Golden State's drafting & development were on…

Two former Warrior first round picks put up quality performances last night, but the Dubs are just too deep.

• Eric Apricot (19 ♡):

  [on the Nets] Angst in Numbers

• Janet (18 ♡):

  OT, I’m going to the Bulls-Suns game on Monday mostly to boo CP3. I will wear my Klay t-shirt to bother him even more. Let’s see how far the Gold-blooded super powers reach to decimate the whole team. (In reality, I hope not to cry. The Bulls have low-to-no defense.)

• belilaugh (14 ♡):

  Tell him he sucks and when he looks up at you with a tear in his eye and ask why, you can say "belilaugh sends his regards".

• Sleepy Freud·(14 ♡):

  Mitchell looked great for a hot second last night, and still easily passes the eye test … but man, he’s 23, has played over 1200 NBA minutes, and his only statistical indicator that isn’t terrible is his low turnover rate. .561 FT from a 6-2 guard? Even with his recent hot streak from 3 he’s still at .474 TS, on lowish volume. 0.7 FT per 36 and 3.2 boards per 36 are just atrocious, and those are two of the areas in which young players are least likely to improve.

  And of course, he’s not that young. A full year older than Ja Morant, and four years older than Jon K. Not sure if the Ws had him on the board at #14 if he had slipped, but if so, I think we dodged a bullet. I’d much rather have Moody going forward, and much rather have Payton right now.

• Nellie (12 ♡):

  Nothing but love for KD, but you have to admit it's pretty funny how he'd roll his eyes at all Steve's 'weaponized joy' stuff, and now has assembled a decent facsimile of that W's team, except with the absolute most miserable guys in the league. I mean, just when you thought it couldn't get more joyless than Harden... here comes Ben Simmons?

Explain One Play: The Steph Curry - Jonathan…

the future is now

• Phood Fight (15 ♡):

  So, before Klay came back, there was a lot of chatter about, "Can Klay be 80%? Can we get 80% Klay?" I finally get it. Yeah, I do think Klay can shoot 80% from 3.

• PhysiaPete (11 ♡):

  Just wanted to give a friendly reminder that Wiggins' dad also played in the NBA, so we actually have 4 second generation pros.

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (8 ♡):

  >>>Whereas JK might have been in some gym sweating away and saying to himself "I *think* I know have the dribble thing figured out...."

  I think this here is exactly right. As a kid I used to play a good amount of basketball. When I was by myself, what did I practice? Shooting. That's about it. I practiced some limited dibbling, but only a very limited amount because I didn't know either a. how to practice, or b. all the different types of dribbling that even existed. My bball hero growing up was Patrick Ewing. It probably didn't make the most sense for a short kid to pattern his game after a dominant NBA center. Very different styles of play.

  If Kuminga really did style his game after Kobe, it's very likely he didn't know that "passing" was a thing that actual basketball players did!

Post game thread: Klay, Kuminga and rest of…

What if I told you Klay Thompson looks more like 120% of his former self, not 85%?

• Captain Jack (26 ♡):

  Man, it just feels so damn great to watch Klay Thompson play basketball again. It never gets old.

• belilaugh (25 ♡):

  Officially beat Hollinger's 39 win prediction, congrats everybody.

• GlueAndBold (22 ♡):

  From Bright Side of the Sun commenter chilliard3:

  “There are 28 teams out of 29 that I can confidently say that our Suns can win a seven game series against.

  That one remaining team: the Warriors. They scare the sh^t out of me and it frustrates me that I hold The Suns to such a high standard that I need them to continue to build separation against Golden State because they're not losing.

  It's extremely disheartening that I need them to be perfect to take down Steph, Klay, Draymond, Wiseman, Poole, and the rest of that squad. I want this to be our year, but that team exists and have me questioning everything.”

  😁

• Dilly (18 ♡):

  And I'm now 4-0 with ice cream at halftime.

• Asher B. (17 ♡):

  From an unexpected press release from the league office: "It appears that Jonathan Kuminga has taken ownership of the Sacramento Kings. Congratulations to Jonathan and his family."

