I'm glad we won this game because everything about it was so underwhelming it just makes me question the NBA and scheduling choices in particular.
Both teams looked exhausted from the tipoff. The Dubs, of course, have basically not had a break from traveling all season long, and both were on the back end of a b2b. Detroit has some skilled young players but their roster isn't really built to win games—too many bigs, no veteran leadership (Bogdanovic, maybe, if he were healthy).
But even more sad, it felt like they didn't have fans. The crowd wasn't exclusively Warriors-leaning but I could believe 50/50 with how the gasps and cheers went, when you could hear any. It was pretty different than Cleveland. Hell, Sacramento brought like 5x this energy level for a freaking preseason game.
In the end, Steph Curry and friends (considering Chris Paul, frenemies?) mustered enough give a damn to actually come away with it, despite looking like they'd rather be napping. It's good the team that wanted and needed the win earned it, but overall this one looked and felt like work more than fun.
I'm not optimistic about our odds against the final boss of this road trip, the Denver Nuggets, in their high-altitude arena. The only reason I can think of to not write that one off as a loss already is that the Warriors have a history of stepping it up for high-profile games, and the first encounter of the season with the defending champs seems like it should qualify.
Fair, Detroit missing 3 big players is another easy explanation why the team looked as listless as they did despite coming kind of close to beating the Warriors. Sometimes that underdog mentality of an injured team can really get dudes' energy up, but it didn't exactly seem the case here.
Apparently (per Slater) signing Santos instead of a vet-min saves the dubs $10-15 M this season since he's signed as a second rounder at a much lower contract for this season.
Edit: Nate Duncan + Danny Leroux think the savings for this year is more like $6.4 M. Not sure why they’re differing, but Slater is normally well sourced and Leroux and Duncan both know the salary cap well, so who knows.
Yeah, it's crazy that signing Gui as a second rounder instead of a vet min saves the team $10 million. That's like Loon's entire salary! That's probably like decades of revenue (maybe more!) from this little fan site. Heck, it's decades of my tech salary which is already shocking amounts of money compared with what I grew up with.
Or, you know, 0.02% of what some idiot paid for Twitter.
Not their peak performance, but it's great that the Ws are winning these kinds of games. The road record alone is reason for celebration. And with the signing of Gui Santos, I'm super hopeful.
Curry now has 121 regular season games in which he has hit 7 or more threes. The next closest player is Klay with 46: https://stathead.com/tiny/IDM3k
You have to go back to Johnny Davis in the 1978-79 season to find the last player to start the season with 6 or fewer turnovers through the first 8 games and more than Chris Paul's 62 assists: https://stathead.com/tiny/g2wjJ
Over the last 20 NBA regular seasons, no player has ever had any 8 game stretch of 6 or fewer turnovers, 12 or more steals, and 62 or more assists before Chris Paul's first 8 games as a Warrior: https://stathead.com/tiny/BlH4Z
Curry is good for business. What NBA fan is going to sit at home when they can go see the legend in their home arena? He puts butts in the seats. He's a once in a lifetime player. No one has ever been like him. Jordan was great but Curry is lovable and relatable.
*The Dubs minutes management has been superb through 8 games. The most minutes anyone has played was Klay's 36 on opening night. I don't think any non-Splash Bro has played more than 30 minutes in the last 5-6 games. And Moody is averaging the 10th most minutes and he still is averaging 18 MPG.
*CP3 was really, really good tonight. Only 21 minutes, but 17 points on 9 shots with 6 assists and a +13? Just incredibly solid.
*I continue to be incredibly impressed with all the little winning plays from Moody. Before this game, per 36, GPII led the team with 2.9 steals. Moody was second with 2.3. CP3 was third at 2.1. Moody had 3 more tonight. (GPII had 2).
*Kuminga, I feel the opposite. I often see him overhelp and his guy is left open for 3. For as athletic as he is, he's seldom involved in those hustle 50-50 plays. He's in a bit of a funk right now. He's been very high variance throughout his career, with 5-10 game stretches where he's either awesome or detrimental to the team. My hope is now that he is still getting 20 MP even in his down stretches, he can develop that consistency.
