Potent perimeter shooting canceled by porous defense
On a day they made a trade for their future, the Warriors were left to wrestle with a sobering reality: Before they can try to return to contention with a healthy Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, they must endure three more months of one of the ugliest seasons in franchise history.
Golden State again showcased plenty of grit Friday night after digging a big firsthalf hole, but miscues doomed them to a 129118 loss to the Pacers at Chase Center. A number of positives — potent perimeter shooting, motion principles, inspired performances from youngsters — were undone by two of the Warriors’ biggest weaknesses: turnovers and porous defense.
After cutting a 19point, secondquarter deficit to six midway through the fourth, Golden State needed less than a minute to give up easy shots to T.J. McConnell, Jeremy Lamb and T.J. Warren. By the time orward Doug McDermott nailed a 3pointer to put the Pacers up 121108 with 4:34 left, many Warriors fans, now accustomed to such letdowns, were trying to beat the traffic home.
A Golden State team that entered the night making a leagueworst 10 3pointers per game sank 19, with D’Angelo Russell’s nine leading the way. But when the Warriors review film Saturday, they’ll be more concerned with the 20 turnovers that led to 33 points for the Pacers.
Feasting on giveaways, Indiana ratcheted up the tempo, knifing through the key for 56 points in the paint. Warren paced the Pacers with 33 points on 14for23 shooting. Along the way, Indiana offered Golden State a lesson in precision, pairing its 36 assists with only 12 turnovers.
The Warriors have now dropped 13 of their past 14 games as they navigate the second half of the season with a leagueworst 1037 record. With less than two weeks until the trade deadline, Golden State must decide who deserves to stick around for 202021 and whose contract needs to be unloaded.
Several hours before tipoff Friday, news surfaced that the Warriors were trading center Willie CauleyStein to Dallas for a 2020 secondround pick.
Far more important than a selection that should fall in the 5058 range come June was the roster flexibility the deal provided.
By shedding CauleyStein’s twoyear, $4.4 million contract, with a player option for 202021, the Warriors dropped $2.57 million below the hard cap and saved $5.66 million toward the luxury tax. This gives them the chance to convert the twoway contracts of center Marquese Chriss and point guard Ky Bowman to standard NBA deals.
Though CauleyStein had offered solid production on a budget contract, he didn’t figure into the Warriors’ longterm plans as much as the younger Chriss and Bowman. The question now is who will become the next casualty in Golden State’s path back to national relevance.
As Friday illustrated, the Warriors have some young players capable of logging significant minutes on a playoffbound team. Chriss, who started at center with CauleyStein gone, had 13 points on 5for5 shooting. Russell (37 points) and Glenn Robinson III (18 points) lifted Golden State out of stagnant stretches.
But the Warriors have lost nearly four times as many games as they’ve won, which can only mean one thing: Certain players aren’t going to fit into Golden State’s 202021 plans.