Golden State Warriors Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
It’s taken a team effort to remain one of the league’s toughest teams, but the Golden State Warriors have been resilient all year long. This team is determined to overcome their preseason power rankings and finish the season as a top-tier team in the Western Conference.
If you don’t remember, most rankings had the Warriors as a borderline playoff team – with NBA.com having them outside of the picture entirely. Most cite the loss of Klay Thompson, an elite shooter and defender, as the reason Golden State would struggle.
Fair enough, right? Well, through the first half of the year, the Warriors have managed to overcome the loss of Thompson defensively behind strong showings from Kelly Oubre, Draymond Green, James Wiseman, Stephen Curry and a quantum leap in development from Andrew Wiggins.
We are midway through the 2020-21 NBA season and the Golden State Warriors currently rank as a top-five NBA defense.
Each player on the team has stepped up to alleviate the lack of Thompson. Curry himself has taken the challenge of being more assertive defensively without his sidekick to cover his tracks. As a result, Curry is playing the best defense of his career and has received praise from Steve Kerr.
Altogether, the Warriors hold the fifth-best Defensive Rating in the NBA and hold opponents to the second-lowest field goal percentage. They still give up too many points, ranking 20th in this department and allowing the 10th most 3-pointers. However, this is mostly because of their incredibly fast-paced brand of basketball, placing second in the NBA for pace.
It seems the Dubs are a top-tier defense and it’s time to break down three reasons for their success.