Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from win over Dallas Mavericks

The Golden State Warriors evened their season record at 2-2 with a 133-103 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks. What did we learn from the game?

Just four games into the 2017-18 season, the Golden State Warriors offense has separated itself from the field. Owners of a league-high 116.8 offensive rating after a 133-103 drubbing of the Dallas Mavericks, figuring things out on the defensive end is all that needs to happen for a major winning streak to occur.

For now, against teams like Dallas, offensive outbursts will suffice. With an eye to that side of the floor, here are three takeaways from Golden State’s second win.

1. Durant staying outside

It is early, but through four games, Kevin Durant has only attempted 16 free throws. Stephen Curry, by contrast, had 13 Monday night. He is at 39 for the season.

Both numbers are anomalies to some extent. Curry has struggled a bit from deep (2-of-10 against Dallas, 36.5 percent on the season), whereas Durant has been on fire (4-of-6 against Dallas, 50 percent thus far).

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Let’s focus in on Durant, though. Once so good at drawing fouls that the league changed its foul-drawing rules, Durant’s free throw rate has dropped off significantly since his Jones fracture-plagued 2014-15 season. The injury did not cost the four-time scoring champ any speed or athletic ability, but it seemed to change his desire to draw contact all the time.

His continued free throw decrease could be a continuation of that mentality. Not only does Durant have a foot injury to worry about, but he was a slightly more forceful Zaza Pachulia tumble away from missing the entire postseason last year. Given that he doesn’t need  to get to the line more than 4.0 times a night for the Warriors to cruise to another No. 1 seed, why tempt fate?

There is also the possibility that Durant has lost half a step. This is Year 11 for him, and his lower body injury history has not been insignificant.

Beyond the lack of free throw attempts, there is some soft anecdotal evidence to back this up. He missed a driving dunk against New Orleans last Friday, which is noteworthy only because the dude was 132-of-135 on dunks last year. There was also a point last night in which he failed to get around Dwight Powell, who he had on an island.

Again, it’s early. We will continue to monitor this moving forward.

2. Shaun Livingston goes to work

There have been three staples of the Warriors’ offense during the Steve Kerr era:

1. The Stephen Curry 30-footer
2. The Klay Thompson heat check
3. The Shaun Livingston post-turnaround jumper

I might be forgetting a few, but Livingston’s trademark move has been an essential part of Golden State’s bench offense. When he is paired with Curry or Thompson, he almost always draws the opposing team’s more-diminutive backcourt defender. His ability to handle with his back to the basket, get to his spot, spin, elevate and laser in a 10-to-15 footer has consistently punished those mismatches.

Again, the early caveat, but Livingston was shooting only 43.8 percent from the field entering the game in Dallas. After missing his first attempt, he hit a difficult turnaround over Harrison Barnes in the second quarter.

Livingston went back to the move several times. He took advantage of Dennis Smith Jr. and J.J. Barea in the post, ending the night 4-of-5 from the field.

Now at 55 percent shooting on the season, Livingston is right where he likes to be, and where the Warriors like him. For a team that still struggles at times to create bench offense, Livingston’s post scoring will continue to matter more than one might think.

3. Speaking of bench scoring…

The 2016-17 Warriors’ biggest weakness was their garbage time lineup. That is literally the best weakness for a basketball team to have, but there are some downsides. It hurts fun things like net rating, and actual important things like player development and evaluation.

It is unclear at this early stage what Steve Kerr’s 2017-18 garbage time lineup will be. Everyone on the roster outside of Quinn Cook has received at least a couple meaningful stints thus far. What is clear is that whoever is in these lineups, the lineups will be better than last year.

After the competitive portion of last night’s game concluded, Nick Young and Jordan Bell put on a show. Young caught fire from deep, and Bell began wreaking havoc on defense, making smart reads and throwing self-lobs off the backboard (that Kerr may or may not have pretended to be mad about).

Both players may be firm rotational pieces by season’s end. Patrick McCaw has gotten off to a slow start, and Young has sneakily become one of the better outside shooters in the league. Neither JaVale McGee nor David West offer the versatility Bell does, positionally or skill-set wise.

Next: 2017-18 Week 2 NBA Power Rankings

The most important thing is that the Warriors will have dynamic bench options beyond Livingston and Andre Iguodala, whoever the best options prove to be. Of secondary, but not insignificant importance, is that whoever fails to crack the regular rotation will fortify a stronger garbage-time unit, which should help everyone stay ready.