Warriors Struggle in Opening Night Loss to Clippers, But Don’t Panic Yet

The Golden State Warriors opened their 2019-2020 season with a 141-122 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and let’s not mince words. They didn’t play well at all. They looked overmatched and were consistently outhustled by the Clippers, particularly on defense, a fact Draymond Green acknowledged after the game

“Our defense was atrocious,” he said. “Off the ball, on the ball, pick-and-roll, transition defense.”

With Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Kevin Durant all gone, the defense was expected to take a step back and it certainly did against the Clippers. The 141 points surrendered is really the only number you need to know to indicate how bad the Warriors played defensively, but let’s go deeper than that. They gave up 14 points to the Clippers before scoring a single bucket of their own. Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points and dished out nine assists in just 21 minutes of play. That should be at least somewhat expected given his status as one of the league’s best players, but the role players dominated too. Ivica Zubac added 16 points in 18 minutes. Patrick Patterson, who started purely because of Paul George’s absence, scored 20 points and hit six threes. In the first round of the playoffs last year, the Warriors bench was unable to contain star Clipper reserves Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Not much has changed in that regard, as Williams scored 22 and Harrell added 18 Thursday night. Combine all of that with a 46-point third quarter for Los Angeles and it’s clear that the Warriors have a lot of work left to do defensively. Steve Kerr admitted as much post-game and expects the defense to go through growing pains throughout the year.

“This is gonna happen again,” he said. “There’s gonna be nights like this this year.”

Thompson and Durant were missed not only on defense, but on offense as well. Their ability to space the floor and their serving as offensive threats have been vital to the success of the Golden State offense and Stephen Curry in particular. Without having to deal with a Thompson-like shooter or a Durant-caliber scorer on the floor, the Clippers were able to focus more defensive attention on Curry and forced him to struggle. Curry scored 23 inefficient points, shooting 8-20 from the field and 2-11 from three-point range. While those numbers are unlikely to be the norm for the rest of Curry’s season, it would help the Warriors to have another strong shooter to make life just a little easier for the guy in the number 30 jersey.

This is not to say that there were no bright spots for the team. Although he played just 10 minutes due to a mild re-aggravation of his hamstring injury, Kevon Looney grabbed nine rebounds, including five offensive boards. D’Angelo Russell looked comfortable with a new team early on, scoring the first 10 Warrior points and sinking four three-pointers over the course of the game. And most surprisingly, Jacob Evans scored 14 points off the bench and made four threes to match his total in that category from the entirety of last season. Yes, some of that was after the game was already out of reach, but it’s possible he’s gained confidence over the course of the offseason and found a new shooting touch that could be a benefit to the Warriors offense over the course of the season.

However, those positives feel fairly minor in light of the overall struggles that the team dealt with and a lot of work needs to be done for this team to get back on track. Curry said as much after the game.

“There were some glaring things we need to correct to win basketball games,” he said.

But remember: it’s one game.

It’s the first game of a long 82-game season against a team that could very conceivably be the Western Conference’s top seed and champion. Yes, the Warriors played poorly, but most teams aren’t the Clippers. Curry shouldn’t struggle like that in most games. The defense may not be perfect, but it is likely to improve. The new players should start coming into their own and the established veterans will step up and lead the way.

In the first game of the 2016-2017 season, which kicked off the Kevin Durant era, the Warriors were run off their home floor in a 29-point loss to the Spurs. That Warriors team is now widely regarded as one of the three or four best single-season teams in NBA history. That is not to suggest this year’s team will wind up matching anything close to the success of that team. But let’s not call the season after one bad showing against a very good team. Put away the hot takes for now. Let’s see how they respond after a little while before we start sounding the alarm.