golden state warriors turnovers (Photo: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports)
The Golden State Warriors have potential to become a top-four team in the Western Conference. However, they must improve on limiting turnovers, especially the sloppy, avoidable ones, if they want to become a contender in the West.
In Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Warriors committed just seven turnovers through the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors’ offense unraveled, and they committed six turnovers.
Despite scoring a game-high 34 points, Stephen Curry committed four of those six fourth quarter turnovers on Sunday. He finished the game with six turnovers.
Curry understood that he needs to cut down on those timely turnovers. He has a high amount of attention on him on any given night, and he’s still learning how to respond. This is all in the process of becoming a superstar.
Mark Jackson reiterated this point to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle after Sunday’s loss.
Asked how many of those possessions he wanted back, Curry said, “All of them. … The fact that they came one after another made it tough. It’s very frustrating. … You’re under a microscope at the point, so it’s definitely tough, but those are plays I’m going to keep making and hopefully keep executing.”
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“Steph is good enough, that no matter what defense he is seeing, to not leave a game with six turnovers,” Jackson said. “He knows he’s got to be better.”
Curry leads the NBA in turnovers this season. So far, he has committed 227 turnovers.
Yes, this is a lot of turnovers, but he also handles the ball the majority of the time for the Warriors. Because of this, he’s bound to turn the ball over more than the average player because he’s in possession of the ball much more than the average player.
He needs to find a way to cut down on the avoidable turnovers and the timely ones such as his fourth quarter turnovers.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, their turnover problems don’t start and end with Curry. The Warriors commit 15.4 turnovers per game, the third most in the NBA.
Per possession, the Warriors commit a turnover 15.7 percent of the time, which ranks 24th in the NBA. Per offensive play, the Warriors commit a turnover 14.1 percent of the time, which ranks 21st in the NBA.
So how are the Warriors committing all these turnovers? In what areas can they improve upon to limit these turnovers?
According to 82games.com, the Warriors commit most of their turnovers on bad passes. Throughout this season, they’ve committed 405 “bad pass” turnovers.
After bad pass turnovers, they’ve committed 317 ball handling turnovers, 123 offensive foul turnovers, and 10 “other” turnovers.
Let’s compare those stats to a team who doesn’t turn the ball over as much. The Memphis Grizzlies are a playoff-caliber team, and they only turn the ball over 12.6 times per game, which is second in the NBA.
The Grizzlies have committed 301 ball handling turnovers, 282 bad pass turnovers, 99 offensive foul turnovers, and 22 “other” turnovers.
This provides a frame reference for what specific areas the Warriors can limit their turnovers in.
When the Warriors face the Indiana Pacers tonight, they are going to have to limit those turnovers — no excuses. The Pacers arguably play the best defense in the NBA, so there’s no room for error. Time for the Warriors to step up to the challenge.
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