Diagnosing the Warriors' Turnover Problems

Another game, another sloppy few possessions from Golden State. Although the Warriors managed a wider margin of victory against the injured Orlando Magic, they still committed 15 turnovers. They managed to force 19 turnovers out of the Magic though, to keep things even.

The Warriors this season are currently second in the league in turnovers per game, at 16.3. The only team who’s committing more is the rebuilding Houston Rockets at 18 per game. The Warriors really shouldn’t be having the issues that a rebuilding, non-contender does, and there’s a few symptoms of the problem - most of which can be fixed relatively easily.

The first is the most obvious: Experience. The Warriors are rostering two rookies, two two-way G-League players, and a third-year player adjusting to drastic increases in usage. The team is pretty young, so growth from these turnovers should be expected as those players continue to get high-level reps. But they need to continue to get those high-level reps, of course, in order to do so.

The second is a little harder of a pill to swallow: Playing careless and/or reckless. The reason this is a tougher one to accept is because it centers around Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Both are great playmakers and great passers, but they also like to gamble a little too much.

Curry is 3rd in the league with 3.1 turnovers per game. This seems to be mostly a symptom of trying to do too much when the help defender comes. Because of how often the Warriors screeners will slip their defender, leading to double coverage on Curry, the more difficult the passes he has to make. It’s also just a product of him being an entertainer: Fancier plays are riskier, and a highlight pass can just as easily turn into a turnover.

Draymond Green’s issue is more of him just trying to do too much on some passes. While it’s warranted, as he’s an excellent passer, he likes to gamble on some pretty crazy passes sometimes. Very similar to the problem that Curry has: The flashier the pass, the easier it could go wrong. Green’s game IQ is obviously very high, so the turnovers are a result of not him making the wrong pass, but just trying to do too much.

Here’s to hoping the team works out their turnover issues as soon as possible. In the regular season, you can afford to make silly plays like that. But when the game slows down in the playoffs, it’s a lot easier for teams to punish too much carelessness like that.

Historically, turnovers at the wrong times have been the death of the Warriors down the stretch. If there comes a night where the shots don’t fall, they have to be able to take care of the ball. The Warriors have their next matchup against a middling Trailblazers team before heading on a 5-game road trip. This stretch would be a great place to start on turnover reduction.

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