12-26-2022, 10:23 AM
(12-26-2022, 07:08 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: It's been over a month since an NBA thread post, and I made the last one, so a little reticent to post again but...
I watched The Volume's Hoops Tonight on YouTube this morning and am amazed. The Warriors are 13-2 at home and 3-16 on the road this year, including haven beaten arguably the two best teams in the NBA, the Celtics and Grizzlies handily. But the splits are even more bizarre than just the record difference in and outside Chase. Basically, the Warriors play defense at home and don't on the road. Or as Jason Timpf put it, the parts of the game that are hard, the Warriors do well at home but are terrible on the road. This seems to point to effort, but it's weird because the Warriors under Kerr have always been about winning when their backs are to the wall, when everything is against them, as happens in the road. But this year to date, the Warriors have mailed it on the road for whatever reason. And this also should put to rest the notion there is some lingering impact from Green punching Poole. They'd be bad at home and road if that was a thing.
The conventional wisdom when Curry hurt his shoulder was the W's would struggle without him. Well, the stats - and now beating the Grizzlies without Curry or Wiggins - show that even were Curry playing, the Warriors would have a terrible road record. Does this team really just think it can flip a switch and start winning on the road when they are must win games?
The Box Score from Grizzles game belied the story of the season so far. Kuminga +21 and Wiseman +8. They didn't score much, but played roles that impact winning. Wiseman didn't even attempt a shot, and he was more valuable than when he scored 30 in the blowout loss in Brooklyn.
It really does appear there is some sort of method to the Warriors' madness. Like they are trying to build toward a finished product that can win in the playoffs. I'm skeptical, in part because if the W's wouldn't even make the play-in game if the season ended today. But the approach taken by a team with 6 Finals appearances and 4 titles in the last 8 seasons can't be dismissed, can it?
Moody was +2 in 17 minutes. The real revelation was that Wiseman was +8 in just 8 minutes with 5 rebounds and just one foul, no turnovers. Not too shabby against that team. He's a sloppy player and doesn't yet have a refined game, but I think that will come with time, experience and training.
I'm a little iffy on the whole +/- metric. It reflects five players, not just the one. Lamb, for instance, was -5 in 17 minutes, but he was 4/5 from the field and 3/4 from three, with two steals, three rebounds, an assist and a block. He did his job. And Looney's usually reliable, but yesterday, he was -3 with five rebounds, 4 assists a steal and a block. And four personal fouls. DiVincenzo was the worst at -9 in 31 minutes. He was 7/12, and 5/9 from 3, with 3 rebounds, 3 assistss, 1 steal, zero turnovers and just two fouls. Sounds like a good night, but he had the worst +/-. He's a very strong defender, ranking sixth on the team on nba.com player defense rating. Kuminga, Moody and Wiseman all rank poorly.
Players Defense | Stats | NBA.com
BTW, the Warriors are on pace to set a single season NBA record in disparity between home and away records.
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