Curry scrimmage goes well, pointing to game 1 return

Plus: Dub Nation HQ Comments of Week, and open thread

As the days tick down towards the start of the Golden State Warriors’ chase for another championship, signs of Stephen Curry’s return are increasingly promising.

According to the process, Curry fully participated in practice yesterday, followed by some full on scrimmages today:

Anthony Slater @anthonyVslater

Steph Curry scrimmaged today. Three 6-minute segments. Kerr: "Felt good. Told me it's another checkpoint to hit. He's optimistic he'll play Saturday." Warriors not making anything official. But everything clearly remains on track.

On track!

Playoffs Play-in viewing & open thread

Dubs take care of business on the court, DNHQ commenters take care of business on the keyboard!

Who do we want to win?

• Goofus (34 ♡):

  Good news: They got all the cancer out of my arm 👍🏼

  Bad news: Got a lovely staph infection in the wound 👎🏼

• Sleepy Freud (18 ♡):

  So with slightly worse luck from the 2021 lotto gods, our #7 Jonathan Kuminga pick officially would have been … the #19 pick in this year’s cruddy draft.

  Or likely worse than that, since in that multiverse the Wolves would have someone like Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes or Kuminga added to their already exciting young roster.

• storytellinsabrina (14 ♡):

  💪

  Connor Letourneau

  @Con_Chron

  ·

  1m

  Stephen Curry practiced fully with the team today. He didn’t scrimmage because the team didn’t scrimmage, but he did all the drills, etc. Kerr said “it’s looking pretty good” that Curry would scrimmage tomorrow.

• Sleepy Freud (13 ♡):

  Not even the upside-down Bulls logo, which looks like a robot reading a bible, or possibly having sex with a crab? :-)

• storytellinsabrina (12 ♡):

  Before anything...a moment of silence for the victims of today's subway shooting in Brooklyn. 😞💔

Explain One Play: Is Klay Back? Good shots…

41 points are hard to argue with

• Eric Apricot (18 ♡):

  Low-key good news:

Monte Poole @MontePooleNBCS

16 teams in the NBA playoffs will be 'thrilled' to see that Tony Brothers is, once again, in the rotation of postseason officials. Seriously, tho, Stephen Curry and the Warriors will be delighted that Marat Kogut is NOT in the rotation.

• storytellinsabrina (14 ♡):

  Good advice for just about anything in life.

  Mark Haynes

  @markhaynesnba

  Steve Kerr to his players making their playoff debut:

  “Turn off your phones, don't listen to the media...There's a lot of attention, a lot of hype, a lot of focus, and you can't get wrapped up in the judgment and criticism that's coming because we're all under the spotlight.”

• DFiB (14 ♡):

  I expect Kerr will give Jonathan a few minutes at the end of the first quarter/start of second and see how he's reading things in game 1 against Denver, and go from there.

  TBH, he and Moody do gum up the system a bit on both offense and defense. Yes, they add a bunch of capability & skills, but it's not predictable how they will react in the "read and react" offensive & defensive sets... yet. Give them the offseason, and they'll be flying next season. The kids are gonna be alright, don't need to worry so much about them.

• Trogdor (13 ♡):

  Can I tell you how much I'd love for the Lakers to hire Mark Jackson? Cus I'd kind of love that. It would be hilarious.

• ServantOfLuna (13 ♡):

  Zion seems like a talented but injury-prone center due to his weight issues. I'm gonna pass on him.

• Trogdor (13 ♡):

  Serious question that this E1P conspicuously omits:

  Has anyone ever gotten fired for following Klay????

• Abaddon (12 ♡):

  Russ on Vogel:

  "I think it's unfortunate, to be honest, because I've never had an issue with any of my coaches before," Westbrook said on Monday after his exit interview with the Lakers' front office. "I'm not sure what his issue was with me or I'm not sure why, but I can't really give you an answer to why we really never connected."

  His issue with you was you aren't as good as you think you are, Russ. Happy to help.

• storytellinsabrina (11 ♡):

  Ryan Blackburn

  @NBABlackburn

  ·

  13h

  The three players in the ENTIRE NBA with the most scoring possessions running off of screens during the regular season:

  Steph Curry - 256, 1.05 ppp

  Klay Thompson - 180, 0.91 ppp

  Jordan Poole - 165, 1.14 ppp

• hammystyle (11 ♡):

  Look, from Russ's perspective I get it to a certain extent. Why trade for Russell Westbrook and not let him be who he is?

