Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson pumps his fist as the final seconds tick off in a 108-99 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., Friday, March 3, 2023. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
The Warriors have been trying out something new over the last five games:
It’s called effort, and it seems to be pretty powerful.
Without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors have won five straight games and surged from the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference standings — a play-in tournament spot — to No. 5, on the cusp of first-round home-court advantage.
In the Warriors’ last four games, the team came back from double-digit point deficits to win, sometimes mounting the comeback as late as the fourth quarter.
The formula for success was the same in every game: the Dubs locked down on defense (they boast the best defensive rating in the NBA over the last five games), and those stops fueled the team’s offense, which thrives in transition, even without Curry.
Add in a commitment to doing the little things — team rebounding, making the extra pass, and driving to the basket — and you had the anatomy of a comeback and, ultimately, a much-needed winning streak.
The Warriors have deemed their recent success a byproduct of “grit.”
But we all know that’s a fancier way of saying “we started trying.”
It’s ok that the Warriors procrastinated months of a season — saving their best for a few select games along the way — so long as this past week’s effort is the norm from here on out.
This winning streak stands as validation of the Warriors’ title aspirations. The Dubs are now defending. That means they stand a chance of defending their title.
Coach Steve Kerr said his team has “turned a corner.”
Team chemistry is overtly strong, the emergence of Jonathan Kuminga as a defend-everyone, dunk-on-everyone dynamo has given the Dubs a valuable option off the bench, and his chemistry with Anthony Lamb is going to land the two-way player a full-time NBA job — he was immense during this stretch.
Kerr locked in during this home stand, too. His playoff-like defensive game plans on Damian Lillard (double-team him) and Russell Westbrook (no-team him) were instrumental in the Warriors’ wins over the Blazers and Clippers. Draymond Green was at the center of it all, and looked every bit like the best defender in the NBA this past week.
Add in Klay Thompson playing the role of a leading man for the first time since the first two rounds of the 2016 playoffs and thriving, averaging 28 points per game on 51 percent shooting, and Jordan Poole’s newfound commitment to getting to the free-throw line, and you have a pretty good formula for success that can translate into April, May, and perhaps even June.
Again, all this was done without Curry and Wiggins — two players that will augment the team’s newfound success upon return. (Curry could be on the court as soon as Sunday.)
Were some of the Warriors’ matchups this week favorable to the team’s current constitution? (There’s only one center on the roster, Kevon Looney.)
Absolutely. Smallball was no issue for the Warriors against Portland (one center), the Clippers (no Ivica Zubac), and Pelicans (no Zion Williamson). But there’s no guarantee the Warriors’ smallball will be problematic against any team in the Western Conference.
Ultimately, playing small is the identity of the Warriors. It made them great nearly a decade ago, and it’s been at the core of any success the team’s had since the salad days of the dynasty ended. It should not be considered coincidental that the Warriors have found their identity again following the trade of young center James Wiseman.
Since Wiseman was drafted No. 2 overall in Nov. 2020, the Warriors have been most successful when he was away from the team. It’s not Wiseman’s fault that he was a totem for the organization’s hubristic “two-timelines” ideals and an antithetical fit to the Warriors’ style of play, but he was both things, and that was a burden on the team.
When Wiseman was injured in his rookie year, the Warriors went on a late run to the play-in tournament. Last season, when he missed the entire NBA campaign, the Warriors won the title.
Golden State even had moments of excellence earlier this season — flashes of better basketball — when Wiseman was on a G-League assignment.
Another critical factor for the Dubs’ recent success was the fact that they were at home. Role players in the NBA play better at home — it’s a long-understood but unexplained phenomenon — and with the Warriors’ roster being mostly role players this past week-plus, you’d be a fool to overlook the effect of being at Chase Center.
The Warriors have the second-most home wins in the NBA this season. They have the fifth-most road losses, having won only seven games away from the Bay.
Which leads the Warriors to a big question: Can they replicate this success on the road?
Thompson thinks so.
“We’re having fun,” Thompson said after Friday’s win over the Pelicans. “You realize how important all these games are from here on out. We want to do everything we can to have home court, especially in the first round. It’s a great challenge, and it’s there for us to take.”
“We’ve been trusting each other more… Our communication has been great, and we’ve got some great defenders. I’m very confident that we’ll have the same effort on the road.”
And so long as that effort indeed travels, the Warriors will keep rising.
Originally published at Dieter Kurtenbach