Dub Nation HQ Comments of Week, plus open thread

Two good weird wins

Helpful hint: Every commenter’s name is a link that leads back to the original comment.

Explain: Steph Curry gravity unlocks Jonathan…

by @EricApricot. if he gets a consistent 3 ball, it's all over

• Goofus (14 ♡):

  No one ever got fired for letting Kuminga take an open 3.

• Dilly (14 ♡):

  Waking up to an E1P is the best way to start a morning - it smells like... victory.

• TwoRingTest (12 ♡):

  So, Eric,

  You're saying Kuminga is poi-sed for success?

  • Eric Apricot (15 ♡):

    That was a taro-ball pun

• wonderyearsballer (12 ♡):

  I remember when the only response to a double team was an emergency offload. Even KD would dish immediately. Now Steph is encouraging it, inviting it, waiting for it... and then using it to kill you. How, oh how is anyone supposed to guard this guy now?

• TwoRingTest (12 ♡):

  I was very glad that while Kuminga was rehabbing that knee sprain, he was also exercising his Threesius muscle.

  Small point: I think the first defender was Boucher. Hard to tell with three tall thin guys wearing white headbands.

• Eric Apricot (11 ♡):

  Damn, Bill coming with the celebration audit audit

• PGBreaker (11 ♡):

  Eric, your genius erupts in the most interesting ways. This time it was Poi. Hysterical.

• OGG Gurl (10 ♡):

  Glad you picked the Kuminga back-to-back (x 2) three ball explosión for the E1P! I know my neighbors were wondering what the hell was going on during that stretch. I was HYPED!

  As a Maui girl, I can attest that poi is an acquired taste and delicious with savory food. Please don’t use powder though…yikes. Real poi from pounded taro that is fermented for a few days is great for gut health…lots of probiotics. If you just can’t do poi, taro boiled in coconut milk is yummy. Try that instead.

• John Butler (8 ♡):

  Thanks i look forward to the Warriors winning just to get e1p in the mornings

Post game party thread: Curry goes off…

Warriors put the Raptors to bed. Tastes like victory!

• Asher B. (24 ♡):

  Now I am become Kuminga, the destroyer of worlds.

• ServantOfLuna (24 ♡):

  I've decided to put the final stats in a condensed format this time. I put the shooting stats on the first line, followed by rebounds, assists, turnovers, etc. in the second line.

• pooryorick (19 ♡):

  Kuminga played focused, disciplined and stayed within the scheme. If his career takes off Kerr deserves a lot of the credit for holding him to the highest standard.

• Faye (18 ♡):

  I spent the day going through old kuminga interviews and articles (because I really wanted to understand how he got to a US high school. I got at least a vague answer eventually).

  But he’s been unwavering in his intent to “simply” become the best basketball player. Not the best player he can be. Just straight up best basketball player. That’s a scary amount of focus and direction for someone to settle into before turning 18… and it feels like we get to watch him inch closer to it every game. What a pleasure!

• ServantOfLuna (16 ♡):

  Donte DiVincenzo: “11 assists it looks good but I’m playing with two of the greatest shooters of all time.”

95.7 The Game @957thegame

Donte DiVincenzo: “11 assists it looks good but I’m playing with two of the greatest shooters of all time.” 💯

• TwoRingTest (16 ♡):

  Now I am become Fitz, the destroyer of words.

• nomdesab (16 ♡):

  Is driving 3 hours to SC for the SC game to get a Klay Sea Captain bobblehead crazy person behavior?

• Captain Jack (15 ♡):

  I WILL NOT TAKE ANY JMG SLANDER MOVING FORWARD. REVENGE TOUR IS STILL GOING ON STRONG!

  P.S Austin Rivers sucks!

• TwoRingTest (14 ♡):

  You know what I liked about that game?

  Toronto is chock-full of long, rangy mobile defenders, and we still only had 12 turnovers (and one was the 24 second violation at the end of the game).

