With its defense back, so are the Golden State Warriors

This offseason, it was hard not to focus on the shock of seeing Klay Thompson in another jersey and wondering what that would mean for the Warriors chemistry. There was (and still is) talk about how Golden State needs to land a second star to put next to Stephen Curry.

Through it all, the Warriors front office was quietly willing to say to anyone that would listen that their team got better. Deeper. Kind of a “just watch, you’ll see” vibe.

We’re watching and seeing now.

Any doubts about this team should have been answered when they came back from seven points down midway through the fourth quarter to beat defending the defending champion Celtics in Boston Wednesday. It doesn’t matter that the Celtics were shorthanded, this was a Golden State team that showed real grit and came back to win a game they would not have a season ago.

“It’s a statement,” Buddy Hield told Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “If we don’t win this game, everybody is like, ‘Oh, they don’t play anybody.’ So, you’ve got to come and make a statement, right?”

That statement starts on defense.

Warriors defense is back

We will forever call this the Stephen Curry era in Golden State, but those four championship banners hang in the Chase Center because those Warriors were one of the best defenses in the league.

That defense is back, looking a little different but still elite. A defense that held Boston to 40 first-half points and got stops down the stretch when they needed it.

A defense that is second in the NBA in defensive rating and 10.6 points per 100 possessions better than a season ago.

The difference is personnel. That and the voice of new assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse being in their ear.

This year’s Warriors are younger and more athletic and they are pressuring the ball everywhere on the court – they are trapping and swarming ball handlers. They are jumping passing lanes. They are disruptive.

“We just try to keep bodies on bodies in the halfcourt…” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area. “We’re a little bigger than we were last year. We have more wing defenders. If we can get a rebound, we’re usually in good…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/defense-back-golden-state-warriors-183620289.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-08 18:36:00

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