• Sphe (16 ♡):

  Klay seems to have a lot of belief in himself and his teammates. He's the only guy who wasn't clamoring for another player to help them out by trading the rookies. Maybe behind the scenes he did. But I doubt it given how much time he spent with Wise and how glowingly he spoke of him. Even now when they tried to bait him about what the team needs, he opted for a washing machine. Even then it's a maybe. He really believes they have enough to win with what they have. It's very refreshing.

Warriors making it work

Porter questionable, but Payton, Curry, Thompson, Wiggins all will play against Kings

• Klon (13 ♡):

  "GM Bob Myers will also be speaking regarding the trade deadline"

  Bob Myers walks out onto the podium, sits down.

  "We ain't doing shit."

  Stands up, leaves.

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (12 ♡):

  Sometimes I think about how close we were to having Avery Bradley on the team this year over GPII.

• storytellinsabrina (11 ♡):

  Kylen Mills

  @KylenMills

  ·

  48s

  Some encouraging words from Draymond Green speaking to the media for the first time since his injury:

  He says he has "zero" pain now and is totally on track. “I have been improving at a rapid rate, my workouts have been fun.”

  @kron4news

  #DubNation

• storytellinsabrina (9 ♡):

  Let's GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

  Kendra Andrews

  @kendra__andrews

  ·

  3m

  Draymond says his doctors told him his back would not require surgery. He says he’s not feeling any pain now and is back to shooting the ball.

  “Everything is looking up.”

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (10 ♡):

  Compare this to Curry ON THE BENCH against the Spurs. Beyond how incredible he is on the court, the real difference between Curry and other star players is how he elevates his teammates. He doesn't ONLY do this through his playing and his gravity. He also does so by being someone that they genuinely want to play WITH and FOR.

  You KNOW Moody feels good when the Point God is cheering him on after a made 3. You KNOW Kuminga's smiling when Steph F***ing Curry is fan boying it up over his clutch play. You KNOW Poole's little heart is going all pitter patter at the primal screams of celebration escaping from none other than the man clad in the squirrel-skinned tracksuit as he hits the go-ahead 3 at the end of the game.

  I've said it before and I'll say it again. Culture matters! That's the ONLY reason that we can even attempt to transition from one dynasty to the other because the men at the top are willing to buy in and train the next generation.

  Could you imagine having players like Harden being counted on to set the tone for your younger players? It would never work. Curry is one of the most unique superstars we've ever seen in ANY sport, and I don't think that the sports world at large is really going to appreciate that until well after his career is over.

• Run_TMC (9 ♡):

  >But I also want to bring up something that has gone mostly unnoticed, I think: Jordan Poole’s improved playmaking.

  >Watch this play and ask yourself if this was something that would have happened even one season ago

  So I kind of disagree with you here. While I am not certain if Jordan WOULD have made that play a year ago, one of the reasons I was on the Poole bandwagon pretty early was that from time to time in his first 2 years- especially towards the end of his first season, I think about the last 12 games or so - he would flash exactly that ability.

  It was my judgement that he had the court vision and passing chops to make that kind of play and just needed to learn the system and get comfortable in the NBA but that one of the positives about him was that he COULD make that play. People kept saying he was a 2 guard, but I thought he had demonstrated the ability to be a great combo guard with hard work.

  I feel pretty vindicated in that judgement now, but, again, I also contend that the seeds of JP3 today were already visible in the player on the court at the end of his first season.

Explain One Play: Moody, Poole, Kuminga, Lee…

floor burns are good

• Phood Fight (17 ♡):

  Moody's shot looks damn good. I think we are underselling how good he could be when you add his hustle and smarts. You better have AFLAC if you are standing between Kuminga and the rim 'cuz you're about to get injured. D Lee played a great all around game and he is fearless when it comes to taking big shots. When Curry sits, Poole gets 30 points with regularity and his ability to get to the line and drain free throws will be critical in the playoffs. Even Cheez led the team with +17. And despite all of that, Curry's velour sweatsuit out-shined them all.

• Asher B. (14 ♡):

  -- I had a weird night, tossing and turning, had this super weird dream that the Warriors beat an NBA team using no starters, winning in crunch time with Chiozza-Moody-Poole-Kuminga-Lee. The subconscious is such a strange place, maybe I miss my father... not sure what it means.

  -- WAIT, WHAT?

