Warriors’ Road Struggles Are On Both Sides of Ball
The Golden State Warriors finished the first half with the best record in the NBA at 42-9, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot to complain about.
However, seven of those nine losses have come on the road.
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The Warriors have dropped games at Phoenix, at Memphis, at Los Angeles (Lakers and Clippers), Oklahoma City, Utah, and Atlanta. Though this list has quality teams with good home court advantages, there are some confounding losses.
So the big question is: Why have the Warriors struggled away from Oracle Arena?
Let’s first look at the offensive side of the ball. A big part of the Warriors offense (and any modern NBA offense, really) is predicated on the three-pointer. The Warriors have shot 36.2% on the road compared to 40.6% at home from beyond the arc. This number drops even more when looking at just the road losses (34.7%). Though the Warriors aren’t in full blown “live and die by the 3” mode, it makes things a lot harder when they don’t make it.
The Warriors’ numbers go down in pretty much every statistical category when they go on the road. They average less assists and more turnovers when they travel. At home, the Dubs score 114.8 points per game, yet they only score 106.5 on the road. Perhaps one of the biggest struggles the Warriors have had one the road is running on the break. At home, they score 25.3 fast break points while they manage to score just 17.3 away from Oakland. In the playoffs, when things slow down, the Warriors will have less opportunities to run on the break. In order to win in the postseason on the road, they’ll need to find a way to grind out half court buckets.
Dec 25, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) blocks a shot by Golden State Warriors forward Marreese Speights (5) in the second half at Staples Center. The Clippers won 100-86. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Defensively, the Warriors haven’t been as sharp on the road, either. They’re giving up over 100 points per game on the road, while at Oracle, that number is under triple digits. Furthermore, the Warriors have given up an average of 112.6 points in losses on enemy ground.
Though four of their seven road losses came when they did not have center Andrew Bogut, the Warriors have lost when they don’t defend the perimeter well. Despite having nearly identical opponent three-point percentages when at home and on the road (32.6% and 33.4% respectively), home teams have shot the long ball at over 40% when the Warriors lose.
Towards the end of the first half, the Warriors struggled on the road. Though in their last six road games they finished 4-2, they did not look like the best team in the Western Conference. Over that period they shot 34.1% from deep, while the opponent was at 41.1%. Narrow victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves showed that the All-Star break could not have come at a better time.
Though Steve Kerr has done a good job of limiting everyone’s minutes and resting players throughout the first half, it seems that the Warriors were running out of gas. Playing with such defensive intensity and offensive energy can really take a toll on a player over the course of 51 games. The Warriors have shown that they can sometimes be prone to runs (at Phoenix, at Atlanta) and they need to work on weathering the storm. Most teams (especially good ones) playing at home will always go on a run at some point. In order to avoid tough losses (at Lakers, at Utah) the Warriors need to stick to what has made them a title contender: tough defense and ball movement.
The Warriors can help themselves out by continuing to handle business at Oracle Arena and securing themselves a top seed in the conference. Then they’ll be able to use that rowdy home court to their advantage throughout the postseason.
If the Warriors are serious about their championship aspirations, they need to clean up their play on the road. At times, it’s been marred by offensive droughts and defensive lapses that will be tough to recover from against tough opponents in hostile environments.