FanPost

Notes on Turnovers: The Movie!

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone always complains about Warriors turnovers. It's about time someone DID something! I've made a super mix of all the bad pass turnovers from the Phoenix and all the turnovers from the San Antonio games. I've included video so you can analyze and categorize yourself.

Phoenix Turnovers 11/9/14

Here is a super cut of all the bad passes, and below it is a spreadsheet of all the turnovers.

Super Cut (sorry if the sound is messed up)

The Painful List

Obviously, my personal notes are subjective.

  • Too Much Flair = trying to do a cool pass instead of a basic fundamentally sound pass
  • Thrown/Caught Wrong = pass/catch was not what was intended
  • Careless = avoidable with more concentration and care
PHX Story too much flair thrown / caught wrong careless
1st
10:42 Andrew Bogut offensive foul (Markieff Morris draws the foul) 2-2
7:46 Draymond Green traveling 11-8
5:35 Stephen Curry bad pass 20-13 no look behind the back on PnR too much flair
5:07 Andrew Bogut bad pass (Miles Plumlee steals) 20-16 sloppy inbounds pass careless
3:50 Stephen Curry bad pass 23-19 along baseline, hits bottom of backboard thrown wrong
3:10 Andrew Bogut offensive Charge (Markieff Morris draws the foul) 23-19
2:28 Stephen Curry bad pass (P.J. Tucker steals) 25-21 on a fast break 2 on 1. Livingston should NOT have passed out. If he does, Curry HAS to shoot the perimeter shot or reset instead of threading the needle between two players. too much flair
1:57 Andre Iguodala bad pass (Goran Dragic steals) 25-23 Iggy lob to backdoor cut that was NOT there.
0:34 Draymond Green bad pass 30-28 Pass ahead for 3 on 2 break, too far. thrown wrong
0:11 Draymond Green bad pass (Goran Dragic steals) 30-28 Sloppy outlet for break. careless
2nd
11:41 Shaun Livingston traveling 30-28
8:37 Festus Ezeli bad pass 39-34 Livingston drops very catchable Ezeli pass. caught wrong careless
8:11 Shaun Livingston bad pass (Miles Plumlee steals) 39-37 Lob too low on alleyoop on PnR thrown wrong
4:52 Stephen Curry bad pass… ??? 44-38 Guns semi-blind hard hook pass behind Bogut. Grrrr. too much flair careless
0:57 Stephen Curry traveling 56-45
3rd
10:59 Leandro Barbosa bad pass 60-49 Bad scoop pass on PnR out of double team, behind Bogut. thrown wrong
9:42 Stephen Curry bad pass (Goran Dragic steals) 62-51 got caught off balance and threw a bad kick out. careless
7:41 Andrew Bogut bad pass 64-59 Bogut thought Curry was cutting.
5:37 Draymond Green offensive foul (Eric Bledsoe draws the foul) 67-61
4:45 Stephen Curry disc dribble turnover 69-61
4:26 Draymond Green offensive Charge (Miles Plumlee draws the foul) 69-63
1:43 shot clock turnover 72-67
0:01 Stephen Curry offensive foul (Isaiah Thomas draws the foul) 79-69
4th
8:18 Stephen Curry bad pass (P.J. Tucker steals) 84-83 Got caught in air, threw blind hook pass to bail out. too much flair
4:20 Harrison Barnes bad pass 88-95 Barnes thought Barbosa was zigging when he zagged.
3:47 Stephen Curry lost ball turnover (Isaiah Thomas steals) 89-97 Careless dribbling, got ripped by IT careless
1:38 Brandon Rush bad pass (Gerald Green steals) 91-105 Just slipped out of hands. thrown wrong

Analysis

Okay, I don't have anything too deep for you. You can do this as well as I can. I saw 6 straight up dumb careless plays, and 4 Curry passes that were thrown with excess flair. In my opinion, if Curry could forbid himself to throw blind hook passes, that would be a huge start. By removing these dumb plays alone, 27 turnovers becomes 17 turnovers which is a much saner level. 5 passes were just plain thrown to an unintended place. If the Ws cut 2-3 of those misfires, that would get the turnovers to a league average 15.

I was surprised that none of the bad passes seem to be the result of running the offense wrong. A handful were because one player thought another was cutting one way when they went the other, but these were mostly on straight pick and rolls. The exception was Andre's trying to lob backdoor to Livingston which just wasn't there.

San Antonio 11/11/14

Here is a super cut of all the 20 turnovers (except the 24 sec), and below it is a spreadsheet of all the turnovers.

