Alarm bells sound for the Warriors after another blown fourth-quarter lead, loss in Orlando
Published: March 22, 2022 US time
Publisher: the Athletic
Article author: Anthony Slater
Article translated by de Gaulle
If you want to give the Warriors a season so far, looking for a lowest point, then on March 22, local time, they lost to the magic of the league's bottom score with a score of 90-94 on the road, which may be a "darkest moment" belonging to the Golden State.
Even Cole, a coach who has always been mainly encouraging, was fiercely critical of his team after the game. "We have to play smarter," Kerr said, "and we can't continue to foul the opponent's three-point shooters, which is really the cause of our losses, as we have been in the last two games." If we take out a foul when shooting three-pointers against the other side, then in our opinion, the victories in both games should belong to us. ”
If there had been only one mistake, the Warriors wouldn't have won just six of their last 18 games. After talking about three-point fouls, Kerr began to talk about it again, listing many of the team's problems in other areas.
'We need to protect the ball, we can't be blown up for illegal cover, and this has happened many times, and even I can see that the players who are covering are not in place at all, and in that case, there should be no more cover." Cole went on to say, "There were also mistakes in our mental level that caused us to be very slow when changing defenses. We need to be sharper defensively and grab the ball once it's exposed to the floor. We need to improve the discipline, responsibility and fighting spirit on the pitch. I love everyone in our team's dressing room, they're really good guys. I know they want to win, but we need to learn how to win. As things stand, we obviously don't know the method. ”
After Kerr finished talking, the team's interior core Draymond Green immediately walked into the press conference, still wearing a jersey, and the sweat stains on him were still clearly visible. The reason why he didn't change his clothes was because when Green returned to the locker room, he lectured his teammates until they had to attend the press conference. That's why reporters saw Green wearing a jersey for an interview.
"We played too softly," Green began to criticize the team, "and we played very stupidly." We just didn't play a good basketball game, we just played very badly. With this performance, it's hard to win on the court, and that's where we are now. In the fourth quarter of the game, we lost a lot of points. In fact, we did not lose in the other sections, and what we lost was the fourth quarter, and we lost on the lack of execution. And to have enough execution, you have to have a strong physical confrontation, but we have nothing on the pitch. ”
Before the game began, the Warriors were 3rd in the West with a record of 47 wins and 24 losses. Their opponent, the Magic, finished just 19-53, the same as the Pistons, who were the first-to-last in the East. Even if the Warriors don't have Curry, they are obviously several notches higher than the Magic in terms of record and strength. But the more you lose in such a game with a large power gap, the more difficult it is for the dominant team to accept.
"My next words are not disrespectful to the Orlando Magic, but they are really one of the worst teams in the league today," Green continued, "and if we can't match the energy of our opponents on the field, then you naturally can't do that against those teams that are strong." I don't worry about the team just because I lose this game, but it does happen. We need to win the next game to see, only then can we fix it all. ”
As Green said, one of the big reasons the Warriors lost was that they couldn't keep up with the magic's intensity. Facing the 19th-ranked team in the league defensively, the Warriors, who averaged 110.9 points per game this season, ended up scoring only 90 points. They hit just 40 percent of the shots and made 18 turnovers — including five illegal cover catches by the referee. Of those 5 cover fouls, 3 occurred in the fourth quarter. That's one reason the Warriors scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter and eventually lost a nine-point lead.
The Warriors' three cover fouls in the fourth quarter came from three players — Bjelica, Gary Peyton II and Otto Potter. That's why Kerr will focus on covering fouls in his post-match interview. When a problem is repeated and still appears on different players, it is obviously a problem that has a commonality.
In addition to these problems caused by mentality, there is another reason why the Warriors cannot be ignored in the offensive end, that is, Stephen Curry's truce. Because of the lack of such an important attack point and launch point on the outside, the Warriors' fluency on the offensive end has been greatly reduced recently, and the efficiency is not as good as before. Coupled with the lack of Curry's restraint and attraction, other Warriors players have also felt the increase in defensive pressure.
