At this point in the playoffs, the truly great teams start to separate themselves from the pack. For the Golden State Warriors and well, the rest of the NBA, a path to the championship is not getting any clearer.
There is no clear favorite at this point. Every single team has shown glaring flaws that have come back to bite them at various points in the postseason. Because of this, the Dubs should not be too concerned with their own problems — though, they still need to be resolved.
The Golden State Warriors have shown some obvious weaknesses in the NBA Playoffs but so has every other remaining team.
What exactly is troubling the Warriors? I’d say self-inflicted wounds are the main offender. They’re committing 17.0 turnovers a game in the second round, almost all of which coming from miscommunication or botched dribbling.
The Warriors’ problems are deeper than turnovers, however. Their shot selection is a direct reason for their underwhelming shooting. As a team, Golden State is shooting just 32% from deep — even with outlier games such as Game 3 versus Memphis when the Dubs drilled 17-of-32 attempts (53%).
It’s more than simply tipping your hat to great defense. The Dubs are taking bad shots far too often. While they are nearly impossible to stop once they get rolling — it’s important to establish a rhythm before jacking up drifting 3-pointers, which is something this team seems to have forgotten lately.
The rest of the league is struggling, too
Okay, so what about everyone else?
Each second round series has been tied at 2-2, with only the Dubs managing to jump out in front with a 3-1 lead over Memphis.
The Phoneix Suns, who rallied to a 2-0 lead over Dallas, have been thwarted by Luka Doncic’s mastery to bring the series back to a grinding halt. Do not forget that the title-contending Suns also struggled to put away the 10-seeded New Orleans Pelicans in round one.
Then there are the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers, who have been trading blows in a physically taxing series. Both teams lack significant firepower on offense, aside from Joel Embiid, who is operating with a number of painful injuries.
Lastly, we have the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. Two teams who look as good as anybody but have been delivering devastating performances to one another. Both Milwaukee and Boston have collapsed at various points in this series, giving us the indication that this upcoming playoff run will truly be a toss-up.
No one looks invincible. Each team has struggled. So, for the Warriors’ sake, cleaning up a few self-inflicted errors could go a long way.