It may be an early call, but arguably the Warriors found the successful blueprint for the upcoming season in Monday’s preseason opener against the Trail Blazers.
The game plan emphasized pushing the pace and involved shooting a lot of threes – a striking 69 attempts from outside the arc. It was evident against the Nuggets that this was going to be a long-term priority for the franchise.
The Golden State Warriors are now two preseason games in, and it’s clear that they are starting to have a blueprint on how to commence the season.
The Warriors never attempted more than 54 threes in a game last season, but we saw a noticeable spike in form in the latter stages of the season when they started running the floor and putting up more threes.
It’s by no means a full-proof strategy, but if you connect on 24 three-pointers and force the opposition into 26 turnovers – as the Warriors did against Portland, you’ll win more games than not.
If Monday night’s opener is anything to go by, it appears that coach Steve Kerr has become fond of the run and gun approach and is all-in on the game plan. Like Kerr said in his post-game interview, he’s chasing wins this year.