'21 Season E1P Review: Wild Clippers Comeback and Bonkers Raptors Ending

Two fun games in January when we weren't sure if GSW would stink forever

A list of all Explain One Play articles and videos is at The new Explain One Play index.

To get us in the mood for next season, I’m going to run some Explain One Play highlights of 2020-21. Many of these previously were subs-only articles, but are now free as a present to our faithful off-season readers.

First, two great games back to back in early January. Remember, early in the season the Warriors came out of the gate and looked terrible against good teams and barely could beat bad teams. But these two games showed GSW wouldn’t give up against good teams and could pull out some close games.

Explain One Game: The Bonkers Raptors-Warriors Ending

Roadrunner Damion vs Kyle E. Coyote, Cheating Super-genius, Esq

Here’s a quick review of the bonkers end to that Raptors-Warriors game on 2021.01.10 which the Warriors stole in the last seconds. 

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green show their special chemistry; Steph shows his faith in Kelly Oubre; Andrew Wiggins and Kent Bazemore get close and personal; Kyle Lowry displays his cheating super-genius and he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for Damion Lee’s meddling spontaneous combustion impersonation.

Un-analyzed highlights:

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Explain One Game: The Complete Clippers Comeback Breakdown

I made this video trilogy 30 freaking minutes long because I had not the time to make it shorter. Also you all egged me on, so it's your fault

Part 1: Despair

The 2021.01.08 LAC-GSW game ended up being a thrilling comeback win. And to have a huge 22 point comeback win, a lot of things have to go wrong for you to fall behind by that much.

This video is a live reaction viewing of the first quarter, which I’d missed during live broadcast.

We look at how Stephen Curry, James Wiseman, Andrew Wiggins, Kent Bazemore, and Kelly Oubre were on different pages, if not different books, and how that messed up team plays. We also visit some limitations of the pick and roll with this current team. Co-starring Draymond Green.

Part 2: Purgatory

We already looked out how the Warriors dug themselves a big hole and got Stephen Curry literally screaming mad in Part 1: Despair.

This is the midgame where the game stabilized but the Warriors couldn’t close the gap. We look at how Stephen Curry, James Wiseman, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kelly Oubre were sometimes on different pages but improvised to make the best of things.

Part 3: Staggering the Clippers

A key part of the huge Warriors comeback against the Clippers was running a triple staggered screen for Stephen Curry on repeat. Throw in a healthy dose of clutch plays by Andrew Wiggins, key contributions from Draymond Green, Brad Wanamaker, Mychel Mulder, and top it off with Damion Lee and Eric Paschall dapping each other up, and you have a thrilling victory.

Unanalyzed highlights:

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