Brilliant stretches missing
MIAMI — More than the No. 1 overall playoff seed or another NBA championship, the Warriors are chasing those beautiful sequences in which they expertly exhibit all the fundamentals of the game: dribbling, shooting and, above all else, passing.
They are spread throughout the court and in constant motion. The ball darts from player to player with so much speed that defenders are left scrambled, only fully grasping what has unfolded after the shot is hoisted. It is during those instances that Golden State appears to toy with its opponent.
Perhaps the most troubling development in head coach Steve Kerr’s fourth season is that such dizzying displays have been sporadic. Twentythree games into their championship defense, the Warriors’ free-flowing playing style too often has given way to inattention.
Golden State is 19th and 28th, respectively, in the 30-team NBA in fouls and turnovers per game. A team that has boasted a top-five defense each of the previous four seasons has been porous at pivotal times. In four of their six losses, the Warriors blew double-digit leads. On numerous other occasions, they squandered a big advantage, only to escape with a victory.
“We’ve got to find a mindfulness that can blend with the physical aspect of the game and get to the flow,” Kerr said recently. “It’s definitely been harder to find this year, and I know why. We’re not on the climb anymore. We’re already on the mountaintop, so the climb is more exciting. If you’re up on the mountain, I guess you’ve got to find ways to make it more enjoyable and fluid. That’s our job as a staff.”
It is a tricky pursuit because, in repeatedly harping on his players’ miscues, Kerr risks contradicting the joyful, easygoing approach that has been key to Golden State’s success. To win two NBA titles in three years, the Warriors came to master the art of controlled chaos. Their most dominant performances are a mix of the Harlem Globetrotters and basketball instructional videos, played on high speed.
Figuring out how to motivate a group keenly aware of how little the regular season matters has been one of Kerr’s biggest coaching challenges.
When Golden State won the 2015 NBA championship in Kerr’s first season, it was an upstart team reveling in a new, imaginative brand of basketball. The urge to silence anyone who doubted their sudden rise fueled the Warriors’ record-setting 2015-16 regular season, when they went 73-9. Last season, Golden State subsisted on the desire to redeem itself after their collapse in the 2016 NBA finals.
Year 4 under Kerr was expected to be even better. Golden State returned 12 players, including AllStars Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, from a team that would have gone 16-0 in the playoffs had Cleveland not sunk 24 threepointers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The offseason additions of Nick Young, Omri Casspi and Jordan Bell were upgrades.
In the wake of rivals adding eight marquee players to try to narrow the chasm with Golden State, the Warriors still opened the season as the heaviest favorites in league history. It didn’t take long for Golden State to realize that its tendency to get complacent, not any specific opponent, would be its biggest obstacle.
“It’s natural,” Thompson said in late October. “After playing so many huge games in our careers, we kind of take for granted being in a season, which we shouldn’t. We have no excuse to do that.”
As the Warriors stumbled to a 4-3 start, Kerr found himself reflecting on his playing days. In 1997, as a reserve guard with a Bulls team coming off its second straight NBA title, he watched as Chicago dropped seven of its first 15 games. Such miscues were soon forgotten as the Bulls went on to win 62 games and a third consecutive championship.
With that in mind, Kerr fought against an inclination to unload on his players. He followed assistant coach Ron Adams’ advice and waited for the Warriors to start playing like a championship-caliber team. During team meetings, Kerr calmly stressed the importance of taking care of the ball and getting more shots than the opponent. Practices were light to keep players fresh for games.
“My only anxiety is that I know who we are,” Adams said. “I know how good we are, I know how pleasing the kind of basketball is when we’re playing at a high level offensively, defensively. You want guys to not only enjoy the sport, but utilize everything they have.”
Over the first quarter of the season, Golden State has shown flashes of its signature controlled chaos. It won seven games in a row by an average of 19.6 points between Oct. 30 and Nov. 13. In their Nov. 18 win over Philadelphia, the Warriors blitzed the 76ers 47-15 in the third quarter. Golden State beat Chicago by 49 points last week for its most lopsided victory over the Bulls.
Those commanding performances, however, didn’t wash away the focus issues. Stretches of ball movement were often followed up by silly fouls, ill-advised passes and matador defense. After Golden State held off a rebuilding Lakers team in overtime Wednesday at Staples Center, Kerr told a large media scrum: “I don't think we competed well tonight. I don't think we've competed that well all year.”
Less than 24 hours later, after a late-night practice at Amway Center in Orlando, Kerr clarified the comment.
“Competing doesn’t just mean diving on the floor and taking charges,” he said. “It means executing. It means making a sharp cut. It means making a good decision. So, I’m not out here looking for some fanatical defensive effort where we’re diving into the stands. I’m looking for us to take care of the ball, execute the play and stick to our principles defensively.”
During the Warriors’
morning meeting Friday, Kerr showed his team video from particularly rough periods of that win over the Lakers. He pinpointed times where players were standing and watching instead of running toward the basket. The message was clear: To toy with opponents again, Golden State needed to recapture those beautiful sequences.
Hours later, the Warriors delivered their most aesthetically pleasing performance of the season. They rang up an NBA season-high 46 assists, one shy of the franchise record, and shot 62.5 percent from the field in a 133-112 win over the Magic. Golden State didn’t trail on a night it posted season highs for points in a first quarter (41) and a first half (78).
“I still think we’re going to be better at the end of this year than we were last year,” Kerr said. “I still believe that, but it’s a different route to get there.”