SAN FRANCISCO — When Buddy Hield is on, the Warriors are very tough to beat. The Timberwolves learned that on Sunday night.
After a month-long shooting slump, Hield drilled seven of 13 3-pointers en route to a 27-point performance — his first time cracking 20 points in over a month. It’s no coincidence that his shooting slump directly coincided with the Warriors’ losing slide before Sunday’s win— and the path out of it runs through figuring out ways to get him going again.
The Warriors have never lost a game when Hield, an offseason addition, has scored at least 18 points for them. They’re 2-6 when he scores single digits and 10-2 when he makes at least three 3-pointers.
Hield is shooting 47.5% in the Warriors’ 14 wins, compared to 33.3% in their nine losses.
“He does seem to be an X-factor for us,” Steve Kerr said.
Hield was nuclear-hot to start his Warriors career, hitting 50.7% of his 3s through eight games. The Warriors sprinted out to a 12-3 record and bringing in Hield looked like a perfect marriage of team system and individual skill.
He’d studied Steph Curry for years, admiring him and the Warriors’ brand of basketball. After bouncing around the league for years, Hield looked like “Oklahoma Buddy.”
Hield has passed Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki on the all-time list and is on pace to usurp Eric Gordon later this season for 16th in NBA history in made 3s.
But even the sharpest of shooters go through funks.
Between 20-point games, Hield shot 36.8% from deep — right around league average, but league average isn’t good enough for a 3-point specialist. Golden State’s offense cratered, as did Hield’s minutes.
Even when shots aren’t falling, confidence is never an issue for Hield. Neither is work ethic. Optional shootarounds aren’t optional for the veteran, who doesn’t leave a gym until his jumper feels right. That could take 50 shots or 500. Even during game stoppage, he’ll grip a nearby ball to get a feel for it, or take practice shots in search of a rhythm.
“He probably puts more hours in the gym than I think I’ve ever seen,” Curry said.
And even when Hield was in a funk, teammates still raved about his upbeat attitude. His smile lights up rooms and his personality livens up team flights. It’s been that way since the Bahamas, when he was a young troublemaker shooting into a milk crate.
“There’s nothing even-keeled about him,” Curry said. “He’s all extreme happy, joy, talking all the time…The funniest part is you can’t get him to shut up.”
To break Hield out of his slump, Kerr inserted him into an unconventional starting lineup in consultation with Warriors head of analytics Pabail Sidhu.
Hield started alongside Curry, Gary Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green. Since Andrew Wiggins (ankle) was unavailable, Payton provided perimeter defense and Hield created additional spacing to spring Kuminga downhill.
After a slow start, the plan worked.
“Whenever I’m out there with Steph, Dray, Gary, JK, the floor’s always open,” Hield said. “Teams have to pick their poison.”
Especially in the third quarter, the Warriors played with the kind of accelerated pace that suits Hield — the same tempo they torched teams with early in the season. In crunch time, Payton forced a turnover against Anthony Edwards, leading to a fast break that ended with Hield’s dagger corner 3, keeping a promise he made to Green: After missing a late 3 against Denver, he said he’d make the next one.
When he’s right, Hield fits exactly what the Warriors want to do: play fast and jack up 3s. That’s their goal because it’s where the league is trending but also because their roster isn’t geared toward drive-and-kick paint touches or getting to the foul line.
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But the open secret is that the Warriors aren’t really tailored to bomb 3s, either. They have Curry, and that can’t be discounted. Wiggins is also back to hitting 3s at a high rate. But beyond them? De’Anthony Melton is out for the year. Moses Moody is in and out of the lineup. Payton can’t shoot. Neither can Brandin Podziemski all of a sudden. The centers either don’t shoot or aren’t respected by defenses. Kuminga is a stand-still shooter who’s much more effective attacking the rim.
That leaves Hield. When he’s hot, he’s prolific enough to cover up for everyone else. When he’s not, the Warriors are going to either struggle to score or drastically change their approach.
Hield is going to have his ups and downs. All shooters do – even Curry. It’s one of the reasons Hield has played for five teams in nine seasons.
But Hield’s performance on Sunday night serves as evidence that the Warriors should stick with him through rough stretches – unlike some of his former teams. Because when he’s on, they’re tough to beat.
“All it takes is one to go in,” Hield said.
