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Kendra AndrewsESPN
DETROIT – The Golden State Warriors suffered their second straight loss and third on the road Sunday night, falling to the Detroit Pistons 128-114 to drop to 3-4 this season.
Just a week into the season, the Warriors experienced the same issues throughout all of their games: transitional defense, lack of ball movement, and lots of fouling.
The Warriors were consistent with their message – that it would take time to settle in with their new members and rotate, especially as players like Klay Thompson Full conditioning restoration. They did not panic.
However, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he didn’t feel an urgency from his team to tackle his issues, and that’s where the bigger problem lies.
“It takes time,” Kerr said. “We’ll get there. I’m very confident about that. But our guys need to come together and there has to be a sense of purpose. We have to understand what that means.”
Protect Jordan Paul He was one of the only Warriors to play with a great deal of urgency against the Pistons, and he finished the night with 30 points, scoring 15 of them in a row in the third quarter. Stephen Curry He led the team with 32 points. They were the only two Golden State players to score in double digits.
“We just got it,” Paul said. “Two men in the locker room talked about our urgency and how we need to bring it together. So that’s definitely a point of focus.”
Golden State allowed at least 125 points in four of its first seven games, the second time it has done so in franchise history. The last time was in the 1962-1963 season, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research.
The Warriors have also allowed 854 points so far this season — the maximum allowed by a title holder in seven games in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. They have a defensive ranking number 21 in the league.
The Warriors have long followed the philosophy that their free-flowing, high-powered attack stems from solid defense. For now, striker Draymond Green says the Warriors’ attack – whether it’s balance on the ground or a lack of ball movement – is decimating their defense.
“The truth is you can’t correct every problem,” Green said. “For us, it’s identifying the things that really hurt us. Some of the things that hurt us, won’t defeat you. So don’t worry too much about that. But the things that really hurt and hit us, we need to determine what exactly that is. Once we can do that, we can get in.” And we’ll find out.”
Greene said they are still figuring out the details of their ongoing cases. One reason for this is that Warriors are dealing with an unknown feeling, as they are in the process of re-learning how to play with each other while incorporating a new, much smaller second unit.
with departure Gary Payton II And the Otto Porter Jr.. , arrivals from Donte Divincenzo And the Jamical Greenand the increasing workload of Jonathan KumingaAnd the Moses Modi And the James WisemanGolden State has almost a completely different spin than the championship team.
“When you’re playing younger guys, it certainly makes it hard to get executions on both ends of the floor, but it’s by no means the youth’s fault,” Green said. “They have a role in it like we all do. We have to identify these things, but it’s not their fault alone. Working on it is changing things, but we can blame them. Honestly, I don’t think any of us played this great on both sides of the ball.”
Curry added, “The effort has been strong, but when it’s not holding together when we’re not all on the right thread, you can make guys try to do the right thing, but it doesn’t lead to any results.”