Dub Nation HQ Comments of Week, plus open thread

Started in joy, ended in somberness

Steph injury update and open thread

Sprain, no fracture or major damage, but Steph could miss weeks

• Phood Fight (26 ♡):

  Let's face it, this year's playoffs is going to be the Basketball version of Iron Chef. 30 minutes before tip-off, Rick Celibrini is going to pull a giant blanket (most likely one custom designed by Boban Marjanović) off of that night's Available Players. "Steve Kerr, here are your Available Players for tonight! You now have 30 minutes to set your starting lineup and rotations and a 48 minute game with which to impress our panel of judges. You will be judged on offensive and defensive efficiency, originality & presentation. Tonight's judges! Your former coach, don't let his preaching get you down, Marc Jackson! Marc is a Warrior's lover compared to this guy, a guy who can derail a broadcast with stupid comments better than the rest of them, Stan Van Gundy! And, finally, an impartial judge of epic proportions, he put the "S" in ESPN, Nick Friedell! With a panel like that, our challenger Steve Kerr is going to have to raise the temperature and break a few clipboards if the Warriors are to prove victorious. Stay tuned as Kerr & Company get set to match wits with reigning Iron Chef Champion: Rotten Luck.

• Oaktownws (15 ♡):

  Ot: something I’ve always liked about the atmosphere here (as it’s traveled from site to site) is that there’s a general concern for players/people and how sucky it is to see someone get hurt. Over at sbnation Celtics site, there’s just zero concern of “hate to see a player go down”, just shitty tone. Saying a little toast to the humanity and non toxicity of dnhq

• Trogdor (15 ♡):

  So I'm still high on the Warriors THIS year... BUT...

  I think that our early season success totally warped our perspective and expectations for the 21-22 season. Remember before the season started and many of us (including myself) were essentially saying "this is a get healthy, get the young guys experience season. 22-23 is when we'll really have a shot at making a run at things!"

  It's interesting because our health has been worse this season than predicted, our younguns (minus Wiseman) have been better than expected, and overall the team has performed better than expected (although probably Steph has performed worse).

  I still say we can take the championship THIS year, but let's not forget that with a full offseason together with these guys healthy, the sky's the limit going into next season.

  Despite the hardships this season, it's STILL a great time to be a Warriors fan.

• belilaugh (12 ♡):

  > Source: Moses Moody suffered a right shoulder subluxation on Wednesday night. It was popped back into place. This is something that has happened to him before. He is expected to return this season.

Jason Dumas @JDumasReports

Source: Moses Moody suffered a right shoulder subluxation on Wednesday night. It was popped back into place. This is something that has happened to him before. He is expected to return this season.

• Duby Dub Dubs (12 ♡):

  I hope Marcus Smart has a no good, very bad day

• Soltasi (9 ♡):

  I wouldn't call Smarts play on Curry dirty. I would call it reckless, tho. To me it looks like he intentionally throws his body into Steph's legs to shield Curry from the ball. That imo is reckless cuz he put another player in danger; and in this case, his carelessness predictably injured someone else. Which is why the NFL banned chop blocks, low hits, and such.

  On the other hand, the play just several seconds later where Smart sticks his leg out--in mid air--and kicks Klay's arm to prevent Klay from getting off the shot, I would call dirty. Kicking shouldn't be an acceptable form of defense, not sure why that foul wasn't upgraded. It's no surprise, tho. Smart has a history of cheap plays and flopping. He's tenacious, but lacks integrity. It somewhat reminds me of when Ariza (on Houston?) was flying by Klay at the 3p line, stuck out his knee, hit Klay in the temple, and I believe knocked Klay out of the game.

Curry, Moody hurt in painful loss to Celtics

Warriors shooting and health come into play, but team gets a chance to reset with three day weekend

• Backpack23 (10 ♡):

  I just watched that play from Marcus Smart on Steph & Klay.

  F$&K MARCUS SMART. Absolutely FILTHY.

  Couldnt watch the rest after that.

  Hope Steph & Moses are OK 🤞🏻

• stopnpop (10 ♡):

  So dirty or not, how is the dive into Steph's leg not more dangerous than Zaza being clumsy? Because we got an entirely new rule out of the second incident...

Warriors blasted through an easy one, now…

Payton, Iguodala, Wiseman, still out; Wiggins questionable

• GlueAndBold (13 ♡):

  He’s not even that perplexing, bb. Little high level experience combined with injury combined with how long it takes for centers to cook = where things are.

