Golden State Warriors: 3 Takeaways from opening night

The Second Unit

While the Warriors won the game, dominantly at that, it was not without issues. The second unit has long been a problem under the Kerr, and they’ve continuously faced a drop-off when Steph sits, which to be fair, is understandable.

After this game, the results weren’t so encouraging. Every player on the bench besides Moses Moody and Jordan Poole finished with a negative plus-minus in a game, the Warriors won by 14 points.

While plus-minus isn’t the end-all, it bears some paying attention to because the offense struggled to find anything when Steph sat and the defense was struggling when Draymond sat. Not all offenses are going to be the anemic Lakers offense as well, and clearly, they got away with it today but it can’t be a recurring theme as the season goes along. Thankfully there are only 81 more games to fix it.

While talking about the negatives it’s only fair to look at the positives. James Wiseman had a great game in his first regular season game in almost 16 months. He finished the game with 8 points, 7 rebounds, and a block and was a consistent presence on defense. For a player with as little experience as him, this was a great step in the right direction for him.

Poole was another player who played well. Although he shot the ball poorly, 4-15 from the field, he was consistently dishing out assists and feeding his teammates and controlled the offense very well.