Growth of Warriors’ sharp defensive teeth fuels hot start to season – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

The Warriors spent much of the first quarter Wednesday night trying to find their collective pulse and trailed by 11 five minutes into the tip. That’s a dangerous way for any team to introduce itself to the defending champion Celtics, especially in Boston.

Gary Payton II entered with 7:21 left in the quarter. Over the next seven minutes, the Celtics missed eight of nine shots, committed three turnovers and suddenly realized they weren’t the same Warriors they crushed by 52 in March at TD Garden.

Golden State found its pulse for the most part with a defense that hit with enough force to power a 118-112 victory that was sure to draw attention around the NBA.

“Once we got into the game, we did a good job of getting into them, making them a little uncomfortable,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Boston.

“It’s a statement,” said Buddy Hield, who entered the game 84 seconds into GP2. “If we don’t win this game, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, they’re not playing anybody.’ So you have to come and make a statement, right?”

For all the talk about depth and a greater emphasis on 3-point shooting, any statement the Warriors make this season has to start with the defense. It has to be the source behind any leap to success because it plays into their depth, their desired fast pace and the transition 3-balls that deflate opponents.

The Warriors have won seven of their first eight games because defense is becoming routine. They swarm and trap and lurk in the passing lines. That’s enough to put the most feared offense in the league on its heels.
The Celtics, who entered the game as the NBA’s top-scoring team, scored seven points over the final seven minutes of the opening quarter and 26 points over the final 16:38 of the first half. They shot 35.1 percent at the half.

“We’re just trying to keep our bodies on our bodies in the half court,” Stephen Curry said. “We know they have a very specific style. They want to make as many 3s as possible, they want to pick some guys and get (Jayson Tatum) in spots where he can create. They let it fly and it has proven to be successful. You have to live with some shots, because you can’t guard everything. But if you get them to play in a crowd, take hard 2s. . .

“We’re a little bigger than we were last year,” he added. “We have more wing defenders. If we can get a rebound, we’re usually in good shape.”

The final 16-plus minutes of the half were representative of a clinic at times reminiscent of Golden State’s fabled “Death Lineups” that torment opponents into submission for years once unleashed in 2014-15.

When the Celtics responded with a 72-point second half, it served as a reminder that 1) they were good enough to win it all last season and 2) Golden State is in the early stages of that kind of transformation , which requires time and experience.

But this shift is what prompted Kerr to hire former NBA player Jerry Stackhouse over the summer as the assistant tasked with coordinating the defense. Stackhouse, who also has head coaching experience in the G League and at Division I Vanderbilt University, is being praised by players as the man behind the stepped-up effort in that regard.

“I’m still giving up some buckets, some cheap stuff that I’ve got to get better at,” Hield said, offering some candid self-criticism. It’s up to me. I have to keep sticking to the game plan. Stack is on me. Everyone’s on me. Draymond (Green) is on me. I just learn from them. I’m getting better and learning championship habits. That is what they all preach.”

But even in the trial-and-error phase, the Warriors are already showing visible and statistical improvements over last season. Metrics are up across the board as they are first in rebounds, first in charges drawn, second in defensive rating, second in contested shots and second in opponent field-goal percentage. They are second in deflections, third in contested 2-point shots, fourth in blocks, fifth in steals and ninth in loose balls recovered.

They have evolved from speaks about fixing the defense (last season) to actually fix the defense.

This is an illustrative byproduct of Kerr’s play-all concept. With a 13-man rotation, every player knows there is no need to pace themselves. Bring all the energy, all the time, and then sit down and let the next man do the same.

“In theory, if we play a bunch of guys 15 to 22 minutes, they should be able to go all out in those minutes,” Kerr said. “We’ll get that. Tonight was probably the first game we had three guys over 30 minutes.”

That’s what it took to topple the champions. Making a statement. To show the rest of the league that the defense, even in the development phase, is making a comeback in Golden State.

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