As the calendar flips to March, no team in the NBA welcomes a new month more than the championship-aspiring Warriors, whose 5-5 record in February deceptively indicate they are an “average” squad.
Wrong. They were sub-mediocre last month, and it got worse by the week.
The Warriors haven’t beaten a quality opponent – defined as a likely playoff team – since Jan. 29, when they edged the Nets (without Kevin Durant and James Harden) by four at Chase Center. They haven’t had an impressive win over a quality team since a 130-92 home win over the Mavericks on Jan. 25.
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SIGN UP HERE But the spiral goes even deeper than a 28-day backslide. The Warriors began searching for answers shortly after wading into 2022.
They were 29-7 before going on the road in early January, and they are 14-11 since that mini-trip, a two-game wakeup call with losses on consecutive nights at Dallas and New Orleans. Going 9-5 in 14 games against sub-.500 teams and 5-6 in 11 games against teams at .500 or better is not the resumé of a championship-caliber team.
Which brings us back to February. The Warriors, who have lost five of the last seven, were 5-1 against teams with losing records and 0-4 against teams with winning records. When the competition sizzled, as it will in the playoffs, they fizzled.
What happened? Who are the Warriors? Can they rediscover the joy of winning?
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Here are five issues they face, and the challenge in finding solutions:
Losing Draymond Pt. 1: The fallout
When Draymond Green headed to the trainer’s room, he took with him all the defensive circuitry. The early success at overcoming his absence (103.1 defensive rating in the first 10 non-Draymond games) was a mirage created by the energy bump from Klay Thompson’s debut and the fool’s gold of a soft schedule.
When reality hits, no Draymond means 1) A lot more on Stephen Curry’s plate; 2) No Curry/Green pick-and-roll; 3) Slowed offensive pace; 4) More gaps exposed on defense; 5) No savvy “big man” running traditional bigs off the floor and onto the bench in exhaustion or ineffectiveness.
Some of the porous defense (112.7 since the first 10 non-Draymond games) can be rectified with court awareness, attention to detail and wicked disposition. In short, smarts and scrap.
Losing Draymond Pt. 2: The presence
Draymond has not been on the court since his seven-second cameo when Klay Thompson returned to the lineup on Jan. 9. He was having a revival season, spectacular at times. Everybody in the locker room and the offices upstairs understands his value. Those urging the Warriors to trade him last summer are eating their opinions and wondering what they were thinking. Curry and Klay are the stars, but Draymond orchestrates and is the team’s mojo.
The Warriors hope, and probably pray, that he’s back sometime in March. They realize there is no filling this void. His vocal/spiritual presence is essential to any chance of them reaching The Finals.
Coaching gaffes
The last two home losses, in particular, exposed weaknesses that land at the feet of Steve Kerr. After blowing a 10-point lead in the final seven minutes against Denver on Feb. 16, Kerr acknowledged there were “several things that I’ll kick myself for.”
Candidates: The late-game overuse of Kevon Looney and underuse of Gary Payton II. In blowing a 19-point lead over the final minutes against Dallas on Sunday, there were more puzzling personnel decisions. Why, with a dying offense, replace Curry with Moses Moody? Why sit Jordan Poole, who didn’t play well but remains the second-most dynamic scorer, for most of the quarter?
The purpose of kicking oneself is self-correction. The postgame kicking, particularly regarding late-game strategy, needs to be more effective.
Where’s Wiggs?
Andrew Wiggins spent almost three months playing like an All-Star. “Two-way Wiggs” was rewarded with his first All-Star Game appearance. That guy has gone adrift. Efficiency is down, as is production. After scoring at least 20 points in 13 of his first 35 games, he reached that level three times in his last 21 – and not once in February, when he averaged 13.8 points per game. That’s his lowest for any month since November 2014. He was 19. A rookie.
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Curry earlier this season joked that he’d inspire Wiggins by showing his teammate video of his soaring dunk over Karl-Anthony Towns. Interesting thought. But this is on Wiggins. A change in performance requires a change in disposition.
JP’s drought
Remember when Poole was scoring in bunches, dropping in 3-balls, blowing past defenders and using trickery to get to the rim? The Sixth Man has gone the way of Wiggins, and it’s too lazy to pin it on Klay’s presence. Though JP’s precipitous drop coincided with Klay’s arrival, it got worse last month. Poole shot 41.1 percent from the field, 25.9 percent from deep. His 97.1 percent shooting from the line suggests he still can get buckets, but his in-game rhythm is on leave.
Some of this is on the coaching staff, which sometimes seems to determine rotations by pulling names from a hat. Much of it, though, is on JP. His job is to attack defenses and be a scorer first and a playmaker second – no matter who’s on the floor. He has shown he can. Will he?