58 Comments

Really enjoyed that game. Wiggins played hard. His hustle and D was crucial to the win. EP is coming back strong, after a little lull, and Damien Lee can play in this league. Maybe even in our rotation. Hoping Loon gets his health in check and can be his normal self next year.

I do miss the Geech, but he definitely needs seasoning.

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Can we give Paschall A better nickname .... currently watching monster truck with my nephew and Grave digger sounds fun 😃

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I think Eric "Monster Truck" Paschall would be a great nickname for him if he were a pro-wrestler, but...a basketball nickname? Hmm.

I've been calling him EP the Bully, which kinda doesn't fit because his shot is so smooth and he makes some crazy circus-short-range-jumpers through contact by releasing the ball at any time in his jump (from the instant he leaves the floor to the apex to the instant before he lands) And of course because he just bullies into guys, which is why he's so good at getting the and-1. But even I don't think it fits super well, I just can't think of a better one.

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Please don't bring Steph back against Raptors. They injured all our players. Klay, KD, Looney. I hope them responsible for klay and Looney's injuries

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This reminds me of the post-We Believe era when GSW scored 48 first quarter points vs. Portland and failed to score 100 in a loss. The only difference is GSW won today.

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Man, Stefano's post below is amazing. Glad I came back this morning after such an inspirational win and was able to get even more inspiration from his words. Well done.

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I'm not sure if I'm just missing it, but the ability to edit your posts would be much appreciated.

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OTOH, You can delete comment to your heart's content. It won't show up as "deleted" either until somebody had already replied to it.

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author

You are not missing it, and many of us agree. But it's pretty far down the Substack priority list, sorry

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Out of topic, it's all quiet at the old GSOM after an exciting win. Hope Brady is alright. I'm sure many fans here still care.

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I think in general it's a really unexciting part of the season, so the traffic is probably way down at Warrior sites across the board. But then also the split to this site had to hurt.

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We are still friends with Brady and he's always welcome here. The best part is, he gets paid whether people at GSOM comment or not! That's the Vox model for you.

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Glad you bring that up. Is it straight page views that they count. For example, I like to visit Liberty Ballers (to check up on GR3 and Burks) and Cannis Hoopus (DLo and eventually Spellman). I'm logged out of my phone but does their model just depend on straight webpage hits?

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The content creators are measured by page views.

Their actual model depends on ad revenue, which likely correlates to views, but had other factors like demographics of viewers and engagement and actual ad clIcks.

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I suspect that the Warriors are looking at blacktop courts these days to see if there is somebody they want to take a look at on a 10 day contract. They had no business taking down any actual NBA team with those 8 guys, even given that the Suns have problems of their own. I hesitate to call it a breakout game for Paschall as from the highlights it appeared that no player on the Suns team wanted to risk an injury by getting in his way.

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If you look at Paschall's last six games, he has actually been doing very well. He's been consistently getting double figure points on 60% from the field. Also, this was apparently a must win game for the Suns, so they might just have been afraid of Paschall's bruising style of play. In fact, he reminds quite a bit of Zach Randolph.

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That's why I call him EP the Bully, but his amazing body control and soft hands (when near the basket) make it kind of incongruous--he'll put up these ridiculously hard shots at weird angles through contact and the ball just floats through the net.

But yeah, I see some ZBo and a bit of Julius Randle sometimes, too, though I think his ceiling is obviously higher than Randle's.

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The funny (ironic) thing is that the one play where there was significant contact, it looked like Paschall got the worst of it . Also funny (funny) that Muldur got 14 points and was written out of the "official" boxscore on nba.com. I guess you can't blame the Suns for failing to guard an invisible player.

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball

I want to celebrate Kelenna, too. He lost his mind in the third quarter. Wish he could call games on his own!

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Late to the party, but just wanted to celebrate a Warrior win. We haven't had enough of those to let one pass without comment.