• stopnpop (14 ♡):

  Kuminga was supposed to be a project.

  Turns out, he's The Manhattan Project.

10 games to the All-Star break, Warriors…

Wiggins questionable (illness - yeah, the same one)

• belilaugh (17 ♡):

  > The primary reason the Warriors might not be able to win now is Curry's $50m cap hit

  This is the primary reason the Warriors are able to win now imo, he's very underpaid

• Captain Jack (15 ♡):

  I miss GP2 as much as the next guy but DDV is doing such a great job in his place AND THEN SOME

• Backpack23 (15 ♡):

  DDV & JK closing. There’s your second timeline 😀

• Sleepy Freud (15 ♡):

  Donte's gotta be in the playoff closing five.

• DubsNerd (14 ♡):

  Oh man, Grizzlies vs Wolves. Guess I should be rooting for Memphis since we aren't catching them, but watching them have an 0-5 road trip against the West after "we good in the West" would just be too sweet

• Mycroft (12 ♡):

  For a guy who's increased the value of GS by an amount literally measured in billions (team value has moved from 450 million pre-Curry to 4.5 billion - not all Curry's doing, but a sizeable chunk of it is, particularly on the brand side), I don't see how its unreasonable for him to expect management to take a luxury tax hit, and even a net revenue loss for a couple of years to pay him a fairly small percentage of that increase and still spend money to help him win. Particularly where part of the increase makes up for historic levels of underpayment in prior years. Curry's already taken his cut. And Curry took his other pay cut in the collective bargaining agreement that doesn't really account for asset value increase or individual player worth. When ownership talks about "not taking a loss" in a given year, they generally aren't factoring in increase in team valuation - they are talking about 500 million payroll, 200 million operating costs and 700 million plus revenue. A "zero profit" year is not really zero profit if your capital asset value increases by 400 million while you zero out net income. Given the rate of increase in team valuation, it also seems short-sighted by management to me to limit future valuation increase by gimping winning.

Warriors rip Grizzlies' heart out late as…

WE'RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT MEMPHIS!

• Eric Apricot (23 ♡):

  'Steph Curry is one of the best players in the world. Guarding him every single day practice is the biggest challenge for me. I learn and I grow from that every single day.'

  - Jonathan Kuminga, who has become a key ball-pressure defender for Warriors

Monte Poole @MontePooleNBCS

'Steph Curry is one of the best players in the world. Guarding him every single day practice is the biggest challenge for me. I learn and I grow from that every single day.' - Jonathan Kuminga, who has become a key ball-pressure defender for Warriors

• nomdesab (18 ♡):

  Meme I saw recently:

  "You just lost to a team with two timelines."

  lol.

• urlyadoptr (15 ♡):

  Shannon Sharpe gets free courtside tickets for the GSW home playoff games against the Memphis Grizzlies dynasty*.

• Dilly (13 ♡):

  I had actually calmed down enough this morning that I was probably asleep by 3am - instead of the 4am I'd predicted.

  Amazing game with all of the drama it entailed. No reason to go into all of it but my 75-year-old Dubs buddy & I are still complaining about all of those early Steph & Klay phantom foul calls with the refs trying to influence the game from the start. Acting classes [acting like you've been fouled] are compulsory for all Griz players. And I never tire of Draymond's ability to foul JJJ out of tight games. Dray is the Master Manipulator in those situations. And JJJ falls for it every time. I'm still laughing about JMG's amazingly egregious over-the-back lunge from a standing position for a rebound he had no earthly chance of getting. It needs to be made into a gif. For teaching purposes, of course. For some strange reason that bizarre play was probably my favorite of the game. After JP3's game-winner, of course.

  I have been waking up the past few mornings to 3 kittens fighting the "Battle of Papa Ridge" - brings a smile to start the day as they skirmish over and around me. This morning it only woke me up for a few seconds & when I finally did wake up, all 3 were fast asleep on top of 'Papa Ridge," having worn themselves out from fighting the good fight. Made me smile even more.