• Trogdor (11 ♡):

  The only thing perplexing to me about Wiseman is all of the people who are already talking like he's a bust. I'm not saying he'll be a superstar (although I'm hopeful) but the dude played 3 games in college, hasn't had a training camp yet, and has played only around half of an NBA season. He's been out for a year with injuries and people are writing him off because he hasn't looked like a polished product in 3 G-League games.

  Frankly what we've seen of him in the G-League so far is pretty much exactly what I'd expect: a young kid who's eager to play but still trying to figure out how to play at game speed. Nothing negative that I've seen can't be fixed with good coaching, work ethic and additional game reps. He's unpolished, but that's to be expected.

• Soltasi (9 ♡):

  Last season I compared Wiseman to a young giraffe learning how to use its body. Given how little playing time and team practice he's logged since then, this still applies. The signals from his brain have yet to coordinate with his body. And yet, even if he doesn't improve much, he'll be a decent center in the league. But, over time, if his mind can catch up to his size and innate athleticism, he'll be an elite force. There's a lot for him to work on, which can be seen as a good thing given how talented he is already. But there are still some flags, things you'd hope he'd be at least a little better at by now: his hands are terrible; he gets boxed out by much smaller players, not to mention players anywhere near his size; he has zero anticipation; he tends to hunch over, often negating his height advantage; etc.

  He's only 20, has barely played since high school, and bigs often take longer to develop, so I'm optimistic he can improve across the board, especially in the Warriors ecosystem. Time will tell.

  For now, tho, it seems that Evan Mobley is who the Dubs wish Wiseman was. That's who I'll be measuring Wiseman against; should be a fun matchup to watch for years to come.

The Big 3 is back; Wizards get crushed

Curry, Thompson, and Green brought back championship flair in a dominating home win. This is only the beginning.

• Being (17 ♡):

  Watching the replay of Wiseman's work tonight:

  0:00 Wiseman wins the tip-off. This should be a gimme, every night.

  0:00-11:41 - First play. JW sets three screens in a row, two off-ball and then an on-ball screen that allows the ball handler to get to the hoop and score in traffic.

  - 11:24 - Plays drop coverage across the paint. Tries to box out, but gets pushed towards the basket, and the shot banks off the rim, going over his head. He could've (A) held his position better, and (B) jumped preemptively to grab the rebound knowing that he had teammates to either side of him to grab a clank off the side.

  - 11:17 - Runs fast in transition, and receives a poor pass as he enters the paint. He has to reach behind him, seems to catch the ball, but fumbles it heading up to the rim and ball goes OOB. It almost looks like it was poked by the trailing defender, but on replay, it looks like a pure fumble.

  - 11:04 - Drops too aggressively defending the driver, IMO, but it's a miss. Fails to box-out and the rebound goes to ACC right in a spot where Wiseman would've been if he had boxed out.

  X - 10:29 - Plays good drop defense, and forces the driver to change his shot, clanking it.

  - 10:16 - Slightly slow for an on-ball screen which the defender easily slips. Cuts slowly to the basket, but the ball handler misses the pass, anyways, drive and kick.

  X - 9:42 - takes up a position on the low post, and just kinda wanders around between there and the short corner, watching the ball bounce around the perimeter. Missed the opportunity for a baseline cross-screen that woulda sprung free a three from the corner.

  9:36 - good box out.

  9:18 - drops too far defending a screen and the ball handler pulls up from the elbow with a wide open shot (JW backpedals halfway to the basket)

  - 9:06 on-ball pick and roll, receives a poorly thrown/timed ally-top and tries to off-balance left-handed heave to the basket but misses.

  - 8:54 beautiful late rotation, recovery, and block.

  - 8:29 once again, drops too deep on a screen-switch, miss this time, gets pushed away back under the basket on the rebound - another failed box-out that might've resulted in a rebound.

  - 7:54 no-look pass in transition leads JW by too much, and he misses it. Can't tell whether JW slowed, or the teammate just overthrew. This is just learning to play together.

  2:10-1:52 checks back in - once again drops too deep on a screen-switch at the wing, but ball handler misses.

  - 1:45. Pick and roll, receives the pass on roll, and doesn't go up aggressively enough, rejected/stripped at the hoop.

  - 1:38 DROPS TOO DEEP on a screen-switch at the elbow-wing. This is getting tedious.

