Golden State Warriors: Dropped by the Pop Machine

Tiago Splitter’s tip-in proved to be the difference in last night’s game between the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors.

Warriors…Warriors…Warriors… I couldn’t even write about them after last night’s game I was so frustrated. Yes, the Golden State Warriors lost to the San Antonio Spurs, but what Spurs team was on the floor? No Tim Duncan due to rest and no Manu Ginobili due to injury. I can understand a close game with the Spurs with Tony Parker running the machine that is the Spurs offense, but HE DIDN”T PLAY EITHER!!! The three best players for the Spurs were on the bench. I texted one of my buddies before the game, “what’s Pop doing? Is he just forfeiting the game?” Oh how I have lived to rue those words. Not only did the Spurs defeat the Warriors 104-102, but they lead by double digits late in the third quarter. I am not sure I have ever been more frustrated with a team before. The Warriors came out on Tuesday night and laid a whooping to the Pelicans in Iggy’s first game back from injury. Now they come out and lay an egg against the scrubs of the Spurs. Not to mention they let Marco Bellini score 28 points!! The Warriors had zero defensive intensity for the first three quarters and once again looked lethargic until the fourth quarter. They wasted another beautiful night from Steph Curry and David Lee played a strong game. To top it all off, they turned the ball over 24 times which lead to 31 Spur points. The Spurs did force some turnovers with solid defense but most of them felt like careless errors by the Warriors.

Matt’s Home Improvements

Let’s just get right into it because I am not ready to talk about anything this team did well after such a disgusting loss last night.

1. The Warriors played suffocating defense for 10 minutes in the fourth quarter. They clawed their way back into the game and held a one- point lead. They finally looked like the better team for the first time since early in the first. That energy and intensity needs to happen for allfour quarters of the game. I understand that every team turns it up a notch in the fourth, but just not trying the other three quarters is disheartening. The Warriors have the ability to bury opponents in the first half of many games. They choose to let the team hang around and try to turn it on late. Nobody in the NBA is good enough to coast for three quarters and try really hard for one. Hopefully this was a wake-up call for the Warriors who need to string some wins together.

2. The Warriors need to get Andre Iguodala involved more in the offense. The Warriors went with Steph as their primary ball handler for most of the game. He did a very good job with 15 assists, but he also had 5 turnovers. The key to a good point guard is their assist to turnover ratio, not just assists. Chris Paul has had the best assist to turnover ratio in the NBA for the last few years. Jose Calderon has an excellent one as well and he is showing how effective he is as a player on the Mavs this year. Steph who is third in the league in assists does not have a good assist to turnover ratio. In fact he is 38th in the league due to his high number of turnovers. Iggy helps to bring these turnovers down. He can allow Steph to not press as much and play within himself as a passer. I expect Mark Jackson to get the ball in Iggy’s hands more as he continues to shake the rust from his hamstring injury.

3. Klay Thompson needs to become smarter with his shot selection. I know Klay has been all out of sorts and his aggressiveness is a positive, but he needs to work for better shots. He took a lot of contested jumpers, which are difficult to make and his shooting percentage showed it. The more he misses the more he presses and when he does get open looks he just doesn’t knock them down. Klay makes those shots more often than not, but when you are pressing as a shooter it can mess with your flow. Klay needs to get some easy ones in early to keep his confidence up throughout the game. The Warrior cannot win without him playing well.
This Warriors squad has the ability to win it all but they need to start making large strides in the right direction to even consider it as a possibility. The Warriors have a good number of away games coming up, so if they can keep it a few games over .500 they can hit their home games at the end of the year and move up for a strong playoff seeding. I am not worried about this team because they have played so many road games(the most in the NBA) and because of the early season injuries. This reminds me a lot of the Denver Nuggets a couple of years ago. Most people thought they were underachieving early in the year and they were the hottest team down the stretch because they had all of their home games to finish the season. The Warriors have a similar situation on their hands and although they do need to improve should come on string to finish the year.