The Warriors, despite their lack of size, lead the NBA in rebounds per game with 47.4.
A key reason for Golden State’s success on the boards has been rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is averaging 8.8 rebounds per game in just 20.8 minutes across the Warriors' last five games.
At Warriors practice on Wednesday, the flourishing 23-year-old explained the reason behind his and the team’s outstanding rebounding.
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“I think the biggest thing for us, honestly, is our coach [Steve Kerr] just continues to tell us constantly to crash,” Jackson-Davis told reporters. “It’s either crash or get back. And he doesn’t allow guards not to. Guards can crash. You see [Brandin Podziemski] in there all the time getting rebounds, and our guards crashing is actually huge for us as well.
“I think when you have guards and bigs that are all crashing the glass, one guy back, it really puts pressure on the defense and gets rebounds.”
Kerr’s emphasis on team-wide rebounding efforts has paid dividends for Golden State through its first 30 games.
While bigs like Kevon Looney and Jackson-Davis to do most of the heavy lifting on the glass, guards like Podziemski are thriving in the rebounding department, with the Santa Clara product averaging 5.4 rebounds per contest.
Golden State Warriors
Golden State’s rebounding continues to improve, which is uncanny considering the team’s shorter stature.
“Honestly, the game goes by so fast and there’s a lot of possessions,” Jackson-Davis explained. “But just the second- and third-point opportunities are huge for us and huge for our team.
“And then limiting [opponents], that’s another huge thing that [Kerr] preaches, ‘Boxing out.’ Boxing out is huge for us. So just limiting teams to one possession and then us getting two to three possessions helps us, being a smaller team.”
Jackson-Davis stands at 6-foot-9, but recently has stood out in Kerr’s developing rotation. The Warriors’ elite rebounding allows for extended possessions, which is what a team featuring superstar Steph Curry desires.