  -- I love Kuminga's assertiveness with the B Squad. Attacked early a lot (not pictured), played badass defense. On offense, as shown, waving Moody off, being an alpha, making aggressive plays to the hole. He doesn't necessarily have quite the skill set to pull off those Giannis drives, but he'll get there with work. He's only 14 years of age, or something. Needs to work on ball handling and finishing, but with that mindset and work on his game, consistently great things are coming soon.

  -- Excellent decision to use a hairless cat in mocking Steph. Hairless cats are never not funny.

  -- With 22 seconds left in the game, 14:42 stamp in the breakdown vid, Moody is on the ground scrambling for the ball, and you check in what each Warrior is doing. Notably, Lee is calling time out (if you scroll back, you can see the motion that brings his hands into that position.) If he had been granted that timeout, Warriors would be still down one with 22 seconds left and both coaches given a chance to plan. The scramble three was much more advantageous, so good thing the time out wasn't called. Refs missed that, and missed Poole's clear travel that sent the arena into frenzy. Can't blame Spur nation. But hey, we were on the road; and to be on the road, you have to travel. Boom! I'll be here all week.

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (13 ♡):

  I will absolutely take the tradeoff of the embarrassing loss to the Pacers in order to get this exciting underdog win against the Spurs.

  The Warriors *should* have beat the Pacers without their starters and the Spurs *should* have won last night. If we could only win one of those two games, I'm happy that it worked out the way that it did!

• Sleepy Freud (13 ♡):

  It’s pretty remarkable how good it’s been without DPOYmond and Andre, and with Bjelica (or no one) as our only player over 6-9.

  I think the stabilizing in the absence of Dray is largely on some combo of Loon, Wiggins, Steph and GP2. I definitely missed Wiggs’ defensive presence when the Spurs were getting pretty much anything they liked offensively for the better part of three quarters.

• Eric Apricot (12 ♡):

  Interesting point…

  1. in general it feels like Hack-A strats are down around the league.

  2. I also think of Hack-A as a catch-up strategy except in the most extreme versions, so there wasn’t a time in last night’s game to do it

  3. Feels like it sends a bad message to your team to pull out a gimmick against a skeleton crew opponent

  4. Finally, JK is shooting 64.6% FT% which is 1.29 points per possession for a Hack-U-Minga which is like giving up a 43% 3PT shot, so I don’t think JK is bad enough at FT to justify Hackuminga… yet

• Stefano Gelati (11 ♡):

  Beside a ranter on this forum, I'm also a poor sci-fi/cyberpunk writer, thus I love dreaming about the future. I dare this lineup in 2030-31 season: J. Poole, M. Moody, A. Wiggins, J. Kuminga, J. Wiseman. I can hear Frank roaring their names at Chase for the opening. The bench is clouded, I cannot recognize anyone except... is that Buddy Hield? Coach: S. Curry, surrounded by faithful assistants D. Green, A. Iguodala, D. Lee, D. Lillard, K. Love. And now back to Bukie and Klay :)

• Captain Jack (11 ♡):

  Imagine the confidence boost Moody and the younger guys got from that win yesterday. They came all the way back and won a game while fighting their asses off without their big brothers

Explain One Play: Moody, Poole, Kuminga, Lee…

floor burns are good

• Phood Fight (17 ♡):

  Moody's shot looks damn good. I think we are underselling how good he could be when you add his hustle and smarts. You better have AFLAC if you are standing between Kuminga and the rim 'cuz you're about to get injured. D Lee played a great all around game and he is fearless when it comes to taking big shots. When Curry sits, Poole gets 30 points with regularity and his ability to get to the line and drain free throws will be critical in the playoffs. Even Cheez led the team with +17. And despite all of that, Curry's velour sweatsuit out-shined them all.

• Asher B. (14 ♡):

  -- I had a weird night, tossing and turning, had this super weird dream that the Warriors beat an NBA team using no starters, winning in crunch time with Chiozza-Moody-Poole-Kuminga-Lee. The subconscious is such a strange place, maybe I miss my father... not sure what it means.

  -- WAIT, WHAT?

