‘Troubling Flaw’ Could Shatter Warriors’ Title Hopes: Analyst

Getty Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and other members of the Golden State Warriors look on from the bench during a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

When it rains, it pours for the Golden State Warriors during the 2022-23 season, and the storm is clearly still raging. Stephen Curry is going to be out for a hot minute with his shoulder subluxation, Andrew Wiggins is drawing nearer a return with an adductor injury but isn’t yet ready to go and a myriad of other players are dealing with bumps and bruises, too.

As a result, the defending-champion Dubs have been operating at a considerable shortfall on an almost nightly basis recently, which has led to five losses in seven games heading into Tuesday’s bout with the New York Knicks.

Even before the injury bug started to bite down, though, the Warriors were arguably the hot-mess express of the entire NBA. The bench had been bad, the team’s offseason acquisitions were struggling to integrate into a new system and play at their usual level and the youth component of Golden State’s dual-timeline plan wasn’t panning out.

That said, it was something else entirely that just got namechecked as the Dubs’ “most troubling flaw” by Bleacher Report‘s Greg Swartz. And, as Swartz sees it, that flaw could end up crushing the team’s ability to survive during the postseason.

Will the Warriors’ Road Woes Ruin the Postseason Push?

In his round-up of every contending team’s biggest weekness, Swartz landed on the Warriors’ efforts outside of the Bay as the ultimate bugbear. And given the team’s shocking, league-worst 3-14 road record as of December 20, it’s difficult to argue against that as the choice.

Swartz referred to the situation as “puzzling” and described the road results thus far as “incompetence.” Setting those descriptors aside, though, the Dubs’ playing so ineffectively away from their home court could potentially deal a fatal blow to the whatever title opportunity they still have in the event that it continues.

“This may not matter for a top seed that can lock in home-court advantage for multiple postseason rounds, but the No. 10 seed would be away from home for two play-in games (if it gets that far),” Swartz wrote. “And each of the Nos. 5-8 seeds would play four road games in a seven-game first-round series.”

Of course, all of the earlier-mentioned problems feed the road regression. Regardless of which ones are most responsible, though, there’s little doubt about the way in which the Dubs should respond to the overarching issue.

“Maybe the team has a championship hangover, but whether the veterans need to lock in more or the young rotation members need to step up — or a combination of the two — Golden State simply needs to play better away from the Chase Center.”

In particular, the Warriors’ issues on the glass and on defense side have grown multiple sizes whenever the team has ventured away from San Fran. Golden State ranks 29th out of 30 teams in road defense, surrendering more than 118 points per 100 possessions. Meanwhile, the club’s rebounding percentage of 48.2 ranks just 25th league-wide.

At home, those numbers jump to 106.1 points/100 poss. (fifth-best in the NBA) and 50.5% (No. 15 overall), respectively.

DiVincenzo & Green Hit the Injury Report

Unsurprisingly, Curry and Wiggins were still on the injury report for the Knicks game on Tuesday. However, a whole host of players who participated in the team’s Sunday win over the Toronto Raptors were also on the report in the hours ahead of tip-off.

For their part, backup big man JaMychal Green and spot-starting floor general Donte DiVincenzo were both listed as OUT on the official 6:30 pm ET injury report. The former has entered health and safety protocols while the latter is dealing with a non-Covid illness.

Elsewhere on the report, former No. 7 overall pick Jonathan Kuminga (left knee soreness) is available to play, as is five-time All-Star Klay Thompson (also left knee soreness).