The Golden State Warriors have played three preseason games so far, and they have a record of 1-2. In their first game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors looked weak defensively. They allowed a lot of easy jumpshots, and they also allowed Xavier Henry, Nick Young, and Jordan Farmar to score easily. Besides the third quarter, they allowed too many points in each quarter, including a 34-point fourth quarter.
Against the Sacramento Kings in their second preseason game, the Warriors appeared much stronger defensively and only gave up 81 points. In their third preseason game against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, the Warriors reverted back to their sloppy defense.
The game against the Jazz was their third game in four nights, which isn’t a rare occurrence in the regular season. The Warriors just started training camp though, so, understandably, they’re not in midseason form yet. In fact, they’re in preseason form.
One of the reasons why they looked so sloppy on defense against the Jazz is because they looked tired. While playing their second game of a back-to-back and at the high altitude of Energy Solutions Arena, many of the Warriors players didn’t appear to have the same bounce or energy in their legs that they had against the Kings. Their legs should be fresh from the offseason, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for back-to-backs yet.
The Warriors were playing their up-tempo style on offense that they excel at, but this most likely resulted in fatigue in their legs, which led to fatigue in their shots and on defense. They didn’t have the strength in their legs to knock down the shots they normally do, and they didn’t have the strength in their legs that’s needed to keep up with and stay in front of an opponent on defense.
The Warriors actually started off the game playing quality defense. In the first eight minutes of the game, they forced five turnovers and limited the Jazz to 3-for-14 shooting. However, in the final 40 minutes of the game, the Jazz shot 50.6 percent from the field. This suggests that the Warriors became fatigued later in the game, and they ultimately couldn’t recover.
“There’s no excuse,” Mark Jackson said about the team’s effort on defense. “We just haven’t put it together. The easy thing would be to say, ‘It’s the preseason. It’ll come along.’ But that’s not my job. I want it to happen now.”
Even though the Warriors haven’t looked perfect on defense in their first preseason games, fans have been able to see the impact that players like Jermaine O’Neal, Toney Douglas, and Andre Iguodala will have defensively. Iguodala will certainly be a significant part of the Warriors’ defense this season, but, as of now, he’s not happy with the team’s effort on defense so far in the preseason.
“If we want to believe the hype and enjoy the hype, then we’ve got to take some ownership in the day-to-day business,” Iguodala said about the Warriors’ effort against the Jazz. “The positive is that we got hit in the mouth and will take a step back and realize that we’re not as far along as we would like to be. We’ll work to get there. There’s nothing that will open your eyes like getting hit in the mouth.”
The Warriors have struggled on defense in the preseason, but Warriors fans should not be concerned at this point. Not only is it just preseason, but the Warriors still have four more games and about 20 more days to work on their defense before the regular season starts.
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