With the pacing of these games with days off inbetween and Robin to our Batman. One who covets his first ring and more than one who covets their 5th. With the Defensive Player of the year (if showed the proper respect) and so many young guns....how can I not believe we win tonight.
Playoff play is so different than Regular season and as Coach Kerr showed in the Olympics, he's pretty good at this. What I see in the Dubs right now is that intangible glue of team spriit, not a bunch of guys looking for their own glory. I've called it the Poole effect. It is a team killer. The Poole effect eventually got to Klay and was an early influencer of JK. Jimmy is the embodiment of I don't care about my stats, I just want the team to WIN. I believe they can, and I hope they WIN tonight. The first W was a confidence booster. A second win away would be Killer.
A lot of names come to mind - the Rockets, the Caveliers, and the Celtics. Which franchise fans over all these years do you think has suffered the most at the hands of Steph, and possibly suffer from the most ptsd at facing him?
1. Houston - most series wins including beating their best team since Hakeem in painful fashion.
2. OKC - only beat them once in the postseason, but in an especially painful fashion. And then stole their best player. Also, a veeeery memorable regular season loss.
3. Cleveland - Beat them thrice for a title and arguably kept them from being a dynasty. However, it's tempered by the league-influenced singular title win for them.
4. Sacramento - Only playoff series in forever, only to be ended by a Steph 50 piece.
5. Clippers - Completely ended the Lob City version and were supposed to be a rivalry.
Certainly can't be the Celtics with only one playoff series against them. Blazers would easily beat them in the "who we hurt the most", since we eliminated them in several playoff runs including their lone recent WCF appearance. We arguably kept the Thunder from a title and from keeping KD so I'd also put them definitively ahead of Boston.
Largely-OT, but this reminds me: I watched the NCAA women’s final on the feed called by Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. At one point they were talking with Jalen Suggs (bc he was childhood friends with Paige Bueckers), and asked him who was the hardest player to guard in the NBA. He named Steph, which prompted Taurasi to say (paraphrasing), “As famous as he is, Steph is underrated. He needs to be talked about in the same tier as LeBron and Jordan. There are so many times when I’m watching him and I think, ‘This is the best basketball player I’ve ever seen.’"
He does have several very bad shooting performances in some big games, which I think is more where those sentiments come from, rather than his overall performances before those big games.
Yeah, I left out Kawhi (plus KD, LeBron et al) cos he’s not a guard. But yes, he’s been a total stud in the playoffs (career .624 TS).
Also worth noting that Steph’s playoff scoring volume is a qualitatively higher level than Kawhi’s: 27.0 PPG to 21.4. If you filter for 25+ PPG scoring, I think Steph beats everyone, regardless of position, except Jokic?
He's loyal to a fault. If he was running the Mavs, he wouldn't let Luka and Brunson go to another team. But he would also refuse to get rid of Kleber, Hardaway Jr., or (insert random mediocre Mavs player here).
It's interesting to watch a team like the Wolves after watching so much Warriors. My instincts are like "Move the ball! Split cut! Hurry up! Someone cut!"
There was rarely a lane for Edwards. They have to fix that. It's tricky though because Randle plays like it's 1995. Kind of Z-Bo vibes.
Lakers played Ant for the pass better, respected him a bit more. Of course, after the first quarter, Wolves were +10, so just don't start like butt, and they'd have still had a shot.
The worst part of it is he cries for a foul all the time no matter how little contact there was, but ALSO whines when he is called for legit fouls when defending, as if HIS contact should always be considered marginal
Great article about Steph's leadership in The Athletic, sorry this is paywalled but it will probably start getting aggregated soon
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6299066/2025/04/23/stephen-curry-golden-state-warriors-nba-leadership/
One word summary, Steph's leadership secret is his joy. Lots of quotes and anecdotes from coaches and teammates
If I had to encapsulate in one word what I experience watching Steph play, it's joy.
This is such an amazing article; I loved reading it. Thanks for sharing it here.
FYI there is a new thread https://dubnationhq.com/p/preview-the-battle-lines-have-been
Thanks
Thank YOU for sharing the great article! I just wanted to make sure more people got to see it (and didn't want to steal credit for finding it)
With the pacing of these games with days off inbetween and Robin to our Batman. One who covets his first ring and more than one who covets their 5th. With the Defensive Player of the year (if showed the proper respect) and so many young guns....how can I not believe we win tonight.
Playoff play is so different than Regular season and as Coach Kerr showed in the Olympics, he's pretty good at this. What I see in the Dubs right now is that intangible glue of team spriit, not a bunch of guys looking for their own glory. I've called it the Poole effect. It is a team killer. The Poole effect eventually got to Klay and was an early influencer of JK. Jimmy is the embodiment of I don't care about my stats, I just want the team to WIN. I believe they can, and I hope they WIN tonight. The first W was a confidence booster. A second win away would be Killer.
> Robin to out Batman
I think they'll wait until the series shifts to San Francisco.
Thanks for spotting my typo. Meant to say our not out. But that's pretty funny.
r/nba
6 hr. ago
aloyalka
Which franchise has Steph Curry hurt the most?
