golden state warriors defense (Photo: Ryan Brown / LetsGoWarriors.com)
You know what they say: “Defense wins championships.”
Despite failing to meet expectations so far in 2013-14, the Golden State Warriors defense entered Thursday as the 3rd-best defense in the entire NBA, according to Basketball Reference.
It’s remarkable that they could be so good on one end of the floor and still fall so short of their preseason projections.
Not that the performance gap isn’t there. The Dubs’ record isn’t as impressive as the defensive numbers might indicate. Outside of a 10-game winning streak that spanned the new year, the Warriors are just a single game over .500.
The struggles have even reportedly put coach Mark Jackson on the hot seat.
Their 33-22 record is due in part to an offense that hasn’t produced as expected. But the Warriors’ offensive efficiency has only dropped from 11th in the NBA last season to 12th this year.
The Warriors offense is actually scoring slightly more points per 100 possessions this season (106.5) than last (106.4). Their winning percentage has also improved from .573 to .600 since 2012-13.
However, all of that plus one of the league’s top defenses has only been good enough for 7th place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, just two games up on the 9th-place Memphis Grizzlies.
Oddly, the Warriors record isn’t indicative of how good they’ve been. Only the Indiana Pacers (96.3) and Chicago Bulls (100.6) allow fewer points per trip up the court than Golden State (101.7).
Before Jackson ever coached a game as the Warriors’ head coach, defense is what he promised to bring to the Bay Area.
From a2011 SF Chronicle article by Rusty Simmons:
…The Warriors are working hard on backup plans, but there’s still a chance they’ll go into the season with Curry, Ellis, Wright, David Lee and Andris Biedrins – a lineup with only Wright known around the league as an above-average defender.
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“I really believe that any team can play a good defensive game, by holding guys accountable, by working on the principles, by believing and by covering each other’s back,” Jackson said. “Even though we have individual limitations, we’re going to become better individual defenders by having a team of better help-side defenders.
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“When I look at the film, I see a team that was incredible on the offensive end and had great abilities to score the basketball. But they took no pride on the defensive end. They didn’t buy in or weren’t demanded to buy in.”
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That won’t cut it with Jackson. The proof is all over the walls.
It’s one promise he has definitely fulfilled.
The Warriors defense has gone from 27th to 14th to 3rd over the past two seasons. Cameron Purn of Hickory High wrote about the kind of changes Jackson has implemented:
Coach Jackson seems to have a good sense for managing a defense. He gives freedom to his peskier help defenders by allowing for roaming, and he will make small tactical adjustments from game to game — throwing double teams or hedges at deserving players.
That defense was on display against the Houston Rockets Thursday night: 9 blocks, 8 steals and a 36.6 shooting percentage for the NBA’s 5th-rated offense.
The Warriors’ faster pace distorts the fact that they are a top three team in both defensive rebounding and field-goal percentage defense. They’re still a solid 9th in total points allowed per game.
All of these factors point towards a better finish to the regular season. The Warriors margin of victory is the 6th-best in the league. Their strength of schedule thus far is 3rd-toughest among playoff teams.
They haven’t gotten enough credit for the way they’ve played on the defensive end because national pundits and fans didn’t expect the Warriors to be this kind of team.
Likely, many local fans didn’t either.
A mostly-healthy Andrew Bogut and the addition of Andre Iguodala has elevated the Warriors into the Western Conference’s top defensive unit, at a time when Stephen Curry and David Lee were supposed to be turning the team into a top offense.
It’s the Warriors’ lack of consistency that have made them so frustrating for fans. Their offensive and defensive capabilities have seemed almost mutually exclusive.
But the Warriors retain a punchers’ chance in the playoffs if they can routinely get the kind of defensive performance they gave last night.
A strong finish could improve on those chances depending on their seed going in.
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