SAN FRANCISCO – Everyone was warned that this would happen, and Curry thought it might happen soon, considering the significant midseason roster reconstruction. But the Warriors did a commendable in the initial weeks after Jimmy Butler’s Feb. 8 arrival. The new energy lifted spirits and their status in the standings.
Now that a month has passed, the kinks are creeping into performance. They were visible again in Golden State’s latest win, a 130-104 dispatching of the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night at Chase Center.
The victory was as flawed as it was decisive, much a few other recent wins. The turnover issue that for years has clung to the Warriors like lint on black wool – and was under control for until the past couple weeks – is back and it is harmful enough that they know they must address it to make a deep playoff run.
“It’s something we’ve got to control,” Moses Moody said after a light practice on Friday.
“Yeah, the last couple days, they’ve been showing us our blooper reels of us turning the ball over,” Kevon Looney said. “We had some crazy ones, but we know we need to get better.”
The Warriors are 13-2 under their revamped roster, but a troublesome trend is developing with turnovers. After averaging 11.9 per game in February, they’re up to 15.3 in March. They committed 70 giveaways (17.5 per game) over the last four, donating 86 points (21.5 per game) to their opponents.
The Kings scored 20 points off 16 Warriors turnovers, with most of the damage coming late in the second quarter and early in the third. The Warriors made six donations in the final five minutes of the first half and three more in the first three minutes of the second half. Their 23-point lead was whittled to four in eight minutes.
“Carelessness and risk – too much risk,” coach Steve Kerr said. “That was the main point of our offensive film session today. We had that game totally under control, up 23 in the first half, and then kind of lost our mind down the stretch, that last two minutes of the of the half.
“The message is, against the best teams we’re not going to get away with that.”
It’s asking a lot of any team to donate 20 points to the Knicks or the Nuggets or the Bucks and still come away with a victory. They’d almost have to play the same game of charity.
And those are the next three teams coming, in that order, to Chase. The Warriors beat the Bucks in Milwaukee on Feb. 10 (Butler’s second game) and took down the Knicks in New York on March 4. They haven’t beaten the Nuggets since March 2022, having since gone 0-7.
“That’s why I’m hammering it home every day,” Kerr said. “We’re good enough now where we can win some games like we’ve shown. Brooklyn and then Detroit, especially, those two felt really careless and loose. Last night was actually pretty good for the most part other than that stretch.”
So, yes, with 16 games remaining and currently in sixth place in a congested Western Conference playoff race, it’s imperative for Golden State to get into the lab. To study video of errant performance, even though it can be brutal to watch.
“It’s accountability,” Moody said. “When you’re seeing it in front of you on the screen, there’s no argument about if I did it or not. You’re red-handed. So, at that point you’ve got to take responsibility for it and see how you can change.”
Kerr referenced the worst of the Warriors collapses this season, on Feb. 5 at Utah, the day before Butler was acquired and three days before his debut. The Jazz, trailing by 11, outscored the Warriors 20-6 in less than three minutes to steal a win.
“That’s a team that’s in the lottery and not going anywhere this year,” Kerr said. “The point is all 30 teams have the ability to score 20 points in three minutes. Everyone can shoot 3s now. It’s not like the old days where you can afford a couple of careless turnovers, and it may not bite you. It’s going to bite you now.”
It didn’t bite hard enough to hurt against the last four opponents: Brooklyn, Detroit, Portland and Sacramento. The next few opponents have bigger teeth.
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