Warriors Complete Comeback Against Portland In Hopes of Righting The Ship

A disappointing first half against the Portland Trail Blazers tonight resulted in a gritty Warriors win, with Golden State storming back late in the 3rd and shifting another gear higher in the 4th. For most of the game, the Warriors looked old and tired against a youthful and energetic Blazers squad that was missing starting center Deandre Ayton, but that changed when the Dubs trusted their own youth down the stretch.

The catalyst for the Warriors was when, after sitting him the whole half, Steve Kerr subbed in Jonathan Kuminga. JoKu proceeded to play the last half of the 3rd and full 4th quarter, going 6-for-6 from the field, grabbing 2 steals, and logging a game-high +13 in his 17 total minutes. Kuminga not only gave the Warriors the burst of athleticism they were sorely lacking in much of the first half, but also held down the defensive assignment on Blazers lead guard Anfernee Simons, making his impact felt on both ends of the floor. Alongside stellar nights from Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski, they found a way to win when they looked disinterested in the first 24.

While the game ultimately came down to yet another Stephen Curry sleeper shot, there were signs of life down the stretch from more than just him and Kuminga that showed the adjustments are relatively obvious for Golden State to get back to their winning ways, and it’s indicative of something ESPN reporter Zach Lowe said last week:

“I think the Warriors true level as a team is much closer to their 6-2 start than it is to their 3-8, or whatever they are, since then..." Lowe said to fellow ESPN cohort Bobby Marks, when analyzing the Warriors on his podcast, The Lowe Post.

Lowe made a few good points, including Thompson’s recent progression to his usual averages shooting-wise, Wiggins starting to do the non-scoring things (rebounding, defending, etc.) that have made him impactful, and of course, the constant absence of Draymond Green after 2 ejections and a 5-game suspension. While the context of the wider conversation was about the feasibility of trading Klay (which Lowe noted the Warriors do not want to do under any circumstances unless there’s no other option), the thought process behind the fact that Golden State is better than their record indicates is a sound one.

It starts, as always, with the turnovers. While they’re an obvious and consistent problem this team has had since the inception of the dynasty, the Warriors are disproportionately more prone to coughing the ball up this season more-so than others in crucial moments. The biggest knock on Curry’s game has always been his carelessness with the ball, and he’s made some baffling mistakes that leave you scratching your head more often than not.

One thing to think about is that the unforced turnovers which the Warriors make a lot of are often a result of miscommunication, which is in-itself a result of the team identity not being solidified and a lack of cohesion between players in terms of playstyle. There was a possession in the 2nd quarter tonight where Podziemski got an inbound and was ready to push the pace in transition, but Chris Paul called for the ball back to set up the offense in the half-court. There was another in the 1st quarter where an inbound pass was thrown to Steph at nearly half-court, while he wasn’t looking, and Andrew Wiggins fumbled it out of bounds trying to stop it from turning into a steal. The Warriors don’t have a clear identity of who they want to be and when they want to be that, whether it’s a pace-pushing barrage of fast-break points like they’re used to being or a more methodical and traditional half-court offense.

Another significant sign of their identity issues is their rotation inconsistency. It took an embarrassing decision to pull him out of a game while he was scorching hot for Moody to get some good minutes, and Kuminga didn’t play the first half before playing all of his minutes in one stretch bridging the 3rd and 4th. Steve Kerr has spent so much time adjusting the rotation that it hasn’t given anyone outside of the core any consistency with their playing time, and this Warriors team is frankly not versatile enough to not consider matchup-based lineups every other night; the solution to that problem was on full display when Kuminga got to run against a Portland squad he matches up very well against

The talent is there. Stephen Curry is still one of the best players in the world, Draymond Green is still a defensive monster when he can stay on the floor on top of showing growth on offense, and with some leeway, the Warriors’ young guns have proven they can play through mistakes and off-nights to have legitimate impact when it’s most important for them to do so. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have shown positive growth in areas they’ve struggled with to start the season, and it’s taken them being abysmally below their standards for things to get this dire. The reason the Warriors were in a dogfight against the Portland Trail Blazers (who in their own right have made some more noise than expected, leading the league in takeaway generation so far this season) and that they’ve blown so many leads is that they just haven’t adjusted correctly to the game script, which is largely on Kerr and his lack of making the difficult choices, and they’re not compensating by shaking things up a bit.

It’s still early enough in the season that these bad habits don’t have to become season-long habits, but the panic meter is inching towards the red given how little margin for error there seems to be with this team. Golden State showed some resiliency to win a close one tonight though, and they’ll have a chance to prove this is more them than their loss to the Clippers on Saturday would indicate when they play against an Oklahoma City squad that’s given them problems a lot this season already on Friday. All eyes move to the Midwest to see if there’s a chance that they can start to right the ship now that Kerr’s had the revelation that he doesn’t have to ride with the same old guys when they can’t get anything going, and it could be the turning point they need to start looking like the contenders their 6-2 start would indicate.

(Photo credit: Justin Ford / Getty Images)