ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Fair warning. This is going to be one of those philosophical editorials that gets into themes of basketball way more so than the “Zen Of Mark Jackson” post. But I figure what’s needed right now isn’t necessarily a detailed list of to-do items or things that went wrong for the Golden State Warriors in tonight’s 4th-quarter collapse against the Portland Trailblazers at #Roaracle.
Heck, I don’t even think Jackson can put his finger on it.
“We were just bad — just bad,” he said at the post-game press conference, “I thought there were some times where we let our inability to make shots affect the way we defended. That’s not who we are. We didn’t give the same energy, the same effort.”
When asked why the Warriors lost energy after the altercation between Andrew Bogut and Joel Freeland in the 3rd quarter, Jackson couldn’t place it.
“I don’t know. I just know we did and we didn’t get the job done…I think it’s probably good right now for us because so many guys dealing with different things,” he said of the impending two-and-a-half non-game-days coming up before facing the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans on Tuesday night, “So I think the day off or the time off — and I think it’s good as a team to get away sometimes — figure it out, begin to think about what we need to do. Certainly nights like this, it needs to marinate in your spirit. And you come back ready and reload it.”
So basically what we have here is Jackson going back to his “Just Us” foundation of being “Who They Are”, which is a team that thrives on energy, most signified by Stephen Curry (and Klay Thompson‘s) ability to catch fire in an instant with a three-point barrage, perhaps first caused by defensive stops.
The only problem is, Curry’s been sidelined for the past two games due to the concussion suffered at the Utah Jazz and needed to find his rhythm again. And Klay fouled out on an offensive charge call with 5:07 to go and trailing 92-98. And, of course, “glue man” Andre Iguodala didn’t play because of the hamstring pull suffered in the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last night.
Then you have Bogut’s altercation. And that’s where we saw Bogut be who he is — and not for the first time this season — an emotional enforcer who will not back down under any circumstances, as well as Draymond Green, who ended up getting tossed from the game for unnecessary extra-curriculars as the altercation had died down and was approaching a conclusion.
So on the one hand, you’re being who you are. The problem here was that the altercation sucked away all of the energy the young Warriors had.
You look at the offensive foul called on a bad screen by Bogut. Sometimes he can just be really stubborn in his way. It’s as if he wants the refs to adjust to his style of play, not the other way around. So while he’s being who he is and it is certainly a departure in the right direction away from the “nice guys in suits wearing sunglasses” of Chris Cohan‘s “It’s A Great Time Out” era, it’s just not smart, mature, elite-level basketball from the mental standpoint.
Bogut also put his team at risk because, with foul trouble, he could not guard LaMarcus Aldridge one-on-one for risk of fouling out, as Aldridge began to dominate and help Portland build its insurmountable lead late.
By the way, Steph went 1-for-6 with 3 turnovers and no assists after the altercation. Prior to that, he was 7-for-15, 2-for-8 beyond the arc, with 11 assists and only 2 turnovers. The altercation broke his already fragile rhythm.
Obviously, Klay’s foul trouble didn’t help matters either. And that’s where there’s a spotlight shining on the paradox revealed by this game versus Portland. Without Klay, you lose one of the kerosene cans to start the fire which is the Warriors’ formula. With Steph out of rhythm, you find the Warriors in this predicament, per Rusty Simmons:
After a Stephen Curry floater at the 8:45 mark, the Warriors went nearly six minutes without scoring. They missed seven straight shots and committed five turnovers during the span, and when David Lee finally got a shot to go down with 2:49 remaining, the Warriors trailed 104-94.
When Jackson was asked if Klay’s foul trouble mattered, he responded, “No, it didn’t matter. I think at the end of the day they elevated their play and we did not.”
With Draymond gone, Curry out of rhythm, and Harrison Barnes not taking over, or at least not yet used to taking over, there was little the Warriors could do to elevate their play.
At least Klay took responsibility by saying, “Yeah it’s on me. Once I get my third foul I’ve got to play less with my hands and take less chances. It’s on me. I’ll learn, it won’t happen again, especially late in the fourth. As much as you feel that you didn’t get the call or it was the wrong call, you can’t do anything about it. You’ve just got to move on and I didn’t do that tonight.”
What the Warriors are learning the hard way is that they have to start thinking out there and not just create energy with a defensive stop and a three-pointer by Klay/Steph — primarily because there is no longer a bench. With the injuries to Andre, Toney Douglas, and Jermaine O’Neal, they have to start planning ahead. Everything the keys to the defense/offense formula in Bogut and Steph/Klay becomes now ultra-critical.
The only problem is, having a more mature outlook and playing more conservatively, that’s not who they’ve been.
The reality is, Iguodala will not be there for at least a couple more games. J.O. will not be there for at least a couple more games and Marreese Speights may find himself under-sized and out-quicked by an All-Star such as Aldridge. Douglas will not be there for at least a couple more games and adjustments need to be made playing with rookie Nemanja Nedovic, who at least showed signs of more confidence tonight. And Steph might need another quarter or two or more to get into “Human Torch” mode.
Incidentally, David Lee has been the most consistent mistake-free Warrior, although he’s tallied five blocked attempts over the past two games.
For the Warriors, who they are has changed. And that might mean a game plan that involves less energy and more smarts, more thinking and less emotion, which would be beneficial for the slowed-down playoffs anyways.
So what do you do? Because that’s not who they are, although that’s what they’ve become. Do you coach the team to go back to its roots albeit very short-handed (also with the assumption that the injured players will be back in due time), or do you tweak your own philosophy, or somewhere in between?
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