  - 1:27 receives the ball just inside elbow, aggressively goes up to score AND ONE through contact. Flashes a smile after the shot. Hits FT.

  - 1:12. Clippers keep attacking Wiseman on these switches at the wing. This time, the big rolls, and it's not clear whether JW was too deep. He defended the roll-man, and arguably another Dub shoulda rotated.

  - 0:59 fails to pick up a guard in transition who spots up for a wide open 3 on the wing. misses.

  - 0:41 open under the basket in transition, teammates don't see him, ball swings around perimeter - corner 3 miss. Rebound goes right to Wiseman, but a Clipper gets up and knocks it from his hands OOB. Warrior ball. Poor rebound.

  - 0:33 Starts at elbow, misses opp for on-ball screen or p'n'r. Misses pop for a cut to the basket on the drive - stands at FT line, receives the kick, and misses the elbow jumper.

  - 0:23 once again gets attacked on screen-switch at the top of the key, drops too deep, but still forces a miss.

  Last play of Q1: gets attacked on screen-switch again, drops out of the play, but the screened defender fights back to contest the shot. jumper goes in from the FT line while JW watches from under the basket.

  Q2 - 11:30 - misses an easy ally-top. Can't tell why. Did he jump too early? Not aggressively enough? Just miss it going down? Was the pass too high? It's an ugly look, regardless.

  X - 6:54 - subbed back in, correctly switches off his guy on a drive to contest an open layup, driver passes to his guy who puts it in easily.

  - 6:30 tries to set a cross-screen, but doesn't realize ACC is in a zone. Pass to JW along the baseline is kicked.

  - 6:20 tries a couple screens while milling around the FT line/top of the key, but it seems like SCW is struggling with penetrating the zone. JW finally receives the ball on the FT line with a man to beat, but surrounded by red jerseys 4-6 feet away. I would've loved to see him attack the basket and try to beat his man, but he wisely chooses to kick the ball back out. Gets it back at the top of the key with 4 seconds on the shot clock and immediately turns and fires a long 2pter that misses.

  6:09(!!!) Finally jumps out at the ballhandler on a screen-switch but it becomes a double-team, and ACC finds the open man for a 3.

  5:39 ticky-tack travel call on JW at the FT line. On replay, it looks like he jumps just as he's catching the ball, but the ref saw it as just after.

  - 5:25 rotates off his man to unnecessarily help on the drive, but luckily the driver didn't see and the kick goes back to the perimeter.

  - 4:50 gets out jumped for a defensive rebound.

  - 4:23 Defense - screen-switch on the wing, drops too deep. elbow jumper is good. This is getting old.

  X - 3:43 Offense: off-ball screen becomes on-ball screen, with enough space for a JP/Steph/Klay 3P'er, but the SC ball handler drives and hands off instead.

  X - 3:23 Offense: catches the ball under the hoop in semi-transition. Good contested catch in traffic. Is double-teamed, so chooses to pass out, but fumbles the pass and hits an ACC player at the elbow for an easy transition basket.

  Halftime.

  I, umm, really wanted to watch the whole game, but this is really disheartening, and I think I'm out. LOL.

  TLDR: Consistently drops too deep on defense when the offense forces a switch on a screen, allowing easy pull-up jumpers from the elbow/FT line. Doesn't box out well - often loses position and gets pushed around, even though he's the biggest guy out there. Fights decently for rebounds. Has fumbled multiple transition passes - can't tell whether it's chemistry and timing or poor hands - probably both. Occasionally wanders around looking lost. That was a really disappointing first half.

• Being (14 ♡):

  OK. I bit. Started watching the second half.

  - 11:41 He doesn't DROP on a screen, and challenges the ball handler, forcing a pass!!! Then he manhandles a Clipper for the aggressive defensive Rebound.

  - 11:25 D: once again doesn't drop and forces a pass on the screen-switch! Also, more aggressive on the box out and grabs the rebound.

  - 11:04. D: Clipps attack him again on a screen-switch, and JW blocks the elbow jumper!

  - 10:49 D: good D rotation to cover the opposing cutter, while keeping a hand-out to potentially slow the drive.

  - 10:24 O: receives the ball in the low post- passes out. Misses an opportunity for a screen to spring ball-handler into the corner.

  - 10:18 O: receives rock in low post. gets double. finds open man.

