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Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Opening Night Disaster

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:22 p.m. ET

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The Golden State Warriors’ debut with Kevin Durant did not go according to plan. Are the Dubs more flawed than we thought, or are we overreacting? Here are 5 takeaways from the opening night disaster.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts during the third quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 129-100. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

After winning an NBA-record 73 games during the 2015-16 regular season, it was easy to feel disappointed, shocked and flabbergasted when the Golden State Warriors lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals at home, completing their meltdown from a 3-1 series lead.

Luckily for the Dubs, that defeat opened the door to signing Kevin Durant, adding another top-3 player in the world to the league’s two-time reigning MVP, Stephen Curry.

Missing out on the greatest championship season ever stung, but signing KD made everything right with the world for Bay Area fans. It was not a question of whether the Warriors would win another title, but how many.

Unfortunately for Golden State, Durant’s first game at Oracle went nowhere near according to plan.

Just a season after starting the year 24-0 (including 36-0 at home), the Dubs dropped their 2016-17 season opener against the San Antonio Spurs, getting walloped in a 29-point rout on their own floor. Adjustment periods are necessary for any super-team, but the manner in which they lost — especially with all that talent at their disposal — was alarming.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Golden State was held to 100 points only nine times last year and went 4-5 in those games, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising the Dubs lost Tuesday when they were held to exactly 100 points.

Giving up 120 points was also an eye-opener for the Warriorss, who were the league’s fifth best defense last year.

Is there real cause for concern with this juggernaut? Will they figure it out like LeBron James‘ Miami Heat super-team did, or are they destined for failure like that ill-fated Los Angeles Lakers super-team in 2012-13?

There’s plenty of time to figure things out, but in order to draw the line between opening night overreactions and legitimate concerns, here are five main takeaways from the Golden State Warriors’ underwhelming season opener.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) celebrates with guard Stephen Curry (30) against the San Antonio Spurs during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

5. It Wasn’t ALL Bad

It’s hard to find many positives in a 29-point beatdown at the hands of Golden State’s biggest threat in the West, especially when it comes at home…on opening night…coming off a 3-1 Finals collapse…after signing Kevin-freaking-Durant.

That being said, it wasn’t ALL bad for the Dubs, even if the negatives drastically outweighed the positives. We start with what many would assume to be the main source of concern in a situation like this, the new superstar addition.

On the bright side, anyone worried about Durant being too passive or trying not to step on anyone’s toes was quickly reminded why he’s seen by many as an even better scorer than Steph Curry.

Durant wasted no time making himself at home in his regular season debut at Oracle, starting the game off with nine quick points on 4-of-4 shooting. He operated mostly from the midrange on iso sets, but he also drilled an open three in transition to bring the crowd to its feet.

Notice how Curry running the lane drew in multiple defenders, freeing KD up for the wide open triple? That gravitational pull is going to give Durant more quality looks than he’s going to know what to deal with all season long.

It was an ugly game for most of the night, but plays like those — not to mention Durant’s final stat line of 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks on 11-of-18 shooting — showed just how well his all-around production and shooting touch will fit in on this team.

Curry got off to a slow start, but he still managed to finish the game with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting thanks to an 11-point second quarter. The two-time reigning MVP only made three of his 10 three-point attempts, but he wasn’t bashful about getting shots up.

Even Draymond Green, who many have worried about in terms of diminished production giving way to resentment, finished with a well-rounded stat line of 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

For the most part, the key contributors did their jobs. Golden State actually out-blocked the Spurs 6-3, meaning that for at least one night, rim protection wasn’t a huge issue. The final numbers feel empty, but not everything that happened Tuesday night was an outright travesty.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors forward David West (3) and forward Andre Iguodala (9) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 129-100. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

4. Bench Depth Is An Issue

If there were one projected weakness for these Warriors heading into the season, it was their bench depth. Playing against a Spurs second unit that led all NBA benches in plus/minus last season, Golden State’s largest flaw was exposed.

The Dubs still have Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, sure. They have a trio of promising youngsters in Kevon Looney, Patrick McCaw and Damian Jones, with one of them (McCaw) getting significant burn in the season opener. They even have old man David West and the perennial If He Can Find A Career Resurgence It’s Here All-Star in JaVale McGee!

Unfortunately, none of that stopped the Warriors’ bench from getting absolutely SMOKED by San Antonio’s “Juice Unit.”

Ian Clark was the Warriors’ leading scorer off the bench with five points. Meanwhile, Jonathon Simmons outscored Golden State’s reserves combined by a 20-16 margin.

Simmons posted a +33 in only 28 minutes, Patty Mills was a game-high +35 and the Spurs had five players with a double-digit plus/minus.

The Warriors had four players with a double-digit plus/minus…except theirs were all negative, not positive.

In the playoffs, depth won’t matter as much. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers found success against the Warriors during last year’s playoffs when they shortened their rotation down to seven or eight players, and the Dubs should be able to find that many capable bodies by the end of this regular season.