A lot of names come to mind - the Rockets, the Caveliers, and the Celtics. Which franchise fans over all these years do you think has suffered the most at the hands of Steph, and possibly suffer from the most ptsd at facing him?
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1k5s7wq/which_franchise_has_steph_curry_hurt_the_most/
1. Houston - most series wins including beating their best team since Hakeem in painful fashion.
2. OKC - only beat them once in the postseason, but in an especially painful fashion. And then stole their best player. Also, a veeeery memorable regular season loss.
3. Cleveland - Beat them thrice for a title and arguably kept them from being a dynasty. However, it's tempered by the league-influenced singular title win for them.
4. Sacramento - Only playoff series in forever, only to be ended by a Steph 50 piece.
5. Clippers - Completely ended the Lob City version and were supposed to be a rivalry.
Certainly can't be the Celtics with only one playoff series against them. Blazers would easily beat them in the "who we hurt the most", since we eliminated them in several playoff runs including their lone recent WCF appearance. We arguably kept the Thunder from a title and from keeping KD so I'd also put them definitively ahead of Boston.
Career playoff TS%, scoring guards
.489 Iverson
.505 Westbrook
.516 Tony Parker
.520 Isiah
.541 Kobe
.541 Jerry West
.561 Spida
.565 Kyrie
.566 Dame
.568 MJ
.572 Luka
.587 Harden
.607 Steph
Largely-OT, but this reminds me: I watched the NCAA women’s final on the feed called by Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. At one point they were talking with Jalen Suggs (bc he was childhood friends with Paige Bueckers), and asked him who was the hardest player to guard in the NBA. He named Steph, which prompted Taurasi to say (paraphrasing), “As famous as he is, Steph is underrated. He needs to be talked about in the same tier as LeBron and Jordan. There are so many times when I’m watching him and I think, ‘This is the best basketball player I’ve ever seen.’"
Kobe is the greatest of all time
Surprised Harden is this high when people say he disappears in the playoffs
That’s always been a myth. He’s been great (overall) in the playoffs, offensively anyway. His biggest issue has been running into the Warriors.
He does have several very bad shooting performances in some big games, which I think is more where those sentiments come from, rather than his overall performances before those big games.
And Kawhis (!) the only high usage non big better than Steph.
Never understood why Durant at .59 would be considerad the greatest scorer.
Yeah, I left out Kawhi (plus KD, LeBron et al) cos he’s not a guard. But yes, he’s been a total stud in the playoffs (career .624 TS).
Also worth noting that Steph’s playoff scoring volume is a qualitatively higher level than Kawhi’s: 27.0 PPG to 21.4. If you filter for 25+ PPG scoring, I think Steph beats everyone, regardless of position, except Jokic?
Great write up in the chron about Butler and Tomball - the little town he is from. He practiced in his school gym discretely!
Where Jimmy Butler is ‘just Jimmy’: Warriors star returns home to Tomball, Texas
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/jimmy-butler-just-jimmy-warriors-star-20287282.php
Even the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thought the Luka trade was a bad one
https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1k5dvky/dallas_cowboys_owner_jerry_jones_called_luka/
He's just playing to the Dallas audience...
He's loyal to a fault. If he was running the Mavs, he wouldn't let Luka and Brunson go to another team. But he would also refuse to get rid of Kleber, Hardaway Jr., or (insert random mediocre Mavs player here).
Yeah I don't know if I would call Jerry a good owner or not but trading away a franchise icon was never one of his sins
Felt like Wolves kinda beat themselves, hope they can win the next two
Wolves gave it their all, but silly mistakes and a lack of organized offense killed them
It's interesting to watch a team like the Wolves after watching so much Warriors. My instincts are like "Move the ball! Split cut! Hurry up! Someone cut!"
There was rarely a lane for Edwards. They have to fix that. It's tricky though because Randle plays like it's 1995. Kind of Z-Bo vibes.
Lakers played Ant for the pass better, respected him a bit more. Of course, after the first quarter, Wolves were +10, so just don't start like butt, and they'd have still had a shot.
This game is over
Wolves offense is horrible.
Luka walking like a big dog
HUGE legacy call there for the flagrant. Right at a critical push point too
Insert LeBron-Simba meme
Lakers looking tired. Jumped out early. Not sure they are capable of putting together 4 high intensity quarters.
Just so long as they can be wiped out or wipe out the wolves, I'm happy!
If the Warriors are fortunate enough to make the next round and face the Lakers, I'm going to be so annoyed with Luka's whining.
The worst part of it is he cries for a foul all the time no matter how little contact there was, but ALSO whines when he is called for legit fouls when defending, as if HIS contact should always be considered marginal
If we play them, think about it that if he's whining a lot, things aren't going his way.
Well, they've been winning the whole game tonight and he's still been whining. So...not really, he just whines regardless
And that is why I am not a Luka fan. No matter how good he is, he's a baby.
Good point.
wow - refs allowing everything - very surprising given it is the flakers we are talking about
Also allowing Luka to not get a tech despite going to each ref to yell at them
Luka with 28-10-9 after 3.