  - 10:07 D: Misses dubious rotation as weak-side low man - would've left a very open man if he rotated. Arguably shoulda communicated and had strong side low-man rotate, as his man was going cross-court along the baseline, and JW coulda zoned both.

  - 9:49 plays ring around the ACC player with the ball handler, fails to screen or make an impact on the play.

  -9:19 aggressively drives into the lane from the top of the key, goes around a defender for a layup off the backboard that's too hard and misses.

  -9:12 great recovery on defense in transition to challenge the outback and knock it out of bounds.

  - good D, his man tags the on-ball defender, but Wiseman doesn't jump out, choosing to guard his man, on-ball defender recovers but bites on a fake and allows the step-back.

  8:52 - O: This is why Wiseman maxi's love him. Drive and kick in transition, last one to the top of the key, he receives it in rotation, immediately attacks the zone, splitting two defenders, then going up and over a 3rd, hitting the easy bank from the low-post. Eye-popping. Looks like a taller Kuminga with more elevation and a good bank shot.

  8:42 once again fails to contest screen switch. watches a jumper at the elbow go in.

  8:22 another offensive beauty. Once again attacks the zone from the top of the key, 3 red jersey's collapse on him, but he splits two, and hits an easy lefty hook layup at the basket.

  8:04 - correctly defends the screen-switch TWICE, forcing a reset and then a kick that gets intercepted.

  2:30 - rotates a split-second late on a drive as the weak-side low man, allowing a floater over him to drop in the basket

  2:04 - good defensive box out

  1:56 - takes up position on the block, watches his teammate drive to the hoop, get in front of the basket, get stuck, and kick the ball. JW doesn't move off the block at all, misses an opportunity to cut to the basket as his defender goes to double the ball handler.

  1:52 - O: receives the ball on the block, rotates to the middle of the key, fakes a pass to distract the double, hits a smooth looking easy lefty hook over his defender from 6-8 ft.

  1:09 - over-rotates to defend an elbow jumper, leaving his man open, but the jumper hits so it didn't really matter.

  0:46 O receives the ball at the FT line. doesn't attack, but surveys for a moment - it seems like he didn't know where the defenders were, so had to turn around to figure out the lay of the land. could've faked a handoff to the teammate coming up from the block, and then drive, but doesn't see it. kicks the ball out to the wing, goes up for an on-ball screen, rolls to the block, receives the roll-pass on the block, goes up over the double-team for a nice soft-touch basket.

  0:32 gets caught while on help D during a pick and roll in which both the ball handler and the roll man are beating their defenders. Contests the layup late, possibly causing it to miss off the backboard. Roll-man gets an easy putback. Hard to say if he had stayed on the roll- man whether the shot would've missed, but he might've gotten the rebound if it did.

  0:13 receives and scores a great ally-oop

  Q4-11:42 O: good off-ball screen, good on-ball screen. gets in position for rebound, fights for it among 3 red jerseys, but misses.

  -11:23 Guards his man well under the basket, but just as the ball handler penetrates and gets an open lane to the basket, JW (a) doesn't leave his man to contest, but also (b) gets pushed around/boxed out by his man and loses 3 feet of ground under the basket. layup is good regardless. I think he has to contest the layup and force the ball handler to pass it under the basket.

  - 11:11 O: receives the ball on a great cut into the low paint. gets fouled. Misses FT.

  - 10:22 D: decent drop defense - deters two potential drives, forcing a kick to JW's man at the top of the arc, who fakes, then hits an open 3pter. Wiseman wasn't close to contesting, though that was probably more a rotation failure than a JW failure.

  - 10:06 O: offensive turnover. unclear, but I think JW committed a 3 second violation.

  - 9:51 - beautiful block. necessitated by a failed box-out from the Dubs

  - 9:40 another offensive 3 second violation by JW

  - 9:21 defense the screen switch layup to the basket, forcing a kick.

  - 9:16 rotates as the help defender, but a floater goes over his head. Could he have rotated more aggressively?

  - 9:00 O: nice rebound over several ACC players for an easy outback.

  - 8:40 doesn't drop too deep on screens at the wing - deters any potential drive.

  - 8:35 UGLY ally-pop miss

  Out of game - minutes restriction.