Amazing that the new guys contributed as much as they did. Of course, when you've only got 8 guys, it's all hands on deck...

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball

Awesome game! Very happy Looney had a good game. He just hasn’t been himself since returning. Myers gets extra bonus points for drafting Paschall. He’s an exciting player and can’t wait to see him with the full squad next season. Also excited about Chriss...thank (bob)god we got him back. Lee has been making his way back to my good side as of late. Wiggins I’m very open to loving, he just needs to show me he wants to be loved, lol. Ok, that’s enough. Lol. Hope they didn’t expend all of their energy tonight though. I got tickets to tomorrow’s game thinking Steph would be back! This is my longest comment ever. I’m just so darn happy about this win.

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Wiggins isn't scoring with the efficiency I would prefer, but his 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks show me that he is playing with genuine effort. When Curry/Klay come back, scoring will get hopefully much easier for Wiggins.

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For the season he is more efficient than his Warriors games have shown. He is also adjusting his game to Kerr's O and D.

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Apparently, all it takes for the Dubs to win are an overblown Steve Kerr quote and for Warriors Twitter to go apeshit bananas over it lmao

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For the love of all things holy please stop

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball

It’s early morning here in Milano, I’m celebrating too and I love you all so much that I decided, after lots of thinking about it, that I want to publish the little thing I wrote a couple of weeks ago. It seems the right time. Hope you enjoy it, forgive me if it is inconvenient or if it has some bad grammar:

Dear Dubs,

Let me tell you a story. You will recognize characters, analogies, but mainly I would like you to see the same spirit.

Once upon a time, around the mid eighties, I was a basketball obsessed teenager, and I rooted for my city’s team, named Olimpia Milano.

Its colors were red and white, and its badge was a stylization of a medieval folk hero, Alberto da Giussano, the leader of the heavily outnumbered army that defeated the mighty barbaric king Federico Barbarossa, in the famous (here) battle of Legnano.

He was a warrior.

The Olimpia had inherited that warrior trait. Every player, since the very moment he wore that red and white jersey, became immediately a warrior, a true fighter capable of anything to reach victory. The team defense was demonic, and the zone 1-3-1 a trademark: with frightening pressure all-court, it granted the most extreme comebacks.

Amongst there was a point guard, devilishly smart, with lightning quick hands, infacts he was a steal king (de facto he even stole his wife too, she dated his teammate Russell Schoene, but that is a side story). He was also the clutch emperor, and leader of the team.

His name was Mike d’Antoni.

There was a forward that couldn’t shoot into an empty swimming pool, but was so sharp and smart a defender, to be the supporters’ pet. He was to have a small child, named Danilo.

His name was Vittorio Gallinari.

The spirit of the team was such to allow recovery of the most demotivated players, that found at Olimpia a sort of brotherhood, a winning spirit that pushed them beyond their capabilities. The most illustrious example was a NBA number one draft pick, a seven feet center who was so deluded to be nicknamed, in the US, “barely cares”. He played one season with Olimpia, and became miraculously a warrior amongst warriors, gritting, hassling, scorching his knees, fighting for success alongside veterans and rookies that did not have a tenth of his talent.

His name was Joe Barry Carroll.

This is the tale. That team won many many trophies, then things changed, personalities changed, and slowly the spirit faded away but for the fond memories of supporters like me.

But all of a sudden, in my life there’s that spirit again. In a team whose supporters fill the arena every night even in a lousy season. A team where joy and optimism are never lost. Where every single member, player, coach, front office, support, becomes part of a victory and happiness machine. Where every player, however mistreated, underestimated, demotivated, that comes in, the very moment he wears that gold and blue jersey, finds himself different, feels a push to practice hard, to lose weight, to dunk fiercely, to defend like it was a final, to ignore waiver calls, to say NO around the rim, to face fearlessly future hall-of-famers, to beam the light of hope and faith during the winter of losing streaks and seasons.

