The Weekly Dish

Despite being banged up, the Warriors continue to prove they have what it takes to win.

For the week of Monday, Jan. 4 – Sunday, Jan. 10

As amazing as the Warriors have proved to be this season, one thing they are not is invincible. Yes, the team will lose games from time to time, but the players themselves are human just like the rest of us, and therefore subject to the wear and tear of an 82-game season. Right now, the Warriors are feeling that wear and tear, and it’s showing in their performance. Stephen Curry, Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli Brandon Rush, Leandro Barbosa, and James Michael McAdoo all sat out at least one game last week due to injury, and that doesn’t include Andrew Bogut, who missed time in multiple games due to back and hamstring troubles. When you’re missing that many members of your main rotation, a drop-off in play is to be expected. And, sure enough, the stats don’t lie; the Warriors haven’t been themselves the last few games, and injuries clearly had plenty to do with it. Over the four games last week, the Warriors posted a defensive rating of 106.4, meaning they allowed 106.4 points per 100 possessions. Prior to last week, the Warriors had accumulated a defensive rating of 97.4, meaning that in the four games last week, the Warriors allowed 9.0 more points per 100 possessions than they did in the “pre-injury bug” time period. A similar effect was evidenced on the offensive side of the ball, where the Warriors scored 3.6 fewer points per 100 possessions than they had averaged through the first 29 games of the season. 3.6 points doesn’t sound like a whole lot on the surface, but when you’re short on bodies, the tiniest of margins can make all the difference. That was certainly the case on Saturday, when the Warriors barely escaped with a 114-111 overtime victory over the Nuggets after leading by as many as 26 points late in the first quarter.

Now, there are a few ways of looking at this recent injury-plagued slate. First off, it’s fair to say that the Warriors haven’t quite had the kind of injury-related fortune that they had on their way to the Championship last season. You could also reasonably deduce that the Dubs aren’t their typical juggernaut selves when putting a severely depleted roster on the floor. But, after all, that’s to be expected. This is the NBA, and there’s a reason why rosters are the sizes that they are, and when you’re missing that much of your main rotation, your on-court performance is likely to be diminished. And, in accepting that reality, a valid, optimistic perspective comes to the forefront; that perspective being, considering the situation, the Warriors actually did quite well to survive in the manner that they did. The 23-point defeat at the hands of the Mavericks is not a game any member of the team is going to want to remember, but as poorly as that game went, it was easily forgotten with the mightily impressive victory over the Rockets in Houston the following night. Road back-to-backs are tough on any team, and when you add in the facts that they were without a significant portion of their rotation, playing their second game in as many nights, and facing a playoff foe from a year ago, it’s not a huge stretch to say that the Warriors’ bounce-back win in Houston could very well be their most impressive victory of the year. And when you’re 31-2, with a 24-game win streak to boot, that’s saying something. The Warriors will need to get back to full strength before we can reasonably expect their top-tier performance, but nonetheless, it’s certainly promising that the team has weathered the storm as well as they have up to this point.

There aren’t really any automatic qualifiers that will guarantee earning the weekly Spotlight, but averaging a triple-double is about as close as you can get. Draymond Green earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career earlier today, and when you look at his stats from the past week, it’s easy to see why. As one of the few members of the team that played in every game last week, Green led the Warriors to a 3-1 record with averages of 18.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 9.5 assists and 2.50 steals in 36.0 minutes, hitting 46.2 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from three-point range (12-of-22 3FG). The do-it-all forward posted back-to-back triple-doubles against the Rockets and Nuggets, becoming the first Warrior ever to post consecutive triple-doubles twice in the same season (also did so on Nov. 27 & Nov. 28) and the first in the NBA to do so in eight years (LeBron James and Jason Kidd in 2007-08). Green now leads the league with six triple-doubles, and is posting career-highs across the board with 15.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 35.2 minutes per game, while hitting 46.1 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from three-point range. As it turns out, the only player in NBA history to ever average at least 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists per game and shoot at least 40 percent or better from three-point range for a full season was none other than Larry Bird in 1986-87. It’s a bit premature to put Green in the same conversation as the Legend, but there’s no arguing with the fact that what he’s done thus far this season is nothing short of remarkable. You could easily make the case that he’s one of the five most deserving candidates in the league for Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, and Defensive Player of the Year, not to mention a starting spot in the All-Star Game. It seems as though the more that is asked of him, the better he performs, and you can certainly expect the Warriors to continue to ask plenty of him, particularly throughout this injury spell.

While any team in the NBA is capable of winning on any given night, this week’s slate of Warriors’ games might be coming at a good time, as their four opponents enter Monday with a combined record of 53-84 (.387). The week begins with the best of those opponents according to their current record, as the Warriors complete their two-game homestand later tonight when they host the Charlotte Hornets. After that, it’s time for the Warriors to hit the road, as they round out the week with a three-game road trip. First up is a matchup with the Lakers on Tuesday in the second night of a back-to-back, before finishing off the week with road games against the Blazers and Kings on Friday and Saturday. While it’s not the strongest slate of opponents, it’s two sets of back-to-backs in the same week, a task that could be made more or less daunting depending on the availability of several injured players. The Dubs have proven they can win while shorthanded, but some progress on the injury front could go a long way towards the Warriors getting back into top form and remaining undefeated in the new year.

Till next week.

The Dish has been served.