  TLDR: Much much better than before. Only got beat twice on the screen-switch drop defense that he got beat on a million times in the first half. Defended it well multiple times. Still looks lost a bit on offense sometimes when off-ball (2 3 second violations - and some other plays where he either just stood around, not taking advantage of opportunities or seemed to run around without purpsose). That should go away as he learns the system, but he does put good effort into off-ball screens and you can tell it's clearly a part of his game he's working on - that should help him integrate into the big league club. Slow to react when he has the rock on offense - he seems to need a moment to survey the landscape - figure out where defenders are, but when he does attack - it's beautiful. On-ball offense, he reminds me of early season Kuminga - we would scream at him to drive, and JFK would either pass it or brick a long jumper (Of course, now when he shoots a 3pter, it's money). However, when JFK did drive, it was a thing of beauty. JW doesn't dunk as much, but he has a beautiful 2-6 ft floater that was absolutely money in the second half.

• Hashemite Kingdom (14 ♡):

  I saw a lot of theories (here and elsewhere) about why Steph had such a crappy start to 2022: he's aging, he added too much muscle and it screwed up his shot, family problems, "it happens to everyone", injury or illness that he wasn't disclosing, the list went on and on.

  One that I almost never saw was, "Draymond's out, and he unlocks Curry and the rest of the Warriors' offense." Watching last night, it was so obvious.

  I really love Draymond's game - always have since that win against Miami the first year he was on the team (12/12/12) - but I never really understood how integral he was to the Warriors' offense until the last couple of months. And I get why Lilliard has been so insistent over the years about wanting to get Dray on his team.

  Nostalgia:

• Phood Fight (13 ♡):

  I've been on board with the youth movement from day 1 and I think the moves the Dubs have made since Klay went down will cement Bob Meyers' place in the HoF. What most people who opposed this route were getting wrong was overestimating the age decline of the core and underestimating the pace at which younger players grow. How far has Poole progressed in just 3 years? The stock price on these younger players moves up rather quickly, like some sexy company going public. The core will get older, their physical skills will decline over time, but at a much slower rate. Veterans make up for their physical decline with IQ, experience, telepathy.

  And I don't know what all the hubbub is about winning THIS year. Given they don't lose anyone, the Dubs have put themselves in title contention for the next 5 years. Bad luck, Durant's wandering soul and terrible injuries delivered a box of lemons to Bob Meyers' door. All he did was make the best lemonade ever made with it. Keep your ice handy and enjoy the refreshing taste of victory. 'Cuz Bob made an S-load of lemonade.

• Iguodala’s Hands (12 ♡):

  You’re totally right (the last few games especially), and it’s also true that Green creates a ton of quality looks for Steph.

  Also overlooked is Steph’s capacity to completely retool his game as a traditional PG in Draymond’s absence, and then finding ways to re-integrate his shooting. So yeah, good call.

• Eric Apricot (12 ♡):

  I was struck by Steph saying he was happy with the young guys joining because he considered his own window the next 5 years

• Sleepy Freud (10 ♡):

  LaMelo or Haliburton would have been nice, but both would also have seriously hampered the development of Poole (who’s scoring more efficiently right now than either, and might be as high as #3 or #4 in a 2019 redraft). And we’d be left without a future center, though we might have signed a Chriss or a Hartenstein instead.

  Overall, LaMelo + Hartenstein looks like a much better option *right now* than the route we took, but these things can change. Picking Tyreke over Curry looked like a brilliant move for SAC at this time in 2010.

  Anyway, hindsight is 2020 — er, 20/20 — and I’m gonna be patient with young James, who’s played all of three G-League games after sitting on the shelf for a year. Let’s see where he is in (checks watch) a year or so?

Explain One Play: Steph Curry ends Wizards…

The gang is back together at last

• Trogdor (5 ♡):

  Kerr playing the villain again... not letting the birthday boy finishing things out! Time to fire Kerr and hire Thibodeau. He'd never take out Curry in such crucial moments as (checks notes) garbage time!

• mDuo13 (4 ♡):

  Clearly Steph is just an overrated stat-padder. Hunting points in garbage time? Anyone could score 47 on their birthday if they were just single covered most of the game!

• stopnpop (2 ♡):

  Haaa! mother food truck... I think I will start using that one

  That Steph shake in the lane gave me vibes of young Steph against Birdman

Draymond Green returns to a Warriors team…

Some rough patches aside, Golden State's been in the lab

• BritInCA (19 ♡):

  Happy Birthday Steph! you have brought us so much joy, specially after the Cohan years.

