Golden State Warriors: One Lingering Concern
Five games into the 2015-16 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors should be the general population’s unanimous prediction to win the championship this year.
If you had to bet your life on one team to win it all based solely on the first week of the season and what we saw in 2014-15, even the biggest Oklahoma City Thunder/San Antonio Spurs/Cleveland Cavaliers/Los Angeles Clippers/Houston Rockets homers would have to admit they’d pick the Dubs deep down.
With an interim head coach at the helm, nothing has slowed the Warriors down. They decimated a dark horse title contender in a 20-point win over the Houston Rockets. They made another MVP candidate in New Orleans look mortal thanks to 93 points from Stephen Curry over the course of two early season matchups.
They slaughtered the Memphis Grizzlies by 50, and Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, they remained unbeaten. Facing another undefeated powerhouse that proved to be their toughest challenge yet, the Dubs overcame foul trouble and a 10-point fourth quarter deficit thanks to an 10-0 individual run from Harrison Barnes and a Steph Curry heat check.
That’s right folks. The Clippers were up 10 with 7:56 to play, when an 10-0 run from the Dubs’ fourth best player brought Golden State right back from the brink. From there, Curry — who has dropped 24 points in a quarter this season and 53 points in a game already this year — scored 13 straight to combat any logical defense or momentum the Clippers tried to build on the road.
In the process, the Dubs defeated their bitter Pacific Division rival, improved to 5-0 and simultaneously broke Twitter thanks to Chris Paul‘s “struggle face.”
It's Game 5 of 82 pic.twitter.com/pOd21I7ZiM
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) November 5, 2015
Seriously, all that needed was Forrest Gump in the background screaming “HAPPY NEW YEAR, LIEUTENANT DAN!” CP3 sustained a strained right groin injury in Wednesday’s game, but that look on his face still perfectly encapsulates what the Warriors do to their opponents.
What’s scary is that apart from Curry, no one on the Dubs is really putting up “great” numbers. Seriously, after Chef Curry, the Dubs’ second leading scorer is Klay Thompson at 13.8 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting. Does it hurt that Curry is averaging 35.8 points, 5.8 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game on .574/.519/.946 shooting splits? Of course not.
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But the point still stands that aside from Curry’s blistering shooting, it’s been a collective team effort that has the Dubs breezing through five Western Conference playoff teams from last season by a league-best +20.8 point differential…with Andrew Bogut playing in only one game due to a concussion.
Oh yeah, and the Warriors also lead the league in scoring (117.6 PPG), assists (28.2 APG), three-point percentage (40.9 percent), offensive rating (114.2 points per 100 possessions), defensive rating (92.1 points per 100 possessions) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2)…while also ranking in the top five for blocks, rebounds, field goal percentage, assist percentage and fewest turnovers.
It’s not rude if you slobbered a little bit there. That kind of jaw-dropping statistical dominance hasn’t been seen since…well, since last year, when the Warriors basically did the exact same thing.
However, even with Curry breaking Twitter on a nightly basis and the Dubs pulverizing opponents with small-ball lineups, there’s one lingering concern that casts a distant shadow on the 2015-16 season as a whole. It’s impossible to focus on those storm clouds with the fire show Curry’s putting on on a nightly basis, but they should be addressed before we go crowning anyone the 2015-16 NBA champs.
The lingering concern in question is the health of head coach Steve Kerr, who has yet to coach the team this season. According to ESPN’s J.A. Adande, an unnamed Warriors player said it wouldn’t surprise him if Kerr didn’t return until after the All-Star break. Which is in February.
Interesting: GSW player told ESPN's @jadande that they're thinking Steve Kerr might not be back until after the All-Star break.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) November 5, 2015
If Kerr’s back problems are that severe, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’s unable to return to the sidelines at all this season. That’s a worst-case scenario, of course, but given how severe the situation is suddenly sounding, we can’t rule anything out until we’re given more concrete information.
Interim head coach Luke Walton has done an admirable job thus far, especially since no one on the roster has had to play more than 33 minutes per game thus far. That kind of minutes management is what helped the Dubs storm through the playoffs last year, and it’ll be more important than ever given how brutal the Western Conference is now — even if Curry’s bold claim is true:
But are the Warriors good enough to win it all if Kerr’s health prevents him from returning this season? Will Luke Walton be capable of making tough decisions late in close games to help this team repeat? Because inserting Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup midway through the championship series was one of the ballsiest lineup changes in NBA Finals history.
Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 2
Walton doesn’t have to be a Coach of the Year-caliber coach like Steve Kerr, especially if the Warriors actually are better than they were last year. But even with the Dubs breezing through the early going so far, Golden State is going to need Kerr sooner or later, especially when the adversity of the postseason comes along.