Through Their Struggles, Golden State Has Found What They've Been Searching For
Things have changed since the Golden State Warriors won their fourth title in the last eight seasons in June.
Key names such as Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. departed in free agency and while the Warriors did bring in other key players such as Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green, all the attention for this franchise was cast on the next generation of success.
Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Moses Moody…
So much pressure was thrown onto this young group at the start of the season and as a result, this experienced, championship-proven Warriors team faced a learning curve for the first time in what seems like a decade.
Even now at 18-18 on the season, the Warriors are still learning new things about themselves and their young talents are gaining valuable experience that will pay off down the road.
While they still have a lot of growing and maturing to do, this young core for the Warriors has held things together, especially given that Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins have been injured.
Through their struggles and injuries, the Warriors have been forced to find immediate answers outside of the stars on their roster.
Winning their last three games at home, Golden State has finally found the two things they have been missing – their defense and their depth.
They held the Memphis Grizzlies, one of the better scoring teams in the league, to just 109 points on Christmas Day, they then proceeded to limit the Charlotte Hornets to 105 points and then on Wednesday night, the Warriors held the Utah Jazz, a Top-5 scoring team in the NBA, to just 107 points.
In all of these games, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole and Draymond Green have stepped up, as expected, but the key storyline and takeaways for the Golden State Warriors is the fact that James Wiseman is beginning to make an impact defensively, Jonathan Kuminga is showing flashes of his two-way potential, Patrick Baldwin Jr. is showing that he can be a perimeter shooting threat offensively and others like Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome are stepping up as well.
Beating the Jazz 112-107 on Wednesday night, the Warriors controlled the fourth quarter, limiting Utah to just 13 total points, and almost all of the production they received in this game came from their young core.
Jordan Poole led the way with 26 points, Donte DiVincenzo, who is in-between a young piece and a veteran player, had 19 points, Anthony Lamb had 10 points and then off-the-bench, Ty Jerome supplied the team with 17 points and rookie Patrick Baldwin Jr. had 11 points, including three made threes.
We cannot forget about Jonathan Kuminga either, who had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal in about 21 minutes off-the-bench.
Wednesday’s win was not because of one or two guys for the Warriors, but because they came together with their big names on the sideline and really dug deep.
This is what Steve Kerr has been looking for in his young group and while they still have room to grow, the Warriors are beginning to show signs of massive development.
“Yeah, this feels different to win this game based on the circumstances,” Kerr said after the game. “This was a game we wouldn't have won a few weeks ago, but I think our young guys are really growing, we're getting great performances every night from guys like [Jonathan Kuminga] and [Anthony Lamb] and Ty Jerome. Guys like Donte [DiVincenzo] have been fantastic not just knocking down shots, but defending with force. Jordan Poole creating so much for us and then Draymond [Green] and [Kevon Looney] holding down the defense is fun to watch.
“I just think we've shown a lot of grit here the last few games.”
Kerr also complimented Patrick Baldwin Jr. and the job he did coming off-the-bench against the Jazz when his number was called due to Jonathan Kumigna getting into some foul trouble.
“I thought Patrick [Baldwin] changed the game when he stepped out there and knocked down those threes,” Kerr stated. “He was in Santa Cruz on Wednesday and practiced in Santa Cruz. When Donte [DiVincenzo] and Draymond [Green] were both questionable for the game, we called down there and got Ryan [Rollins] and PBJ back up here. It was pretty impressive for them to be going back-and-forth and then for Patrick to come in and play the way he did. It is exciting, he’s got a lot of skill and he’s not afraid.”
Depth has been the biggest thing holding the Warriors back to this point, other than their defensive intensity, but after the last few games, it seems like things are really beginning to change for the better for this group.
Any time you have young, unproven players like the Warriors have on their bench, there are going to be challenges. That is just how the NBA works and as much as some teams look to rush things and speed up the learning process, that only winds up being detrimental to their future.
The Warriors know what they have, their development team is one of the best in the league and with leaders like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney, this team is beginning to pick up on things young players in this league normally do not pick up on and all of sudden, with this team at full-strength, the Warriors look like they could have some very deep rotations and an overall talented roster!
No team in the league goes 82-82 and while the Warriors did have that 73-9 season not too long ago, it is extremely hard to win in today’s NBA.
Going 18-18 through their first 36 games is probably not what Golden State envisioned coming off their title run, but at the end of the day, they are still in striking distance in the Western Conference and before we know it, this team will be at full-strength.
If you wrote off the Warriors, you are in for a rude awakening because this team is on the verge of beginning 2023 with new energy, new life and most importantly, the same goal as last year – competing for yet another championship.
Be sure to catch up on the newest episode of The Fast Break Podcast hosted by Fastbreak's own Brett Siegel!
Streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, The Fast Break Podcast takes you inside the league with the latest news, intel, rumors and interviews from those close to the action for all 30 teams. Be on the lookout for a new episodes every Friday.
