INTERIOR DEFENCE A MAJOR CONCERN
It was anticipated Andrew Bogut’s loss would leave something to be desired in terms of rim protection, but the problem was much worse than expected.
San Antonio lived in the paint and faced no resistance from Zaza Pachulia or other bigs. The Spurs’ 50 points in the paint don’t even tell the whole story.
CHEMISTRY ISN’T QUITE THERE YET
As good as they looked at times in the pre-season, the Warriors just didn’t seem like a group that felt totally comfortable playing with each other yet against San Antonio.
There were instances of miscommunication and confusion, which resulted in nine first-half turnovers. Their offence just didn’t flow like it so often did the past two years.
TOO MANY SECOND CHANCES ALLOWED
This was an extension of their struggles defending the paint, as even after forcing a miss, Golden State often couldn’t secure the rebound.
The Spurs finished with 21 offensive rebounds and a whopping 26 second-chance points. Not many teams possess San Antonio’s size, but it’s something they’ll have to clean up.
LAGGING TRANSITION DEFENCE
It’s the Warriors who are usually the ones attacking in transition, but they were treated to a track meet put on by San Antonio, who scored 24 fast break points.
At one point, Draymond Green even got yelled at by Steve Kerr for not getting back on defence, which resulted in an offensive rebound and easy put-back.
NO-SHOW FROM ANCILLARY PLAYERS
While Patty Mills and especially Jonathon Simmons were helping carry the load for the Spurs, Golden State were getting little to nothing from their cast of role players.
The most points scored by someone other than Curry, Durant, Green or Thompson was the five by Ian Clark. Simply not enough help.