A tale of two seasons: What's changed for the Warriors since late November?

Despite losing franchise legend Klay Thompson and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul during the offseason, the Golden State Warriors revamped the roster a touch and were one of the early surprises of this 2024-25 NBA season.

With a 112-108 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on November 22, a game which included a 30-point effort from a resurgent Andrew Wiggins, the Dubs upped their record to 12-3 and sat atop the Western Conference standings.

Wiggins' resurgence, of course, was just one of the highlights of Golden State's sizzling start.

Although he missed a few of those first 15 games with an ankle issue, Steph Curry continues to do Steph Curry things and provided several memorable moments during the opening run, perhaps none better than his fourth-quarter heroics against Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks.

New addition Buddy Hield was lighting it up over the first few weeks, as was Jonathan Kuminga after he was taken out of the starting lineup. Even Draymond Green was putting up more offense than usual in the early part of the year.

But it wasn't just the Warriors' offense that was getting them victories, as Golden State also had one of the top defenses in the league over those first 15 contests.

Since that win over the Pelicans, though, things have taken a turn for the worse, as Steve Kerr & Co. have lost 12 of their last 16 and will enter Monday's matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers at 16-15, which currently has them in ninth place in the West.

So, what's gone wrong for the Warriors since that blazing start?

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The Warriors are scoring fewer points on offense and giving up more on defense

Occam's razor tells us that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, right? Well, things aren't quite that easy here, as there are several reasons why the Warriors haven't been winning as much lately.

That said, however, one of the most straightforward reasons for this recent skid is that some of the shots that were falling in those first 15 games just haven't in the last 16.

During the 12-3 start, the Warriors shot 47.0 percent from the floor and 38.3 percent from the three-point line, helping them average 119.1 points per game.

During this 4-12 stretch, Golden State has shot 42.4 percent from the floor, 34.3 percent from beyond the arc, and has averaged just 105.4 points per game. Those are considerable differences.

Things have gone similarly on the defensive side of the ball. In Golden State's first 15 games, opponents shot just 42.8 percent from the floor and just 31.2 percent from the three-point line, averaging 109.1 points per game.

In the last 16, opponents have shot 47.3 percent from the floor and 37.7 percent from distance, averaging 111.8 points per game.

So, when you're not shooting the ball as well and not scoring as much and your opponents are making more shots and putting more points on the scoreboard, it stands to reason that you're not going to win as many games.

It doesn't get much simpler than that.

The Warriors have blown some big leads and are losing far too many close games

Outside that simple explanation, a few of these losses in the last five and a half weeks can be chalked up to blowing big and/or late leads.

The day after moving to 12-3, the Warriors kicked off a five-game losing streak by blowing a 17-point lead in a 104-94 loss to the San Antonio Spurs and then blew an 18-point lead in a 128-120 defeat to the Brooklyn Nets two nights later.

The other leads they've blown haven't been nearly this significant, but it's a concerning trend, as has been their inability in recent weeks to win close games.

Overall, the Warriors have been in 21 Clutch Game situations thus far this season, the most of any team in the league. For those unaware, a Clutch Game is officially defined as one in which the score is within five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime.

In these games, Golden State has gone 9-12, which ranks them 21st in the NBA. Obviously, most of those 12 defeats have come during this recent stretch.

The good news for the Warriors is that they picked up that ninth Clutch Game win this past Saturday, as Jonathan Kuminga and Dennis Schroder were brilliant down the stretch in helping the Dubs to a 109-105 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Saturday also marked the first time this season the Warriors have pulled out a victory when trailing after three quarters, going 0-12 in such contests before beating the Suns.

While just one game, these are good signs. But Golden State will obviously need to win a lot more of these types of battles to get back to being seen as a genuine contender in the West.

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