On January 9 at 8:37 pm, Cleveland Cavaliers beat reporter Sam Amico had this little tidbit of wisdom that he wanted to share with his followers.
Now, take note: this was tweeted out before the Cavs played the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena, before the Warriors soundly and comfortably defeated Amico’s Cavaliers by a score of 112-94.
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Of course, Sam Amico is perfectly entitled to his own opinion – this is after all, a free world. However, Amico’s claims that the Warriors are “soft” and have “3s focus of offense” is inaccurate and just plain wrong.
Three-Centric Offense
For starters, let’s assess the focus of offense claim. Yes, the Warriors have the best shooting backcourt in the league in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Curry and Thompson have made a combined 1334 three-point field goals since they joined forces in the 2011-12 season – the most of any duo in that span. Their ability to score accurately from behind the arc is a tactic that’s been exploited by Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson – the two head coaches who have been at the helm of the Warriors since 2011.
It’s common sense: the whole premise of a basketball game is to outscore your opponent. You use the tactics that work the best, given your squad strength. The Warriors have Stephen Curry, whom Grantland’s Zach Lowe has described as a “glitch in the Matrix”; a player who bends defenses and forces them to track his every position on the court. Klay, in his own right, is a stellar three-point shooter as well, with a career three-point field goal percentage of 41.4 percent.
Dec 4, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) high fives guard Klay Thompson (11) after a basket against the New Orleans Pelicans during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 112-85. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
For the Warriors to not base their offense around two of their best players and two of game-changing players is asinine. Perhaps, if their goal wasn’t to win as many ball games as possible, it might be a viable tactic – but the Warriors have championship aspirations, and simply cannot afford to bank on winning the first overall draft pick thrice in four seasons.
However, the claim that all the Warriors focus on is raining threes is incorrect. The Warriors make an average of 10 three-point field goals per game, which puts them fourth in the league. They average 26.3 three-point attempts per game – sixth highest in the league.
This is the Warriors’ shot chart for the season. As you can see, their three-point field goals make up for 30.5 percent of their total shot attempts – the Warriors are sixth in the league in this category. Their three-point field goals make up 27.4 percent of their total points – fifth in the league. Their points scored in the paint makes up for 41.8 percent of their total points – 17th in the league.
If I’ve lost anyone, here’s a scoring breakdown for the Warriors:
| %PTS 2PT | %PTS 3PT | %PTS FT | |
| Golden State Warriors | 57.2 | 27.4 | 15.4 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 57.1 | 24.1 | 18.8 |
Does that read like an offense that revolves solely around three-point shooting?
The fact is: the Warriors under Steve Kerr have diversified their scoring. Their modus operandi is all about ball movement and finding the best shot regardless of who is shooting. It could be Curry with an above-the-break three-point attempt or Klay curling off a low-post screen for an easy midrange shot or an Andrew Bogut rolling to the rim with the pick-and-roll defense focusing on Curry or even an open Marreese Speights jumper.
The Warriors lead the league in field goal percentage, and are second in field goal percentage within five feet. They are an accurate shooting team with options and threats all over the court. Sure, four of their five starters are three-point threats, but that doesn’t mean that all the team does is rain it from deep. They know when to pick their spots, and use off-the-ball movement to find the best scoring options out there.
January 5, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard
Russell Westbrook(0) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Golden State “Soft” Warriors?
What about calling the Warriors “soft”? Now, I can only imagine that “soft” is used to describe a team that isn’t very good defensively, and lacks the ability to get timely stops to win games. He could also be talking about teams that foul hard and foul often, though I’m not sure what that accomplishes in games…
In case you or Sam Amico didn’t know, the Warriors are the best defensive team in the league. They hold opponents to just 96.2 points per 100 possessions (first in the league), and allow 98.2 points per game (tenth in the league). They allow more points scored per game due to the sheer number of possessions they average (a league-leading 100.78 possessions per game) – more possessions means more chances for the opposing team to score.
The Warriors are also the best team in the league when it comes to limiting opponents’ field goal percentage. Opponents shoot just 41.9 percent against them, due to their flexibility from their shooting guard to their power forward positions. The similarities in size allow the three defenders to switch frequently without giving up size advantage, which allows them to contest shots more frequently.
Breaking it down even further, opponents shoot 31.4 percent from behind the arc against the Warriors (third lowest in the league), they have 6.4 shots per game blocked by the Dubs (second in the league), and the Warriors are the second-best team in the league when it comes to defensive rebounding.
Or perhaps he’s talking about fouls per game, where the Warriors average 18.8 per game (27th in the league). But again, I’m not sure what that achieves.
So, once again, Amico’s claim that the Warriors are “soft” is inaccurate and proven wrong. I’m not sure how he came to the conclusion, but it’s clear that he didn’t do it using advanced metrics or even simple box score stats.
Now, before I end this thousand word reply to a 140 character tweet, let me clarify something. This isn’t meant to be an attack on Amico. As a journalist on Fox Sports, he has a lot of credentials – certainly more than I do. His tweet had 254 retweets and 288 favourites – more than anything I can ever replicate. He is entitled to his opinion, but when others (47,100 of his followers) see his opinion that he’s basing off as fact, he needs to be correct.
And in this case, he isn’t.
Sincerely,
“Uneducated” Warriors Fan