He becomes a Warrior.

Thanks, Dub Nation, for giving me back that spirit.

Stefano

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Beautiful Stefano!!!!!!!

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Beautifully written, Stefano. Grazie!

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That was inspiring. Thank you! 😎

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Amazing team effort... I watched every second of this intense match. As special a feeling for these borderline players, as some bigger wins we've had over the past few years.

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“Cause they are young, scrappy, and hungry...and they are not throwing away their...shot”

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Warrior Wonder: EP

Tank Commander: Still WCS, lol.

Beer is fun! 🍻

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25 points on 16 shots for EP

There could be a real battle for Warrior Wonder on our hands!!

But for real, this was a nice glimpse of what the rotation could look like. Lee looked kinda nice tonight, and if him, EP and Chriss can look like they did tonight more reliably...

You know, we talked about a tank commander earlier in the season but it felt too mean

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Mean, you are, but tank funny!

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EP is a rookie--he'll get there by next year. He shows signs of breaking through that rookie wall to me, in fact. He's got such body control in the air, and such a soft, precise shot whether he's on his way up, at the apex, or down. I mean, his J looks a bit funky, but it works for him.

Chriss is barely more than a rookie himself since I think there's a kind of developmental tax when talented players are drafted to bad teams. We all should know; we saw so, so many players learn what they were capable of only after they left the Old Warriors (though, of course, we also were just straight drafted terribly until 2009 when he drafted the sole player to deserve that lightning bolt on the old uniforms).

They'll get more consistent within themselves. Next year, the Lords of Splash will be back. The pressure will ease off, both psychological and defensive. They, and Wiggins, will have a chance at becoming the best versions of themselves: players who deserve to be starters--or a 6th-man in EP's case, even one day a 6MoY since he can iso better than anyone on the team but Steph; he's like a bulldog cybernetically merged with a microwave--on what we all hope will be a Championship-caliber team.

Man, I canNOT wait to see how our guys do next year. Out of nowhere, we have gotten players who have so much potential...and we don't even know how high our draft pick will be. D. Lee is looking like he could become a really solid combo-guard off the bench, as is Poole. We just need the team to gel defensively, and another savvy, physically-capable wing defender, assuming Wiggins cannot make a huge leap on that end (and I don't assume he will, though there too, I'm not without reasons, however scant, for hope).

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If EP can improve his dribble (extremely doable) and three point shot (more difficult, but if he can at least hit 33% I'll take that), then he will be a FAR more improved player. For me, he's Zach Randolph if Randolph had developed in a league that values 3 PT shooting.

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Yeah, he's got other areas in which he kinda needs to improve--rebounding, a bit more passing, and more discipline and timing on the defensive end--but I agree that the handle and the 3pt% are the most important offensive tools he needs right now.

Once he gets those (and yes, I think he will end up shooting 3's at around the magic number of 33% you named) then what's the next biggest project for him? Rebounding? Defense? Passing/playmaking?

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Defense/playmaking are both things that I believe Paschall can improve upon passively by gaining more experience and understanding of the Warriors system. If I had to say what the next big project for Paschall would be, it would be his footwork which I've noticed can be quite inefficient.

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I agree it was a little mean. But I'm really having too much fun with this win....

Why does this feel like game 6 of the WCS? I have been starving. We have have been starving.

And to make matters even better (or worse), I have the Suns post game show on here in Phoenix....

I am just WAY to happy for our 13th win coming in February.

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They are certainly harder to come by! Savor them , each and every precocious little win

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Top players:

Warriors:

Paschall: (+18)

25 points 10/16 FGs 1/2 three pointers 4/6 FTs

3 rebounds (1 off.) 4 assists 1 turnover

Lee: (+26)

20 points 6/13 FGs 2/6 three pointers 6/6 FTs

5 rebounds 8 assists 1 steal

Mulder: (+16, 3rd place)

14 points 5/12 FGs 3/8 three pointers 1/1 FT

6 rebounds (2 off.)