• Arash (12 ♡):

  The Warriors are in an interesting position having a recent Championship Pedegree, and yet having performed relatively poorly in the current season. While it’s tempting to simply dismiss their record on the basis of having injuries or a shitty bench (I don’t think this argument holds any longer given our bench has been fourth invention net rating over the last 10 games), I decided to do an in-depth analysis of our squad and its performance.

  Firstly, let’s begin with our 18th ranked offensive rating over the course of the season. While it’s tempting to simply blame this mediocre offense on injuries, that would be ignoring our 16th ranked offensive rating in 2021 and the fact that our offense of rating has still been 18th over the last seven games with a full roster.

  So, the question is why is our offensive rating so poor?

  Firstly, part of the blame can be laid on the feet of The inefficient scoring of our number 2–4 options on offense. Klay is scoring at below league average for a shooting guard and 2.6% below league average efficiency for a small forward (where he is playing most of his minutes). Wiggins is only at average efficiency for a small forward. Poole, despite all of the criticisms he receives is performing at slightly above average efficiency for a point guard (where he spends most of his minutes) and average efficiency as a shooting guard.

  Secondly, part of the blame can be placed on the distribution of shots within our offensive system. Our three-point shooting is actually fantastic ranking fifth in the NBA inefficiency wild ranking second in frequency. Unfortunately, we seem to struggle in generating the most efficient shot in the NBA… Shots at less than 5 feet! Despite being fourth and efficiency, we are nonetheless 27th in frequency which I suspect is due to our bigs primarily being Looney/Dray who aren’t exactly rim threateners. Perhaps, our complete lack of taking the most efficient shot in the NBA is contributing to our offensive inefficiencies.

  Moving forward to our defense, why has our defensive rating been so poor? honestly, this question was what sparked me to engage in this analysis, because given our bevy of excellent defenders from Looney/Draymond/Donte/Kuminga/lamb, there is no reason why we should not have an elite defense instead of the 15th ranked defense in defensive efficiency!

  Thankfully, I actually found a lot to be excited about when looking at the underlying numbers regarding our defense! Our defensive field goal percentage/defensive percentage point difference has been outperforming our defensive efficiency both ranking 10th in the entire season and ninth over the last 15 games. This is finally being reflected in our overall defensive rating which has ranked 8th over the last 15 games.

  Still, while eighth ranked defence is good, given the quality of our defenders I would expect an at minimum top five squad. So, why haven’t we showing this? The short answer is, I have no idea! The underlying shot specific data did not show any specific weakness in our defense. If anything, the weakness I expected going in (lack of deterrence at the rim allowing for high frequency/efficiency short shots) was actually revealed to be a strength as the Warriors opposition rarely attack the paint (27th ranked frequency). Hence, while a big man will help offensively, defensively it would be superfluous which is a major surprise for me! If I had to guess, given our bevy of excellent defenders and given we contest shots at the highest rate in the NBA, I suspect are defensive field goal percentage/defensive percentage point difference will improve given time and shot variance will work its way out vaulting us to a top five defense!

  TLDR: Our offense could seriously use an interior rim attacking threat to hopefully open up for perimeter space for our inefficient non Steph scorers and our defense is fine but trending to elite not needing a rim protector as I previously suspected. I guess I was undervaluing the rim protection of Looney/Dray!

Explain: Steph Curry gets ejected; good, bad…

Always chaotic enough to hurt

• Asher B. (18 ♡):

  One must give yet another shoutout to Anthony Lamb. Not only is he doing the visible work like scoring, he's doing the less visible stuff. With just seconds on the clock in a big game he is on the floor, trusted by Kerr, and shows why. He sets the right pick for the last play. It was called on the fly but he knows where to be in this system. And a moment later, there was the little-noticed Memphis inbounds with one second on the clock after the Poole layup. One second, 94 feet to go, it would be excusable to defend it lazily. Lamb raced up to defend (I think it was Bane), got two arms up but didn't foul, shot was late and wide, game over. When they talk about "attention to detail," that should be Exhibit A.

