In San Francisco, - The Warriors' defense has been questionable for the most of the season, so Steve Kerr attempted to shuffle up their starting lineup once again in an effort to improve their play.
The lineup change wasn't even close to being the solution that Kerr and the coaching staff were hoping for, like most of Golden State's other attempts to turn things around.
On Sunday, the Toronto Raptors dominated the offensive battle against the Warriors, continuing a trend that began last week with Miami and Dallas. After taking a 27-point advantage into halftime, they continued to shoot efficiently and launch low-post attacks on Golden State. "Got punched right from the start," Stephen Curry remarked after the Warriors' 133-118 defeat to Toronto at Chase Center.
We were immediately hit in the face," Kerr remarked. Our defense has been lacking all season, so we figured we may as well give it a go. We are trying new things, but so far this season the defense hasn't clicked and hasn't been very good.
Two of the Warriors' longer and more athletic players, Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins, were starting for the club on Sunday, which turned things around. Although they haven't played much together, Kerr was hoping for chemistry between the two.
After that failed to materialize, and the Warriors found themselves down 27 points at halftime, Kerr experimented with a new starting five as the first unit struggled to communicate and play defense, leading to dismal performance. Dario Šarić and Brandin Podziemski took the place of Wiggins and Kuminga.
The whole focus of Kerr's attention throughout the second half was competing, he stated. "It entails defending oneself verbally. The first half was devoid of sound. We required some conversing, some small conversation, some bonding. For some reason, I had faith that they would provide it, and I was right. Despite our best efforts in the third, we were ultimately unsuccessful.
Aside from the defense's issues, which may be attributable to the rotation's constant shifting, the Warriors' lack of communication was a fresh concern.
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