Steve Kerr slapped his hands together, quickly stood up from his chair on the Chase Center sidelines and called timeout. The Golden State Warriors' typically mild-mannered coach then angrily clapped his hands again while walking onto the floor, with a frustrated flex and palpable intonation of “Come on!” as his young reserves trudged to the bench.

You certainly wouldn't have thought Golden State led the Sacramento Kings by 17 points early in the fourth quarter when Kerr's team drew his ire.

Despite their coach's pointed urging, the Warriors' next defensive possession after the timeout didn't go any better. They once again failed to match up fast enough in transition, Sacramento's switching on the other end continuing to confuse Golden State.

Those were hardly the first instances of the Warriors' spotty transition defense during Sunday's near-collapse of a win over the Kings. For Kerr, they represented the continuation of his 2-1 team's “biggest issue” over the first week of the regular season.

“Transition defense is the biggest issue right now. There's a total lack of focus in transition,” he said on Monday. “We were really good last year, fifth in the league in transition defense points per possession, we're 22nd right now. Last night was abysmal. The end of the Laker game was abysmal. The Denver game there were portions. So we're 3-for-3 on bad transition defense, so that's the number one focus right now.”

Golden State, to be clear, doesn't fare quite as poorly in all transition defense data as he suggests.

The Warriors actually rank eighth in points allowed per transition possession, according to Cleaning the Glass. The main problem is the frequency with which they allow open-floor and early-clock opportunities. Golden State is 27th in defensive transition frequency through three games, with opponents starting 18.8% of their possessions in transition, per Cleaning the Glass.

Those last numbers confirm the eye test and Kerr's assessment of the Warriors' lackadaisical defense when the court changes sides.

Golden State's uptempo style of play and penchant for turnovers ensure its defense will be regularly threatened in transition. The Warriors lead the league in overall pace and are third in offensive possession length, per Dunks & Threes. Their average defensive possession length? Just 12.8 seconds, easily the lowest in the league.

Golden State's transition defense will get better as the season progresses, with the rotation taking a more permanent shape and the struggling second unit growing more comfortable and cohesive as a result. Until then, the Warriors need to be extra diligent about finding bodies in the open floor—not only keeping the opposition from getting easy shots, but keeping Kerr more even-keeled on the sidelines, too.