• Abaddon (10 ♡):

  You call it "botox face gone wrong"; I call it "The Calvin": http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aIg21fj3V8c/TvKns-XEeAI/AAAAAAAAAWE/ODgaGSnybTQ/s1600/Calvin+and+Hobbes+Strip+2.jpg

• Goldarn Staid Worrier (9 ♡):

  I will savor this E1P later today; for now (dons flame retardant jumpsuit):

  Winning was a delight, but I was really impressed by the Grizzlies. Yes, their style of play is physical and more than a little dull, but they execute it efficiently and have a lot of highly skilled players doing the things they are supposed to be doing. The story of the Grizzlies as "Ja and some guys" is way off the mark. Yes Ja is an unbelievable talent, but this is a well balanced team with more than a few players I wish were on the Dubs. I mean - Dillon Brooks is the child of Satan and a Spice Girl (i.e. kind of dangerous but also stupidly annoying). But their outside shooting is well timed, they play a mean inside game, and work like crazy on defense. These guys are young and if they stay together and on track they'll be a playoff team for quite a long time.

  In conclusion: beating them over and over is more than a small pleasure. I will never be a fan but I will respect their skills.

• dinohealth (8 ♡):

  GREAT work, Eric. You got it spot-on, the good, the, bad, and, the ugly. It is minor, but the only thing I would add, Poole got that winning layup quickly up as you stated, with his LEFT arm/hand. Right arm/hand would have definitely been blocked; similar angle, earlier in the game, but not tightly contested, Jordan took it up with his right arm/hand for the score. A bit bittersweet, as Steph, right now, had he managed to gain a step on a similar cut, may have gone with his right hand, as he is using it exclusively these days from the left side. I commented on another article that Steph's left arm may not be 100 per cent. Ergo, the ''bittersweet'', as Jordans earlier bad choice was the reason for Steph's angst/reaction/ejection, that fatefully resulted in Jordan being in a situation where his GOOD left arm gave him the edge needed to get it JUST OVER the defender's outstretched arm, and....the game winner. Amazing how these things have a way of working out, as JP is learning -albeit, sometimes the hard way- and growing his game, to include gaining experience on decisions/choices, while dealing with DIFFERENT roles; the difficulty of playing off-the-bench, AND, as a starter. Tough to do for seasoned vets, more so for a soph...

• DFiB (7 ♡):

  Klay got tripped on that travel call... really don't know what he's supposed to do, probably should have/could have been a foul called.

Post game thread: Steph ejected mysteriously…

Always close enough to hurt

• Eric Apricot (21 ♡):

  Ahhhh that was on track to be a loooong Bart ride home. Now I can enjoy it

• Bel (18 ♡):

  Can we just acknowledge Donte’s great inbound pass to Poole’s winning shot.

• TheseGuysAreF’ingGIANTS! (16 ♡):

  Man I ❤️❤️❤️❤️Ros! She basically tried to teach Poole how to be more responsible at the end of games with her interview of Poole. Can she be the new coach when Kerr hangs it up?

  Paraphrasing- Dear Poole Steph got ejected because he threw his mouthpiece in anger because you took a shot when he thought you should use more clock. How do you balance making good decisions with being aggressive as a young guy on this team?

• Tonkal (16 ♡):

  Ja: I'm fine in the West.

  Also Ja: 4 game losing streak to Lakers, Suns, Kings, Warriors

• jeckyllhouse (16 ♡):

  lmaooooooooooooooo (Poole throws his mouthpiece when he sees Steph in the tunnel)

Warriors on NBCS @NBCSWarriors

JP threw his mouthpiece when he saw Steph 🤣

• Eric Apricot (16 ♡):

  I just wanted to tell you all that I love you

• UneasySquirrel (15 ♡):

  Steph gonna wake up in the middle of some random night and be like “oh shit, THAT’S how Kerr feels when I throw a no-look one-handed pass into the stands.”