  That said, this is incredibly self serving and the whole thing is not Vogel's fault.

  At the time of the trade I said it was one of the weirdest, mind-bogglingly bad trades I can remember. There were so many other options that were clearly better. It wasn't JUST that Russ was going to be a really bad fit with LeBron. But it's that they traded away two versatile defenders in KCP and Kuzma. KCP's a very solid shooter, and Kuzma is inconsistent but was coming off a solid year. They're both pretty durable. They took on an extra $8M in salary in the trade which is almost exactly what Alex Caruso is making this year, and they let him go due to luxury tax concerns. They completely blew a hole in their defense.

  It's akin to the Warriors trading Looney, Wiggins, and GP 2 for Westbrook, and then not re-signing Otto Porter due to cap concerns. That'd be insane right? We could be mad at Westbrook, but the ire should be pointed at the moron who thought that was going to work.

  I just can't remember a contender creating a devastating self inflicted wound like this that was so easily avoidable.

• ServantOfLuna (11 ♡):

  >Got fat on purpose

  Are you sure about that?

  >worth giving up young assets and draft pics

  No. If he was serious about playing the NBA, he would go to the gym everyday to work out and eat healthy foods to stay in shape. It's not worth getting him if he won't manage his weight properly.

• Abaddon (11 ♡):

  > Unfortunately public opinion in 2016 playoffs put the league in a tough spot to where they couldn't avoid being part of the story one way or the other: Either suspend Draymond and be part of the story or don't suspend him and be part of the story.

  The clear answer was to follow their own rules, and issue Draymond a TECHNICAL FOUL which was clearly the only possible penalty given he very obviously never touched LeBron. However, that would not have resulted in a suspension. So they chose to tip the scales and give him a flagrant foul in a sequence where he never touched the other guy - a clear violation of their own rules. At the time the Warriors were up 3-1 and had handled the Cavs and I don't believe the league office believed the Cavs would come back and sweep the Dubs the rest of the way.

  Water under the bridge... kinda... sorta...

Post-Game: WARRIORS WIN! #3 SEED HERE WE GO…

TIME TO EAT SOME NUGGETS BABY!

• Sleepy Freud (23 ♡):

  @Belilaugh below: Moody also finishes the season with .573 True Shooting, better than all 2021 lotto picks not named Kuminga.

• Asher B. (18 ♡):

  Let's just remember where we were one year ago: in the play-in with a pared-down team that Steph had to carry to the play-in and the ignominy of watching LeBron beat us with a three he usually would miss. Klay still nowhere to be seen except on the Bay. I am extremely good with what one year's difference has brought. Let's go!

• Trogdor (13 ♡):

  Well everyone, that was a fun season. Thanks for the good times, and I'll see all of you next ye...

  Wait, playoffs? We talking about playoffs??? We've got the playoffs again?????

  Nevermind then, locked and loaded. Let's roll!

• belilaugh (11 ♡):

  Warriors end the season 5-5 when Curry doesn't play and Draymond does.

  Also, Moses Moody was shooting 12% from three as of January 18th. He ends the season shooting 36% from three.

• belilaugh (9 ♡):

  There was nothing more improbable this season than Looney playing all 82 games. Not GP2's emergence, not Klay looking this good, nothing.

• Easy 8 (8 ♡):

  It's crazy that Wiggins is the #4 scoring option and Kuminga is on the bench and the #5 scoring option.

  Also, with Miami's loss tonight, should we make it to the Finals (wishfully thinking ahead, but starting to look possible), we will have home court advantage over everyone in the East.

• Backpack23 (8 ♡):

  Whilst we a talking things to look forward to…can’t wait for that Iggy strip combined with Dray help, transition 3 to a running Steph or Klay. Splash. Timeout other team. Then that ridiculous, mildly obnoxious buda beep buda beep track blaring over the chase center speakers to reflect the insanity that just took over the game

Explain One Play: is Jonathan Kuminga ready…

Plus we honor the memory of Jordan Poole's late wrist wrap, Wristy

• Eric Apricot (14 ♡):

  Insane that Steph can miss 18 games and have a widely panned “slump” season and still beat the #2 spot by 28 3FGs, the same margin as between #2 and #8.

