First off, this is not intended to be an anti Ws, rant, just a look at what has been plaguing the Bay Area darlings so far this year. Also, I know you can't compare 5 games to all of last year, but looking at the numbers might show something: Somewhere between watching KAz, Monta, Baron and Biedrins brick multiple free throws and Brandon Bass going 4-4 I started to get jealous of other teams free throw shooting.  It got me thinking as to how big of a problem the charity stripe is for a team made up of athletic scorers.  I know this is not a new thing, but look at the numbers.

The Warriors are shooting 67%, good for 27th in the league, from the line while their opponents are shooting 79%, low and behold 26th.  That is about a 4-5 point differential if both teams go to the line 30 times.  Then throw in a team like the Mavs who shoot high 80s and that becomes a 7-8 point gap on supposed gimme shots.  

The Dallas game highlights this deficiency:
Dallas 26-30
Ws     16-30

Result, loss by 5

What really gets me is that we are a fast, running line-up built for speed and open looks.  What look is more open than the free throw?  I know Biedrins brings the whole team down with his shot-put(which looked surprisingly good at moments vs. the Cavs), but the way that the Ws are shooting free throws is inexcusable:

Baron:    32-46, 69.6%
Monta:    21-32, 65.6%
KAZ:      19-25, 76%
Biedrins: 7-12, 58.3%
Al:       9-14, 64.3%

KAZ leads the team at 76% and missed most of those free throws against the Mavs, so I guess he deserves a bit of a pass.  

I put these guys out there because they are our current go to guys.  In clutch situations it is most likely going to be one of these guys with the rock and it is about 50-50 as to whether they will be shooting the j or streaking the lane for points in the paint.  There is a pretty good chance they will end up at the line with free throws vital to keep the game close.

The guys that stick out to me are Baron, Monta and Biedrins.  

Baron is actually a point above his career average, so I guess we get what we paid for.  His scoring is effected more by his 3pt 19% avg. than anything.  I just don't get how a top tier point shoots less than 70% from the line.

Monta has regressed from 73% last year, and the way he attacks the basket, he absolutely has to hit his free throws.  Devin Harris plays a similar style, but he went 8-8 last night (Although his career FT numbers are only slightly better than Monta's)

Finally, Biedrins, the human shot-put.  He is actually up 12% from his career average, but the way the Warriors use him attacking the basket, he is bound to be on the line late in the game.  Or is his lack of free-throw shooting a reason the Warriors fail to go inside and instead opt for threes in the waning moments?

This leads one to ask, have we always been this bad?

Last year the Ws shot 71.7% from the line and I don't see how we can't get back there especially with JAX in the lineup.  05-06 was at 71.8% and 72.2% in 04-05.  So needless to say, GSW recent past is marred by bad shooting from the line.

Our opponents free throws are up about 4%, but there is not much we can do about that.

These stats don't really tell us how much our opponents are getting to the line or vice versa.  Info. on that would be helpful in this analysis.

So what has changed from last year?

In our major categories:
We are shooting 46.3% from the floor as a team, not bad, but our opponents have upped their FG% from 46.2% to a whopping 50.6%.  That is an astounding percentage for us to be giving up.  

Despite Baron's woes from behind the arc, we have actually improved our three point percentage from last year and our opponents percentage is down from last year despite that ridiculous night from the Jazz.

We are even rebounding better so far and keeping opponent rebounds down. We are getting fouled slightly more, which makes me think we are getting to the line more.

Steal, block, assist and turnover ratios are all about the same as last year.

Our scoring is up a point, but opponent scoring is up 11 points.

The moral of the story?

Obviously, lack of solid, go-to free-throw shooters kills us in the clutch.  However, it is kind of expected at this point.

However, the poor team defense that is allowing our opponents to shoot >50% from the field has to take a lot of the blame.  Are these teams just simply that good?  Maybe, we have faced a tough slate, but we need to step up the intensity on the defensive end.

Perhaps Jackson will chip in in the areas where it appears we need it most:  defense and free throws.