Warriors Redefining ‘strength In Numbers' Mantra To Turn Around Terrible Start

Warriors redefining ‘Strength In Numbers' mantra to turn around terrible start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Steve Kerr coined the phrase as a motivating tool. There was no way Kerr could have known the words “Strength In Numbers” would turn to a slogan forever attached to the Warriors, and still be used to describe his teams more than a decade later.

Like taking a page out of his former coach Phil Jackson’s book, Kerr came up with “Strength In Numbers” before meeting his players for the first time as a way for them to play as a team. The phrase fit right into Kerr moving Andre Iguodala to the bench after starting all his previous 758 career regular-season games. Conveniently, Kerr’s three words also fit right into the state of the roster for the 2014-15 Warriors. 

Steph Curry was in his age-26 season and about to set a new pecking order in the league as MVP. Klay Thompson was 24, and so was Draymond Green. Harrison Barnes was just 22, and Andrew Bogut was the elder of the starting five at 30 years old. Iguodala was 31, and Leandro Barbosa was the oldest on the team at 32. 

That’s seven players right there, and a 29-year-old Shaun Livingston hasn’t been mentioned yet. Neither has a 31-year-old David Lee, or a 27-year-old Marreese Speights. Festus Ezeli was 25 and back from missing the previous season to reconstructive knee surgery. 

Numbers were literally a strength of those Warriors. They could go 11 deep and sometimes 12. The Warriors this season didn’t even have 11 players from their 15-man roster available for the season opener in Los Angeles. 

Injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody last season already set them back for this season. Then came Kristaps Porziņģis’ mystery illness that was announced the morning of media day, leading to an ongoing absence. Numbers didn’t look like a strength of the Warriors going into the season, but a weakness already for reasons out of their hands. 

Somehow, though, the Warriors are redefining “Strength In Numbers” to turn around a terrible start. 

“Well, I think it’s obvious that we have a lot of depth,” Kerr said Sunday after the Warriors’ short-handed win over the LA Clippers. “To be able to play a game like that without Steph and Dray, obviously Jimmy, Moses – got a lot of injuries, and to be able to play a game like that shows that we got a lot of talented players.” 

For the second game this season, the Warriors were without Curry and Green, on top of already being down Butler, Moody and Porziņģis. And for the first time, they won with the Curry-Green duo watching from the bench. 

Signs of depth being a sneaky strength started showing in training camp, the preseason and even when the Warriors lost their first three games. Rotations were able to be formed quicker than usual and the emergence of rookie Yaxel Lendeborg and the growth of others have made it easier for players to fit into proper roles. 

De’Anthony Melton describes the Warriors’ second unit as “fast and disruptive” with the bench taking “a lot of pride” in proving naysayers wrong and providing help to an already undermanned Warriors team. 

“Obviously, everybody sees what we see too,” Melton said. “But early on, I’ve talked about the depth we have, and I think we have a lot of guys that can contribute in various different ways. Some nights you’re going to see some guys do more, some guys do whatever it is. We’re going to do it as a committee, and we keep tracking along.”

In the Warriors’ road loss to the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 24, their third straight loss and the second night of a back-to-back without Curry, Green and others, Melton scored 25 points off the bench. His former high school teammate Brandon Williams dropped 20 in his first start of the season. The two have brought their chemistry to the Warriors and it shows in the stats. 

Melton and Williams have played 37 minutes together and have a 17.5 net rating with a 117.5 offensive rating and a 100.0 defensive rating. 

While Lendeborg’s 37 points against the Clippers was the story Sunday night, so was Melton scoring an efficient 21 points in the starting lineup, Williams scoring 17 off the bench shooting at a highly efficient clip and Brandin Podziemski giving them 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as Melton’s starting backcourt mate. That’s strength in numbers on a night where numbers aren’t supposed to be a strength. 

Lendeborg in two games without Curry has scored 63 points for an average of 31.5 points on 57.9-percent shooting (22 of 38) and a 54.5 3-point percentage (12 of 22).

The Warriors need Melton and Williams to be reliable in games Curry plays. That becomes even more paramount when Curry is in street clothes. Melton and Williams in the two games Curry has missed to rest have scored a combined 83 points on 60.1-percent shooting (26 of 43). 

“I tried to tell everybody, like, we don’t have a player like him,” Melton says of Williams. “He can just get downhill and his shiftiness and his flair and stuff like that, he needs that just to get the crowd involved and just to get the excitement of everybody. We all love it, and we’re all fascinated with the way he can finish. We’ve seen it as opponents, too.” 

When told in the locker room of Melton’s comments at the podium, Williams turns to his right and says “Who said that? Melt said that? My dog.” 

The oohs and aahs rang throughout the Chase Center crowd as Williams raced past his defender and flew to the rack for crafty layups to beat the Clippers. A season removed from giving the Warriors 26 points in San Francisco on Christmas, Williams already has become a crowd favorite of Dub Nation. 

“Oh man, I love it,” Williams told NBC Sports Bay Area. “I love it. I’m glad. I’m glad everybody’s starting to recognize it.” 

If Williams could, he would tell the fans to get on their feet every time he has the ball, feeding off the vibes from thousands of fans.

“I’m a rhythm player, so like every time the crowd gets going, I feed off of it for sure. And then I bring it out to my team as well,” he said. “So once the crowd gets into it, I feel like that’s our sixth man.”

The Warriors’ win against the Clippers came one game after one in which Curry scored 31 points and made Luka Dončić touch earth. But it also was a game where the Warriors’ bench outscored the Lakers’ bench 50 to seven. Golden State through Sunday night now ranks sixth in bench points per game (43.0).

Georges Niang in the win vs. the Lakers was a perfect 3 of 3 from 3-point range and now is shooting 47 percent beyond the arc during the Warriors’ four-game win streak. 

Niang showed some fire against the Lakers, too, going nose to nose with Colin Sexton. 

“I’m not out there to make anyone feel like it’s a walk in the park,” Niang told reporters in the locker room after. 

Kerr had to use five different starting lineups in the Warriors’ first five games. Consistency couldn’t be part of the Warriors’ equation, but connectivity still was.

The Warriors coach said Sunday night’s victory was won in the summer, praising young guys like Lendeborg, Will Richard, Charles Bassey and Graham Ike for being around throughout the summer and buying into who the Warriors want to be, as well as Melton for rehabbing in the facility and digesting offensive tweaks and Frank Vogel’s defense. The oldest team in the league is getting energy from their young role players and stability from their veterans to bring balance to the bench. 

Williams is new to the Warriors’ slogan but always believed this is who they would be, as seen in taking both games against the Southern California foes. 

“I thought that would be our strength, for sure,” Williams said. “Obviously with 30 [Curry] and Dray out, everybody’s gonna have to step up, all of us all around. So BP did. Obviously, we saw what Yax did. Mel as well. G came in with a good spark, as well as Will. I think everybody kind of contributed in their own ways, and I think everybody’s starting to see now that’s how deep we are as a team.”

With numbers not on their side, these Warriors are finding improbable ways to bring “Strength In Numbers” alive.

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