Toughest divisions are the Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic has all five teams with a positive point differential on the season, the team currently in last (Toronto) is 12 and 15. But there isn't a lot of separation with the best team (Philly) at only 18 and 10.
The Pacific, meanwhile, has the Lakers and Clippers with (easily) the 2nd and 3rd best record in the league and third-place Phoenix is 17 and 9, easily the best record for a 3rd place team (Denver next at 15 and 11). The Kings bring up the rear as the only team with a negative point differential, but have managed to eke out a 12 and 15 record, good for 19th in the league.
Weakest divisions, meanwhile, are the Southeast and Southwest. The Southeast has all five teams with a negative point differential (Hawks are barely below zero) and the best team (Hornets) are two games below 0.500. The Southwest, meanwhile, has only one team with a (barely) positive point differential in Memphis, and the Spurs are the only team with a winning record.
If Steph can somehow maintain his last 10 game average # of 3pts over the rest of the season (a tall order, I know...but Steph does, historically, get *better* as the season goes on), he could break his own 3pt record even in a shortened season! 6.2 a game seems high, but the way Steph's been playing as the focus of our offense, it certainly doesn't seem impossible. At 6.2 a game (if I math'd right) he'd be at 412 by the end of 72.
Warriors match their win total from last year (15 in 65 games) in their 28th game. Pretty dramatic improvement. Looks like this Curry guy has had something to do with it.
Another high scoring game in the G League. This time Baby Dubs lost. Pretty sure their rim protection is really bad. They're doing great defending the perimeter but giving up an almost league worst volume and % on shots at the rim so far.
The point of interest is Jordan Poole had 32 pts yesterday, the second highest output by any player in the G League season so far. One interesting thing watching Jordan's play is that he's looked very happy to just be a cog facilitating the offense, often spacing in the corner and when he does get to be part of a play, often giving the ball up to a slightly more open teammate immediately after catching it. It kinda looks like playing with/practicing with the Warriors has been rubbing off on his game.
In this game the Baby Dubs got sloppy early in the 4th in a close game and got down by almost 20, and they went to Jordan to see if he could make something happen. And he had a pretty incredible sequence to almost steal the game in the 4Q:
The sequence of possessions starting at 7:10 in the 4th:
1) Poole beats his man to the basket and bumps into him before putting up a floater close to the basket that hangs on the rim then rolls off. Makes the FT (which is worth 2 pts, it's a G League thing). Almost had an and-1.
2) Gives the ball up quickly for a teammate open-ish 3 (missed).
3) Leaves his guy in the dust on the perimeter and makes the layup, gets clipped by the weak side help for the and-1. Made ft.
4) Defense isn't pushing up, center screens and Poole takes a deep 29 ft three from dead center, swish!
5) Nico passes to Poole as he makes a cut at the top of the key, Poole throws the ball ahead through two defenders and bursts through (splits the defense) then sidesteps back out to the 3 pt line throwing his defender off his trail. Takes the 3 very quickly off the stepback. And makes it? Wow. His defender stumbles into him after the shot, refs call a foul. Four point play, makes the FT.
Pool with 12 straight pts for Santa Cruz, in about two and half minutes.
6) Poole gets a strip on the next Raptors possession, gets called a foul because he was holding the guy's arm, which was outstretched to push him away, on the entry pass. A fair but borderline call.
7) Poole talks back to the ref on that call (he would have had a breakaway steal if it hadn't been called) and IMMEDIATELY gets called for another foul (like 3 seconds of play later) for bumping into a guy who was about to cut without the ball. Seems like G League refs really don't like disrespect and look out for each other.
8) On the following inbounds Nico with an incredible tip-of-the-fingers-deflection on defense followed by a throw-it-off-the-other-guy's-ankles-out-of-bounds-while-still-falling move.
Up to 3? draft picks leaves 1-2 spots open for Mulder, JTA or others? What are the rights to JTA next year if he gets this year’s spot? Mulder? The Warriors can’t offer Baze and Wannamaker much of a raise.
