After a 4-1 start that included wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Clippers, the Golden State Warriors have followed it up with a 1-4 record over the last five games, including
losses to a Milwaukee Bucks squad without Giannis Antetokounmpo and an Indiana Pacers team plagued with injuries to five of their key players that all played significant minutes in last season’s NBA Finals.
In an interview with 95.7 The Game’s Willard & Dibs, Kerr emphasized the need for his team to take note of the process.
There has to be a process that leads to the execution, that leads to the wins. And so right now, the focus is on the process. Take care of the damn ball, and we can help you with that as coaches with spacing and our offensive scheming, what we’re doing, that’s a collaboration.
The Warriors have always been a turnover-prone team by virtue of their offensive philosophy, which involves pace and ball movement. Since the 2014-15 season — Kerr’s first as head coach — the Warriors have been one of the league’s top-10 passing teams in each season in terms of passes per game, ranking no lower than ninth. This season, their 323.4 passes per game ranks fourth.
But the emphasis on ball movement, along with bouts of poor decision making across the board (especially from the top-end of their roster), has resulted in a turnover rate of 16.4%, which ranks in the bottom half of the league (23rd). They’ve tallied at least 15 turnovers in seven of their 10 games this season.
Kerr emphasized the changing landscape of the league, with regard to the increasing pace across the board and the uptick of not only three-point volume, but also the number of capable three-point shooters.
“But ultimately, you know — adapt or die. I mean, the league has changed, and everyone’s playing with pace and 3-point shooting. I would say, seven or eight years ago, we could turn it over 18 times, and it didn’t matter, because we were going to shoot threes and play fast and out-talent people. Now you can play one of the worst teams in the league, and they will beat you by shooting, making 20 threes and playing really fast if you turn it over.”
It’s important to note that while Kerr has been emphasizing pace and playing fast, the Warriors are among the slowest teams in the league in terms of possessions per game: 100.9, 21st in the NBA. The league’s fastest team in terms of possessions per game is the Miami Heat, who average 106.95 possessions per game.
One limiting factor behind the Warriors’ efforts to increase their pace is age. In terms of average roster age, the Warriors are the second oldest team in the league; only the Clippers are older. Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, and Al Horford are all north of 35-years old and have had to sit out one or multiple games this season. Kerr has had to manage a tricky balance of making sure his players play fast and uptempo while making sure his older veterans aren’t being burned out too quickly.
However, with the Warriors’ brutal schedule to start the season — tomorrow’s game against the Indiana Pacers will mark their 11th game in 20 nights, which has already included three sets of back-to-backs and another set coming up — there will be no let-up.
