Milwaukee Bucks Game Preview: March 18 at Golden State Warriors

Major Key For Golden State: Make Those Open Shots

This is an obvious goal, but the Warriors can’t win games if they’re going to miss open threes all of the time. This team had a safety valve in case that happened earlier–having Kevin Durant shooting 60 percent from within the arc is a pretty nice back-up plan.

KD is not here at the moment though, and the Dubs don’t have enough talent to afford Steph and Klay Thompson the freedom to miss multiple good looks. The team in general hasn’t been capitalizing on good shots lately.

Over their last 15 games, the Warriors are making 36.1 percent of their open threes and 32.5 of their wide open threes. Comparatively, last season’s Warriors made 41.9 percent of their open threes and 43.8 percent of their wide open threes, as per NBA.com/stats.

The difference from closer to the rim is even more eye-popping. The Dubs have made just 39.1 percent of their open twos and a horrid 34.3 percent of their wide open twos. Last season Golden State murdered teams when the Dubs were open within the arc–they converted on 59.6 percent of their open twos and 62.0 percent of their wide-open twos.

This isn’t rocket science. The Warriors are getting roughly as many open and wide open (defined as no defender within 4-6 feet and 6 feet-plus, respectively) threes as they were last season, but they’re making less of them.

They’re getting less open twos because there just aren’t as many shooters to worry about anymore. Draymond Green’s three-point percentage has fallen off of a cliff, and Golden State couldn’t afford many of the auxiliary shooters they had last season.

Without Curry and Thompson nailing both open and contested threes, things become difficult for the Warriors offense in a hurry.