They need a bit more help, but this game is just another example of how uniquely dominant steph and draymond are as a duo with almost perfectly complimentary and elite skillsets
Meanwhile in Twolves-land:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30913665/sources-dangelo-russell-minnesota-timberwolves-set-knee-surgery
Just ran across this showing Steph's shots made/taken through 28 games. https://twitter.com/samesfandiari/status/1361745737587908608/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1361747021552488449%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsports.com%2Fbayarea%2Fwarriors%2Fsteph-curry-effusively-praised-mvp-talk-zach-lowe-john-hollinger
San Antonio & Charlotte latest teams to be affected by Covid-19, protocols, etc. Warriors scheduled to play Charlotte next Wednesday.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30911667/next-three-san-antonio-spurs-games-postponed-four-players-test-positive-covid-19
Starting to get deeper into the season, and we can see some divisions starting to separate themselves: https://www.espn.com/nba/standings/_/group/division.
Toughest divisions are the Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic has all five teams with a positive point differential on the season, the team currently in last (Toronto) is 12 and 15. But there isn't a lot of separation with the best team (Philly) at only 18 and 10.
The Pacific, meanwhile, has the Lakers and Clippers with (easily) the 2nd and 3rd best record in the league and third-place Phoenix is 17 and 9, easily the best record for a 3rd place team (Denver next at 15 and 11). The Kings bring up the rear as the only team with a negative point differential, but have managed to eke out a 12 and 15 record, good for 19th in the league.
Weakest divisions, meanwhile, are the Southeast and Southwest. The Southeast has all five teams with a negative point differential (Hawks are barely below zero) and the best team (Hornets) are two games below 0.500. The Southwest, meanwhile, has only one team with a (barely) positive point differential in Memphis, and the Spurs are the only team with a winning record.
Here's another fun Curry stat for a boring Tuesday; he's second in screen assists for a guard: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle/?sort=SCREEN_ASSISTS&dir=1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&PerMode=Totals&PlayerPosition=G. And that first "guard" is Ben Simmons.
Jordan!
https://twitter.com/anthonyvslater/status/1361741138105831424?s=21
2020–21 Curry to date: 30.1 ppg on .669 ts
Unanimous MVP Curry: 30.1 ppg on .669 ts
If Steph can somehow maintain his last 10 game average # of 3pts over the rest of the season (a tall order, I know...but Steph does, historically, get *better* as the season goes on), he could break his own 3pt record even in a shortened season! 6.2 a game seems high, but the way Steph's been playing as the focus of our offense, it certainly doesn't seem impossible. At 6.2 a game (if I math'd right) he'd be at 412 by the end of 72.
Warriors match their win total from last year (15 in 65 games) in their 28th game. Pretty dramatic improvement. Looks like this Curry guy has had something to do with it.
Another high scoring game in the G League. This time Baby Dubs lost. Pretty sure their rim protection is really bad. They're doing great defending the perimeter but giving up an almost league worst volume and % on shots at the rim so far.
The point of interest is Jordan Poole had 32 pts yesterday, the second highest output by any player in the G League season so far. One interesting thing watching Jordan's play is that he's looked very happy to just be a cog facilitating the offense, often spacing in the corner and when he does get to be part of a play, often giving the ball up to a slightly more open teammate immediately after catching it. It kinda looks like playing with/practicing with the Warriors has been rubbing off on his game.
In this game the Baby Dubs got sloppy early in the 4th in a close game and got down by almost 20, and they went to Jordan to see if he could make something happen. And he had a pretty incredible sequence to almost steal the game in the 4Q:
The sequence of possessions starting at 7:10 in the 4th:
1) Poole beats his man to the basket and bumps into him before putting up a floater close to the basket that hangs on the rim then rolls off. Makes the FT (which is worth 2 pts, it's a G League thing). Almost had an and-1.
2) Gives the ball up quickly for a teammate open-ish 3 (missed).
3) Leaves his guy in the dust on the perimeter and makes the layup, gets clipped by the weak side help for the and-1. Made ft.
