Warriors still have work to do before regular season starts
SAN FRANCISCO >> Four out of five preseason games, the Warriors played a team built to exploit their weaknesses.
It took the third of four tries for these preseason Warriors to best the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers team they beat was just without Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Danny Green and Rajon Rondo.
Without the top-end tandem designed to down them, the Warriors sprinted out a 124-103 win Friday night at Chase Center to finish the preseason 2-3.
Here are some takeaways:
TEAM’S IDENTITY AND DEFENSE STILL LACKING >> At camp’s onset, coach Steve Kerr sat his team down for a special film session. He had five specific clips, all of football safeties getting beat up top.
“He was like, ‘You guys are laughing, but we should feel this way on the court,'” Glenn Robinson III said after the game. “‘We should never get beat like this.’”
This camp’s finale didn’t quite indicate the Warriors would never get beat.
Sure, Stephen Curry is clearly in Stephen Curry form. He collected 32 points on 9-of-20 shooting with six 3-pointers and six assists. But it seems the Warriors are still trying to find their identity, their footing on defense. Perhaps no one will know who this team really is until the it can escape L.A. Groundhog Day.
The Warriors at least lathered up some chemistry against the Lakers’ second and third stringers on Friday. Most of that chemistry sizzled around D’angelo Russell, who got off to a slow start but found his rhythm toward the end of the second quarter.
In non-stephen Curry or Klay Thompson-on-big-board moments, Russell making back-to-back steals and buckets in transition — a layup and a pull-up 3-pointer — was one of few sequences to truly bump the Chase Center crowd’s decibel level. He finished the night with 29 points with six 3-pointers, the same number Curry drained, though it took Russell only 11 attempts to Curry’s 15.
But there were still lapses in communication between Draymond Green, Russell and the rest. It’s clear this team, though still relatively top-heavy with familiar parts, is still trying to feel things out.
“I think we got a lot of work to do, to be honest. We’re still figuring each other out,” Russell said. “Preseason, you make it what it is. A lot of teams are set, and know what they’re going to do. For us, we need that time to build on the good things and work on things we didn’t do so well.”
The Warriors are still mostly shoddy on defense — save for a few big stops here and there, with one strong stretch in the first half. But lapses in judgement came back to bite them in the second half.
“I think it was loud and clear,” Russell said. “We just couldn’t get any stops. We were fouling, sent them to the free-throw line. As simple as that.”
“I think they shot 17 free throws in the third, which is an outrageous number, so that was disappointing,” Kerr said. “Some good, some bad, but another game under our belts. We’ve got a lot of work ahead, but slowly but surely we are getting better.” ROBINSON GETS NOD AT SMALL FORWARD >> The Warriors had perhaps one of the best small forwards of all time a year ago. Kevin Durant’s departure created a hard-capped vacuum at the spot. The addition of Marquese Chriss necessitated Alfonzo Mckinnie being waived and eliminated another forward from the ranks.
With Alec Burks still out with a right ankle sprain, Kerr announced that Robinson will start at small forward on opening night. He did Friday, too, and played 24 solid minutes, draining three corner 3-pointers on six attempts. He flowed well within the Warriors’ pace.
“I thought he was good. Glenn is rock solid,” Kerr said. “He knows his role and he understands it and he’s a good 3-point shooter, but he’s got more to his game than I realized. I always looked at him as a spot-up 3-point guy, but he’s a good cutter, understands our split game, our movement and he’s enjoying himself out there.” PASCHALL SHOWS SUPERSTAR DEFENSE >> The Warriors’ dearth of small forwards could force a constant positional shuffle, especially as some of the game’s most elite wings — Kawhi Leonard and Lebron James — are lined up on the schedule. Green, Kerr noted, could move up to the role in certain matchups.
And so can rookie Eric Paschall, who demonstrated defensive poise against James this preseason.
“I think you saw some good things from Eric Paschall the other night guarding Lebron,” Kerr said before the game. “He handled the quick and strength really well. Lebron made some tough shots on him.”
Paschall is eager to learn. He isn’t shy about sharing tidbits and side sessions he relishes with Green and Curry — how to set the right angle on a screen, how to improve on the little things.
“Even as a rookie, setting screens for Steph Curry,” Paschall said. “It’s kind of a dream come true.”
With the preseason behind them, the Warriors have nearly a week before they get their first regularseason test, hosting Leonard and the Clippers.
• Other cuts were guards Andrew Harrison and Juan Toscano-anderson and center Kavion Pippen.