Golden State Warriors: Luke Walton’s Underrated Interim Tenure

The Golden State Warriors are a perfect 17-0, and interim coach Luke Walton deserves more credit for helping make it happen.

For a team pegged as a possible destructor of the streak, the Phoenix Suns had an awfully hard time keeping up with the undefeated Golden State Warriors Friday night. Their offense wasn’t bad and the Suns actually put up a good defensive fight in the first half, but none of it mattered in the wake of another Stephen Curry detonation.

Finishing the game with 41 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Curry dropped 19 in the first quarter and at one point, had made seven of his first nine three-pointers. He finished 9-for-16 from downtown in the game, singlehandedly decimating the Suns’ defense and putting the game so far out of reach he didn’t even need to take the floor in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors set an NBA record for most three-pointers made in a half (15), a franchise record for most three-pointers made in a game (22) and nearly tied the NBA record for most three-pointers made in a game (23). Curry was only three made three-pointers away from tying the individual NBA record (12), and if the score had been closer in the fourth, he probably would have done it.

Simply put, Curry had another peak Curry game where he showed the world that whatever sport the Dubs are playing, the rest of the league has yet to catch up.

The team scored a season-high 135 points on 23-of-38 shooting from three-point range. Curry is averaging 28.0 points per game over his last three contests despite not playing a single fourth quarter in those games, and with Friday night’s victory, the Dubs moved to 100-20 in the Steve Kerr era.

The near-record setting night was a reminder of Curry’s prowess as the greatest shooter the world has ever seen, but flying in under the radar was the stunning job that interim head coach Luke Walton has done at the helm of a 17-0 team that shows no sign of slowing down.

With head coach Steve Kerr sidelined by a spinal fluid leak, Walton has kept the Warriors’ Death Star fully operational — and then some. Having the reigning MVP, a Third-Team All-NBAer in Klay Thompson and the lead first place vote-getter in the Defensive Player of the Year Award (Draymond Green) obviously helps, but even with Steph Curry doing things like this on a nightly basis:

Walton really doesn’t get enough credit for the job he’s done thus far.

Perhaps this train would’ve kept rolling no matter who was conducting it, with such a talented and deep roster coming off a championship — and a summer of listening to how they were “lucky” to fuel that fire heading into the 2015-16 campaign.

But this is still a young team we’re talking about, and at the very least, Walton deserves credit for sticking true to the system and not running it into the ground.

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Even on a night when the Warriors cruised to a 19-point victory and nearly set a new NBA record for made three-pointers in a game, Walton made a point of focusing on the team’s turnovers (23) and sloppy defense (116 points allowed) instead.

“You just be honest with them, you tell them that,” Walton said. “You say, ‘Look, you guys were great tonight, you found a way to win again, and there was different lineups out there and we competed, but we turned the ball over too much.’ We still have to get better on that. We’re continuing to try to improve as a team for the playoffs. It’s not about how many regular season games we win. So we’ve gotta make strides and get better as a team cutting that out.”

And that’s exactly the point: as fun as this Golden State Warriors team is and as possible as it is for them to make history — either by matching the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA-record 33 straight wins or by matching the Chicago Bulls’ all-time record of 72-10 — their focus remains on improving one day at a time with the ultimate goal in mind.

"“To us, obviously we encourage our players to focus more on what we’re doing each day and prepping for games and those numbers will stack up without us having to focus on the actual streak,” Walton said. “I think we’ve done a good job of that, I think our players are working hard to play in the moment and be present with each game. “We’re not gonna do anything extra to try to chase after regular season records….I love winning, that’s it. Our playoff picture and trying to win a title honestly trumps trying to win a regular season record.”"

Rather than focus on how close his team was to making NBA history with a couple more three-pointers, Walton wanted to address how many passes the team had (they always aim for at least 300 per game) and whether they hit their assist target for the night (with 32 dimes on 46 made baskets, they did).

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That kind of attitude may stem from Kerr, but Walton’s ability to emphasize it and makes sure it continues to seep down through the roster is easier said than done. Rather than focus on his own hot shooting night, Curry emphasized the team’s ball movement, crediting that teamwork over his own undeniable ability to drain shots off the dribble.

When the subject of a possible letdown came up, Curry adamantly and honestly denied its plausibility, saying, “No, we have an edge. We love the feeling of winning and our confidence is high right now. That’s the only thing that motivates us.”

From Walton’s perspective, however, it’s been the ability to make sure basketball is still fun that has helped this team be successful — a definite carryover from how the Warriors have always played under Kerr.

"“Honestly I think it’s because we have fun,” he said. “We enjoy playing the game and the guys like each other, they like playing with each other, and when you’re having fun out there and competing, it’s a lot easier to bring the energy than if you’re just trying to get through the motions and you’re not enjoying yourselves.“I think the reason we’re able to play at such a high level and such a consistent basis is even though it’s a long NBA season, the guys are naturally going to get tired and banged up, but once we start playing basketball everyone loves it. The way we play, everyone gets touches, everyone gets shots and on defense we’re active and switching and it keeps everyone involved. When you’re playing like that, it’s easy to play hard because you’re enjoying yourself.”"

The Golden State Warriors are a perfect 17-0, they’re outscoring opponents by a league-best 15.8 points per game, they have the league’s reigning MVP (who is likely to make it back-to-back awards here in 2015-16) and they’re hands down the best team in the NBA.

Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 5

Luke Walton may not get much credit for inheriting such a talented roster, but he deserves far more recognition than he’s received for being the guy that’s not only kept Kerr’s team philosophy perfectly intact, but helped make it even stronger.