99 Comments

One of the interesting things about the Wiggins play here is that I would have thought that a vet like Wiggins would know where to set up this kind of action.

He's been in the Warrior system for four years now. How is it that nobody ever said, "Hey, set the DHO action where you can attack the basket as a counter?"

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Q: Name this NBA player:

15.9 ppg on .517 TS (.224 from 3)

A: Tyrese Haliburton since the AS break.

And he’s stinking up the joint again tonight. What happened? Dude looked like an unholy long-wingspanned combo of SC30 and CP3 to start the season. Is he playing hurt?

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Mar 18Liked by Eric Apricot

Seems to be NBA Kuminga week:

ESPN has a story up about Dray mentoring JK.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39755710/golden-state-warriors-draymond-green-jonthan-kuminga-bond

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How is it that the team has to rely on Draymond to coach JK through the season? It feels like there are 20 assistants sitting on and behind the bench during the game.

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There's a bunch of collaborative things that need to happen in immediate real time on the court. These are things that teammates need to learn to work out together (e.g. When CP3 tells BP to "go through", BP needs to know what CP3 means, when Steph's defender is in trail position off the P&R, TJD needs to know what Steph is looking at to decide whether to throw the lob, put up the floater, so he's working in sync). Teammates need to work these out.

On top of that, every player needs to know they have the trust of their teammates in order to perform at their best. Steph needs to know that his teammates trust him to make those early shot clock 30 footers, and JK needs to know his teammates trust him too.

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Player mentorship has always been a very important part of basketball. There are different things that a player can teach you and show you and different ways a player can connect and communicate with you that a coach cannot. Both are important parts of a player’s growth.

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On the offensive side, Kuminga has shot 73% directly off passes from Green -- the second highest percentage between two teammates in the league.

They also have the best defensive efficiency of any two players in the Western Conference to play more than 500 minutes together, according to Second Spectrum.

Good stuff there, thanks for posting the link!

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

Although I imagine many noticed it, I haven't seen much discussion of Kerr's tight rotation in the last game.

Kerr only played 9 in the Lakers game. I'm guessing we might see more players for the Knicks (AD/Lebron kind of determine who is playable against LAL).

But, we might not ... we might be seeing the playoff rotation now.

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Yeah, and Gary only played a few minutes so it was more like an 8 1/2 man rotation.

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http://powerrankingsguru.com/nba/strength-of-schedule.php

Mavs have the easiest remaining SoS according to Power Rankings Guru. The easy opponents remaining in their schedule are the Spurs, Jazz (x2), Rockets (x2), Hawks, Hornets, and Pistons.

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I don't see a path to #8 if we don't sweep this homestand.

I can see one of Dallas, Phoenix, or Sacto going .500 the rest of the way, but we would still need to go 12-4.

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If we sweep Dallas and Dallas sweeps Sacramento, we got a shot! But sweeping this homestand is pretty critical... can only happen with a win tonight.

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If we sweep Dallas, I'd rather Sacramento sweep Dallas too.

We only need to pass one team.

The problem with Dallas is that other than those 4 games they only face two teams over .500 (although they are on the road a lot.)

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I suppose that's fair... Phoenix is gonna have a realllllyyyy hard end of the year. I'll accept your proposal. Dallas loses all remaining games to northern California teams.

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Yeah, looking at the schedules though, Sacramento's looks clearly tougher.

They still face Dallasx2, Orlando, LAC, Knicks, Boston, OKC, NOP, and Phoenix.

So maybe you'd be right to root for Dallas.

That said, as you pointed out it's actually Phoenix with the worst situation:

4 cupcakes then Denver, OKC, NOP, Cavs, TWolvesx2, LACx2, Kings!

We just need to survive this first week still in the hunt.

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Yup... we got a pretty easy closing schedule, relative to our peers... and our tough games in that closing schedule are against our peers, so it'll be put up or shut up time.