• GlueAndBold (14 ♡):

  Wristy is absolutely what my kids would name a wrist band. I have thus concluded that Eric Apricot is between the age of 7 and 9, which, honestly, makes me appreciate his work more.

• Sleepy Freud (10 ♡):

  Breaking news: Steph Curry officially won the 2021-22 three-point crown today, as Buddy Hield failed to hit 28 threes in the Pacers/Nets game.

  Steph’s 285 made threes is the 9th highest total in NBA history. He now holds six of the 10 top seasons, with Harden (x 2), Paul George, and Buddy Hield holding the other four spots.

• Asher B. (8 ♡):

  Great breakdown. I hope Kerr is paying as close attention to everything Kuminga is doing right as this breakdown is. I went on a mini (OK not that mini ) rant in yesterday's thread about Kuminga's value, and how frustrating it is to see Kerr limit his minutes so drastically. In mid season he was earning more and more minutes, and then it fell off a cliff. Yesterday he wasn't allowed to play in the 1st or 3rd quarters because -- well, I don't know why. Now, I respect the view that as a rookie Kuminga makes mistakes and has weaknesses in his game. Totally agree. But ALL players have weaknesses, rookie or not. Iguodala is getting more minutes and is a poor outside shot. Damion Lee is getting more minutes and let's see him pull a Kuminga and get a massive offensive rebound and dunk it on everyone. Looney can't shoot dribble or even run at NBA levels, but Kerr has found a way to optimize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. That's good coaching. That's all I'm saying about Kuminga. Does he foul too much? Yes. Coach him not to. (And I know that they are trying.) But as the breakdown shows, he is doing a great deal right, and with *amazing* energy. His switching on EVERYONE on defense was an absolute nightmare for the Spurs, and he has the athleticism and energy to do a lot more of that. Draymond is so much wiser a defender, but even Draymond can't get from point A to point B like that. And the errors Kuminga makes are not horrid Javale McGee idiocies. He gets a lot of bullshit calls from refs, and he is sometimes confused on offense and in the wrong spot on defense. Fair. But also: on offense, the Warriors rarely do anything to help Kuminga out. He's a last option. Time running out on the clock? As the breakdown shows, that's the moment when Draymond dumps it to Kuminga, who has to force something. Can someone set a screen for this guy earlier in the clock? Let him get switched onto a smaller player. Let him get a first step to the basket. He will posterize the league. Right now it's like watching Giannis stand in the corner while Holiday and Middleton run a two man game, which is fine, but HEY THAT'S GIANNIS comes to mind. We drafted Kuminga with a high pick, we've given him decent rookie minutes, we're developing him, and then I don't know what to make of Kerr's postgame. It was like "Jonathan is very good, we see that, he's earned minutes in the playoffs, so .... he'll probably come in in spots after the first and second teams." That's just not the move, bro. You're saying he's your eleventh guy. I see him as our seventh guy. Today. Not five years from now when he has learned every nuance and never commits stupid fouls. Sure that would be better, but you take what you can get, and he is offering so much more than is being taken. Rant (temporarily) over.

Post-game open thread: Warriors beat Spurs…

We take those

• Trogdor (15 ♡):

  Don't look now, but the Warriors are now tied for both the longest current winning streak in the western conference and second longest in the NBA!

  Let's call that momentum!

• belilaugh (15 ♡):

  Congratulations to Kevon Looney for playing in all 82 games for the first time in his career (barring an illness or freak accident).

• g8tgod (7 ♡):

  Just here to celebrate a bit late. I don't really care about seeding at this point; just stay healthy and bring back Steph. It's been a great regular season under adverse circumstances. I think they've done well. :-)

• Sleepy Freud (7 ♡):

  I feel like that’s reason enough to want to deprive them of it.

• Truckeeman (7 ♡):

  I know you would have preferred to see more Kuminga - so would I. But I think you are short-changing Kerr. He's a grown up. He has seen LOTS of successes and failures in the NBA. No doubt he has seen some wonderfully talented players that went wasting because of one thing or another. I think he cares more about a person's long-term development than their short-term successes. I think he has very defined values that sometimes restrict what a player can accomplish - not putting Klay in for the 4th quarter of his 60 points in 29 minutes game comes to mind, but there were a few like that for Steph too.