  And I want to shout out to the front office in appreciation of picking Loon. He has been so solid for so long. Another shining example of how the staff makes the players play better. Maybe weaponizing joy is something akin to All Work and No Play is a bad idea.

• Phood Fight (18 ♡):

  Before we forget, did Klay's big game really come on the 5th Anniversary of Toaster Klay??? I think it did.

  Also, Klay post game interview, goes 4-wheel drive off road and asks Draymond who is passing by (on National TV) if he was wearing a Canadian Tuxedo. "That's a lot of Denim" Klay

  Thank you Klay. You bless us all with your zaniness.

• Sleepy Freud (17 ♡):

  First game with our Big 3 since ... June 13, 2019. Sigh.

  Nice B-Day present for Steph.

  We're nearly "Full Voltron"... https://j.gifs.com/vQOooW.gif

• GovernorStephCurry (15 ♡):

  I know some of us are very high on Wiseman, while others are not.

  I do think if you were to flip Wiseman and Kuminga's draft slots (or re-arrange with Moody), it would look like a pretty damn good haul by Myers and Co. I think Wiseman is a perfectly acceptable prospect at #7 or #14. I think Kuminga is well on his way to being a good pick at #2. What do you all think?

Explain One Play: How Poole fit next to Steph…

Auspicious start

• Sleepy Freud (9 ♡):

  Yeah, I didn’t really buy the “Bucks were exhausted” angle, either. They were also playing with nearly their full healthy squad (less Connaughton and BroLo), where the Warriors were missing a damn good five-man unit in Dray, Otto, GP2, Andre, and Wiseman.

  Throw in the fact that the Bucks had won six straight and were really coalescing (and are, you know, the champs) and this has to be one of the two or three most impressive wins of the year. Possibly even *the* most impressive when you consider how soundly the Ws best them down, without any anomalous advantage in three point variance, turnovers, etc.

• Five Alarm Freddy (6 ♡):

  Ted Cruz and Grayson Allen both have a weird fetish for inappropriate “trips”.

• Truckeeman (5 ♡):

  You don't seem to be a big fan of "Ted Cruz Jr."

• PGBreaker (4 ♡):

  May I present for your consideration...JFK...Jonathan 'Freight-train' Kuminga

• DFiB (3 ♡):

  Eric, in March, the Bucks have played two road games, one of them was in Chicago, an hour down the road. They also hadn’t played since Wednesday. They may not have prepared themselves to attack Poole, but it wasn’t because they’ve been on the road and unable to practice or something.

Post-game party: Dubs take care of business…

Steph gets double teamed all game, makes a lot of space

• Eric Apricot (22 ♡):

  I just wanted to tell you that I love you

• DFiB (16 ♡):

  I’m so proud of Jordan. He’s gone through so much turmoil and change this year, from blitzing the preseason to struggling coming out of the gate, finding his playmaking rhythm, going out with COVID, figuring it how to work with Klay, getting stuck with tough lineups, and now he’s the guy running the show with Steph and Klay on the court… think about that. That’s crazy.

• Abaddon (16 ♡):

  What’s really encouraging is it’s not like the bucks were playing poorly. We just played really well.

• vignette17 (15 ♡):

  Jordan Poole season TS%: .599. That's, uh, pretty good young fella. Steph's only at .597. Poole is starting to look a lot like his preseason self, which is really, really good. Basically Steph-lite with a nice shot instead of the best shot of all time. I'm back to all in on the kid.

• Dilly (15 ♡):

  More ice cream of joy!! Much joy. With chocolate & caramel syrup. And a cookie. Great game & mostly well-played.

Poole fits in alongside Splash Brothers as…

One more game to go until Draymond Green returns? Can it be real?

• Trogdor (19 ♡):

  So Wiggins is a career 72.4% free-thrower. In March he's shooting 22.2%, which is 50.2% below his career average.

  According to the principle of regression to the mean, he'll soon have a month where he's shooting 50.2% above his career average. Therefore, sometime during the playoffs he's going to have a breakout FT shooting month where he shoots at 122.6%!!!

  I'm doing this correctly, right?

  Hashtag science.

• Janet (16 ♡):

  So the tiny blue ball hurtles through space spinning on its axis at 1000 mph, orbiting the sun at 67k mph, while our solar system whirls around our galaxy at 490k mph. Still, I am obsessed with the Warriors winning tonight.

