With his Warriors up 12 points midway through the second from last quarter Saturday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant got a pass from Kevon Looney, denoting the beginning of a quick break, and promptly tossed a traverse Draymond Green’s head, bringing about his second turnover.
The play characterized Golden State’s hostile yield in its NBA playoff opener. In spite of overpowering the Clippers in a 121-104 Game 1 win, the Warriors appeared, even while ruling, that their attention must be on the seemingly little things.
“We weren’t focused,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said following the team’s film session Sunday. “Kevin had one where he threw it up in the air in the backcourt. There’s no reason for the decision-making.”
In an amusement that Golden State otherwise dominated, it gave away the ball 21 times, in play portrayed by apathetic passes and faulty choices. All through the Warriors’ five-year run of predominance, they have toed the line among brilliance and recklessness, some of the time selecting to make the awesome play when the straightforward choice is similarly as successful.
Green was the main culprit Saturday, committing six turnovers in 35 minutes, balancing his 17 and seven assists.
“I think, all in all, we played really hard, which was great,” Kerr said following Saturday’s game. “We didn’t play that well or that smart.”
Maybe the play that characterized Kerr’s ire came with 7:45 left in the second from last quarter, when Green, leading the quick break, tossed an errant, off-balance pass over DeMarcus Cousins’ head, directly under the control of Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari, prompting a LA quick break.
“I had mentioned Draymond had three or four. He’s coming down, on the run, getting caught in the air, throwing left-handed passes,” Kerr said Sunday. “The quality of the pass is so important.”
Green wasn’t the only one in his failures to fire. Cousins, in his first playoff begin, had six turnovers, and Durant and Steph Curry joined for seven.
Notwithstanding amid their notable run, the Warriors have not been safe to turnovers. Two years back, even while going 16-1 in the postseason, they averaged 13.6 turnovers, fifth-most exceedingly terrible in the league. The prior year, subsequent to winning a league record 73 amusements, they were among the last five in turnovers, averaging 14.4 per diversion.
On Sunday, in the wake of viewing the last openings of Tiger Woods’ success at the Masters, the Warriors held a short film session, with one of the chief goals heading into Game 2 clear: Take care of the ball.
“You’ve got to be on target,” Kerr said. “You’ve got to be sure of yourself, and we got away with it last night, but we’ve got to do a much better job with our decision-making.”