For example, Klay Thompson, against the Magic, he shot 6-of-15. Since the end of the All-Star season, Thompson has shot just 40.4 percent from the field. Another winger, Wiggins, who shot 5-of-19 from the Game with the Magic, dropped to 38.1 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three-point range. What's worse, he only has 44.8% of his free throw shooting percentage.
"Speaking of Wiggins, I really liked the aggressiveness he had at the start of the game," Kerr said after the game, "and three of his first four offenses were to hit the basket." He needs to believe in himself, he only has to do this more times to have more scoring opportunities, he needs to create more fouls and find rhythm at the free throw line. So, this game is a good signal, and I personally have a lot of confidence in Wiggins. I'm sure he'll reverse it all and have a great performance in the final 10 games. ”
Originally, Wiggins had already stopped falling and rebounded in the game against the Bucks 10 days ago, and he personally said that the game was a turning point for him. But then he missed two games due to illness and when he returned to the pitch, he had to find rhythm again. So the Warriors' last 2 games, whether it's against the Spurs or the Magic, Wiggins has been doing poorly. And in the game, it can be clearly seen that his body has not yet recovered to its best state, which in turn affects his efficiency and causes him emotional depression.
This depressing situation is also very obvious on the field. Whenever a shot is missed, he is always seen shaking his head and cursing. Originally, Wiggins scored a key three-pointer in the fourth quarter of the game against the Magic, helping the team lead by two points with one minute left. If the Warriors can take away the victory in the end, it will be a confidence boost for Wiggins. But like the previous loss to the Spurs, the mistakes made in the last moments made the Warriors pay a heavy price.
Green noted in the interview that the Warriors played "very stupidly." He immediately added that his choice in a defensive round was a representation of "very stupidity". "One of the many stupid performances we've had is the ball that I came from the bottom corner," Green said, "and it's stupid, I shouldn't have done that." ”
Green's self-critical goal came just after Wiggins scored the crucial three-pointer. Wiggins was originally staring at Cole Anthony one-on-one, and when Anthony started the breakout, Green came from the left flank to try to steal Anthony. As a result, Green did not grab the ball, but instead missed the bamba he defended. The Magic received a pass from Cole Anthony and raised his hand to make a three-pointer, giving the Magic a lead again.
Still, the Warriors aren't without a chance. In the last round of the game, as long as they accept the opponent's attack, they still have the opportunity to shoot the kill. In fact, they almost succeeded. Thompson was always in front of Cole Anthony, not giving him a chance to break through and shoot, and when Anthony was toe to pass the ball to Wagner, there were less than 3 seconds left in the attack. However, Thompson, who switched to Wagner, was fouled by the referee for a three-point shot because the pounce was too big. Although Cole immediately challenged, the referee insisted on this blow penalty after watching the replay.
Kerr also mentioned this three-point foul in a post-game interview. The reason why he kept talking was because Cole had stressed it to his disciples more than once before and during the game. Especially in the first half, after Damien Lee made an unnecessary foul on Wagner, who was already out of balance, Cole repeatedly ranted to his disciple during the timeout: "In that case you let them shoot." That's something we must remember, just let them shoot. As a result, even where Kerr emphasized the most, the Warriors made mistakes.
Originally, the Warriors also showed some positive points in this game. For example, Poole continued to be efficient, scoring 20+ in the 10th consecutive game. For example, Kerr began to experiment with different lineup combinations, with Porter and Looney, and then Green and Cumminga playing together. In two different combinations, Porter could open up space for Looney, and Green began to connect with Cumminga through cover and passing.
However, the loss overshadows these positive elements a bit. The battle against the Magic was the relatively easiest of the Warriors' five consecutive road trips. Later, the Warriors will challenge the Heat, Eagles, Wizards and Grizzlies. The battle against the Grizzlies, in particular, will be a key game in the race for second place in the West. But seeing the Warriors in such a state now, it is inevitable that people will sweat for them.