Greetings, Dub Nation.
On Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings , the Golden State Warriors prevailed 130–125. The Warriors led by 19 points going into the game’s fourth quarter, but the final score was much closer than it ought to have been.
With approximately five minutes remained in regulation, Sacramento’s late-game charge against Golden State’s bench unit forced their starters back into play. The starters entered the game cold, missing shot after shot as the Kings came dangerously close to completing the comeback as time ran out since they had rested for the majority of the third and fourth quarters.
Through the first three games of the season, the stark difference between the starting lineup and the reserve group is starting to emerge as a pattern. After yesterday night’s game, Anthony Slater of The Athletic wrote a story on it.
Through The Athletic:
Steph Curry acknowledged it following the game. Yes, he admitted, when he checked out late in the third quarter, he did think his night was over. On a Kings squad that had previously demonstrated no ability to guard them for successive possessions, the Warriors were up 24 points. The shoelaces had been untied.
However, the Warriors are currently unreliable whenever a bench player enters the game. Through three games, Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney have annihilated opponents by a combined 43 points in 41 minutes. The cumulative score for every other lineup is minus-29.
In the end, the Warriors defeated the Kings 130–125. The score is 2-1. However, a poor fourth quarter exposed their worst October flaw. Any lead is susceptible to a quick erosion when they switch to a bench full of inexperienced kids and coach Steve Kerr spends the early part of the season experimenting with different five-man groups.
Having said that, there are a number of things that could explain this. In order to discover the best lineups, head coach Steve Kerr can still be experimenting with different combinations. Additionally, because a number of Warriors starters are still under a minutes cap, there hasn’t been as much switching between starters and reserve players. Finally, developing the rapport and experience that the starters already have with one another simply takes time and practice for the new players on the second unit.
Although it’s still early, hopefully second-unit balance will continue to improve as the season goes on.
Here are the remaining stories from today:
Warriors versus. Kings, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT FROM GOLDEN STATE OF MIND Recap The Warriors’ all-bench lineup’s defensive errors Player rankings: Nuggets vs. Warriors Warriors lose to the Nuggets 128-123 in a high-scoring game with no defense in celebration of the Run TMC era:
