Steph Shows Off Playmaking in Recent Games

Since Steve Kerr took over as head coach, the Golden State Warriors haven’t needed their point guard to be… well, really a point guard. While Stephen Curry’s ability to create for others just by standing on the floor is often good enough itself, the Warriors offense has historically been largely predicated on passing, screening bigs: Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut, most namely.

Kevon Looney doesn’t quite have that skillset. While he’s been an ace on the boards since Draymond’s been sidelined with a back issue, Kerr’s habit of running actions through him and other guys with less experience has landed the Dubs in some recent hot water. This was most notable against the Pacers and the Rockets earlier this week.

The Pacers were missing basically all their starters; The Warriors lost to them in overtime. The Rockets are one of the youngest teams in the league, and have the worst-rated defense; The Warriors beat them on a Steph Curry buzzer beater. In their last three games (including against the Pistons), they’ve averaged 17 turnovers a game. This is a symptom of what Kerr has been trying to do, which is let guys with less experience be decision-makers when that isn’t their role. JTA is too inconsistent, Looney doesn’t have a good on-ball basketball IQ, Jordan Poole and Damion Lee doesn’t have the experience.

The fact of the matter is that there are two point guards on the Warriors who should be running the offense. Those guys are Draymond and Steph. With Draymond out, the playmaking duties should be falling to Steph. But that’s not just because he should be playing with more on-ball rhythm, it’s because he’s been a phenomenal playmaker these last few games.

In their last three, Steph has added 9.3 assists per game. This is a higher number than most people are expecting, but fans have this issue where they don’t realize that, when he’s zoned in on that role, Steph is a very good passer with a high hoop IQ. Not only has he been dishing the ball better, but he’s also kept the turnovers in check, averaging 1.7 per game. On the season, those numbers are 6.2APG and 3.3TPG, which are… not what you like to see.

A lot of Steph’s errant turnovers are rushed decisions, but they’re magnified by the fact that he doesn’t regularly have as many playmaking duties. When Draymond Green isn’t playing, both of those numbers increase or decrease in favorable ways. Steph averages 7.1APG and 2.8TPG when he’s the lone playmaker, and as he’s shown recently, he can still contribute when he’s not shooting. He has excellent vision, and when he simplifies the game to just create for others on-ball, he’s damn-good at it.

With Steph’s improvements comes a decision to be made by Kerr. There is clearly something wrong when you lose to a non-playoff team missing most of their starters, and need a clutch jumper from your MVP-caliber star to beat one of the worst teams in the league. The Warriors should still be considered championship contenders, but Kerr straying from what has worked is a bit of a mystifying issue. Defenses have still not figured out Steph when he gets going. Why in the world would you mess with that and take the ball out of his hands?

A lot of these issues could be fixed in the very near future, but it’s concerning to see this trend has been happening since early December and is still happening now. If there’s a time of year to do it, sure, it’s right now, but for this much of an extended period of time, it’s hard to watch. The Warriors are capable of playing better basketball. While Steph certainly needs to get his scoring back on track, Kerr needs to trust his best player to do what he does best: Dominate the game.

(Photo credit: Bryan A. Westerholt / Getty Images)