The Warriors have the worst record in the NBA, and at the core of their struggles is their defense. Against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, their issues were on full display.
The Lakers beat Golden State by a final score of 120-94, and it felt like the final margin could’ve been more.
The loss to the Lakers was a culmination of the Warriors’ defensive woes. Fastbreak points, offensive rebounds and everything in-between, the Lakers got what they wanted with ease. In the first half alone, they scored 67 points, and before the fourth quarter began, they were already knocking on the door of the century mark.
“Defensively, we never really had any traction in that game,” Steve Kerr said afterward.
Early in the game, the Warriors were able to keep the Lakers close, but they couldn’t string together stops on the defensive end.
“It’s almost impossible to win when you can’t count on getting three stops in a row at some point,” Kerr said before mentioning that in previous years, the Warriors built a mantra on getting three straight stops on defense. Against the Lakers, Kerr didn’t remember the Warriors stopping them three straight times even once.
“It’s defensive breakdowns… Stuff that we have to clean up and be better with if we’re going to win a game.”
Even with the breakdowns, fortunately Kerr doesn’t blame the defensive woes on effort, meaning it can probably be corrected.
“The effort is there, I think it’s the execution,” he said. “It’s losing a guy back door, it’s transition, we lost three people behind us.”
He then turned into a frustrated defensive coordinator when talking about the team’s transition defense.
“Our last guy back has to be the free safety and can’t allow a touchdown pass over the top… Stuff like that is execution more than effort.”
After the loss to the Lakers, the Warriors defense continues to rank last in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions (117.5) and 28th in points allowed per game (121.1). They have little time to figure things out, as the 9-1 Boston Celtics come to town on Friday.
Making things harder on the Warriors, the Celtics rank first in points per 100 possessions, at 114.3.
The team will be looking to avoid its sixth consecutive loss against Boston.