  -- I love Kuminga's assertiveness with the B Squad. Attacked early a lot (not pictured), played badass defense. On offense, as shown, waving Moody off, being an alpha, making aggressive plays to the hole. He doesn't necessarily have quite the skill set to pull off those Giannis drives, but he'll get there with work. He's only 14 years of age, or something. Needs to work on ball handling and finishing, but with that mindset and work on his game, consistently great things are coming soon.

  -- Excellent decision to use a hairless cat in mocking Steph. Hairless cats are never not funny.

  -- With 22 seconds left in the game, 14:42 stamp in the breakdown vid, Moody is on the ground scrambling for the ball, and you check in what each Warrior is doing. Notably, Lee is calling time out (if you scroll back, you can see the motion that brings his hands into that position.) If he had been granted that timeout, Warriors would be still down one with 22 seconds left and both coaches given a chance to plan. The scramble three was much more advantageous, so good thing the time out wasn't called. Refs missed that, and missed Poole's clear travel that sent the arena into frenzy. Can't blame Spur nation. But hey, we were on the road; and to be on the road, you have to travel. Boom! I'll be here all week.

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (13 ♡):

  I will absolutely take the tradeoff of the embarrassing loss to the Pacers in order to get this exciting underdog win against the Spurs.

  The Warriors *should* have beat the Pacers without their starters and the Spurs *should* have won last night. If we could only win one of those two games, I'm happy that it worked out the way that it did!

• Sleepy Freud (13 ♡):

  It’s pretty remarkable how good it’s been without DPOYmond and Andre, and with Bjelica (or no one) as our only player over 6-9.

  I think the stabilizing in the absence of Dray is largely on some combo of Loon, Wiggins, Steph and GP2. I definitely missed Wiggs’ defensive presence when the Spurs were getting pretty much anything they liked offensively for the better part of three quarters.

• Eric Apricot (12 ♡):

  Interesting point…

  1. in general it feels like Hack-A strats are down around the league.

  2. I also think of Hack-A as a catch-up strategy except in the most extreme versions, so there wasn’t a time in last night’s game to do it

  3. Feels like it sends a bad message to your team to pull out a gimmick against a skeleton crew opponent

  4. Finally, JK is shooting 64.6% FT% which is 1.29 points per possession for a Hack-U-Minga which is like giving up a 43% 3PT shot, so I don’t think JK is bad enough at FT to justify Hackuminga… yet

• Stefano Gelati (11 ♡):

  Beside a ranter on this forum, I'm also a poor sci-fi/cyberpunk writer, thus I love dreaming about the future. I dare this lineup in 2030-31 season: J. Poole, M. Moody, A. Wiggins, J. Kuminga, J. Wiseman. I can hear Frank roaring their names at Chase for the opening. The bench is clouded, I cannot recognize anyone except... is that Buddy Hield? Coach: S. Curry, surrounded by faithful assistants D. Green, A. Iguodala, D. Lee, D. Lillard, K. Love. And now back to Bukie and Klay :)

• Captain Jack (11 ♡):

  Imagine the confidence boost Moody and the younger guys got from that win yesterday. They came all the way back and won a game while fighting their asses off without their big brothers

Warriors silence Rockets yet again as Curry…

HOW MANY TIMES MUST THIS HAPPEN.

• crusty quips (16 ♡):

  So at the beginning of January, I pointed to the month's schedule as the toughest for the Warriors all season due to the large total number of games (17), 3 back-to-backs (2 on the road) and the lack of multiple rest days. Compound those scheduling challenges with Draymond being out and Steph in a shooting funk that seemed to permeate throughout the entire team, that was a recipe for a really hard January. The Warriors went 11-6.

  Granted, they lost almost as many games in Jan as they did in the first 2.5 months of the season combined, but 11-6 is still good for a .647 winning percentage. That's a higher winning percentage than any team in the East as well as every team in the West save the Suns and the Grizz. In their worst month of the season so far, with all of the difficulties of Dray being out and Klay trying to ease back in to the rotation and Steph not shooting it well, the Warriors still had a better record than the vast majority of teams in the league.