  So while we fans want more JK, Kerr wants a JK for a longer time, with more success, with a balanced perspective on what is important - in life as well as basketball. Of course, this could all be b.s., and Kerr is a myopic control freak who hates rooks and loves vets. I just don't think so. TK's "The Athletic" interview with Kerr recently gives a much richer perspective on his thinking.

• Richard (6 ♡):

  A fine win, much good to see here.

  But, my favorite stat(s): Poole going 11 for 11 from the free throw line while stumbling through 1 for 11 from 3 point land. Synchronicity? The magic of 11? Poole goes to 11? It’s always a bit sad when bombers go cold but not letting that disrupt his gimme action on FT’s shows a level of pro confidence that I might not have predicted at the start of the season.

  Awesome!

• Klaymation (6 ♡):

  Just finished the recording, and I rank this as one of the best wins of the year.

  Without Curry and no-longer-forcing-it Klay, the team fought through a game against a motivated opponent when their heir apparent couldn't throw it in the ocean despite taking only excellent looks.

  Playoff-quality stuff across the lineup, I thought Poole's decision making was superb and some days the shot just doesn't fall.

  Andre looks 32 again.

  I would not bet against this team in any round of the playoffs.

Just two more games, and a playoff picture…

Jazz or Nuggets in the first round? No easy ones in the second.

• Sleepy Freud (12 ♡):

  Good. I want home court v. Dallas, Boston, Miami, or Milwaukee; and I’m perfectly fine with the #6 Denver / #2 Memphis bracket as opposed to #5 Utah / #1 Phoenix.

  And I like Warrior wins way more than Warrior losses.

• DFiB (11 ♡):

  Just win baby… and rest people on schedule. Nobody wins by deliberately losing to avoid an opponent. Sports Gods heavily frown on the behavior.

• PlainCandleLight (7 ♡):

  BR’s MIP ranking:

NBACentral @TheNBACentral

Bleacher Report’s Most Improved Player Rankings: 1. Jordan Poole 2. Darius Garland 3. Ja Morant 4. Dejounte Murray 5. Anfernee Simons

• P.S. I am a Sabrina’s assistant. 🙂

• storytellinsabrina (6 ♡):

  Never let anyone convince you that you shouldn't taste test the candy that goes into the kids Easter eggs. 😋

  -Random Sab

• Goofus (6 ♡):

  Related: Halloween is for stealing your kids’ candy after they go to bed.

• Asher B. (5 ♡):

  Embiid just dropped 41 and 20 on 14-17. That seems like rather efficient shooting. If I were an MVP voter I might be tempted to give him, Giannis and Jokic each a third of the vote because it really is damn close. Each of them if losing the MVP can say "I really don't know what more I'm supposed to do around here."

• ServantOfLuna (5 ♡):

  Good news: Warriors defensive efficiency is #1 and tied with the Celtics according to ESPN Hollinger team stats.

  Bad news: Warriors offensive efficiency has fallen to #15 in the league.

• storytellinsabrina (5 ♡):

  I think when it comes to recovery time between games it doesn't really make a difference how many minutes are played. There's warm up minutes on game days too... actually there's a lot that goes into game day preparation as far as physical and mental stress before tip-off. Vs...straight up rest.

Asking DNHQ: How important is homecourt…

They balled out at Chase Center this year, folks. But are you confident that building will have the same intimidating aura as Oracle?

• DFiB (21 ♡):

  So, Klay's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Dray's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Dre's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Gary's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Nemanja's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Andrew's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

  So, Jordan's rounding into form... that's pretty nice.

• belilaugh (13 ♡):

  My hottest take is that the Warrior homecourt advantage is like 25% better when they have a yellow court instead of this dark blue bullshit.

• Joe Barely Cares (12 ♡):

  Kerr ball has changed the whole NBA, not just the Dubs.

• pooryorick (12 ♡):

  I remember well those 2 loss seasons at Roaracle when opposing teams would just lie down and play dead in the 2nd Half while we chanted WARRIORS! WARRIORS!! WARRIORS!!!!!, that’s the closest I’ll ever come to experiencing the Roman Colosseum in its heyday

• Hashemite Kingdom (11 ♡):

  That's OK.

  Six weeks ago, it was "get rid of Poole, he sucks."

