Defensive turnaround fueled by newfound chemistry and trust
SAN FRANCISCO >> A bad Draymond Green game typically spells trouble for the Warriors' defense.
Having played six games over the last nine days — winning five in a row at home — Green's tank was running on empty Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. He fouled out late in the fourth quarter with one assist, four turnovers and five rebounds.
A game like that from Green earlier this season would have put Golden State into ugly loss territory. He has preached about the team's lack of defensive identity and grit as the prognosis for the Warriors' unimpressive season thus far, and Green's efforts taped together any defensive cohesion Golden State had this year.
But Green's stinker went practically unnoticed. His teammates — without Andrew Wiggins and Steph Curry — had the defense under control. They held the Pelicans to 99 points, capping a five-game homestand in which they recorded a 102.8 defensive rating. A far cry from their 114.9 rating over the first 64 games this season.
The coaching staff employing more complicated, playoff-level defensive schemes instilled a grit this team has lacked all season. Trust, the players say, is at the root of the turnaround.
“It's chemistry,” Jonathan Kuminga said. “It has always been there. It was just a matter of time to build that chemistry together. Lot of guys come in and out, lot of people haven't played with each other. It's coming back around and, hopefully, we will keep doing the same thing.”
Kuminga's perimeter defense has been a revelation. He had four steals and a block in Friday's win while locking down 6-foot-8 wing Brandon Ingram; Ingram, averaging 23.5 points per game, finished with 17 points. With Wiggins out for personal reasons and Gary Payton II injured until further notice, the Warriors were in desperate need of some disruptive perimeter defense. Kuminga has delivered.
“I haven't been in this league too long,” said Kuminga, whom the Warriors drafted in 2021 at age 18. “Being around the greatest player in this league, people don't like players getting physical with them. I feel like I do that. I just try to get in your head and take advantage . ... A lot of people don't like that and that's all we had to go out there and do today. It starts with Klay (Thompson) coming in and being physical.”
Kuminga takes pride in his physicality and individual prowess, but understands he's most useful as a cog in a defensive machine. That chemistry on defense seems to have grown since the All-Star break because the players — veteran, young and new — trust each other to make the correct rotations and communicate.
That has allowed head coach Steve Kerr and his staff to turn away from a more vanilla defense and deploy more specialized and varying defensive looks at opponents.
All these third-quarter flurries to overcome double-digit deficits lately happen because of defense.
The turning point began on Tuesday with an aggressive box-and-one defense that took the ball out of Portland's star scorer Damian Lillard's hands. Donte DiVincenzo hounded him, keeping Lillard out of his bag of tricks to get to the line and limit him to 2 of 7 shooting from 3-point range with just five free-throw attempts. Just the kind of perimeter defense the Warriors need.
“(Donte) has got incredible experience and he's just going to be incredibly important for us going down the stretch,” Thompson said.
Their win against the Los Angeles Clippers was sparked by a defensive scheme in which Green sagged off Russell Westbrook, daring him to shoot wide open from 3 while denying him a seam to the rim and passing lanes. Westbrook shot 0 for 5 from 3 and the mucked lanes and defensive focus clogged the Clippers' offense.
“It wasn't just sagging off of Russ,” Green said Thursday. “Everyone was locked in on their coverage. If there was a top lock with Paul George, Donte was in the top lock. Klay was all over Kawhi. (Jonathan Kuminga) came in and he was all over both when he guarded each of those guys. It was a total team effort.”
They're making the right adjustments, too.
“We can put a box-and-one on Kawhi Leonard, but they can go into timeout and make that adjustment,” DiVincenzo said. The difference now is that the Warriors, trusting and comfortable, are able to answer the opponents' counter.
Payton and Wiggins' returns to the rotation should add another dynamic to a defense rounding into form. But can the Warriors take this undermanned, new-look defense on the road for three games against the Lakers, Thunder and Grizzlies? They're 7-23 in road games in large part because of their inability to find that grit on the road.
“It's been exciting to see our team, I think, turn a corner,” Kerr said. “But we still need to go out and win on the road.”