  The schedule only gets easier from here on out for the Dubs, in terms of the SoS as well as the sheer frequency of games and the amount of back-to-backs remaining (4 total for the last 2.5 months of the season). Klay will only continue to regain his form as he gets more games and more reps under his belt, Draymond will rejoin the team in the coming weeks after some much-needed rest and recuperation, and Steph seems to have figured out his shot. Wiggins looks intent on proving to everyone that he deserved his all-star nod and the team defense has not faltered in Draymond's absence, remaining #1 in the league. Even ignoring the growth of the rookies or the prospect of Wiseman giving this team anything this season, you have to love where the Warriors are at right now.

• belilaugh (11 ♡):

  For what it's worth, JTA won a dunk contest in the Mexican league.

Explain One Play: Warriors rookie Moses Moody…

three and dee

• Trogdor (terminally pengpeiyi) (10 ♡):

  I see two things from this game/video:

  1. Moody has the potential to become the 3-D player that we thought he could when he was drafted. That's essentially exactly what he gave us last night. Definitely a solid showing from a player who had hardly gotten any minutes thus far.

  2. The success of using the G-league is evident. Despite the lack of minutes to date, Kerr was able to plug in Moody as a starter and have him not look completely lost. Sure he's a rookie, but his level of comfort level with the team schemes as compared to the start of the season is evident. Clearly that time with the Sea Dubs has done him a lot of good.

• Captain Jack (7 ♡):

  By the way has anyone notice Wiggin's swagger on the court since being named an AS? Maybe it's just me but his movement and shot seems way more confident now. He's making it look easy

• GlueAndBold (6 ♡):

  🎶We don’t talk about Bazemore🎵

• JMullins23 (6 ♡):

  Thanks for the video. Interesting to see the differences between Moody and Kuminga. Moody seems much more attuned to his teammates. Good awareness offensively and defensively. Very nice stoke. On the other hand, he doesn’t have Kuminga’s basic athletic confidence. In a number of those situations Moody might have taken the ball to rim but he didn’t even try, looking instead to pass out of the lane. No question that JK would have simply attacked. Moody’s approach isn’t necessarily wrong, just different. Hopefully, they’ll both adjust as they gain experience.

Stephen Curry, ladies and gentlemen!

Curry drops 40, with 21 points coming in the 4th quarter

• Asher B. (28 ♡):

  Kerr in postgame on Kevin Porter, Jr. trash-talking Steph: "I highly encourage it."

• Goofus (22 ♡):

  Steph to Kevin Porter Jr. during post-game handshake: “Listen kid, the press is gonna ask you how wise it was to poke the bear, but I don’t want that to get in your head…I was gonna BBQ your ass either way.“

• Marina (19 ♡):

  Of course Steph would go off just in time for the Lunar New Year...

  HAPPY NEW YEAR, LOVELY PEOPLE!

• Asher B. (17 ♡):

  My patented Ten Terrific Thinkable Thoughts:

  1. Houston was better when they had Olajuwon and Drexler.

  2. The Dubs’ defense can be so lethal sometimes. If the Warriors’ best defense had to defend the Warriors’ best offense, would a tree fall in Chase Center or on the road?

  3. Watching JTA conduct a dribble drive is like watching a young toddler embark across a large stretch of living room. It *could* go well.

  4. I’m gonna watch Klay’s drive and layup off the tip top of the glass a couple of hundred times tonight and then my family will ask if I’m mentally OK and I’ll go “Wait! Watch this!”

  5. Because I am a rabid fan, I know that Steph can hear me when I shout encouragingly when he makes a three. The windows were rattling tonight, baby. Best game of his in … a month?

  6. Dear Kevin Porter Jr.: Mellow out, bro. You’re not the best Porter Jr. in this league, OK? You’re not even second. You’re a distant third.

  7. Imagine you’re a Houston player and the PA plays that dreary “Bee-doo bee-doo” organ sound that is meant to generate a “Let’s Go, Rockets” chant. Do you get all inspired to play harder, or lose all hope for humanity? This question is not rhetorical. I want an answer.

  8. I’m always impressed when an arena plays Van Halen’s “Jump” for a jump ball. It’s the mark of a franchise that keeps up with the latest in popular culture. Kudos all around.

• Dip (16 ♡):

  We hit Hollinger's total forecasted wins with 31 games to go. Yeah, this is fun!

