Coach sees sticking points in the offense
In loss to Jazz, Kerr noticed lack of energy in making cuts and ball not moving fast enough
SALT LAKE CITY » If only Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala or Alfonzo McKinnie made late-game 3-pointers. If only the ball did not go off of Curry’s hands on the Warriors’ final possession. If only officials did not incorrectly call a foul on Klay Thompson when Utah guard Donovan Mitchell fell to the floor on a missed 3-pointer.
Not only would the Warriors likely have avoided a 108-103 loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, but the Warriors also would not have a philosophical discussion that pops up during the team’s oc- casional struggles. The topic: how should the Warriors run their offense? Should it depend on ball movement? Should it depend on their four All- Stars? Or a mix of both?
“There’s usually a purpose on how we play,” Curry said.
Most of that involves Curry for obvious reasons. He had a teamleading 32 points, while shooting 12 of 21 from the field and 5 of 9 from 3-point range. The Warriors collectively, though, shot only 40 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from 3-point range.
Durant had 30 points on 10of-23 shooting, but he shot a combined 6 of 18 from the field through the first three quarters.
Thompson had 12 points while shooting only 3 of 12 from the field and 0 of 4 from 3-point range. And though Draymond Green added eight points on a 4- of-10 clip and 12 rebounds, he also missed both of his 3-point attempts.
“It’s not surprising, honestly. We’re not moving the ball,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re not playing the way we’ve played the last few years where the ball is really moving and we’re generating great shots. We’re taking decent shots, not great shots, When you’re not getting great shots, you’re not going to shoot as high of a percentage.”
Some of Kerr’s players argued the Warriors did not shoot a high percentage because of other factors. Green argued that the Jazz played “good defense,” resulting in poor marks in the first quarter (36.4 percent from the field) and the third quarter (38.5 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from the perimeter). Curry said the Warriors had open looks but missed before noting how he and Durant occasionally ran pick-and-rolls. Durant said that the Jazz rightfully put the priority on preventing the Warriors’ star players from making 3-pointers.
“They’re selling out to stop those 3s. So we pass the ball too much, it’s not going to be flying around against a good defensive team like that,” Durant said. “Teams are starting to catch up to what we’re doing and starting to scheme for us a little bit more. I know we want to get that ball moving, 30 assists and 300 passes, but it’s not going to be that way. We still had a chance to win. That’s why I said we can play either way.”
On Wednesday, the Warriors were set up to beat the Jazz in dramatic fashion just as they did in their second-regular season game with a Jonas Jerebko putback with 0.3 seconds left.
Durant made a 26- foot 3-pointer to slice Utah’s lead to 98-94 with 5:11 left. After conceding a dunk to Utah center Rudy Gobert, McKinnie finished with his own dunk. Then Durant nailed a 15-foot stepback shot to reduce the Jazz’s lead to 100-98 at the 3:47 mark.
Then, the Warriors started unraveling. Curry missed a 26-foot 3-pointer. Green and McKinnie missed consecutive layups. McKinnie missed an open 3-pointer. Though Curry finished at the rim to narrow the gap to 104-100 with two minutes left, Thompson was then called for a foul on Mitchell when he fell after attempting a 3-pointer. Only problem: replays showed Thompson landed nowhere near Mitchell.
Mitchell made two of three foul shots for a 106-100 lead with 1:36 left. During these times, the Warriors’ All-Stars usually make a shot. Curry missed a 26-foot 3-pointer, but the Warriors redeemed themselves after Joe Ingles missed an open 3-pointer. Following Thompson’s rebound, Durant drained a 28-foot stepback 3 to reduce Utah’s lead to 106-103 with 55.5 seconds left.
Mitchell inexplicably then lost the ball when he dribbled it off his leg. Following the Warriors’ timeout, they found an open Iguodala on the perimeter, whose shot hit off the rim. Curry rebounded the ball, but he then lost control of the ball out of bounds. So after officials originally awarded the ball to the Warriors, they decided otherwise after viewing the replay.
“They weren’t playing that well, but we made a lot of mistakes,” Kerr said. “We didn’t find the necessary energy and execution you need to win in this building. We made it close with a few shots down the stretch. But we didn’t really play our game.”
What will it take for the Warriors to play their game?
“The ball has to move,” Kerr said. “The ball has to find some energy and players have to share it. They have to make hard cuts. They have to find the spirit it takes to generate that kind of play. That’s what we’re missing right now, for sure.” THE KLAY THOMPSON PUZZLE » He opened the first seven games shooting a combined 39.6 percent from the field and 13.9 percent from the perimeter. Then against Chicago, Thompson set the NBA record for most 3-pointers made in a game with 14.
The slump subsided before he went through an inefficient three-game trip from the perimeter this season against Houston (0 of 5), Dallas (2 of 11) and San Antonio (3 of 11), contests that Curry missed during his 11game absence with a strained left groin. In the past four games, Thompson has shot only 5 of 25 from 3-point range, including 0 for 5 in a loss to Toronto and 0 for 4 in a loss at Utah.
“I’m never worried about Klay shooting the ball,” Curry said. “We just have to create good shots. I talk about the law of averages. It’ll round out. We’ll get hot, and it’ll be fun. Watch out when it happens.” DEFENDING THE Though the Jazz shot 39.8 percent from the field, the Warriors struggled in defensive areas that matter in today’s NBA. Those areas include giving up 3-pointers and shots at the rim.
The Jazz shot 16 of 42 from 3-point range (38.1 percent), including strong marks from Ingles (4 of 9), Kyle Korver (4 of 7) and Jae Crowder (5 of 9).
“It’s tough to overcome,” Curry said.
It’s also tough to overcome also allowing Gobert to post 17 points on 6- of-12 shooting. Though that might expose the Warriors’ lack of size at the center spot, it also captured the Warriors’ lack of discipline in accounting for both areas. Only 50 seconds into the fourth quarter, Kerr called a timeout after Utah forward Derrick Favors had an uncontested dunk when Jordan Bell and Iguodala did not switch properly.
“That’s us,” Kerr said. “That’s on me. That’s on our group. We have to do better.”
Most of the damage happened in the third quarter then Utah shot 7 of 14 from the perimeter. Within a 2:19 second span, the Jazz launched and made four 3-pointers.