Turnovers crush Warriors as they abandon pregame plan against Clippers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Coach Steve Kerr estimated the Warriors gave up 10 possessions Sunday night at Chase Center, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers 112-104 in their first defeat of the 2024-25 NBA season after two consecutive blowout victories.
“Of course,” Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski told NBC Sports Bay Area in his locker after the loss, when asked about the number Kerr came to.
The Warriors opened the season against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz, two teams expected to find themselves in last place in the Western Conference standings, averaging over 133 points. Headlines credited Buddy Hield’s hot start shooting the ball, as well as the Warriors’ defensive swarm and stellar depth as bright as their biggest stars.
Another reason the Warriors reigned supreme over the Blazers and Jazz was ball movement, as well as taking care of it.
Throughout their undefeated 6-0 preseason, the Warriors averaged 30 assists and 18 turnovers. Then to start the season at Portland and Utah, they averaged 36.5 assists and just 16.5 turnovers, totaling 40 more assists (73) than turnovers (33). Those numbers then took a turn for the worse in front of the Warriors crowd on Sunday.
Steph Curry, before leaving at the start of the fourth quarter left ankle injurymade six assists but also six turnovers. Hield’s hot shots turned cold and his off night was accompanied by four turnovers, more than the three shots he made all game. Kerr used 13 players, including Lindy Waters III’s 32-second run, and 10 had at least one turnover.
Kerr starts five had 11 turnovers and 10 assists, painting a picture of the team as a whole. The Warriors made just 19 assists on their 38 made shots, while committing 21 turnovers on which the Clippers scored 21 points.
“Well, No. 1, the Clippers were great defensively,” Kerr said. “But we really got loose with the ball and made some reckless plays. It’s a very athletic team, very well coached. They were there to disturb us.
Kerr has been blamed for the Warriors’ need to work better under duress. They had 28 steals in their first two games and came away with 10 more Sunday night, but the Clippers edged them with 11. Veteran guard Kris Dunn led both teams with four steals, and four Clippers had multiple steals .
Clippers coach Ty Lue is considered one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA, forming an intensive transfer system. The Warriors, in their pregame film session, discussed the need to cut their corner guys and spacing the wings relative to the corner to hurt the Clippers’ switches, and when they go five-and-out to double because they like to change points.
“We weren’t consistent with it,” Podziemski said. “Sometimes we did it and it was good, but it just wasn’t consistent enough with it.”
In their first two games of the season, the Clippers forced their opponents – the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets – to turn the ball over an average of 16 times. They ranked 23rd in the NBA last season in forcing 12.4 turnovers per game. The Warriors were their own worst enemies too often on Sunday night, committing reckless turnovers.
They had four turnovers in the first quarter, doubled that to eight turnovers in the second quarter, seven in the third and ultimately only two turnovers in the fourth as their comeback couldn’t be completed.
“A lot of the turnovers were easy dunks for them on the other end of the court,” Podziemski said. “It takes the pressure off James (Harden) to score all the time. You saw Derrick Jones hit a few threes, Kris Dunn started to feel good. I just have to be more solid collectively.
The Warriors have one day to correct their first loss of the season. Curry has an MRI on Sunday night after using the word “mild” or “moderate” to describe his injury to Kerr. If there is no shortage of timeover a short period of time or over an extended period, the Warriors know they need to clean up their turnovers, a problem that seems to be an annual topic.
Next, the New Orleans Pelicans (2-1) will travel to Chase Center for a back-to-back Tuesday and Wednesday night, having averaged 12 steals per game and also caused an average of more than 18 turnovers. Podziemski could slide into the starting lineup as the Warriors’ best ball handler if Curry were to miss games, and the young guard isn’t worried about a sloppy game offensively.
“It was a good first test of a very good defense,” Podziemski said. “When you first face it, you just have to take it and learn from it. New Orleans also has a great, long defense, and we just learned from that.