Super Cut

The List

SAS Story too much flair thrown / caught wrong careless
1st Quarter Summary (SAN-GSW scores)
8:12 8-8 Stephen Curry bad pass (Kawhi Leonard steals) I think Bogut actually should have caught this Curry pass in a pick and roll. careless
6:35 10-11 Klay Thompson lost ball turnover (Danny Green steals) Sloppy dribble to get around Green. careless
3:28 19-17 Harrison Barnes turnover (Cory Joseph steals) I can see what HB was aiming for. Curry WAS open on the backdoor cut, except... I think this was just a great recovery from Joseph
0:34 25-26 shot clock turnover
2nd Quarter Summary
11:48 29-26 Shaun Livingston turnover Elbowed Ginobilli being crowded. Looked like a flop, but perhaps was actual contact?
11:23 29-26 Andre Iguodala possession lost ball turnover TWO careless catches on swing around perimeter. careless
10:32 31-26 Andre Iguodala lost ball turnover (Manu Ginobili steals) Stripped on drive
5:03 39-38 Andrew Bogut offensive goaltending turnover Dunk follow, mistimed
2:42 43-40 Andrew Bogut turnover Moving screen, close call
2:14 45-40 Klay Thompson turnover Lob to Bogut, who wasn't ready.
0:50 48-44 Harrison Barnes turnover HB just dropped it thinking about the dunk. careless
0:22 48-44 Stephen Curry turnover (Manu Ginobili steals) BLIND HOOK PASS GAAAAH. Ginobelli saw it coming. too much flair
3rd Quarter Summary
10:40 55-49 Stephen Curry turnover (Danny Green steals) Semi-blind hard pass to trailing Bogut who couldn't handle it too much flair
5:45 66-59 Draymond Green turnover Green set screen too close to Ginobelli
1:57 75-64 Festus Ezeli lost ball turnover (Cory Joseph steals) Ezeli lost ball driving on PnR roll. Curry can't give Fezzy the ball so high in the paint... Fezzy will get stripped dribbling so far.
0:29 82-68 Leandro Barbosa turnover LB lost it on drive. probably careless
4th Quarter Summary
8:33 88-79 Andre Iguodala turnover The infamous Andre drive to hoop and kick out that missed Barnes. thrown wrong
6:13 93-86 Marreese Speights lost ball turnover (Tim Duncan steals) Sp8s tied up by Duncan on drive.
3:17 99-91 Klay Thompson bad pass (Tim Duncan steals) Klay fires interior pass too hard at Green, scramble ends with jump ball
1:16 110-98 Klay Thompson steps out of bounds turnover Just a footwork mistake. careless

Analysis

This wasn't as bad as I was expecting. There were about 5-6 straight up bonehead careless plays, and one ANLHP (Awful No-Look Hook Pass) by Curry. Without those, the turnovers are an average 15.

A lot of the turnovers came because of the Spurs good D (in sharp contrast to the PHX game, which had endless unforced errors). Let's focus on two examples.

The Notorious A.I. Kickout

This is the play that had people howling for Andre's head or at least his immediate trade. On the face of it, it looks like Andre drives in and refuses to shoot point blank in order to kick it out to nowhere.

Let's review. The play starts with a reversal, then Barnes enters into the post. Barbosa fakes a cross-screen and instead LB and Barnes vacate the area. The dram begins when Green overplays to steal the ball. Andre wisely turns and attacks the rim (0:10). Duncan switches, so Duncan's man is open, right? Wrong. Cory Joseph switches on to Speights, an EXCELLENT switch. What about CJ's man? It's Livingston who can't shoot and yet is hovering around the perimeter. This is a problem with the play, and in general with SL being in any set where he's not in the post or cutting to the hoop.

Now you can see Andre computing this in real time. He drives, he's stopped by Duncan. He looks to dish to Sp8s, but CJ has switched. One option now is to drive hard into Duncan, who's in the restricted zone. This is probably the best plan. But kicking to wide-open Barnes on the arc is a great second choice. He just mis-threw the pass, or possibly Barnes wasn't expecting the pass, or possibly Barbosa is not supposed to be standing there crowding Barnes (looks more natural for LB to be more on the near wing).

Spurs Stop The Break

Here's the Ws pushing the ball and the Spurs shut it down expertly. It's almost like the team has been playing together for years and years at the highest level.

Curry pushes it ahead with an artful long pass to Klay at the arc, but Kawhi closes out excellently. Klay drives past Kawhi, but THREE Spurs have sagged into the paint to meet him. At this point, in slow motion, we can probably conclude that Klay should have reset. Instead, he tries to feed Green as a trailer in the paint, but the pass is too hard and the paint is too crowded. Barnes was open for 3 in the opposite corner, but even then, Ginobelli is flying into the paint to close down that channel.

Final Thoughts

From reviewing the turnovers from these two games:

  • I did NOT see much over passing beyond a couple of awful fast breaks.
  • I also did NOT see people lost in the half-court offense. NOR did I see many turnovers from the Ws getting down in the shot clock and getting desperate.
  • I DID see a lot of sloppy ball handling and passing, and some infuriating no-look passes (especially the ANLHPs) from Curry. I really think every one of those Curry plays would have been about as effective if he'd thrown a normal pass. If you cut out those boneheaded errors, the Ws are a slightly below average turnover team (instead of historically sloppy).
  • I DID see a number of miscommunications between players zigging instead of zagging. These will probably decline with familiarity and gelling.
  • The PHX game was probably the worst you'll see the Ws play as far as sheer number of dumb unforced errors. The Spurs game had more turnovers generated by strong D.

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!