The Golden State Warriors were out rebounded 64-41 in their season opening blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday evening.
The sample size is small, and the Warriors will undoubtably improve their performance in most areas from the season’s first game, but Golden State play-by-play announcer Bob Fitzgerald thinks the rebounding issue will remain a problem throughout the season.
“It exposed a couple things for the Warriors that I thought we’d see a month into the season and you might as well get it out of the way day one,” Fitzgerald told the Murph and Mac Show on Thursday morning. “Steve Kerr alluded to second and third efforts in terms of rebounding the ball. It’s going to be a season long issue.”
Fitzgerald cited the fact that the Spurs are not much bigger than the Warriors from a personnel standpoint, with LaMarcus Aldridge the only San Antonio player with a size advantage when the teams went to their small lineups. If Golden State was having a hard time corralling rebounds against a team like the Spurs, they will struggle mightily against Western teams like Utah, the Clippers and Thunder, who boast sizable front lines according to Fitzgerald.
“That’s all 50/50 balls, that’s Klay playing 33 minutes and having one rebound” Fitz continued. “That cannot happen, given all the other good things that they do, when the ball’s missed the wings have to go chase it down. That did not happen.”