The Warriors’ Poor Free Throw Shooting Is a Major Issue

Many factors determine whether or not a basketball team can pull off a victory: star stat lines, offensive and defensive execution, perhaps turnovers. But possibly the most overlooked one is free throws. 

For what are supposed to be the easiest points in basketball, the Warriors have struggled to capitalize on their trips to the charity stripe.

Free Throw Shooting Dip

In a narrow race for a playoff spot in the West, each game is crucial for the Warriors. Without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, the team’s margin for error has drastically shrunk. 

Since Butler went down, Golden State is shooting 75.2% from the foul line. Before January 19 (when Butler tore his ACL), that number was at 82%. Curry’s absence in many of the games following Butler’s injury has also contributed to their free-throw woes. Without the team’s two best free-throw shooters (on a minimum of at least two attempts per game), the Warriors have fallen off in that department. 

Golden State is a team that often beats itself up with costly errors and careless mistakes; leaving easy points on the table can’t be an option. Down the stretch of close games, those points may just be the difference between a win and a loss.

As a team ranked 27th in free throw attempts, the Dubs don’t get many chances to head to the line, making each opportunity to shoot a foul shot that much more important.

Free Throws Have Already Cost the Warriors

The Warriors’ fatal flaw has already presented itself in the last several weeks of games. Take Saturday night in Oklahoma City, for instance. The undermanned Warriors fought back from a 14-point deficit against the defending champs, but ran out of firepower to complete the comeback. The team missed seven free throws and lost by seven points. 

In Salt Lake City two nights later, free-throw issues were on display all over again. Golden State entered the fourth down by seven, but went on to miss six free throws in the final quarter. The Warriors were all knotted up with the tanking Jazz with 33 seconds to go, but couldn’t close it out. The team could have survived their lowly 30.8% shooting night from beyond the arc had they connected on those freebies. 

Brandin Podziemski struggled at the line towards the end of the game. The third-year guard took four foul shots in the fourth quarter, missing all of them.