• Stefano Gelati (14 ♡):

  Thriller classics: on one side, Kevin Porter Junior trying to impose his physicality to Steph (results: 40 points and mvp chants), on the other GP2, whispering “you don’t notice me, you don’t see me, but I am there, I am your shadow” (results: steals, fastbreaks and dunks). PS: what do you think of the nickname ‘shadow’? One can get rid of a glove somehow, but a shadow is inevitable…

Warriors survive another great Kyrie Irving…

Big win to close out a great homestand

• Being (14 ♡):

  Man, Wiggs is seriously turning into a dude. His last 2 of the night was over a double-team. And that putback dunk he had on Poole's missed 3? That aggressiveness is something Wiggs never had in years past. 4 of 8 from 3pt range, 10 of 18 overall. That efficiency is murderous. Along with his insane D on the best PG in the East. Wow.

  Man , just heard Kyrie’s full quote on Steph. Mad respect.

• “I love Steph, man. I mean, the guy has completely revolutionized the game. Coming into the league as a young man in 2011 — and only seeing glimpses of what he was capable of because he wasn’t as healthy in those early 2000s, so we only see glimpses. But when he caught fire, man, everybody was on notice. And me, as a point guard or just as a lead guard on my team growing up in Cleveland at the time, he was the guy that really set that standard.

  “That catch-and-shooting off the dribble, being able to break down his defenders, being able to take three guys with him everywhere he goes. You wouldn’t be a true student of the game if you’re not watching somebody like that and trying to not only keep up but challenge his positions.

  “I think that’s where our mutual respect has really grown, is going against each other has been great, but studying each other has been even more of a special bond. I see moves he does, and I know he sees moves that I do; we’re just leading this next generation that’s coming up behind us.

  “You don’t have to be the athletic guy that’s finishing over the top of the rim — you have young guys doing that, they are the 2.0, they’re able to shoot deep 3s and sky over the rim. But when you look at me and Steph, I just feel like we’re able to do things out there that keeps the normal person walking down the street, gives them hope that basketball can be for them as well.

  “He’s just able to do so many special things. I can go on and on about Steph, but I love that guy. Going against him and having our battles where he’s had 50 on me and I’ve had 30-something on him — win, loss, all the comparisons, all the Instagram pages, all the Twitter feeds, everything that goes on into the media of just comparing us, I’ve dealt with it. And it’s just like, put me in a position to look at him as more of a brother in arms, but when we’re out there on the floor, we compete at a high level.”

• GlueAndBold (8 ♡):

  Could be that he has a newfound confidence and swagger. Yay All-Star Wiggs!

• Phood Fight (8 ♡):

  Gotta say, for years LeBron dominated the league. Then we got the Splash Revolution. But look around. There are some damn good players in this league and A LOT of them. Continuity, depth & team chemistry/culture are going to be big players in the Chips won in the next decade. And thankfully, that's something we are good at.

• tempprofile (7 ♡):

  [On the IND game] I don't have any recollection of the game you are referring to, pretty sure you must be misremembering.

• belilaugh (6 ♡):

  Didn't watch the G-League game but it looks like Moody's best overall performance. 27 points on 20 shots (4 for 9 from three), 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover.

  Maybe he was trash defensively or ballhogging or something but the box score looks great.

• storytellinsabrina (6 ♡):

  "Good seeing you back in the Bay Kyrie, thank you for demanding a trade out of Cleveland years ago and make it much easier to finish destroying them in future Finals."

  Cavs are gonna be a problem soon enough though. Scary times.

  We in the GT were hard on Steph and Klay last night. But man is it sweet when they work their tandem magic. F*n legends.

Explain One Play: Steph Curry / Klay Thompson…

Plus that controversial foul on Kyrie

• DFiB (12 ♡):

  And of course JVG spent the entire time out decrying the Nets “not knowing personnel” because “Klay always skips the screen”… sigh. Why do I let them keep triggering me. It’s like I’m forgetting personnel…

• Sleepy Freud (10 ♡):

  They were generating plenty of open looks earlier in the game for both Klay and Steph off different actions, too — they were just bricking all of them. This one looked better cos Klay swished it. :-)

  Generally, I trust Kerr to find the right balance of play-calling to keep defenses on their toes and all five (or 15) Warrior players engaged, while maximizing offensive efficiency. We as fans tend to wish he would run more simple, two-man actions involving Steph; and we like to ride him for what often seems like a dogmatic devotion to motion offense and “mixing it up.” One unquantifiable benefit of the Kerr approach that we tend to overlook, tho (in addition to the value of keeping defenses guessing): how much more do the non-Splash players get after it on D when they feel fully engaged in the offense? The Warriors currently have the best defense in the NBA by a wide margin — indeed, one of the best defenses ever relative to league average. Do they kill it on D to the same degree if 3/5ths of the team is generally standing around watching two-man games on offense?

