Warriors Collapse On the Court and Off

In the Golden State Warriors loss last night to the Memphis Grizzlies, you can’t place the blame on one play or one player. When a team blows a 20-point lead with 15 minutes to play, it is truly a team effort. After the game, everyone was quick to point the finger at Monta Ellis and Steph Curry for their costly turnovers in the 4th quarter, which is completely fair. Ellis and Curry combined for 6 4th quarter turnovers, which is unacceptable. However, there were plenty more factors that go into a game like that.

Mark Jackson let his starters play the first 9 minutes of the game, until Andris Biedrins picked up his 2nd foul. At that point, the Warriors had a 16-9 lead. When the 2nd quarter started, the Warriors had a 23-13 lead and their lineup on the floor consisted entirely of bench players: Nate Robinson, Brandon Rush, Klay Thompson, Dominic McGuire and Ekpe Udoh. This lineup remained on the floor until there was 3:30 left in the quarter, and the W’s had extended their lead to 40-25. To do the math for you, the all-bench Warriors outscored the Grizzlies 17-12 for 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

The 3rd quarter started off the same as the 1st for the Warriors: generally sloppy but good enough to extend the lead. With 3:20 left in the 3rd, the Warriors had extended their lead to 20 points, led by mostly starters on the floor (Biedrins was subbed out for Rush with 5:30 left in the quarter). The quarter ended with the Warriors holding a 68-52 lead and, like the start of the 2nd quarter, the all-bench lineup came out to start the 4th. But the 4th quarter would not play out the same way as the 2nd.

Sensing the team needed an offensive punch, Jackson subbed Ellis in for Udoh with 9:55 to play and the Warriors holding a 70-55 lead (W’s being outscored 3-2 in the quarter so far). 30 seconds later, Jackson subbed Curry and David Lee in for Dom McGuire and Nate Robinson, with the W’s still holding a 70-57 soon to be 70-58 lead (W’s being outscored 6-2 in the quarter at this point). The rest, as they say, is history. Memphis went on to outscore Golden State 39 – 22 in total for the 4th quarter and held on to a 1-point victory, in a game they trailed by 20 points with 15 minutes to play.

As I said from the start, it takes much more than just one play or one player to win or lose a game for a team. That is why it is extremely important for coaches to put their players in the best situation possible to win a game. That is what they get paid to do. In the 2nd quarter, the Warriors all-bench lineup outscored Memphis by 5 points over an 8 and half-minute span. In the 4th quarter, they only had a chance to play together for 2 and half minutes and were only outscored by 4 points over that stretch. The natural question remains, why did Jackson abandon the bench so early?

Ever since Joe Lacob bought the Warriors, he’s done nothing but praise Steph Curry, Monta Ellis, and David Lee. He considers them the franchise players and would do anything to win with those guys (and by anything, I mean not trade Curry for Chris Paul and not amnesty David Lee even though he’s owed $55 million over the next 4 seasons). When Lacob hired an inexperienced Mark Jackson to be head coach, Jackson has echoed his statements. In fact, Jackson went so far as to say the Warriors are “right where they want to be” the day before their choke job against Memphis. Jackson also continually said that the Warriors are a defensive minded team, despite being ranked 26th in defensive efficiency going in to last nights game.

Last night, the positive PR-spinning Warriors management and on-court product came crashing down right in front of their eyes. You can’t go around and say that Ellis, Curry, and Lee are your franchise players and then in the same breath say you are a defensive minded team because anyone who’s watched basketball before could tell you that those 3 players are poor defensive players. The all-bench lineup I keep referring to is a defensive minded lineup. McGuire and Udoh, in fact, offer next to nothing offensively and Rush is a 2 way player who is very strong defensively. Even though they are a defensive minded group, they were able to put up 17 points when they were on the floor together for those 8 minutes and 30 seconds. This is because without Ellis or Curry on the floor, there was no one there to dominate the ball and take the game into their own hands, save for a few vintage bonehead plays from Nate Robinson. They moved the ball well and created shots for others. It was actually refreshing watching that style of play on offense for once.

When holding a double-digit lead in the 4th quarter, the most important thing isn’t scoring buckets to extend the lead, it’s playing solid defense and not allowing the other team a chance to get back in it (this is true, despite everything Don Nelson may say). After a few quick buckets, Jackson put his “superstar” players in the game over his tough, defensive minded players, and the results were disastrous. Had he kept his bench guys in the game longer, say till the 6 minute mark of the 4th quarter, I’m confident that the bench guys would have kept up their high energy playing style and kept the Warriors lead in double digits.

Now, I’m not going to imply that there is some conspiracy where Lacob is telling Jackson who to play and who not to play (even though it was the W’s first home game after a 4 game road trip and it was nationally broadcasted on NBA TV). But I am implying that after a while of spinning everything so positively in the media that a conflict of interest develops. Jackson can say he’s got a defensive minded team and that Ellis, Curry and Lee are his superstars, but those are contradictory statements. He and Lacob could get away with it if the Warriors were a winning team, but after last night’s loss they are 5-11. They also might be able to get away with it with a different franchise, but the Warriors fanbase was just subjected to 16 years of the Chris Cohan era, where PR spin was the name of the game (It’s a Great Time Out!).

Immediately after the game, Jackson was more or less speechless. A day later, Jackson conceded that he might have been better off playing Nate Robinson more in the 4th quarter, given the energy he brings to the team. Once again, Jackson is completely missing the point. Robinson is the worst defender of the all-bench lineup (but he’s exciting!), not to mention he committed 2 turnovers himself in his 12 minutes of playing time.

Jackson and Lacob are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They are going to the media saying everything is fine, we play defense and we've got all these superstars. On the floor, they clearly do not play defense and their "superstars" aren't helping the team win games. There was a ton of excitement in Oakland when Lacob bought the team, promising a new era in Golden State Warriors basketball. After 18 months on the job though, it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.