Golden State Warriors: Four reasons for the Dubs’ worrying record on the road | NBA News

The Golden State Warriors slumped to their 12th away defeat of the season on Tuesday night, falling short against the Milwaukee Bucks to continue their miserable record on the road.

The defending champions have won just two games outside the Chase Centre this season in a run that threatens to derail their season even at this early stage.

We take a look at four of the biggest reasons behind their poor away form, as well as how the Warriors may be able to rid themselves of performances such as Tuesday’s against the Milwaukee Bucks.

1) Foul or no foul?

Each team, regardless of the sport, will always argue that they have it tough with refereeing calls.

Given that the Warriors were slapped with five technical fouls in their disappointing 128-111 defeat to the Bucks, perhaps there’s grounds to admit that they really are one of those sides.

Take a closer look, however, and at least three of those fouls come from dissent. It began in the first quarter with Jordan Poole, who expressed his displeasure with a non-call after making a contested lay-up. Smack – technical foul. Then later, Stephen Curry and coach Steve Kerr were given techs after arguing on a non-call on Curry’s three-pointer. Smack – two more.

The other two, later in the third quarter, were arguably more contentious. But it goes without saying: the Warriors can’t always brand themselves unlucky, or on the wrong side of refereeing calls, when they are the one’s getting themselves stuck in the mud.

Getting into positions where those fouls are not called is obviously key, and interestingly enough, that begins our next point.

2) Transition and interior defence

This is a fancy way of saying defending within the paint, and when there are possession turnovers – something that the Warriors have struggled with all season, and a trend that continued in yesterday’s defeat.

Indeed, the Bucks bullied the defending champions in the paint, scoring 48 points to Golden State’s 30. They also went 33 for 53 inside the arc, while the Warriors only made 18 of their 45 two-point attempts.

Part of this has to be down to the changing dynamics in Draymond Green’s defensive duties.

Green used to be the Warriors’ best defensive guard, on the rim, in transition, keeping the ball moving quickly. Injury, rehab and time away from Curry and Klay Thompson have deeply impacted this, making the Dubs more vulnerable to opposition attacks, led by the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Add some questionable rotation to the mix and you get a team that slowly begins to unravel when they don’t have the ball.

This then leads to fouls, and eventually technical fouls, because you’re constantly being outmanoeuvred. It also doesn’t help to be outsized either.

3) Off-court drama

There’s a lot that’s happening on the court, but this season, for the Warriors, that’s been matched off the court too.

It began before the 2022/23 campaign even got going, when Green punched Poole in practice. Kerr and co swept that mess under the carpet, with Green brought back into the fold for the opening night and Poole rewarded for his impressive contribution to the Warriors’ championship run with a four-year contract.

They kept Green, knowing he would be key in their title defence, but he has continued to find himself at the centre of drama.

On Tuesday, in the defeat to the Bucks, a fan was ejected for threatening the Dubs forward. Last week in Dallas, he was also fined $25,000 for another incident with a courtside spectator.

Perhaps it’s not the biggest reason as to why there’s trouble in Golden State, but it certainly doesn’t help things.

4) The return of the questionable bench

It may feel as though this line gets repeated with every Warriors defeat, but how about that secondary unit?

Sure, Poole has looked better, and more and more seems poised for a big performance. James Wiseman has also been flashy since his return from the Warriors’ G-League affiliate.

But where in the beginning of the season the issue was the bench simply not being good enough, the problems now lie in consistency.

You might argue that this is grounds for progression, yet the worrying element is the bench not performing against opponents on losing streaks, or those averaging below 10 wins this season (see the defeat to the Indiana Pacers).

Yesterday, with the game out of reach, Kerr decided to call upon his reinforcements, one of them being Patrick Baldwin Jr, who made two 3-pointers and finished with six points.

It’s an issue that Kerr has admitted to already this season. If he can help more of those backup players grow like he did with Wiseman, there might still be hope yet.

The Warriors now face a gruelling stretch where they have five more road games over eight days. That continues on Wednesday in Indianapolis against the Pacers.

They will have to hope that on this run, they can throw the form book out the window.