The barometer of Warriors to read their season is quite simple. Just look at the lost balls column on the stats sheet. If Stephen Curry and his gang lose 15 balls or less, then it's an automatic victory: 8-0. When they waste 15 possessions or more, the defeats are the majority: 2-3.
They had managed to overcome that against the Blazers and Grizzlies. But against the Cavaliers, still undefeated, and twice against the Clippers, the ax fell. In the Intuit Dome, Golden State lost 13 balls in the first half alone!
“We lost in the first quarter. We found ourselves in a situation where we rushed into attack and we lost 40 balls against the Clippers in two matches,” underlines Stephen Curry. “We feel it. We fought to come back, we gave ourselves a chance, our defense at the end of the match was enormous. But that's two games in a row, plus the one in Cleveland, where lost balls quickly dictate our dynamic and we find ourselves at the mercy of failures at the end of the match. »
In addition to lost balls, missed free throws
The Golden State playmaker is right to talk about an early phenomenon: after just five minutes, the 2022 champions had already lost 4 balls… “We cannot justify these lost balls. It was awful”says Draymond Green, responsible for six of them.
The Warriors also cannot justify the 10 missed free throws (9/19) which also had a impact at the end of the match. Therefore, 19 lost balls, transformed into 31 points by James Harden and company, plus 10 points left on the way on the line, that's a lot of waste. So regrets when we lose by only three points…
“I have the feeling that we didn't start playing until the second half and that we lost this match in the first half, wasting a lot of possessions”summarizes Steve Kerr.
