In the first 20 games of the season, the Warriors achieved an 18-2 league record. Unknowingly, he played the second best opening season in team history and the first 20 games, second only to the 73-win 2015-16 season (20 wins and 0 losses, 24 consecutive wins in the opening season).
He averaged 30.2 assists per game and eight assists at more than 1.5, ranking first in the league.
The fire-pumping offense, mercury-soaked passes, and Stephen Curry are always the secrets of this Warriors' win.
Of course, unlike the 2015-16 season, it was courage and confidence from victory before, and this year it is to learn lessons and motivation from defeat. Curry's glory is also natural, not only won the best of the week and the best of the month, but also in the latest mvp odds list, has squeezed out the alphabet brother to sit in the first place.
It seems that the third MVP trophy has become a "bag".
However, with today's loss to the Lakers, they have suffered four consecutive losses, in fact, they have only won two of the last ten games.
From the devastation at the beginning of the season to the current faltering pace, what is wrong with this team?
Green's injury
As the cliché goes, Green is one of the league's best defensive players, but his significance to the Warriors is far from that simple as those words.
The essence of the Warriors' defense is that while changing defenses indefinitely, combined with pinch, delay, rotation and many changes, under green's command, Poole, Payton Jr. and even Curry are all experts at reading defensive improvisation. That makes the Warriors' defense full of resilience and change.
This season, Green has held up almost half of the Warriors' defense, 12 percent of the time against point guards, 13 percent of the time against quarterbacks, 21 percent of the time against small forwards, 23 percent of the time against big forwards, 32 percent of the time against centers. What is remarkable is that Green defends every position very well.
In addition, Green can eat through Kerr's tactical essence, playing a silent role in the Warriors' offensive system, such as arc top cards and breakthrough points, and contributions such as arc top cards and breakthrough points are excluded by statistics and wonderful shots. Without Green, for the Warriors, it is to lose a commander and metronome at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and Curry's state has also recurred, and the impact is not small.
Clay's comeback
Although in the 15-19 period, Klay bowed to the best and was the hero of the Warriors' three championships. But it is undeniable that he has seriously dragged down the Warriors' offensive and defensive conversion on the court now.
At the beginning of the season, Role players such as Pooler, Porter, and Cumminga had a wonderful chemical reaction with Kuchai, and they won consecutive victories, and the Warriors won consecutive victories, such as Day in the Sky, and even entered the discussion of the championship.
More importantly, Klay Thompson on the bench made them feel like they were constantly winning: "With him, maybe we can be stronger." ”
This positive psychological cue makes the whole team look forward to it while thinking about maintaining a better record before Clay's comeback, holding its breath up and down.
As a result, Clay returned, which did not bring the imaginary "tiger wings", but hindered the original chemical reaction of the whole team.
Because of the need to find the state, Clay occupied a lot of playing time, broke the team's original rotation, and also disrupted the rhythm of Poole to a certain extent, and Poole began to struggle. And Clay's performance of god, ghost, and ghost, is getting farther and farther away from the previous high-quality no-ball 3D, making the team rhythm completely empty.
Losing to the Lakers today, Clay had only 7 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists on 3-of-13 shooting, as well as 4 turnovers. Dribbling on the basket is not hit, the empty three points are not hit, most of the time, there is no feel at all. After being replaced at the end of the second quarter, he even returned directly to the dressing room, obviously dissatisfied with his performance.
Although I don't want to say this, the reality is that Klay is now a kind of damage to the Warriors: losing the lateral shift, the defensive end has not contributed at the same time, and it is difficult for Thompson to use a block to find the shooting space as in the past. And Green has not been in the lineup due to injury, used to stand at the top of the arc to observe, the splash brothers ran back and forth, and the situation of people to the ball is now difficult to see. Such a state occupies a lot of playing time, a large number of shots, and it is a kind of damage to the Warriors.
Of course, some people say that Kerr and the Warriors are gambling, using the results of the regular season to gamble on the return of the Buddha Lord with full blood, because they know that Clay is an important part of winning the championship in the playoffs, so the Warriors can sacrifice the results, sacrifice Poole, sacrifice Wiggins.
It's just that the stakes look a little big.