4) Defense isn't pushing up, center screens and Poole takes a deep 29 ft three from dead center, swish!
5) Nico passes to Poole as he makes a cut at the top of the key, Poole throws the ball ahead through two defenders and bursts through (splits the defense) then sidesteps back out to the 3 pt line throwing his defender off his trail. Takes the 3 very quickly off the stepback. And makes it? Wow. His defender stumbles into him after the shot, refs call a foul. Four point play, makes the FT.
Pool with 12 straight pts for Santa Cruz, in about two and half minutes.
6) Poole gets a strip on the next Raptors possession, gets called a foul because he was holding the guy's arm, which was outstretched to push him away, on the entry pass. A fair but borderline call.
7) Poole talks back to the ref on that call (he would have had a breakaway steal if it hadn't been called) and IMMEDIATELY gets called for another foul (like 3 seconds of play later) for bumping into a guy who was about to cut without the ball. Seems like G League refs really don't like disrespect and look out for each other.
8) On the following inbounds Nico with an incredible tip-of-the-fingers-deflection on defense followed by a throw-it-off-the-other-guy's-ankles-out-of-bounds-while-still-falling move.
Latest on Steph's stats:
30.1 PPG, 49.9% FG, 43.6% 3P, 58.2% 2P, eFG 62.3%, 93.3% FT, 66.9% TS
30.1 PPG is tied for highest in his career (15-16)
2P is 2nd highest in career (ignoring last year), behind 17-18
eFG is 2nd highest of career, behind 15-16
FT is 2nd highest in career behind 10-11
TS is tied 2nd in career with 15-16, behind 17-18
The team looks more like a team each week. They’ll probably know how to deal with switching schemes by the start of part 2.
Looking ahead to next year there seems to be a roster imbalance.
1) Steph, Nico?
2) Klay, Poole?
3) Wiggins, Oubre(Bird rights)
4? JTA (but the Warriors already cut him once this year so no early Bird rights?)
5) Green, Wiseman, Looney, Chriss (Early Bird), Smiley
Up to 3? draft picks leaves 1-2 spots open for Mulder, JTA or others? What are the rights to JTA next year if he gets this year’s spot? Mulder? The Warriors can’t offer Baze and Wannamaker much of a raise.
Whoa. Dray went off on league's duplicity. Dude is something.
Whoa Dray, testify brother!
They need a bit more help, but this game is just another example of how uniquely dominant steph and draymond are as a duo with almost perfectly complimentary and elite skillsets
Notable stats:
Cavaliers:
Allen: (-26)
13 points 5/12 FGs 3/4 FTs
14 rebounds (5 off.) 1 assist 1 turnover 1 steal 2 blocks
Sexton: (-26)
23 points 9/20 FGs 1/5 three pointers 4/5 FTs
3 rebounds (3 off.) 5 assists 2 turnovers 3 steals
Osman: (-35)
17 points 6/15 FGs 3/9 three pointers 2/2 FTs
10 rebounds 2 assists 2 turnovers 2 steals
Dotson: (-9)
10 points 4/8 FGs 2/6 three pointers
6 rebounds 1 assist 2 turnovers 1 steal
Warriors:
Curry: (+20)
36 points 13/19 FGs 7/11 three pointers 3/3 FTs
2 rebounds 6 assists 1 turnover
Green: (+20)
6 points 3/6 FGs
8 rebounds (1 off.) 16 assists 1 turnover 1 steal 2 blocks
Toscano-Anderson: (+16)
13 points 4/5 FGs 1/2 three pointers 4/4 FTs
5 rebounds (1 off.) 2 assists 2 turnovers 1 steal 1 block
Paschall: (+11)
14 points 6/11 FGs 0/1 three pointer 2/2 FTs
8 rebounds (2 off.) 1 assist 2 turnovers 1 steal 1 block
Wanamaker: (+11)
7 points 2/4 FGs 0/1 three pointer 3/3 FTs
3 rebounds 4 assists 1 turnover