108 Comments

Back and leg problems? Did he catch them from OPJ?

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author

damn: Dray out for at least two weeks (and it's the game thread) : https://dubnationhq.com/p/draymond-green-to-be-re-evaluated

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Amount of time our Big 3 have played together since the 2019 Finals: two seconds. :,-(

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But an emotionally moving two seconds.... there's that... nope, not much consolation

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Ughhhhhh.

Still looking forward to them playing together for 16 playoff games, but for now this is a bummer.

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

[Insert Darth Vader "NOOOOOOOOO" jpg]

Are we ever gonna be whole?

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Nah man this sucks the whole freaking wind out of this season unless Kuminga emerges like Draymond did once David lee was out of the lineup. If you’re talking disc affecting the calf you’re talking nerve issues and those can linger long term. I’m not a doctor but I stayed at a Holiday Inn 3 nights ago actually.

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It doesn’t “suck the whole freaking wind out of this season” (Kuminga becoming Draymond or no) … but it does suck.

Might need to grab Jordan Bell on a 10-day at minimum…

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Ok for me it sucks the wind out in the near term. Should have led with that that FoR Me. Now all I do is watch these games hoping Steph doesn’t get injured (he did) or Klay does t have a set back (he hasn’t)

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

"In the near term," sure.

Fwiw: Draymond's injury doesn't affect the likelihood of anyone else getting injured. You should watch *every game* hoping Steph and Klay don't get injured, lol.

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

Knew it was more serious than what the Warriors led on to believe for Draymond. Re evaluated in two weeks

*Edit: meant to say that once it got from day to day to he won’t be flying back at any point this road trip then I knew this was going to be a longer term issue. Again we can’t get all 3 players on the court at the same time and we’re more than halfway through the season. Saying all that wish him a full recovery

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😂

Nikola Vucevic

@NikolaVucevic

·

3h

What happened to Djokovic is just politicians using their power to show off and get extra followers.

It has nothing to do with Covid or visa issues, they used him to try to make themselves look better.

Very sad how they treated a First Class Champion!

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Evan Fournier

@EvanFourmizz

Replying to

@NikolaVucevic

Na bro

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Athletes shouldn’t be subject to the same laws as everyone else! So unfair!

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Moody didn’t play for the Sea Dubs last night. Is he in Minnie today to carry some minutes?

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It’s got to be tough for any first round draft pick to watch other rooks around the League getting minutes and building reps while on the bench, much better than being thrown in the deep end imho

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

That was what I assumed but I read something about sitting out due to a knee issue... I can't confirm anywhere though...

EDIT: somebody on reddit said they saw it on the live box score, but the box score just says "DNP (inactive)" now.

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deletedJan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022
Comment deleted
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Thanks. Bummer, though. We’re pretty short handed - 10 plus Chiozza?

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wonder why no Q available? Travel logistics a problem maybe

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Q is my boi I'm curious what he could do with more minutes in the bigs

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He did play last night. Led the SeaDubs with 34 points (and chipped in 11 boards for good measure).

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Wow poor chiozza can't even be called 1 of 11. I get it.

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Such is the life of a 2-way.

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Gonna need some Andre running the offense tonight whenever Poole's out

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One silver lining of Steph, Draymond, and GP2 being out is that Kuminga will get more playing time. Curious to see if he can continue to show improvement every game. His effortless athleticism is mesmerizing.

Hopefully Wiggs goes off on the Wolves again. Curious to see how Klay responds to the increased workload and pressure.

This game is still winnable.

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This is another good day to ask "Hey, who's up for a trade: Wiggins and Kuminga for DeAngelo Russell?"

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D'Lo's been pretty good for the Wolves, so they probably won't make the trade.

Also, I hope the Warriors watch out for his three point shooting tonight. He's been hitting plenty of them lately.

1/7 (@ Thunder)- 4/5 threes

1/9 (@ Rockets)- 5/9 threes

1/11 (@ Pelicans)- 4/10 threes

1/13 (@ Grizzlies)- 6/11 threes

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

Four-game samples aside, he’s putting up .531 TS and .355 from 3 for the season — right at his slightly sub-mediocre career averages.

We have no idea how “probable” it is the Wolves wouldn’t make that hypothetical deal, but assuming the Warriors could be Jedi mind-tricked into doing it, the Wolves would be fools not to. Wiggins is a much better, rarer all-around player than DLo (plus way more durable), and Kuminga is fast becoming one of the best young assets/players in the league.

I wouldn’t even want to ponder figuring out how to guard an AntMan + JoKu tandem over the next 2, 3, 10 seasons…

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Those are nice numbers from three, but my implied assertion was that the Warriors got the far better end of the deal. Is that in dispute?

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Not at all

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I'd wager not even Minnesota is up for that lol

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I am concerned about overly optimistic recency bias on young Jonathan K. He destroyed Chicago but he's also been quite inconsistent on both ends of the floor much of the season. Minutes will help, but "you can't hurry love/you'll just have to wait..."

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Fans need something to overreact to in January, but I don't see any problem with JK. He and Coach Kerr have been completely on the same page in postgame comments - "lots to learn, take it a step at a time, clean up mistakes", etc. JK passes the eye test, too - at least in the games I've watched, he never acts like a star, even after his best moments. (I like his humble rookie poker face for now, but he's gonna need to adopt a signature mean mug or roar pretty soon...)

