This offseason, it was hard not to focus on the shock of seeing Klay Thompson in another jersey and wondering what that would mean for the Warriors chemistry. There was (and still is) talk about how Golden State needs to land a second star to put next to Stephen Curry.
Through it all, the Warriors front office was quietly willing to say to anyone that would listen that their team got better. Deeper. Kind of a “just watch, you’ll see” vibe.
We’re watching and seeing now.
Any doubts about this team should have been answered when they came back from seven points down midway through the fourth quarter to beat defending the defending champion Celtics in Boston Wednesday. It doesn’t matter that the Celtics were shorthanded, this was a Golden State team that showed real grit and came back to win a game they would not have a season ago.
“It’s a statement,” Buddy Hield told Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “If we don’t win this game, everybody is like, ‘Oh, they don’t play anybody.’ So, you’ve got to come and make a statement, right?”
That statement starts on defense.
Warriors defense is back
We will forever call this the Stephen Curry era in Golden State, but those four championship banners hang in the Chase Center because those Warriors were one of the best defenses in the league.
That defense is back, looking a little different but still elite. A defense that held Boston to 40 first-half points and got stops down the stretch when they needed it.
A defense that is second in the NBA in defensive rating and 10.6 points per 100 possessions better than a season ago.
The difference is personnel. That and the voice of new assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse being in their ear.
This year’s Warriors are younger and more athletic and they are pressuring the ball everywhere on the court – they are trapping and swarming ball handlers. They are jumping passing lanes. They are disruptive.
“We just try to keep bodies on bodies in the halfcourt…” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area. “We’re a little bigger than we were last year. We have more wing defenders. If we can get a rebound, we’re usually in good shape.”
It’s a far more aggressive defense than we saw from Steve Kerr teams in the past — credit Stackhouse for part of that (you can hear him yelling out defensive calls on the broadcast, he is not shy). A healthy Gary Payton II coming off the bench has been a big part of the turn around, too, he is looking like a stopper Kerr can turn to in key moments.
Kerr also has been committed to playing a big man — usually Trayce Jackson-Davis but sometimes a thinner and playing well Kevon Looney — next to Draymond Green, allowing arguably the greatest defender of a generation to get back to being a more of a free safety who can help or switch when called upon.
It’s all worked.
Kerr’s lesson from Paris: Play everyone
These Warriors are deeper — and Steve Kerr is leaning into it.
While the focus was on Thompson leaving, the Warriors brought in Buddy Hield, a sharpshooter who has thrived in the Warriors motion offense so far averaging 21.1 points a game while shooting 50.7% from 3. Golden State also brought in De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson (both slowed by injuries), and they have a healthy Payton off the bench.
Kerr was reminded to trust his bench during the Paris Olympics (even if Jayson Tatum disagrees). Of course, it’s easy to trust a bench that has Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Tatum on it, but Kerr brought that same mindset to the Warriors and they have thrived because of it.
Legs are kept fresh. Nobody on the Warriors is averaging more than 28.1 minutes a game (Brandin Podziemski) but 11 players are playing at least 15 minutes a night — Kerr went 11 deep into his bench against Boston and the guy who played the fewest minutes was Lindy Waters III at almost 14. (Curry, Green and Andrew Wiggins all did play more than 30 minutes in that game).
The Warriors also are more disciplined on offense with a focus of not turning over the ball, something that was an Achilles heel of the peak Warriors.
“We can’t be the same team we were five or six years ago and give away five or six possessions in the name of creating chaos,” Kerr said after the Celtics win — during which he yelled at Curry for a sloppy turnover. “Everyone else is playing fast and shooting 3s, too, these days.
“Boston shot 20 more 3s than we did in the second half. So it’s tough to win if you are giving away possessions. I’ve been all over Steph and Draymond. It’s incumbent upon them because they are our leaders and they’re the guys who handle the ball most. They gotta cut back on their bad decisions like that.”
So far, so good.
The Warriors are still in the market for another quality shot creator and scorer, they likely will need one come the playoffs when every team is good and defenses are more drilled down on things like slowing Curry or stopping Hield. The trade dynamic is different now, however, than when the Warriors were chasing Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this offseason — these Warriors don’t need to feel pressure to make a move. There is no desperation. While the clock is ticking on Curry and Green’s careers, right now the Warriors look like a threat without that second scorer. There is no need for Golden State to overpay.
It’s just eight games into the NBA season — think of it as being 2.5 miles into a marathon. Most of the race and challenges are ahead, but a pace and rhythm have been established.
That rhythm has the Warriors looking like contenders in the West — because they are defending like the championship Warriors again.