© D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY S
The Warriors are not a fun team to watch right now. No Steph Curry, no plan. At the very least, if there is a plan, it’s not being executed. Everything feels sluggish and disjointed. After getting through the first half of the season without losing three-straight games, the Warriors have now lost four straight for the second time in 12 games. This 124-108 loss to Atlanta felt especially hapless, and Golden State is now 1-6 without Curry.
Woeful defense
In one of those end-of-quarter interviews on ESPN, Steve Kerr pointed out just how poorly the Warriors had defended. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Hawks were shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and 44 percent from three. Even after a reckless, meaningless fourth quarter, the Hawks still finished shooting 56 percent from the field.
Jordan Poole, for all the excitement his offensive spark has brought on offense, is a clear net negative on defense. Even Draymond Green couldn’t stop the bludgeoning that went down. It felt like the Warriors were late to every switch, slow to every 50/50 ball and didn’t have the energy to play full effort defense.
John Collins dropped 38 points with ease (14-of-19, 4-of-5 from three) and combined for 27 rebounds with Clint Capela (18 points, 15 rebounds), receiving constant service from Trae Young (21 points, 15 assists).
No sign this will end soon
Hey, they play the 19-24 Chicago Bulls next. They’re not facing some behemoth. But the Bulls at least have Zach Lavine, Lauri Markannen and just acquired Nikola Vucevic. Are you taking this Warriors team, with this anemic Warriors defense against them, or the Miami Heat after, who just picked up Victor Oladipo?
This team is going to win a game at some point, (the Raptors after the next two are a likely target), but it’s unclear what their recipe is, if any, to win without Stephen Curry. His injury is not expected to be a long-term one, but there’s no clear timetable, and if this team continues to look as lost as they have over the last four, they’ll certainly lose their fifth straight on Monday, and perhaps more.
It’s not all doom and gloom; they’ll probably still notch that 10th seed for a play-in game, but man, there is not much to make you believe this team can be remotely competitive without Curry.
But hey, at least Andrew Wiggins and the young guards had nice (offensive) games
Good for Andrew Wiggins. He played an aggressive third quarter, finishing with 29 points (10-of-19, 4-of-7 from three), 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of blocks.
And both Jordan Poole and Nico Mannion showed some more offense spark. Poole, starting again, had 15 on a fairly efficient 5-of-11 and 3-of-6 from three, while Mannion was the only bench player to notch 10-plus, finishing with 10 point (3-of-8, 2-of-5 from three) with 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a couple steals.
Poole is still miles away from competency as a defender and Mannion can get wild at times, but the confidence both have shown as of late is cause for long-term optimism in terms of having future bench scoring options.