Different issue plagues Warriors after fixing turnover woes in loss to Blazers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors coach Steve Kerr during his pregame news conference Friday identified the greatest threat to the success of the team this season: Turnovers. When they commit fewer, they win. When they commit more, they lose.
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“That’s our No. 1 concern at this stage,” he said. “Seventeen games in, it’s pretty clear what we have to do. If we take care of the ball, we win. If we don’t, we lose.”
Four hours later, in Game 18, at Chase Center for the first time since Nov. 9, the Warriors committed fewer giveaways than the Portland Trail Blazers – and, for the first time this season, lost.
Lack of size and interior muscle is an issue that has surfaced all too often this season, and they were the primary cause of the Warriors walking off the Chase Center floor with a 127-123 lashing that killed their homecoming buzz and dropped them back to .500.
“We know we’re small out there at times, but we got to play bigger than we are,” said Stephen Curry, whose game-high 38 points went for naught. “There were a lot of breakdowns and missed box outs because they had five out most of the time, with a 7-footer in there. Those possessions matter.”
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Glancing at their opening-night roster, the smallest in the NBA, the Warriors had to expect there would be nights like this. Nights when they would pay a price for being relatively miniature compared to their opponent. When rebounds would be gone before the ball could drop low enough to reach their outstretched hands.
Nights, like this one, when they would outshoot their opponent from the field, and from beyond the arc, while committing fewer turnovers, and still come up short. Literally and figuratively.
Portland won the offensive rebounding war 21-9, the total rebounding war 52-32 and was plus-18 (28-10) in second chance points. Four Blazers snagged at least seven rebounds, with Robert Williams III hauling in a game-high 11, while Jimmy Butler III, with eight, was the only Warrior with more than six.
“They are an athletic team,” Kerr said after losing to Portland for the second time this season. “A couple of their guys are super athletic. They crash. They put a lot of pressure on us. That was the difference.”
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It is exceedingly difficult to win when taking such a beating on the glass, though Curry indicated there is a path.
“Pretty much perfect basketball on the other end,” Curry said.
“But it’s still crazy that we were in a one-possession game with whatever with minute and a half (remaining) with that type of discrepancy. It’s like you play as hard as you want to, fly around, but the best offense and the most demoralizing thing for defense is 20 seconds of good defense, and then an easy put back or second, third opportunity.”
Though rebounding was the most statistical failure, and the most decisive, the Warriors also did a poor job of defending, particularly at the point of attack and when spread out by Portland’s shooters. Rookie guard Caleb Love, on a two-way contract, came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points, in the process draining six 3-pointers, several of which were wide open.
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“We’re just not guarding nobody, from what I can tell,” Butler said. “And I haven’t been here long, but that’s never been the formula here.”
“You’re not taking anything away. You’re not taking the paint away. You’re not taking away layups, free throws, lobs, 3s. So, we don’t know where they’re going to get a shot from, but tonight they were getting whatever shot they wanted.”
Brandin Podziemski, at times tasked with point-of-attack defense, conceded that it did not go well for him or any of his teammates when given that assignment.
“Just too many straight-line drives,” Podziemski said of Portland’s freeway to the rim. “Obviously, they are a bigger team than us. So, when our big has to rotate over so many times, it leaves (it open) for lobs and offensive rebounds.”
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The Warriors entered the game ranked 29th in number of turnovers per game and 22nd in rebounding. They committed 14 turnovers, to 21 for Portland. They plugged that leak.
Only to have another one bite them in the backside.
It has been that kind of season for Golden State. And probably will be if the current roster is unable to overcome the areas, and there are several, in which it is deficient.