  This is also a friendly reminder that single-game plus/minus stats are useless statistical indicators of a player’s performance in any given game, no matter how many comments you read or pseudo-statistically-literate podcasters you listen to that treat that column of the stat sheet like it is meaningful.

  Also also: Kumingaaaaaaa

• Captain Jack (14 ♡):

  Thanks Dillon Brooks for keeping us in the game with your terrible shot selection. We truly couldn't have done it without you.

  Also, Austin Rivers sucks!!!

• TheseGuysAreF’ingGIANTS! (13 ♡):

  One thing the Grizzlies did extremely well this game was intercept and deflect overhead passes. The Warriors use those a bunch, and the Grizzlies were ready for them. Need a new strategy to hit the rollers next time.

• crusty quips (13 ♡):

  It feels really good to win a game in which the Grizzlies were getting rewarded time and again for simply falling over after making some sort of contact with a Warriors player. I was incredulous at Steph's "foul" on Clarke in the third Q where the latter acted as if he was trucked by an NFL lineman. You would have thought they were the LA Grizzlies with the amount of acting on the floor tonight. Some regular season wins are sweeter than others.

Trogdor meets Ron Adams, plus Dub Nation HQ…

another No... YES... NO week

• Sir Trogdor (17 ♡):

  You know the best part of being firmly in the pro-Wiseman crowd?

  Knowing that I stand with Ron Adams.

• Sir Trogdor (13 ♡):

  Things we're pretty unified in our opinion of:

  A. Austin Rivers.

  B. James Harden

  C. Los Angeles Lakers

  D. Steph Curry

  E. Chris Paul

  F. Which team is defending champions

  G. The fact that the Warriors dynasty IS a dynasty

  H. Kevon Looney

• Sir Trogdor (12 ♡):

  Oh wow, I feel like I've really arrived as a DNHQ contributor now. This one's definitely going on the resume! ;D

• JoZeAlvaradoStan (12 ♡):

  You’ve given us more insight than any way up insider on the beat

  Also take this with a grain of salt but one of my cousins is supposedly good friends with a Warriors developmental staff member and i asked him what his friend thought of Wiseman. His words pretty much echoed what Ron Adams has said.

  To a T the staff is high on Wiseman and thats why its hard for me to justify selling Wiseman off low. Generally you would start to hear some rumblings but the players are excited about JW so are the coaches. I still dont think hes quite the right fit BUT im not trading him for half a year of Olynik sorry. I want him to play out his contract.

• Asher B. (11 ♡):

  I would be excited as heck to meet Ron Adams.

  But I would be way more excited to meet Trogdor, who is a Dub Nation goddamn treasure.

  I am pretty sure I saw a long post by Ron Adams somewhere in Substack about meeting Trogdor at the game. He was pretty hyped.

• Dilly (10 ♡):

  My head is swelling. 6 comments of mine made the cut this week - with kittens & ice cream & the occasional intelligent comment.

  I just want to tell everybody that... I like you a lot.

• Sleepy Freud (10 ♡):

  I like reading my “he’s a fucking treasure” comment out of context.

  I think I remember who I was referring to, but I love leaving it open-ended. Could be Steph; could be Loon; could be Ty Jerome or Tony Lamb; could be Eric, Dru, or Dan; could be Sir Trogdor, Servant of Luna, Belilaugh, or Basketbum; could be one of Dilly’s kittens; could be George Santos…

• Sleepy Freud (9 ♡):

  Suns looked like they were in freefall like five minutes ago; now they’re back to the #5 seed (a three-way tie for it). The West is cray-cray.

• Joe Barely Cares (9 ♡):

  Take anything you read on BlueManHoop with a large grain of salt. None of their reporters are professional journalists and those following the Dubs seem to live east of the Miss. River. All they do is read the real reporting and then paraphrase it or make up ridiculous trade scenarios. BMH is a complete waste of your time.