A closer look at the Warriors’ embarrassing road record and how they can turn it around
The vibes are buzzing when the Warriors play at home. A 29-7 record at Chase Center buoys their playoff hopes and the invigorating home win streaks inspire talk of the Warriors finally turning a corner.
But the road Warriors are nothing like the home Warriors.
Those big scoring games that lift them at home can’t plaster over poor defensive communication that completely falls apart when Golden State is on the road.
Those defensive lapses are the primary reason for the Warriors’ 7-26 road record. Though not the worst road record in the NBA — the Spurs (6-27) and Rockets (6-28) have them beat for futility — they definitely own the worst road record among playoff contenders.
In fact, the Warriors are on pace to own one of the worst road records for a playoff team in modern NBA history. The 1987-88 San Antonio Spurs and 1985-86 Chicago Bulls made the playoffs finishing with identical 8-33 road records, the worst in the last 50 years, according to Associated Press. The Warriors haven’t had a road record this bad since they went 7-24 in a COVID-shortened 2019-20 season and finished 15-50 overall.
The Warriors’ playoff chances depend on avoiding a historically bad road record. They’ve lost eight road games in a row — with eight of their last 13 games coming on the road.
“I think we are going to do it with these next five games,” Klay Thompson said after their win against the Suns on Monday. “I think we’re going to come out of this road trip with great momentum. And although history this season hasn’t been so good to us, it’s our time to ramp up our ability to win games.”
In a jam-packed West where one loss can make or break a handful of teams’ playoff standing, the Warriors’ road woes could be the biggest obstacle to their repeat title hopes. Golden State is within two games of the Suns (fourth place), Clippers, Timberwolves, Thunder, Mavericks and Lakers (10th) with the Jazz and Pelicans, both outside the play-in, not far behind.
They’ll hit the road Wednesday at 36-33, tied for the fifth seed with the Clippers — their first opponent on a five-game road trip with stops in Atlanta, Memphis, Houston and Dallas. Every game is crucial to create some separation in the standings, but the Clippers and Mavericks games are particularly big in the playoff race.
In order to get out of its road woes, Golden State needs to tighten up its defense. In most cases, that means limiting the miscommunication and errors on defensive rotations and applying the right amount of pressure without fouling.
“I’ve been on teams that sucked on the road and at home, but nothing like this,” coach Steve Kerr said. “The biggest thing, when you look at the numbers, is 3-point defense at home is dramatically better than it is on the road.
“The answer lies in our defense. No matter how you want to look at it. You can question why teams are shooting so much better on their home floor. Doesn’t matter why. We have to address that and get better defensively on the road if we want to break that habit.”
The numbers back up Kerr’s lament about his team’s 3-point defense on the road, where opponents shoot 40.7% on 3-pointers — at Chase Center, the Warriors’ opponents shoot just 32.4% from distance.
Donte DiVincenzo said they’ll have to shift focus from hitting big shots to making huge defensive plays as means of motivation. Picking up opposing players full court — like DiVincenzo did to Chris Paul against the Suns Monday — is a good start.
“In a weird way, I think it’s more of us relying on the shot on offense,” DiVincenzo said after practice Tuesday. “I think we have to come into the road games knowing it’s about defense. The big thing we said yesterday is we can hit shots at home and have the crowd behind us and then everybody is more amped up on defense. On the road, you can hit three, four shots and nobody cares. We have to lock in on (defense) and not worry about making or missing shots.”