Warriors' defense ‘faded' over last few years, George Karl believes

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The Warriors absolutely dominated the NBA over the past three seasons with Kevin Durant in the lineup. But did the two-time Finals MVP make Golden State a less sound defensive team?

Longtime NBA coach George Karl, who coached the Warriors from 1986-88, didn't single out Durant, but explained that Golden State's tenacity on the defensive end declined over the past few seasons from the juggernaut it was when Steve Kerr first took over as head coach.

"I thought the last couple years they faded at the defensive end of the court," Karl told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on "The TK Show." "I think (Warriors coach) Ron Adams did a really good job early to build that team into a solid to really good defensive team. They didn't have to play defense the whole game, they just had to play defense usually one or two quarters, and that was enough to be successful."

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Adams was part of Kerr's initial staff, and almost six years later remains the coach primarily responsible for the Warriors' defense. Although Golden State's defense was no slouch in Mark Jackson's final year as head coach, finishing fourth in defensive rating (102.6), Kerr and Adams produced the NBA's best defensive rating (101.4) on the way to the NBA championship in 2015, their first season at the helm.

The Warriors' swarming defense was the NBA's fifth-best the following year (103.8) and even in Durant's first season, Golden State finished with the league's second-best defensive rating (104.0). Draymond Green won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award for that 2017 campaign, on the way to helping Durant win his first title. But perhaps Karl has a point, as KD's last two seasons with the Warriors saw the team finish out of the top 10 twice in defensive rating, finishing No. 11 in 2017-18 (107.6) and No. 13 in 18-19 (109.5).

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Obviously the 2019-20 season was a ghastly one for the Warriors. With Steph Curry and Klay Thompson sidelined the shell of a roster didn't stand much of a chance and finished with the NBA's worst record before the season's suspension on March 11. Golden State had the league's No. 26 defensive rating (113.8).

The return of the Splash Brothers and a so-called "Revenge Tour" should see the Warriors return back to NBA title contention, but especially without Durant's unstoppable offense, defense will determine how far this team truly can climb after a brief fall.

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