Warriors head coach Steve Kerr appeared on 95.7 The Game’s Willard and Dibs show the day after his Golden State Warriors were pummeled by the Sacramento Kings in an embarrassing season-ending beatdown in the play-in tournament, lamenting what could have and frankly, what should have been.
“This felt like a 50-win team to me. Feels to me like we should be down 1-0 in a series, not having the season finished,” he said.
Kerr is right, the Warriors were supposed to be in contention. They constructed, albeit awkwardly, a veteran-leaning roster expecting to compete. The shame of it all is the Warriors’ season didn’t have to end the way it did. They flamed out and now face a pivotal offseason. Here are three reasons why the Warriors’ season ended like it did.
Blown leads
Golden State lost 13 games while having a lead of 12 points or more heading into the fourth quarter. Losses against the Thunder (Nov. 18, Dec. 8), Kings (Nov. 28), Clippers (Dec. 2) and Nuggets (Jan. 4)were the most notable.
What stands out to me is that the Warriors had the firepower and the offense to build the lead. They were unable to close these games because of a combination of turnovers, defensive lapses and attrition down the stretch of games.
Since the Warriors’ motion offense is predicated on passes and cuts, a high turnover count is a byproduct. The defensive breakdowns were the biggest culprit to these blown leads. Opposing offenses tend to get good looks along the perimeter and heat up from three mainly because the Warriors’ defense has a tendency to overhelp, which leads to the next point.
Green’s suspension
Draymond Green was suspended for 16 games for hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic. When Greens suspension began Dec. 13, the Warriors’ defensive rating was an alarming 123.3.
During this period and his return, the Warriors’ defense had a rating of 117.7. Green’s presence on the floor during these games would have helped defensively in terms of roaming, helping and communication.
Offensively, his playmaking could have swung a few games the Warriors’ way not only through his facilitation but also through his auxiliary scoring. Green made an effort to make defenses pay this season. He shot 39.5 percent from 3 — his highest percentage since the 2015-16 season.
When Green was available, he has been a positive. His temper was the Warriors’ costliest turnover.
Lineup mismanagement
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Granted, the Warriors’ roster construction was far from perfect. Kerr spent most of the season trying to find combinations and rotations that work. Even in experimentation, there could have been better options than what Kerr decided to move forward with. In different pockets of the season, Kerr relied on a three-guard lineup that often struggled on defense. Kerr also at times had the right players in the rotation but utilized them less than he should have.
Trayce Jackson-Davis’ minutes are a recent example.
In the Warriors’ April 12 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, Jackson-Davis was a team-best plus-12 in his 22 minutes, putting up a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds on 71% from the field. Despite the numbers, he played the least of the starters.
While he didn’t give some players enough time, Kerr utilized some players too much. Brandin Podziemski hustled his way into the rotation but there were times in the season when he averaged 30 or more minutes. Podziemski rebounds well for his size and can draw a charge. However, he does not have the size to defend.
Again, this roster was not a seamless fit and it was sometimes clunky. However, in my opinion, there wasn’t a need for frequent three-guard lineups and playing an underutilized player such as Jackson-Davis or even Moses Moody could have won the Warriors a couple of games.
