Warriors Head Coach Mark Jackson: ‘Our Defense is Bad’


They may have escaped by the skin of their teeth last night, but Mark Jackson knows his team is struggling, especially on the defensive end. The head coach ripped his team’s defense (or lack thereof), which could ultimately prove to be the Dubs’ undoing. Per NBA.com: “‘We haven’t been good,’ Jackson said. ‘Overall, we haven’t protected the paint, we haven’t controlled the perimeter. There was a time when our defense was in the discussion for the best in the game, and we’ve gone through a tough stretch. If we expect not just to make the playoffs, but if we expect to do the damage that we want to do, we’ve got to be better. And we understand that. One thing one of my coaches used to tell me is ‘Let’s do it as hard and effective and efficient as possible so that me, as a coach, can identify whether I need to make an adjustment or not.’ We haven’t been getting after it the same way that we did earlier, for whatever reason. At the end of the day, when you are a great defensive team or a very good defensive team, which we were, you’ve got to committed top to bottom. Especially if you don’t have a lockdown defender. Our two best defenders basically haven’t played. That’s [Andrew] Bogut and [Brandon] Rush. We’ve struggled at times containing the basketball, we’ve struggled at times protecting the paint. But we’re not going to panic. I think every team goes through it. We’ve got to find a way to win, continue to work hard and get it back.’ Someone asked Jackson how the Warriors can improve their perimeter defense. ‘Our defense in general,’ he corrected. […] ‘I don’t want to let anybody off the hook,’ Jackson said. ‘Our defense is bad. And part of the perimeter defense is also pick-and-rolls where big guys have got to protect and hold the fort down. We’ve got to defend. We’ve got to be into the ball, our perimeter guys. Our big guys have got to be up. We’ve got to protect the paint. We’ve got to force teams to beat us where we want them to beat us instead of what they do best. When we were at our best, we did those things. But we have not for the past month. But, make no mistake about it, we put ourselves in position to be able to withstand a tough stretch, a bad run, and I give my guys a lot of credit. I got a lot of confidence in them and we’ll be just fine.'”