  Who knows, but I do think Kerr’s egalitarian, varied approach to offense is at least as much about winning as it is about a dogmatic philosophical or aesthetic preference. And when the chips are down (as in the Klay play in question) he’s never been averse to simplifying matters with simple actions involving his two best players.

• Eric Apricot (10 ♡):

  Kerr has specifically said he runs his offense because when everyone touches the ball on O and has to be together on decisions, it activates everyone's defensive effort and togetherness. Very hard to prove this, but he believes it and it rings true to me psychologically

• fzwinter (10 ♡):

  Saw one replay of the Kyrie foul on Klay where his left hand is gently tugging on Klay's jersey right before Klay trips. Clearly a foul - glad Kyrie admitted it after the game. Also I enjoyed watching Kyrie greet several Dubs players after the game - showed a lot of class there, even if he's a villain in these parts. Of course, maybe they were just telling him how easy the vaccination process is.....

• Asher B. (9 ♡):

  It's super helpful to have the old clips to review to set up the current breakdown. Sets the context and explains a lot. Still, having diligently listened to the rationale as to why the Warriors only break out the 1-2 high pnr occasionally so as to maintain surprise, I'm not quite persuaded. It seems like it could be effective much more often, particularly against vulnerable defenses. Like maybe not against Paul George and Kawhi, but if it's Patty Mills and Kyrie offering help, it seems like we could have run the play ten times. Yes the play is less surprising, but it puts the two most lethal guys in great position to either generate a shot or move it on from there -- in this case to Wiggins or Porter as next options...maybe?

Post-game thread: Splash Brothers start cold…

Wiggins looks great in his national TV debut as an All-Star

• storytellinsabrina (23 ♡):

  Nets Daily is raging on Nash for not challenging on the Klay foul but there seems to be a pretty clear consensus that it was a foul. The reason Nash didn't challenge was because the refs reiterated to him that it was a foul, and wouldn't be overturned.

  Brian Lewis

  @NYPost_Lewis

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  27m

  Kyrie Irving said the late foul call on him could've gone either way, but he did see on replay that his foot was in the way and he inadvertently tripped Klay Thompson. He admitted "That’s going to be a foul any day of the week, any game. Sorry.” #Nets #NBA #Warriors

• Asher B. (19 ♡):

  My traditional Eleven Elfin Ensights:

  1. It’s tempting to believe that sports is a morality play, rewarding the Good and punishing the Bad. I would love to say that, due to his stupid anti-vax stance and general boneheadedness, Kyrie is a terrible player who got worse in his time away. But he actually looks fantastic and entertaining on offense, and not too bad on defense.

  2. If you think about it, the fact that Mike Breen called Jordan Poole “Orlando Poole” actually makes sense; because “Jordan” and “Orlando” are both sounds, so it’s easy to confuse one for the other.

  3. It’s shocking that Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge aren’t Lakers. They totally fit the demo.

  4. When I was 16 and was terrified of even talking to girls, Laura G. one day asked me if I had done the homework and I bravely replied “Uh — what?”, heralding a new era for me. The All-Star selection is like Wiggins’s Laura G Moment. It unleashes the kraken of confidence from the pearly gates of hold on let me rework this analogy.

  5. Dear TV People: I declare myself able to enjoy an NBA game without hearing a player miked up or a mid-game coach interview. Feel free to try something else after 309 years of those same two gimmicks. (Actually Patty Mills today was slightly interesting.) Usually what we hear from the player is the hugely insightful: “I got ball! I got ball!” “OK, OK, yeah boy, there you go!!” or “AND ONE!” And the coach interview should just be pre-recorded, like a mad-lib. Just play any two of these: “We need to be more aggressive.” “We need to communicate” “We need to get back in transition.” “We need to work harder, it’s that simple.” “We’re playing well, it’s just that shots aren’t falling.” “Really proud of the effort the guys are giving.” “We’ve got to keep the ball moving and cut down on turnovers.”