Just gotta get through this next stretch of 6 tough games (NYK, MEM, IND, @MIN, @MIA, @ORL) at least 4-2, prefer 5-1, and we got a shot at getting up to 7 or 8 (or even better if we can close really strong and get some help).

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Honestly, I'd be happy with 4-2. Hard to see us winning 2 of the 3 road games.

That would let us go 1-1 against Dallas, split with the Lakers and Pelicans, and still finish 12-4.

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Is it game time yet?

How about now?

Now?

Gaw.

My team is looking good again and this day is taking Forever.

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Two more JK articles from his Dubs Talk visit:

https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/dubs-talk/jonathan-kuminga-shares-qualities-bucks-giannis/1710399/

“And it’s crazy we just played Boston and at the end of the game I had a talk with Jaylen Brown…And he said ‘Don’t let anybody tell you can’t do anything,’ and while I had that in my mindset, just seeing how his career went to where he’s at right now, there were a lot of people who told him he couldn’t do certain things…and that’s how I look at it, I can do so much that I don’t even think I can do.”

https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/dubs-talk/jonathan-kuminga-steve-kerr-coaches-harder/1710588/

Kuminga then was asked about his teammates, many of whom are seriously invested in his development, and the 21-year-old was quick to point out how impactful Kevon Looney has been as a mentor.

“I’ve got Loon,” Kuminga explained. “Loon is one of those guys who just talks to me every day and check on me. People just don’t always see it since he’s not loud.”

Shout out to Loon, making an impact even with fewer minutes.

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I’m always skeptical of how celebrities present themselves vs. the people they really are, but holy shit there’s so many reasons to believe he’s a good guy.

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They've milked that one interview into like 7 articles now... they're pushing the guy really, really hard. I'm not disagreeing that they should be pushing the guy, and I know they don't have a ton of time to sit down with him, but they're seriously milking it, haha...

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I'm looking for three or four more articles out of this or I'll be disappointed

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

If JK went BB-Ref and checked Jaylen's first three NBA seasons ... he'd note that he was **way better** than JB at the same age. Way better scorer (by volume and especially by efficiency), way better FT shooter, way better rebounder, way better passer.

Oh, and JK also entered the NBA a full year younger than JB.

Aim higher, Jonathan! 😊

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That dump off to TJD against the double team last night was 👨‍🍳💋🥽

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Kevon Looney: the grizzled vet who's all of 28.

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

His hips are 78 tho... and you know Shakira's right about hips...

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Knicks defense is still good even without Anunoby, so the Warriors need to stay focused if they want to win. Last time both teams played against each other, Warriors shot 45%, 14/44 threes, and 8/16 FTs, while the Knicks shot only 37%, 12/39 threes, and 17/24 FTs. Warriors had 53 rebounds (16 off.) while the Knicks had 56 rebounds (17 off.).

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Holy crap...their free throw defense is outstanding to hold the Warriors to 50%.

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My unsolicited coaching advice: find Hart and box him out. If they can do that, they should be fine.

That said, I'm expecting DDV to go off tonight, since he should already be comfortable playing in Chase.

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Go Hawks! Go Grizz!

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Mar 18Liked by Eric Apricot

This is like when you demand trial by combat and nobody stands up to be your champion so you get a court-appointed defender.

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Hey! The Hawks just CRUSHED the Clippers! And the Lakers are maybe missing AD, which would mean they have ~zero defense.

