The Warriors are clearly the best team in the NBA, notching a 39-4 record this year without head coach Steve Kerr being on the sideline for a single minute thanks to a bad back. This season the Warriors have been led by Luke Walton, an assistant coach with no experience as a leading man until this year, and didn’t miss a beat.
Or did they? No one can take away from what Walton has done in 43 games with the Warriors, but based on how the Warriors blow some opponents out, and the way they could strategically rest their stars, they may not lose again.
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When the Warriors fell to 24-1 against the Bucks on Dec. 12, they had just come off a double-overtime thriller vs. the Celtics the night before. In the Celtics game Walton played Draymond Green 49 minutes, Stephen Curry 46 minutes, and Andre Iguodala 43 with Klay Thompson out. The next night he had to reduce Green to 36 minutes, Curry to 35, and Iguodala to 27, while handing Thompson 30 in his first game back.
Thompson shot poorly, going 4-of-14 from the field and 2-of-7 from 3-point range. Walton could have trusted his deep bench more vs. Boston, even if it was depleted, and not been forced to restrict the minutes of his best players – and force minutes on a returning starter – against a Bucks team that thrives on its athleticism.
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Walton clearly has coaching chops, but Kerr knows these players better than Walton does, and has coached them through a whole season in which they were in first place the whole time before. They’ve become even more dominant this year – their plus/minus is 12.1 – and with Kerr, they can keep guys like Curry and Green so fresh that they can play enough to win every single night.
Watch out NBA…the best team in the league’s about to get much better.
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