  6. I’m not sure I’ve seen Otto Porter make a mistake, on offense or defense, all year. OK, he misses shots, but he does everything else exactly as he’s supposed to.

  7. I don’t understand Patty Mills. Sometimes he’s fantastic, sometimes nothing special. What gives?

  8. When Looney grabs an offensive rebound I can go get a sandwich and be back in time for his putback.

  9. GPII guarding Kyrie is intense drama, but Klay actually did better work, primarily because he’s bigger. I also observed that Klay also made a nice shot worth three points near the end of the game, perhaps you missed it but it was AWESOME BLOSSOM

  10. I think it’s pretty much this simple: Steph and Klay shooting well? Warriors are champs. If they’re not? Um, hmm. Blarggh.

• The Sword Of The Morning (17 ♡):

  The best thing I can say about OPJ is that it never feels like he's having a bad game. Yes, there are games he's missing shots in, but he usually makes good decisions, is a very good rebounder and off-ball defender and always provides spacing.

  Premium role-player.

• Mikayla (16 ♡):

  There was a play where Kuminga was guarding Irving and the Nets player did a bunch of between the legs dribbles and weird jab step things. He made a tough shot with a hand in his face and the announcers went on and on about him being a wizard with the ball and what incredible moves blah blah blah.

  But like.

  Forgive me.

  But like… wouldn’t the moves have gotten you to a new spot for an open look if it was wizardry? Isn’t a tough shot with a hand in your face after literally not moving anywhere on the court from where you started just a bad move leading to a bad shot that happened to go in?

• vignette17 (14 ♡):

  I thought this long homestand would get Steph going, but then that article came out yesterday, and I had a feeling that it was a jinx and today would be a struggle. Steph remains the straw that stirs the drink. And I've seen enough special Steph that I'm still confident our cocktail is strong enough to win a title.

  Wiggs and Poole have had a few good games in a row. Maybe all this adversity is a blessing in disguise and when it clicks, we'll have a killer 8-man rotation of Steph/Klay/Wiggs/Dray/Loon/Poole/OPJ/GP2. And that's with no minutes to JK or Dre. I still have a lot of faith in this team.

• Abaddon (14 ♡):

  JVG is just a moron

• Phood Fight (13 ♡):

  I'll admit, I can't stand the guy, but as a basketball player, actually playing basketball, Irving is really really really good. He had ice in his veins last night. Knowing Kyrie, it was probably Dry Ice or something weird like that. And on a personal level, his interactions with the Warriors after the game, giving JK his game shirt, etc., seemed genuine enough, something I don't think you will ever see from someone like Harden. Even on the foul call to end the game, he certainly questioned the call, but imagine the theatrics if that had been Harden or LeBron. Underneath his mountain of weirdness, Kyrie came out, put on a terrific show and was a good sport at the end. Credit where credit is due. And he may be the last guy I want to see with the ball in his hands in the finals. A tip of the hat to the nutjob.

• fzwinter (13 ♡):

  OPJ - 16 points, 6 boards, 4 blocks! +22 in 28 minutes

• Emmerick (13 ♡):

  If reality were fair, every time GP2 jumps or makes a defensive play special effects should sound and sparks come out

• Captain Jack (13 ♡):

  Ha, take that Patty Mills. Chose the wrong team, scrub!

• Alex (12 ♡):

  You know what has never been recorded as a stat, but really, really, REALLY needs to be someday... the number of times per game that announcers Mark Jackson and JVG immediately complain about a call that went the Warriors' way. My guess is it would be a lot of calls per game, and about 80% of the calls they complain about would happen to be the calls that went in the Warriors' favor. I'd love to see the trend over many games.

  They did that for years in the NBA finals and really shaped the narratives. And now they've got Nets fans convinced the refs will cancel an already called foul when there's clearly contact, the player fell over, and possession was lost... not because refs ever actually do that, but because JVG said so.