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Knicks post-ASB stats:

Offense:

28 in points scored (100.3)

30 in points in paint (40.8)

15 in fastbreak points (13.6)

24 in offensive efficiency

28 in shooting % (42.9%)

28 in three point % (33.5%)

2 in off. rebounding % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (33.3%)

20 in def. rebounding % (71.4%)

5 in total rebounding % !!!!!!!!!!! (52.1%)

12 in opponent blocks (4.9)

16 in steals (7.4)

25 in assists (24.3)

25 in turnovers (14.8)

Defense:

1 in points allowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (98.2)

1 in opponent points in paint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (42.0)

5 in opponent fastbreak points!!!!!!!!!!!! (11.8)

1 in defensive efficiency!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 in opponent shooting % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (43.9%)

11 in opponent three point % (35.0)

11 in blocks (5.4)

18 in steals (7.4)

1 in opponent assists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (22.6)

16 in opponent turnovers (13.5)

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Knicks stats:

Offense:

24 in points scored (111.9)

19 in points in paint (48.6)

13 in fastbreak points (14.8)

14 in offensive efficiency

25 in shooting % (46.1%)

18 in three point % (36.2%)

23 in two point % (52.8%)

1 in off. rebound % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (29.6%)

10 in def. rebound % ! (76.6%)

1 in total rebound % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (52.8%)

19 in opponent blocks (5.3)

8 in opponent steals!!!!!! (6.8)

29 in assists (23.8)

17 in turnovers (13.4)

Defense:

2 in points allowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (107.8)

4 in opponent points in paint!!!!!!!!!!!!! (46.6)

16 in opponent fastbreak points (14.3)

5 in defensive efficiency!!!!!!!!!!!!

9 in opponent shooting % !!!! (46.7%)

15 in opponent three point % (36.6%)

8 in opponent two point % !!!!!! (53.5%)

28 in blocks (4.1)

19 in steals (7.3)

8 in opponent assists!!!!! (25.4)

22 in opponent turnovers (13.0)

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Klay needs 3 more 3PM than Donte to take over 3rd in 3PM in the NBA this season. Go Klay!

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In other 3PM news, Steph is now up to the #8 best all-time single season, trailing only Harden, Klay, himself, himself, himself, Harden, and himself. Unfortunately, passing that #2 Harden season is unlikely at this point; he is likely to finish around 370 if he doesn't miss any more games, which would fall just short.

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Needs 7 more to hit 300 threes in a season for the fifth time in his career (he's had a bunch of seasons in the high 200s). Might as well get that out of the way tonight!

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Has Steph hit any milestone achievements against the Knicks? Hmm...

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

Nothing important I am sure…

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I heard on NBA news last night that the Heat guy - Duncan Robinson - was the fastest to 1000 3-pointers in the NBA - I was shocked - I thought Curry had easily locked that Stat up - Damn STEPH has changed the NBA!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2024/03/17/duncan-robinson-becomes-fastest-nba-player-ever-to-make-1000-three-pointers/73010151007/

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And in the years since Robinson entered the league, Steph has made 1554 regular season threes.

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now, thats a great point!

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

Steph wasn't that prolific in his early years, as he had to fight against dogma and invent, well, himself. When you talk about Steph changing the NBA, it's literally true, and it is worth remembering he wasn't allowed to be himself early on, he had to force it to happen.

Even then, there was Steph 1.0 under Mark Jackson - which seemed plenty impressive at the time - but it wasn't until Kerr arrived that we were treated to Steph 2.0 and Unanimous.

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Steph also lost 3/4 of his 3rd season to ankle issues.

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Fastest is in games, not seasons, so not relevant here, definitely another factor career-wise though.

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Oh, good to know.

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OT: My own E1P (including a Warriors reference) breaking down footage I captured two days ago of seagulls attacking a bald eagle that flew into their midst. (2 minutes) https://youtu.be/G0_oW9Zqa9o?si=AiIuxBXOmrsREqAG

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Looked like WWII fighter aircraft strafing runs on a medium bomber!

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Mar 18·edited Mar 18

Well the Germans did have a bomber called the Condor (FW 200)

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Did the Germans use it to bomb Pearl Harbor?

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Bluto would say so.

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Good analogy

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author

Explain One Predator?

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Explain One Predator is pretty much what you just did with CP3 too!

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😁

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CP3 lecturing others about pushing the pace is rich irony at its finest.

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He's talking about 'when' to push the pace

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lol

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