© Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND — All of Golden State’s momentum has halted. One month ago, Kevin Durant’s apparent frustration with reports regarding his impending free agency jumpstarted a confounding span filled with conflicting postgame comments and major letdowns, the worst of which came in a 33-point loss to the visiting Boston Celtics Tuesday night. The Warriors have lost five of their last eight games.
This kind of lull was inevitable. It happened last year, too. With the playoffs about five weeks away, however, the Warriors are trying to discover the root of these recent struggles, which traditionally has had more to do with energy than actual basketball.
“We just need to compete,” Draymond Green said at shootaround Wednesday. “If we can compete, nobody can beat us. And even sometimes when we don’t compete, people still can’t beat us. But we need to compete.”
On Tuesday night, the Warriors allowed 38 assists and 51 percent shooting, which helps explain the lack of intensity. Throughout the past 10 games, they have allowed 118 points on average.
“Our defense has been horse-****, no matter who is in there,” Green said.
Green, who calls himself the leader of the defense, took some of the blame for these lapses. It all comes down to competing, Green continued to reiterate Wednesday.
That message, among several others, was communicated in a team meeting before Wednesday’s practice.
“We are trying to get a better read on what’s working and what isn’t,” Green said. “But right now, we can’t get a read because we aren’t competing at a high level.”
Green said the team discussed its goals, which includes securing the No. 1 seed. The Warriors are currently 1.5 games ahead of the Denver Nuggets for first place in the Western Conference.
“f you aren’t playing for something in particular, what are you playing for?” Green said. “It’s easy to take that mindset, and say, ‘We will just get to the playoffs and we will turn it on.’ I don’t want to live on the edge like that.”
The Warriors discussed the importance of doing their jobs, from the top-down. Durant emphasized accountability after the loss Tuesday night. Green echoed that sentiment one day later.
“You obviously appreciate it when coach takes some responsibility because we are all in this together, we win together, lose together, we take the punches together,” Green said. “As far as (Steve Kerr) getting us ready, is there more he can do? I think there’s always more he can do. I think there’s more our entire coaching staff can do. on the flip side of that, there’s way more that we can do as well. At the end of the day, they can do all they can do, and if we come out lacking energy like we did last night, it’s not going to matter. The responsibility falls on everybody.”
Kerr encourages transparency in these meetings.
“It’s the best way to operate,” Kerr said. “Be honest, point out their flaws, point out my flaws. Nobody is perfect; we all make mistakes, but we are all in this together. We have to work on our weaknesses and flaws together. My job is to point them out and to execute a practice plan that can address our needs, and their job is to execute those.”
Kerr took responsibility for the lack of offensive execution Tuesday night. The Warriors shot 40 percent and turned the ball over 22 times. He thought the offensive game plan could have countered Boston’s defensive approach. Kerr also said the defensive performance could have been tighter. He attributed those struggles to overlooking the basics.
Evidently, the so-called issues permeating the Warriors are multi-pronged. They believe addressing those topics among themselves is the first step toward solving them.
“I think just coming off the loss last night, it forces you to take a look in the mirror,” Kerr said. “I definitely did that last night. I didn’t like what I saw in terms of my own coaching job last night. We came in, had a good session, talked about where we need to get better, had a good practice. Hopefully, that will carry over.”
Ultimately, this is likely a minor road bump in Golden State’s road to a third straight NBA championship and fourth in five years. Despite recent struggles, and outside speculation surrounding Durant’s future, Green says he has not sensed a different vibe around the team. But he urges the Warriors to pick up the intensity and practice the positive habits that will benefit them when it matters most. Maybe Tuesday night was the wakeup call they needed.
“We sucked. We got embarrassed,” Green said. “But it’s just about competing. I don’t think we came out with the right intensity level, playing with that competitive spirit we need to play with in order to win games at a high level.”