On March 10, 2023, Beijing time, in today's game where the Warriors challenged the Grizzlies, the Warriors finally lost 110-131 to the Grizzlies, who lacked major generals. And this is also the third consecutive game loss since Curry's return, obviously the current Warriors, extremely difficult. It is worth noting that in this game, Coach Kerr also took Poole back to the starter, efficiency did improve, Poole played 34 minutes in the game, shooting 5 of 10, 2 of 5 three-pointers, 10 of 10 free throws, 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal, the data is indeed better than the performance when he was off the bench, but Poole has the lowest -32 plus-minus in the team, and the Warriors also suffered a 21-point defeat!
For the current Warriors, winning is very important, after all, after three consecutive losses, the Warriors' record has slipped to 34-33, ranking sixth in the West. If you can't stop the decline, then the Warriors' playoff situation is really precarious, and the Timberwolves and Lone Rangers behind them have the same record as the Warriors, and if they are not careful, they may fall out of the top eight in the West. What makes Curry even more devastated is that he has not tasted a win since his comeback. Before Curry's comeback, the Warriors once got a wave of 5 consecutive wins, and the team's recent atmosphere is also very delicate, and the atmosphere is somewhat discordant!
After the Warriors suffered three consecutive losses, the team's head coach Kerr was also a little unable to sit still, and then announced an important decision, he said that the players must implement the tactical intentions of the coaching staff in training, and then they will focus on trying to train the lineup of four guards, although today's game, the four guards were quickly pulled away as soon as they came on the field, but he still believes that the reason why the four defenders lost tactically was because the lineup had a short run-in time, too little training, and everyone lacked trust and tacit understanding between each other.
I don't know how Coach Cole was so confident in this set of four defenders, today the four defenders came on the field, although the speed was faster, but the defensive end was even more miserable, which is also the biggest reason for the team's loss. After the loss, the Warriors Klay Thompson expressed great dissatisfaction with today's result, believing that the team did not show the desire to win at all, played like a group, and was disappointed by the team's poor defensive performance. In addition to Klay, the core of the team, Curry, has a rare tantrum, he agrees with Klay's statement very much, and bluntly said that the overall nature of the team is too poor, the defense is not active, and the players lack cooperation, all want to get good data, which is also an important reason why the team suffered three consecutive losses!
It is worth mentioning that today's Warriors starting lineup is directly five small, in the starting lineup used in the game, no player is more than two meters tall, the highest of which is Klay and Dream Green, their height is 1.98 meters, and this set of Kerr's previous lineup as a secret weapon, in the first quarter today was played by the Grizzlies 48-28, lost 20 points in a single quarter, dug a huge hole, and played without fighting back. To put it bluntly, if this four-guard tactic is still adhered to, it will be difficult for this Warriors team to defend the championship or keep the playoff spot. And Cole is afraid that he will also have to bear some responsibility for the team's poor record!
The problem boils down to the use of Poole, and when healthy Klay and Curry play, the weak Poole is indeed more suitable for the role of the sixth man, and if the Warriors can't solve this problem, this season may be like this!