SAN FRANCISCO — Even as he sat at home recovering from a calf injury and watching games on TV, Gary Payton II had a feeling something was not right from the Warriors. When he finally returned on Saturday, his initial suspicions were confirmed.

“I’m pretty sure you can see that on the field, just the separation that we have, especially on the defensive end,” Payton said after practice Monday. “I think a little bit of our offense depends on our defense, which has to be the other way around. It’s just us [have] To simplify things on offense, the defense comes out with first, second and third efforts and we only use our minds while playing. “We will turn things around sooner than expected.”

Two days after coach Steve Kerr signaled a breakup of sorts with his team, the Warriors are back in practice in preparation for Tuesday’s home game against a very tough Orlando Magic team that currently sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

Kerr’s post-game comments — when he said the Warriors lacked “the grit that every good team needs, when you come together and just play for the group” — caused a ripple effect throughout Dub Nation and the media.

While the coach didn’t point the finger at anyone in particular, his words left many people wondering who he was referring to, if anyone, or if he was just speaking out of frustration.

Kerr said Monday that he shared those sentiments with his players, but declined to go into detail about what was said.

“There’s nothing I want to share,” Kerr said. “But we deal with everything that’s going on within this team. I have to pick my times to say certain things, to not say certain things. I felt like this was the right time to say it publicly because we have to turn the corner on this.

“We’re not where we want to be. But I also don’t think we’re far from it.”

Almost everyone agrees that the majority of the Warriors’ problems have been on the defensive end, even if Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both have consistency issues on the offensive end, as others do.

This forced Kerr to mix up his courses in the hopes of finding something that worked consistently. He made some significant changes before Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, starting with Chris Paul in place of rookie Brandin Podzemski and moving with rookie quarterback Trayce Jackson-Davis in place of veteran Kevon Looney.

Although both played well against the Mavericks, it wasn’t enough to solve the issues that have hampered the Warriors for much of the season.

Frustrated, Kerr opened up after the Dallas game and implored the Warriors to communicate and commit to the task and mission at hand.

On Monday, the Warriors’ head coach seemed less stressed than he had nearly 48 hours earlier.

“I know the areas we have to improve, both on the ground level and the intangibles,” Kerr said. “And I have great confidence that we can solve it together and become the team we expected to be this year.

“There were a lot of circumstances that led us to this point. They are what they are. What I’ve learned as a coach is that every year is different. Every year surprises hit you, whether it’s an injury or a suspension. Stuff just happens. The whole point of coaching is to help guide the group.” In the meantime, this is what my team and I are trying to do at the moment.

After the loss to Dallas, Paul and Curry were among the players who spoke out about some of the issues facing the Warriors in that game and overall this season. They both talked about the team’s need to stay connected, and both seemed confident that things would eventually turn around.

Payton echoed some of the thoughts his teammates had.

“We have to get back to winning ways, do things the right way, do the simple things before it’s too late,” Payton said. “We have to pick and choose when we want to get back with communication and get back to doing things for each other, get back to playing for each other, get back to putting our trust on both sides of the ball.”

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