The 2022 title on the Boston floor seems like a distant memory for the Warriors after a checkered season and a half. Weighed down by Draymond Green's punch on Jordan Poole during training camp, the team never managed to get out of it, being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Lakers after finishing sixth in the West .
This season starts again on the same basis and Draymond Green is once again at the heart of the controversy with two very ugly gestures and a suspension until further notice.
However, the good start to the season suggested a return to the Top 4 of the Western Conference. Except that everything has been shattered since the beginning of November. Straddling the two exercises, the Warriors finish the year 2023 with a regular season record of 40 victories for 37 victories. They will start 2024 in 11th place in the Western Conference with a negative record of 15 wins and 17 losses. The very definition of average, even mediocre.
The Warriors are a soulless team
Ahead of them, there are ten teams with at least 50% victories and the Warriors have demonstrated at the start of the season that they are not able to regularly beat the franchises ahead of them in the standings.
They have a negative record against six teams (Minnesota 0-2, OKC 1-3, Denver 0-2, Clippers 1-2, Dallas 0-1, Phoenix 0-3), a positive record against three (Sacramento 2-1 , New Orleans 1-0, Houston 2-0), and a clean sheet against the Lakers whom they have not yet faced.
Since the start of the season, the Warriors have been talking like a team that can contend for the title. The habits of past seasons and the unshakeable confidence of the pillars of the dynasty surely have a lot to do with it but, on the pitch, the Warriors play like a team without soul. The five straight wins before Christmas, especially the one against Boston, were the tree that hides the forest.
After a very sad performance in Miami on Thursday, Stephen Curry's teammates continued, last night against Dallas, a second match without energy, without the desire to dig themselves out of the hole in which they had sunk. This is already their eighth home defeat, and they equal the number of losses from last season.
Some people think first about their next contract…
For the first time this season, Steve Kerr had harsh, but fair, words towards his team following the defeat against Dallas.
“I love the guys on our team, we have a really good group. There is good understanding between them but we have not yet found this tenacity, this character that every good team needs to be united and pull in the same direction to win matches. And that’s a problem,” he conceded in a solemn tone. “As long as we are not united with one goal in mind, which is to play for the collective so we can win, we will remain stuck in this situation. »
Half-heartedly, the Warriors coach suggests that certain players put their personal calendar (free agency) first before the collective calendar (the title). However, he did not want to go into detail, preferring to describe his feelings on the problem.
“It’s hard to describe but it’s a feeling. When a team is together, when the energy is there, when you fight for each other, you can feel it,” he describes. “For the moment, when there is adversity, we cannot all work together to get through it. Each of our players is under pressure, regardless of their role… Usually, when players throw themselves wholeheartedly into the collective and the team, then individual objectives will follow. We are not there. »
Yet another starting five
Stephen Curry, who we have seen frustrated on several occasions this season, had already mentioned this theme indirectly, lamenting the lack of action on the part of his team. Whether with or without Draymond Green, the Warriors seem to have recurring problems.
They often shoot themselves in the foot and give ammunition to their opponent. They did it again tonight, putting the Mavs up 11-0 midway through the second quarter when they had one shot to get back to -1. They suffer in the paint on both sides of the court, and have difficulty finding their rhythm in attack. Despite the staff's experiments, question marks persist.
That night, Steve Kerr decided to change his starting five again by inserting Chris Paul and Trayce Jackson-Davis in place of Brandin Podziemski and Kevon Looney for “finding defensive solutions and making sure Steph (Curry) is more aggressive at the start of the game rather than having to set everyone up. With Chris (Paul) on the field, we thought it would put Steph in rhythm from the start of the match. »
If it is too early to draw conclusions about this new starting five, Stephen Curry responded to his coach's comments and we feel that behind his usual optimism, the double MVP is also starting to lose patience.
“We have experimented a lot so far, either because we were forced to or because we are looking for an identity and our strengths. After 32 games, it’s frustrating not to have found answers to these kinds of questions,” he regrets. “Any team that is a serious title contender or is simply a quality team can usually answer these questions easily. We are not there yet and we must get to that point quickly before it is too late. »
The real end of a cycle?
The Warriors therefore enter a race against time, or rather the watches. That of their season, with 19 matches to play, 10 at home, 9 away, before the transfer deadline of February 8. That of their aging “Big Three”, with an unpredictable Draymond Green, a Klay Thompson on alternating current. That of their young players, respectful of veterans but in the dark about their own development.
With the transfer of Jordan Poole, new GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. has already proven that he is capable of making strong decisions. Others will surely be needed in the coming weeks if the Warriors want to save their season and play the leading roles. Otherwise, it will undoubtedly be necessary to seriously recalibrate the expectations surrounding this team and make a clear decision regarding the direction of the franchise.
Comments collected in San Francisco.
