Their beautiful, fast-paced offense that runs on space, precise cuts and splashes became stagnant and dehydrated. The Dubs’ league-leading 114 offensive rating shriveled to 105.9. Their pace fell from 103.94 (5th in the league) to 98.94 (17th) , and their three-point percentage fell to 33.6 percent since Stephen Curry’s injury.
And those struggles made them better.
While the offense labored and fell off, the Warriors brought out the ‘clamps’. During Curry’s absence, their defensive rating skyrocketed from seventh in the league at 101.7 to a league best of 98.7. The Warriors went 9-2 in this span.