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He hasnt been inconsistent on the defensive end at all, his only issue has been helping off his defender too much imo

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Sorry but what’s your concern exactly? People having too much fun dreaming on his upside?

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I am here to protect the hearts that may well end up being broken, if only for a game or a week. It is my calling.

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We survived being excited about Jordan Bell. We’ll be fine.

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Jan 16, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Same thing happened in late December from the Raptor game to the Christmas game when he had a few good games shooting the three and free throws. Since then he's been 25% from three and 58% from the line.

It's nothing unusual for a guy his age, but you could make a lot of money in the NBA if there was a way to bet on 19 year olds being inconsistent against fans of the teams those guys played for lol.

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Kuminga’s been shooting 37% on 3’s since December 1

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Jan 17, 2022·edited Jan 17, 2022

And now he's at 32% since that date, barring a garbage time flurry

EDIT: Just hit a garbage time one lol, up and down we go

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022Liked by punk basketball

His development trajectory is a steep incline. Two steps forward and one step back still gets you places.

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Edwards terrorized the Warriors last time for his best game of the season, he has a really difficult combo of strength and quickness to match. Would love for Kerr to see what Kuminga can do on him.

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I think kuminga could absolutely box Edward's he has the speed to stay with him n his strength will throw Edward's off of any spot he wanted to get too

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I hope we get to see this hypothesis tested!

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Agreed. But also want to see Klay shut him down as well.

This would be a great time for Klay to shine.

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I'm also looking forward to that match up. I'm okay with AE going off again as long as Wiggs also detonates. Edwards is a physically talented player. But he also has good bball IQ, which he doesn't get enough credit for:

https://zonecoverage.com/2022/timberwolves/why-does-the-media-treat-anthony-edwards-and-cade-cunningham-so-differently/

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Well coming out of college shot selection was an issue so you could say that would be a lack of ball iq, cade on the other hand has been running offenses like a professional since high school

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First of all, you're completely missing or ignoring the point that colorism is a thing. Second, it's well documented that AE was on a relatively bad team, especially in terms of 3p shooting. This led him to have to carry the load -- as a freshman. This, undoubtedly, pressured him to take more bad shots than he would have if he were on a decent-good team.

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Third, in terms of the NBA, as the article has stated, his shot selection has improved significantly. Providing evidence for what I posited in my second point. Yet, people still only praise AE in terms of his physical gifts, as is evidenced by belilaugh's original comment.

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WoW, this was a great article. Thanks for posting

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Welcome, my pleasure.

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

Edwards on the 11/10 game:

48 points 16/27 FGs 7/13 threes 9/12 FTs

6 rebounds, 5 assists, 6 turnovers, 2 steals

Even though Edwards went supernova, Warriors were still able to win, because:

-KAT was inefficient (17 points on 6/19 FGs and 5/10 threes)

-D-Lo didn't get going until the 2nd half (18 points 7/15 FGs 4/10 threes)

-Beverly was hot garbage (5 points 2/9 FGs)

-Wiggins was lights out (35 points 14/19 FGs 3/6 threes 4/4 FTs)

-Looney owned KAT on rebounds (17 rebounds, 12 off.)

Other than that, Curry was good (25 points on 8/16 FGs), Poole didn't have a good shooting night (5/17 FGs, 2/11 threes), and the Warriors bench had 31 points (9 from Bjelica, 10 from Porter Jr., 7 from Payton II, and 5 from JTA).

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Warriors +160. Who wants make some money today?

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Some guys who've been playing very well even during the team-wide slump as of late:

- Iguodala has been killing it both on defense and as a facilitator. Awesome passes, absolutely disruptive on the other end... felt like his presence nearly won us a couple that we didn't quite get and totally didn't deserve.

- Looney has been a rebounding machine, a one-man block party, and he's been scoring a little more than before as well. If this level of production continues when the core trio is healthy again, look out league.

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Lee has been killing it recently.

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Well … he’s been ok.

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It will be nice to get the Minny win and finish this road trip with more enthusiasm than doubts, that 3rd quarter against Memphis turns out to have been more critical to the “conversation” coming as it did in the middle of the season and before a blowout in Milwaukee, we let a classic Warriors 3rd quarter romp against a young team slip by without piling on enough points, seemed (to me) like a lack of urgency more than anything else

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Jan 16, 2022·edited Jan 16, 2022

File under “the NBA is weird, part one zillion”…

Last year’s two Eastern Conference finalists (MIL and ATL) are currently a combined **44-43**.

Yeah, they’ve had a few absences, but no more so than the average team, with their cores from last season both substantially intact, and all in their young primes. The Bucks have also had the easiest schedule in the league to date. If you told me the two teams would be a combined 20 games over .500 to this point, I’d consider that mildly disappointing.

The Hawks are the bigger puzzler of the two, of course, as they have straight up sucked. 17-25?? That’s more puzzling to me than the LOLakers suckage, which to me was fairly predictable going into the season.

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“Suckage” hahahahah

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I thought ATL overperformed last year and had them mentally pencilled in as a big step back this year. They’re in line with my projection. Milwaukee? I find their performance so far surprisingly under my expectstuons.

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author

Aww hell....

> @anthonyVslater

Gary Payton II is out for the Warriors tonight in Minnesota.

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Damn. He would have been a *really* nice piece to have with Steph and Dray out.

Hopefully Andre and Juan are good to go?

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This one shapes up as a big Juan game.

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They better be!

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