  Two weeks ago, it was "it's time to move on from Klay, he sucks."

  Now it's "Kerr sucks."

  Yawn.

• Goofus (10 ♡):

  Assuming the starters are Steph-Klay-Wiggins-Dray-Looney, I can’t stop thinking about what a strength our bench could be. Through the season, they’ve been hit by injuries AND thrust into bigger roles because of injured starters, but as bench guys, Poole-Payton-Iggy-Porter-Bjelica give the team high BBIQ, playmaking, handles, shooting and defense and it’s easy to envision any or all of them stepping up big in the post-season. Add in Kuminga as sort of a wild card, and I love all the options the team has and am not really bothered that some big plodder like Robin Lopez isn’t on the team.

Post Game Party Thread: Poole sets new career…

Warriors win!!

• belilaugh (20 ♡):

  Man, those Lakers kinda played the Warriors tough tonight. Hopefully won't have to see them in the playoffs.

• Trogdor (16 ♡):

  So let's all take this moment to once again remember that Bazemore left years and money on the table to go play with the Lakers for more minutes and a better chance at a championship.

• Captain Jack (14 ♡):

  A solid win to stay ahead of Dallas.

  Also fuck Danny Green and Marcus Smart.

  Austin Rivers sucks. Good night.

• Klaymation (12 ♡):

  So many positives right now, Klay's shot selection is back, Andre looks super energetic, the second unit is gelling. Wiggins back to solid.

• The Sword Of The Morning (12 ♡):

  If I came in with the explicit purpose of sabotaging the Lakers this past offseason, I would not have been able to do a better job than Pelinka has done. Kudos.

• belilaugh (10 ♡):

  I don't think he's lost Kerr's faith, I think he's suffering from Curry being out. Imo just like how Draymond activates Bjelica, Curry activates Kuminga.

  And also Kerr is prioritizing winning over development so Kuminga probably has to make a positive impact in his first half stint to earn second half minutes, short leash.

• Captain Jack (10 ♡):

  Wiggins with the iconic Wiggins stat line

  17 points / 4 rebs / 1ast

• belilaugh (8 ♡):

  I don't think there's anything wrong with what Kerr is doing

• Klon (8 ♡):

  Otto Porter FG%: 33%

  Otto Porter: +35

  Amazing, I love this statline on so many levels.

Warriors, Lakers, on two sides of a wild…

Curry: "I'm good right now" quip shows how far the Warriors have come

• Goofus (24 ♡):

  Trading in my latest melanoma (the bad skin cancer that killed Bob Marley) for a new scar today. It looks like they caught it early, but all these scars has me looking like I had a rough 3-way with Freddy Krueger and Edward Scissorhands.

  Hoping it’s an open-and-shut case so I can get home in time to watch the game. I’m also planning on wearing my new #fuckcancer t-shirt I bought in Ozzyman’s fundraiser for childhood cancer.

• Klon (15 ♡):

  "For a team that has been defined lately by the so-called “bridge the gap” approach, Poole could well be the player that serves as the seed for the next core."

  Honestly, I can't say this description is sufficient anymore. Being a "seed for the next core" still implies a long-away future; given his play and his obvious positive influence on our team now, the reality is that Poole is not only the future, he is well on his way to being the present (give him a good playoff run after this long 20+-point streak and he is there). One of the essential questions for this franchise in the very near future is whether the Warriors, the front office and Dubnation are ready to hand over the team to that new present.

  That, however is the future: tonight is stomping the Lakers into the dirt.

• g8tgod (10 ♡):

  The Curry response to the LBJ desire to play with him was perfect. The guy is ready for his Senate run -- in about 10 years, after he's put all of the 3 point records way out of reach and won another championship or seven.

  Also, thank you for the chart of positive net impact. It shows how important JP3 has become -- and how far above even that high level Steph is. Phenomenal.

• The Sword Of The Morning (9 ♡):

  I loved Steph's response lol. If he said anything ambiguous, the media would go in a frenzy and there would be a 100 articles on how the Warriors should trade all the young pieces (Kuminga/Wiseman/Moody/Poole + Wiggins) for LeBron. They still might (because it drives clicks for obvious reasons), but at least the guys in the locker room see that Steph is fully committed and trusts the guys around him. A+ leadership as always.