Sitting at 9-2 overall, some would say the Warriors are playing just as we thought they would. The addition of Kevin Durant has created so much more scoring opportunities for an already NBA record setting offense. They are shooting their way through a lot of these games with the results of them being very high scoring.
People have seen so much greatness from this team already, but they are an even scarier offensive team than last year. This all comes with a big flaw that could come to haunt them later in the playoffs.
They can’t play a full 48 minutes of defense. It seems that every game some one from their opponent is having a career night.
Last night the Golden State Warriors gave up 121 points to the Toronto Raptors with DeMar DeRozan scoring 34 points on just 18 shots. The poor defense doesn’t stop there.
The Toronto Raptors scored a ridiculous 118.6 points per 100 possessions, with a true shooting percentage of 60.5 percent. (via NBA.com)
In the last five games, the Warriors have been allowing 107.1 points per 100 possessions, while averaging 121.8 points per 100 possessions. They are sharing the basketball and playing at a fast tempo because it is virtually impossible for teams to stay on all four All-Star’s at the same time.
Right now, the Golden State Warriors are a bottom 10 defense in the NBA. That is not championship worthy, but the Warriors have a lot of time to figure this out. One thing that they have, that most teams don’t, is 4 of the top 20 players in the NBA.
People around the league figured that this was the start that the Warriors would have. It was going to take a few games for Durant and the rest of the team to get used to each other defensively. It has been 11 games thus far, and the defense has not really shown. They can most likely be the worst defensive team in the NBA and shoot their way to the playoffs.
That just shows how good they are. They also have players with killer instinct. Kevin Durant knows how to win games down the stretch with plenty of playoff experience. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson can turn it on at any time and bring this team back from a deficit.
Last but not least, don’t forget Draymond Green, he has shown how much he can fill the stat sheet for this team, carrying them when other teammates are down.
