SAN FRANCISCO – The cold numbers from a 112-97 rout of the Clippers would suggest the Warriors found their fangs Tuesday night and rediscovered the benefits of fabulous defense. Except it’s not that simple.
Golden State’s defense was playing with house money. The Clippers are bottom-five in offensive rating and bottom-10 in field-goal percentage. Without Kawhi Leonard all season and without Paul George since before Christmas, this LA offense is an answer to a bad defensive squad’s prayer. It makes a bad defense look decent, a decent defense look good and a good defense look stifling.
While the Warriors played their best statistical defense of the season, particularly through the first three quarters, the more welcome sight was the relative scarcity of bad habits. The messy, often fatal fundamentals of the past month-plus rarely surfaced.
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“Much better defensively, our best defensive effort in a long time,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Ball pressure was good, rotations were good, guys were challenging shots. The Clippers didn’t have a great night shooting; they obviously missed some open shots. But we had something to do with that, too.”
Prior to the fourth quarter, which the Warriors began with the indifference afforded by a 25-point lead (86-61), the Clippers shot 29.4 percent from the field. Not a misprint. For every three shots they made, seven went awry.
Golden State’s defensive rating for this game: 95.1. Sparkling.
Golden State’s defensive rating the previous 11 games: 118.1. Only the Pacers (118.3) and Rockets (119.6) were worse during that span.
Golden State Warriors
“We were locked in defensively,” said Jordan Poole, who finished with 20 points, four assists and two steals.
Yet this was less a clinic by the Warriors than an exhibition of the basics of quality defense. The lazy habits that contributed mightily to them losing nine of 11 were replaced by the knowledge and awareness that tend to come with video review and scouting-report study. And focus. The things taught at the middle-school level.
“They did a good job of taking away the paint, so we couldn’t get downhill,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “And it took away our attacks.”
These are not the things the Warriors have been doing and certainly did not do when they faced the Clippers on Feb. 14 in LA. The result was a 119-104 loss to pretty much the same diminished roster that showed up on this night at Chase Center.
“There was a sense of urgency, understanding to give ourselves a chance to get out of this hole and get a win, and remember what that feels like,” said Stephen Curry, who finished with 15 points, five assists and three steals – and became the franchise’s career leader in steals with 1,363. “Our defensive energy and presence needed to be there.
“Besides the six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter (scored 20 points in the first six minutes of the quarter) we were really solid. It was a really solid effort out there. Everyone was out there on a string making multiple efforts, being physical, and you see how that leads to easy offense when you can push the ball and not have to take it out the basket on every play or give them easy free throws.”
These Warriors showcased a considerable amount of preparation and sprinkled it with generous defensive energy. Both of these factors matter deeply because such elements are required to avoid an early postseason ouster.
“That is how you draw it up in terms of Warrior basketball on both ends of the floor,” Curry said. “We just have to build that in putting games together.”
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Well, yes, because the competition gets tougher. The Warriors go to Denver on Thursday and return home to face the defending champion Bucks on Saturday.
All those open shots by the Clippers that punished the rim probably go down against a legitimate playoff team.
But if the Warriors are indeed locked in, the number of open shots will decrease as the stakes get higher. They have to count on it. Believe in it. The defense in this victory will be forgotten in an instant if the same commitment isn’t there for the next two games -- and the 14 that follow.