Lakers during the last playoffs and are preparing to play twice against the Timberwolves, who will have a significant size advantage and have the best defense in the NBA this season, and the Thunder, this time with Gilgeous-Alexander and the promising Chet Holmgren.
With a closed face at a press conference, the Golden State coach tried to release his favorite refrain after a road trip, explaining that the first home game is always difficult. However, this does not explain his team’s non-match. Like in Cleveland, the outsides were unable to stay in front of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Caris Levert, allowing the Cavs to dissect their defensive help or cause fouls. JB Bickerstaff’s men shot 43 free throws!
The defense therefore took a big step backwards last night, forcing Steve Kerr to draw parallels with last season. “It seems like we’ve fallen back into our ways,” he noted after the meeting. “We have been more conscientious since the start of the season but tonight it was the same as last season, with too many mistakes. It’s hard to find an offensive rhythm when the other team is shooting free throws on every possession. »
After ten games, the Warriors have only two wins against teams with more than 50% wins and have been unrecognizable at home against the Suns, Kings, and Cavs. They will have to quickly find solutions to the problems that the Cavs exploited last night otherwise they risk spoiling their good away record and starting back at square one, in the soft underbelly of the Western Conference… Like last season.
Comments collected in San Francisco.