• Goofus (15 ♡):

  OT: New 5-minute video from our recent Humpback Whale encounters, which have included a couple of times where the whales swam up so close to Jenny that she could have touched them. It’s as if they see the camera and say “I’m ready for my closeup!” (There’s also a little bonus footage of a Spotted Eagle Ray that was swimming around below us.)

Warriors outlast Nuggets in battle of…

The NBA regular season is a meatgrinder.

• Bel (16 ♡):

  Per Kerr after the Denver game on Thursday:

  "The only thing that I'm stressing with Klay right now is to just get great shots. If he's not open, to move it on. I think we've really tried to give Klay a lot of freedom in his comeback, just to be able to feel the game. Not to harp on mistakes and that sort of thing. But the bottom line is we are at our best when the ball moves, and we're getting good shots."

  Kerr hit it on the nail (that's why he's the coach!).

• belilaugh (16 ♡):

  Don't look now (or do, if you insist) but Curry's 2P% is up to 52.2%. Certainly lower than last season, 2017-2018, or 2015-2016, but in line with 2018-2019, 2016-2017, and 2014-2015.

  What was feared to be a permanent decline in finishing around the rim could perhaps just be some year-to-year variation.

• Irrationally optimistic (11 ♡):

  All I know is that I was very happy to watch Poole de-randomize the ending of that game.

  It was getting a little nerve wracking trying to figure out exactly how they were going to find a way to lose based on recent case studies.

• Airgetlam (10 ♡):

  well Shannon, even if Steph wanted to do that, he's not the person responsible for those decisions. only an extremely foolish, shortsighted organization would allow their star players to influence their business decisions to that degree. 😜

Explain 1 Play: New closing lineup of Steph…

We take every win we can get

• Eric Apricot (10 ♡):

  Glad you are enjoying the eggplanations and silly yolks

• Benvolio (8 ♡):

  I’m always a little sad when they’re ova.

• Renailun (7 ♡):

  Love the commentary, Apricot! You crack basketball open like an egg for me.

• Captain Jack (6 ♡):

  The power of Klay y'all. That action between him and Steph on that first Poole dagger occupied all 5 guys on the floor even though Klay was like 0-20 in the second half. The respect the Splash Brothers command is second to none. I hope teams are watching that tape now because in the future with Draymond instead of Loon it'll truly be pick your poison. Wiggs better practice his open dunks because he'll see a lot of those

• void (2 ♡):

  I feel like you're trolling me now with Steph's defenders employment status, and I'm here for it

Post Game Party: Feisty Warriors pass the…

Wiseman looks rusty in return, but still very, very big

• Dilly (19 ♡):

  Ice cream of joy tastes so much better.

• Asher B. (17 ♡):

  Kuminga can face up, he can hit the three, he can pass, he can rebound, he plays great on-ball defense, he's coachable, he contributes to the community, he can make cats and dogs be friends, he is single-handedly reversing climate change, he can climb Everest without extra oxygen or ANY oxygen at all, he's 95% through writing the Great American Novel, he can make Kyrie understand vaccinati -- OK, no.

• Asher B. (15 ♡):

  Game ball obviously goes to -- ha! Thought you knew? Looney! 5-5 with 7 reb 5 assists and holding the MVP to 9-21.

• Five Alarm Freddy (14 ♡):

  The wide open corner three that was absolutely railed by a 19 year old rookie should silence all of the nonsense about trading for a vet.

• storytellinsabrina (14 ♡):

  He deserves more than 20ish games to adjust from being out 2.5 years.

• Arash (12 ♡):

  Thoughts on Wisemans First Game

  1) Flashed lack of hands which was a problem early in his season but he improved as time went on so hopefully he hasn't regressed

  2) Showed enhanced timing on screens and knowing when to hand off/screen within the flow of the offense even if his decision making of when to roll could still use some improvements

  3) Noticeable increase in bulk which allowed for him to not get knocked around when going for rebounds (should have had far more than six but his teammates kept stealing them). The next step for him is improving his positioning because he's strong enough that once he gets it he can't simply get booted from the spot

  4) Flashed two left handed hook shots + a face up midranger which were within his wheel house last year but were nowhere near this smooth/quick.

  5) Defensively he left a lot to be desired as he was consistently late to help rotations resulting in uneffective contests + his pick and roll drop coverage leaves FAR too much space for a midrange jumper and will have Wiseman eaten alive in the NBA

  6) Was fantastically productive despite slow start dropping 18 points in like 17 minutes which has me looking forward to how he can do on Sunday