The Golden State Warriors, weakening before the All-Star Weekend, have returned with a refreshing performance against the Clippers. Head coach Steve Kerr has rectified a major shortcoming – thanks to JaVale McGee. But already on Sunday we will see how recovered the champion really is.
During a regular season of the NBA, there is usually not much time for recovery. The All-Star Break is the only exception – and the Golden State Warriors did not ask twice.
A few examples: Head coach Steve Kerr was surfing Hawaii with his family, the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson went out together for a few holes and Kevin Durant used the time to catch up with a few regular naps to get some sleep.
“The All-Star Break gives all teams and players these opportunities,”Kerr explained.”The season can be very gruelling and you need this time.”
In fact, the reigning champion was more than staggered into the break. Five of the last twelve games had been lost, with the (again) lack of chances in the top game against Oklahoma City Thunder in particular having caused frowning.
To top it all off, the Dubs also lost the top seed to the Houston Rockets after a defeat against the Blazers, who, after two victories in the direct duel, will have a tiebreaker against the Bay Area boys. The master’s problems are well known: the championship hang-over took over too often from the team and caused ball losses, far too casual defenses and hiring problems with their own guides.
In addition, there were numerous skirmishes with the refs, the players of no team collect more technicals than Draymond Green (No. 1-Seed!) and Co. It always seemed as if the stars were looking elsewhere for the reason for their weakness instead of questioning themselves. Kerr, who demanded that his players represent the franchise in a more decent way, was one of the main reasons for this. He included himself in the critique.
So the All-Star Weekend with the chance to recharge the batteries came as if it were a good time. And at least Kerr did something productive in addition to his surfing units: together with the head of analytics, Samuel Gelfand, he took a close look at the figures for the problem areas.
Among other things, they came to the conclusion that one section of the game had caused a lot of problems: the first quarter. Not only the packing against OKC has already been sealed (30:42). Throughout the entire season, the mortgage of a completely unconcentrated start to the game is often too large.
A few numbers: Only the Nets allow themselves in the first quarter more ball losses than the Warriors (4,0), the Suns are just as bad. In the defensive rating, Golden State ranks 28th (!). The fact that they are ranked 5th without the quarter-filter shows how much work has to be invested in the remaining three sections.
The coaching staff therefore came to the only logical conclusion to change the Starting Five. In the first game after the break – it went against the Clippers – JaVale McGee started instead of Zaza Pachulia in the center position. McGee’s athletics and speed should contain the circles of DeAndre Jordan. And Kerr also actively hoped for new impulses.
Now Pachulia has never been a “classic” starter anyway, but one who has to clear the field after a few minutes for a mostly smaller player. The Georgians have only played for the ninth most minutes in the team so far, and the Warriors are known to be most dangerous when they run around without conservative fives.
Accordingly, no one expected McGee to be 35 minutes on the field. In the end it was 14 – and they were quite productive (6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal). Kerr’s conversion paid off quickly and his team won the first quarter with 34:23.
McGee’s opponent Jordan scored only 4 points in the first section, while Shaqtin’s darling scored needlesticks on the other side. For example, when Curry pulled into the basket and tied Jordan, McGee saw his chance, cut energetically into the zone and stuffed the spalding through the Reuse after Steph’s opening. Milos Teodosic, who could have prevented this theoretically, preferred to avoid the whole thing.
On Sunday night, there will be the third and last regular-season duel with the Thunder, against which there is a lot to make up for. Kerr announced that he would like to use McGee as a starter again. Of course, the Head Coach knows that this will not be the remedy to eliminate the problem areas.
Some of them came into their own again, despite the much improved first quarter and the convincing victory against the Clippers. After an 18-point lead, the game got stuck again: Unforced Errors in the offense, unnecessary fouls in the defense and a periodically very boring zone (clippers: 56 points in the Paint) made it unnecessarily exciting at the end. In addition, it took an outstanding performance by Curry (44 points, 14/19 FG, 8/11 3FG, 10 assists) for the attack to arrive in masterly form.
Nevertheless, the success of the project has left a positive mood that has not always been taken for granted in Oakland. This must now be preserved, or to put it in Steve Kerr’s words:”We did some good things, but none of us pulled the wand during the break and waved it around so that everything would be fine. But it was a step in the right direction.”