Kurtenbach
NBA Finals opponents, the Celtics.
Now, they're allowing the fourth-most points per game, hanging out with the Hornets, Pistons, and Rockets at the bottom of the stat sheet.
“It's the will to defend — (to) stop and guard your man, and sink, and drop and box and rotate. Defense is just one or two steps extra … that's all will, and we don't have that as a team,” Draymond Green said before the AllStar break.
While this Warriors' roster has changed yearto-year, the drop-off on defense should not be this precipitous. Donte DiVincenzo is a rocksolid perimeter defender. Jordan Poole is still a sub-par defender, but that's an improvement from last season. Klay Thompson is moving well. Andrew Wiggins has played in nearly twothirds of the Warriors' games. Kevon Looney is still a Warrior.
So what's happening here? Why are the Warriors now fouling at the second-worst rate in the NBA?
Gary Payton was an 18-minute-per-game player last year. Surely his absence and that of Otto Porter aren't behind the defensive decline.
Green said the Warriors lack will on defense, but also trust. I say those two things are interconnected, and they're connected to Green.
It's hard to do the right thing when trust is absent. And when it comes to the Warriors' lack of trust on the defensive end of the floor, Green has to look himself in the mirror.
He sets the tone for the team, and the tone he set
at the beginning of the season with his punch of Poole won't soon be forgotten. That was this 2022-23 team's foundation of trust.
On top of that, Green's play has undulated this season. It often seems tied to the quality of opponent, too. He needs to treat the Warriors' final 24 games as if each is against the Grizzlies or Celtics.
But that's not the Warriors' only issue. At the same time, Golden State is turning the ball over far too often.
When the Dubs have been as offensively efficient as they are this season and are playing playoff-worthy defense, the turnovers aren't a big deal. They're the cost of doing business at a frenetic pace. But with the Warriors' defense nowhere to be found, every offensive possession is sacred for the Dubs. Even playing the methodical Ty Jerome at point guard hasn't solved the Warriors' turnover problem.
Golden State has the second-worst turnover rate in the NBA — 15.8 percent of possessions end in one. Even the best defensive teams allow more than a point per possession against transition. It's a guaranteed way to give up points in bunches.
If the Warriors play better defense, the turnovers won't be as much of an issue. If they stop turning the ball over, defense will be easier.
Like trust and will, these things are tied together.
But it does not matter what comes first – the defense or the ball control. Something has to change if the Warriors want to play in May, much less June. And while they might have 24 games remaining on the schedule, they will need to change things quite a bit sooner than that.