No squad in the NBA is better at summoning the big comeback than the Warriors. They have immense faith in themselves and their firepower, as well they should. They believe they’ll always find the road to victory because they usually do.
But it can get ugly when they don’t.
The “We got this” mentality has become as much a curse as it is a blessing, which is why addressing it will be Priority One when players and coaches reconvene at team headquarters Wednesday after a six-day layoff.
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The Warriors have not yet been able to shake their habit of lazy, hazy, sloppy, choppy first quarters. It likely cost them their last game, a 123-117 loss at Portland that sent them into the All-Star break on a sour note, so it will be fresh in the minds of coaches and players.
“The game’s got to matter from the beginning,” coach Steve Kerr said as the team went into the break.
“We obviously need to fix the first quarters,” Stephen Curry said. “It’s a consistent theme.”
The numbers expose two unwanted truths. The bad: the Warriors have committed too many turnovers, particularly in live-ball situations, which allow opponents to find a rhythm. The worse: Their early-game defense has been almost reliably atrocious, and it’s not simply the result of turnovers that give opponents easy buckets in transition.
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Sometimes, it’s just inattention. Temporary loss of focus here, a tepid effort there. The Warriors have been burned by some of the more basic offensive maneuvers, such as backdoor cuts. They’ve been torched by their rebounding failures, leading to second and sometimes third shots for the opponent.
This is not the kind of stuff generally associated with a prideful defending champion. Yet it happens with alarming regularity in the opening minutes.
It’s why the Warriors have entered the second quarter trailing in 17 of their last 30 games. And why on seven of those occasions, they trailed by double digits. Though they can gobble double-digit deficits like popcorn -- their 13-10 record in games in which they trailed by at least 10 points is the best in the NBA -- it’s a troubling tendency.
A look at their last 22 games reveals 13 opponents shot at least 50 percent in the first quarter. Of those 13, six have fired away at better than 60 percent, topped by Houston’s 68.2-percent first quarter on Jan. 20.
Turnovers are a problem, but it’s one the Warriors can more easily overcome. Back in November, they gave the 76ers 11 first-quarter points off turnovers, falling behind 47-28 after one, and still came back to win by eight. They gave the Cavaliers 11 first-quarter points off turnovers on Christmas Day and won by seven.
They got back in both games with defense, and it’s the surest way to cure them of their first-quarter apathy.
“We have to have more of a sense of urgency,” Kevin Durant conceded.
The Spurs 11 days ago shot 62.5 percent in the first quarter, taking a 37-27 lead. The Warriors turned up the defense, holding San Antonio to 40 percent over the final three quarters and won by 17.
There’s your blessing.
In their last game before the break, the Warriors fell behind the Trail Blazers 40-27 after one quarter, with Portland making 5-of-11 shots from deep. The Warriors scrambled back, limiting the Blazers to 7-of-22 beyond the arc over the final three quarters and tying the game in the fourth quarter -- but faded late and lost by six.
There’s your curse.
“It’s tough when you’re fighting an uphill battle the whole game,” Draymond Green said.
That has been the case for many games this season. In 58 total games, the Warriors entered the second quarter trailing in 29 -- exactly half. There were two ties and 27 occasions during which the Warriors took a lead into the second quarter.
“There doesn’t appear to be a lot of imperative in the first quarter,” assistant coach Ron Adams said this week on the Warriors Insider Podcast. “This is something that has to change. We can’t go into Portland and be down 20; they’re awfully good there. We got back in the game, but we couldn’t quite pull it off.
“That’s what happens when people have good first quarters and believe in themselves and have confidence in their shots. We’ve got to change that first-quarter equation for sure.”
With 24 games remaining and the playoffs coming into view, the Warriors likely will make the necessary corrections. It has to begin with defense.