Lack of defensive intensity has been the recurring theme in the Golden State Warriors' four losses in the past five games.
It's a statement that's hard to believe with a team with a defense quarterbacked by Draymond Green, one of the most intense and legendary defensive players in NBA history. But in the Warriors' utterly one-sided 129-104 NBA Cup loss to the Denver Nuggets, that side of the ball was the issue.
“We didn't defend. That's kind of been the theme,” Green said solemnly after the game. “We didn't play with high energy, which has off and and on been a thing. And when you don't do those two things, you're playing against a set defense every play. And it's hard to execute so I think it was a multitude of things.”
Denver shot 56.1 percent from the field and 48.5 from beyond the arc on 13 made threes. Those two stats go hand in hand with the recurring theme Green talked about. Over the past five games, Golden State ranks 21st in the league in defensive rating (118.8) compared to teams during that same stretch. And in their last five games, they rank 18th in opponent field goal percentage (48.3%), 24th in opponent 3-pointer percentage (40.5%), and 18th in opponents' points in the paint (51.6).
For Green, the root of those issues comes down to effort, or lack thereof. And as the leader of the Dubs' defense, he believes those shortcomings fall on him.
“I have failed. If our defense looks as s—ty as it does, I failed,” Green said when asked if he's been sent that message to the locker room.
“So, you can send as many messages as you want [to the team]. Until we do it, I’m failing.”
Diagnosing the Dubs' defensive woes
But as admirable as it is that Green's taking the blame for the Dubs' defensive issues, how much of it is really the fault of the former Defensive Player of the Year?
For as all-encompassing as a defensive force as Green can be, he wasn't the one who allowed former Warrior Ryan Rollins to roll to a career-high 32 points in the Bucks' upset over the Dubs. Green wasn't the one guarding Pacers' Quinton Jackson when he willed himself to 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting along with 10 assists. We can acknowledge he had a part in forward Pascal Siakam torching the Dubs for 27 points, but Russell Westbrook's 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Kings' loss came when he was resting.
On that front, Golden State is failing in their one-on-one individual defense, despite, in theory, having the personnel. The lengthy Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody have had some success, but their defense oscillates with the weather right now. Brandin Podziemski, one of the league leaders in charges drawn, is a crafty defender, but opponents have no qualms about hunting him for his matchup. Green identified the problem with the Dubs' individual defense this season.
“We’re not taking one-on-one matchups personal. We have not been a great helpside team. We’re not a string. Defense must move on a string. We’re not doing that,” Green said.
“[It starts by] number one, taking the challenge, personal challenge. You’ve got to take the personal challenge to guard your man. Then if you get beat, there’s help. I think right now, we’re just relying on the help to be there, but when you don’t give effort, then help can’t get there. It starts individually. Everybody must take the challenge individually of guarding their man, and then you build it out from there.”
When opponents can break down a defense's point of attack, it creates all kinds of problems for the backline. And when the defense is in jeopardy, smart teams like the Nuggets will find the open shooter. Then the Warriors' opponent's 3-point percentage explains itself.
Defense comes down to effort
Taking the challenge is the latest set of verbiage Green and the Warriors have used to describe the lack of defensive intensity. Head coach Steve Kerr cited “competitive fire, connection, a competitive edge” as the things the Warriors didn't have in the loss to Denver. Lack of fire, connection, and edge aren't far from what Kerr said after the Indiana loss, in which he expressed his frustration with the team's lack of focus. In the wake of the loss to Denver, Jimmy Butler just said as straightforwardly as one can be– they need more effort.
“[We need] some more effort. Know what I’m saying?” Butler said. “Maybe a little bit more KYP [know your personnel] at the same time. Defense is all if you want to do it — whether you’re on the ball, whether you’re in the gap, whether you’re the low man [weakside help defender by the baseline and basket], if you want to do it, you’re going to do it.”
When asked about the lack of a competitive edge and energy, Butler once again diagnosed it bluntly.
“[The competitive edge] wasn’t where it needs to be. That has to go up quite a few notches whenever we don't got Steph [Curry] out there,” Butler said. “[It starts with] doing all the small things. And everybody doing it together as a collective. Crashing and diving on the floor. Second efforts. All of that is going into the energy plays throughout the game.”
The overwhelming sentiment from Golden State seems to be that the effort needs to come from an intrinsic place. It's not for a lack of trying. Kerr, Butler, and Green have been saying the same things for the past week. At some point, the rest of the team has to take some pride in their effort. Pride in winning those 1-on-1 defensive assignments. The drive has to be intrinsic. That's where Green's motivation comes from. It's how he earned nine All-Defense selections.
But for all his leadership, for his fire, passion, and defensive brilliance, Green is still just an extrinsic motivator to his teammates– and that's not a failure on his part.
“We need to be a hard-playing team,” Green said. “We need to be great on the defensive end, and we need to be hard-playing. If those two things happen, everything else falls into place. But we must be a high-effort, high-energy team. And we must be a great defensive team. If we don’t reach those milestones. We don’t stand a chance.”
The Warriors are going nowhere if they can't scrounge together some urgency.