Chriss: (+15, 3rd place)

11 points 3/6 FGs 5/8 FTs

9 rebounds (2 off.) 3 assists 2 turnovers 3 steals 1 block

Honorable mention:

Looney: (+2)

10 points 4/5 FGs 0/1 three pointer 2/2 FTs

6 rebounds (2 off.) 3 assists

Bender: (+8)

13 points 5/10 FGs 3/6 three pointers

9 rebounds (2 off.) 4 assists 3 turnovers 1 steal 3 blocks

Wiggins: (+2)

17 points 6/20 FGs 0/5 three pointers 5/7 FTs

7 rebounds (2 off.) 5 assists 2 turnovers 3 steals 2 blocks

Suns:

Bridges: (-14)

15 points 5/12 FGs 5/10 three pointers

3 rebounds (1 off.) 3 assists 1 steal 1 block

Ayton: (-18)

20 points 8/16 FGs 4/5 FTs

9 rebounds (1 off.) 5 turnovers 1 steal 2 blocks

Okobo: (-7)

14 points 4/8 FGs 1/1 three pointers 5/6 FTs

7 rebounds (1 off.) 5 assists 1 turnover

Honorable mention:

Booker: (-22)

21 points 6/16 FGs 4/7 three pointers 5/5 FTs

1 assist 6 turnovers 1 block

Saric: (-14)

11 points 4/8 FGs 0/2 three pointers 3/4 FTs

9 rebounds (2 off.) 3 assists 1 block

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Wiggins should be in top 3. His D was key in second half.

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Goddamn, what a defensive performance he put on! Out of nowhere, so many guys had truly good nights. Kerr and the coaching staff must have been breathing fire after LA, because the guys just played way harder tonight.

Even Bender did a !O.O! job.

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Final stats:

Warriors:

47.1% shooting (41/87 FGs)

9/30 three pointers

24/32 FTs

49 rebounds (13 off.)

30 assists

10 turnovers

9 steals

6 blocks

Suns:

41.0% shooting (34/83 FGs)

12/29 three pointers

19/23 FTs

40 rebounds (8 off.)

24 assists

20 turnovers

3 steals

5 blocks

Points in paint:

Warriors: 54

Suns: 38

Fastbreak points:

Warriors: 7

Suns: 13

Points off turnovers:

Warriors: 17

Suns: 15

Bench points:

Warriors: 49

Suns: 26

https://derpicdn.net/img/2019/7/10/2088367/small.gif

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

One of the most fun Eric Paschall games of the year. Hope he uses this year to keep turning up the aggression, even if he gets embarrassed by good defense some nights. He's not going to have the same room to experiment with Steph and Klay playing.

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I can see him starting second quarter with Poole, Klay, Dray and another 3 pt shooter and beasting inside.

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

"This is why you’ve got to watch every game."

I always told my son, you will never see a great "live" game unless you are willing to sit through a lot of "bad" games. I have watched every game this year....

THIS IS MY REWARD!

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I think I've missed two. Props to you.

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Right back at you.

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I've missed more this season than I have in the last 5 years

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So have I...so glad I caught part of this one!

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Hang the box score at Chase Center.

Miraculous win.

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I just wanted to tell you all that I love you

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Paaarrrttyyyyyyy!!

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Mar 1, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Log this one in the XFiles! This win eases the pain of no Steph tomorrow. So needed.

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WOOOOOOO!

Party on everyone!

One wild thing - with Steph's return delay, the Dubs will be looking to bring him back in a pretty rough three game span: Raptors, then Philly, then Clippers

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Yeah, I feel like they should just skip the rough patch :P No one wants to see steph coming out against a box-and-one defense, and this roster doesn't have much more shooting than last year's.

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Philly would be good. Embiid needs to be Stephugged 😀. #Stephugged

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