SAN ANTONIO -- Losers of three consecutive games, the Warriors would like to think they have bottomed out, that returning to the warm bosom of Oracle Arena will be the panacea for all that has ailed them over the past eight days.
Coming home might make a difference, but they still have to play the games.
Here are four specific ways the Warriors can dig out of a place they've never under coach Steve Kerr:
STEP ONE
Fix Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant not only is missing shots, he's missing presence. He's playing as if his mind is elsewhere, particularly on defense, where his indifferent closeouts indicate disengagement.
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His offensive numbers over five games last week were poor by any standard but downright atrocious for his own. His field-goal percentage was 39.6, nearly 10 points below his career percentage. His 3-point shooting percentage was 14.3, a full 24 points below his career percentage.
He's shooting 92.5 percent from the free-throw line, the one place where he looks like KD.
When fully engaged and enthusiastic, Durant is one of the NBA's most ferocious weapons. When he's not fully invested, he looks like this.
Durant has carried teams before, and he likely will do it again. The Warriors must find a way to unlock that dude. Nothing has worked so far. Time to call a psychologist?
STEP TWO
Insert Cook as starting point guard
There might not be a guard in the NBA that Quinn Cook is able to lock down. Defense is not his thing and never will be his thing.
He earned a Warriors contract because he can shoot. And with Klay Thompson and Durant struggling to score, especially from beyond the arc, Cook is the man best suited to fill this gaping void.
Cook is shooting 52.6 percent from the field, 48 percent beyond the arc. He has been the most accurate deep shooter on the team not named Stephen Curry.
Cook started the first three games after Curry went down with a groin injury, with the Warriors going 2-1. With Kerr wanting a defensive presence, Andre Iguodala was inserted as starter for the last three, with the Warriors going 0-3.
It's not Iguodala's fault. He's doing what he does -- but not what Cook does. The Warriors are 2-4 since Curry went down with a groin injury, the victories coming in the only two games in which Cook played at least 30 minutes.
STEP THREE
Run some pick and roll
With Curry out, the floor shrinks on the offensive end. Even though the insertion of Jonas Jerebko into the starting lineup at power forward helps stretch the floor, Durant and Thompson aren't getting anything close to their usual space.
Why not turn to pick-and-roll action featuring Durant and Cook? Or Cook and Damian Jones, whose shooting is iffy but his diving toward the rim is fantastic?
There are a few other combinations that have potential, and most them involve Durant. He likes pick-and-roll because it's effective and he loves to make a defender look bad.
Kerr, of course, is not a fan of pick-and-roll as a staple. He feels it turns too many of his offensive weapons into spectators. He's not wrong. But it's a wrinkle that has worked in the past.
Durant has said that Curry is the Warriors' system. Put another way, the Warriors can't run their stuff nearly as well without him. So why not offer a different look?
STEP FOUR
Get Curry healthy
There is a belief among some within the organization that the Warriors won't get their identity back until Curry returns. There is some truth to that.
One of the reasons Thompson has had such a wonderful career is that he plays alongside Curry. Curry on the court is its own gravitational pull. Opposing defenders have a way of falling toward him on every play.
This one is not an immediate fix; the Warriors have not issued a timeline for Curry's return. But his return, whenever it is -- maybe sometime within the next 10 days -- will automatically unleash the best of the offense.
If Durant still can't get himself going, the problem is even deeper than it appears.