But depth is important to winning regular season games and, as a byproduct, home-court advantage from a top playoff seed. Golden State is going to need more from its bench than 16 points on 7-of-21 shooting if they want to get there.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) dunks the basketball against the Golden State Warriors during the first half at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 129-100. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

3. Rebounding Is Another Possible Achilles Heel

The bench is probably Golden State’s biggest flaw, but San Antonio’s tall frontcourt line revealed another potential Achilles heel: rebounding.

The Warriors struggled on the boards at times last season, but Tuesday’s season opener took that to a whole new level. The Spurs out-rebounded Golden State by a massive 55-35 margin, turning 21 offensive boards into 26 second chance points.

The Warriors, by contrast, only had eight offensive boards for four second chance points. That’s never been how Golden State makes its money, but don’t forget how many back-breaking threes they dropped on teams last year as the result of an offensive rebound.

Green pulled down a team-high 12 boards and Durant chipped in 10 of his own, but those two accounting for 22 of the team’s 35 rebounds is unacceptable. Zaza Pachulia pulling down three boards after averaging 9.4 per game last season is unacceptable. And giving up eight boards to Dewayne Dedmon in 17 minutes, plus six rebounds to David Lee in 11 minutes, is unacceptable.

Pachulia has to be leagues better. Curry (three rebounds) and Klay Thompson (one) have to help out. And the bench (four total rebounds, compared to the Spurs bench’s 25) cannot be dominated on the glass like that again.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 129-100. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

2. The Spurs Are Pretty Damn Good

Before we go off the deep end worrying about the Golden State Warriors, however, we should probably point something out: The San Antonio Spurs are still a really frickin’ good basketball team.

Many — myself included — predicted some slight regression for the Spurs this year as they downgraded from Tim Duncan to Pau Gasol on the defensive end. If Tuesday night was any indication, reports of the Spurs’ demise were greatly exaggerated (again).

The domination was thorough. Every time Golden State tried to put together a run and get their crowd back into it, Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs responded with a counter punch. LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, drilling back-breaking, impossible-to-defend fadeaways to keep the lead out of reach.

The Spurs closed the first quarter with a three, a steal and another three to extend a six-point lead to 11 in a matter of eight seconds and stun a raucous crowd.

Simmons started the game 6-for-6 for 15 first half points off the bench, helping San Antonio build an 18-point advantage at the break. He even looked like a mini-LeBron James out there, stifling a possible Warriors run with a chase-down block on Curry…

…Before putting the final exclamation point on the night by prematurely ending JaVale McGee’s career:

If you’re looking for the biggest culprit of Golden State’s opening night disaster, however, look no further than the best player on the floor in a game featuring Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson: Kawhi Leonard.

Finishing the game with a career-high 35 points, five rebounds and five steals on 10-of-21 shooting, Leonard was as aggressive offensively as we’ve ever seen. He got to the foul line 15 times (making all 15), was unstoppable in the midrange and was an absolute terror on defense.

It’s easy to freak out about a 29-point loss in a game where Pau Gasol somehow managed to post a -13 plus/minus and Tony Parker clocked in at -12, but the truth is, the Dubs picked one hell of an opening night opponent to put all their new pieces to the test.

The Warriors definitely have things to work on, but let’s not forget that the team doing the spanking Tuesday night was probably one of the best three teams in the NBA.

October 25, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots the basketball against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 129-100. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

1. There Will Be An Adjustment Period, But It’s One Game

No surprise here, but opening night overreactions were running rampant through Twitter Tuesday night, so it bears repeating: Relax. It’s only one game in an 82-game regular season.

With the exception of the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, who started their season 29-3, super-teams take time to come together. LeBron’s Heatles started their inaugural 2010-11 campaign with a 9-8 record. LeBron’s recent Cavs juggernaut started the 2014-15 season at 9-7. This isn’t uncommon.

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Obviously, the Warriors would rather be more like that Celtics team that won 66 games and an NBA championship in its first season together, as opposed to those LeBron teams that both lost in the Finals.

However, it bears repeating that all three of those super-teams made the Finals in their first season together, and, barring injuries, this isn’t the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers all over again. That team was undone by injury woes and aging stars, not having too much talent.

Speaking of talent, the Warriors have that in droves, probably more so than any super-team in NBA history. A 29-point smackdown was a truly underwhelming way to begin a season grounded in championship expectations, but there are still chemistry, bench and rebounding issues to sort out.

It will take some time for all of these new pieces to come together and learn how to win, which is why losing to a quality team like the Spurs on opening night really isn’t all that surprising.

The Warriors clearly have a lot to work on if they want to win it all in their first year together, but before everyone starts trying to discredit a title contender, remember how meaningless 73 regular season wins became in last year’s Finals. If those wins were all meaningless at the end of the day, so too will this loss be a distant memory once this team figures itself out.

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