The Golden State Warriors have faltered over the last week, turning a 5-1 start into a 6-5 record. When you factor in that they won two different games on buzzer-beaters they could easily be 4-7 to start the year.
Their offense is ranked seventh overall, but they have had some truly terrible showings recently, overwhelmed by elite defenses and hoping that Stephen Curry can bail them out. That approach will only take them so far, no matter how good he is.
Let’s look underneath the hood at three absolutely horrifying statistics that communicate the issues with the Warriors’ offense.
Horrifying Stat No. 1: No second scorer
Stephen Curry is having an MVP-caliber season for the Warriors. He’s shooting 44.6 percent from 3-point range on 12.6 attempts per game, scoring 30.7 points per game as he carries the Golden State offense on his back.
After Curry, however, the scoring drops off all the way to Klay Thompson with 16.1 points per game, then Jonathan Kuminga at 12.1 and Andrew Wiggins at 10.5. No one else is averaging double-digits, including Chris Paul and his 8.2 points per game. The last time the Warriors didn’t have a second 20-point scorer was the 2020-21 season when the Warriors last missed the playoffs.
What’s more, no other player on the Warriors has even scored more than 20 in any individual game. Dario Saric scored 20 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but no one has surpassed that. No Klay Thompson flurry of 3-pointers, no Andrew Wiggins explosion (more on him in a moment), no Jonathan Kuminga transition dunk fest.
Stephen Curry actually leads the league with 11 games of more than 20 points (through games played 11/12). Yet every other team in the league has had at least two players score 21 points in a game; in fact, only Milwaukee has had just two such players hit the mark, and most teams have had four or five; three teams have had six!
The Warriors need someone else on the team to step up or they are going to struggle to keep up with the rest of the league.