*Klay is definitely trying to pass more than he ever did prior to this year. 3 assists and one overambitious behind the head drop off to Looney that became a turnover. He also was hitting his 2Ps in this one. 7/8 on 2PA, bringing him to .577 on 2PA for the season. Incredibly good sign.
*52-32 points in the paint advantage in this one. They obviously adapted from last game on that front. The Dubs also got up 17 more shots than the Pistons. So even though Detroit outshot them and shot pretty damn well (.481/.433/.952), the Dubs overcame it.
*Steph has come out like gangbusters a bunch this season and come back cold after sitting for a long time .I can't argue with his MPG, but it has irked me a bit that he can't keep bombing away. Today, he launched his most 3PA this season so far, and while he made 6/7 to begin, he went 1/10 on his last 10 3PA.
*I almost forgot to mention Wiggs. But that makes sense since he almost forgot to show up. Lowest +/- on the team and he probably deserved it. The starters have yet to come out and blow teams away in a Q1 yet. I think Wiggs' lack of energy and defense may be a big reason for it.
*Now a win on Wednesday would be really nice, but a loss understandable.
-cp3 has fit perfectly, no drama, just assists and winning. i'd say he should win 6th man, but he's 2nd in total minutes and 3rd in minutes per game. he might not start, but he's definitely playing starter minutes. nice work old man!
-wiggins and kuminga, not guys i expected to drop off from last season. who will step up first? can we win if only one of them shows up? not a fan when they iso, seems forced. they need to drive to the basket, but wait until a defender over commits on a close out. i expected a drop off from the core+cp3, not from our 21+28 year olds. i trust these guys to improve, hopefully get them both a lot more minutes when the game isn't on the line.
I do too but I think he wants a semblance of a chance to be one of the scoring leaders even if he's playing 10-15perc less than his scoring peers. And also as most announcers note - his mere presence changes the game
He needs to get some minutes doing that Davidson thing where he stood well-away from the basket, double-teamed. He could rest for a while and still open up the court. And if his defenders ever left him, he could bomb away from 30-35 feet.
but we really need to either have wiggs/jk develop a more *consistent* ability to drive or shoot midrange shots or we need to find some someone else. both wiggs/jks handles arent strong enough. poole was more that guy albeit a little inefficient and a LOUSY defender. I guess those guys dont grow on trees or cost too much - we should target someone like that in the next draft or two that has bbiq and experience
Not only do the Lakers lose, they played LeBron 37 minutes tonight. I know he is hearty, but that can't be ideal, and if he wears down they don't seem to have much of a team besides him. Pretty shocking that AD hasn't grabbed the reigns as the leader of the team and they still need all of LeBron's minutes /s
One guy I'd never heard of (Umude) and the literal worst shooter in the league last year (Hayes) dropping 36 and going 7-9 on 3s felt so much like last year.
But unlike last year they gritted through, outfought them on the boards and got the win - even while shooting 29% from 3. Really good sign.
If Steph showed up in his first NBA game and hit 4/5, nobody would be surprised because they saw him do things in college. Most of us don't know who Umude is, but he was a decent 3pt shooter at Arkansas and is in the NBA for a reason. Him going 4/5 is frustrating, but not like Looney going 4/5.
Yeah but that's a shorter distance and Kevon had a lot more bounce before his hip injury. Plus NBA players can put a lot more pressure on a shooter than college players.
To be fair, before Murray's injury, that was as close to a lock of a Denver win as it's possible to have against the Dubs when the Dubs are at full strength. The only thing worse would be a SEGABABA in Denver.
Completely apart from basketball, how many of y'all watched the tv show From (from the same people who created Lost)!!
Its this show about people who've mysteriously been guided to this small town and prevented from leaving by these frankly horrifying monsters. Its mindbending, filled with mystery, and creepy as fuck!!
Silo is excellent, and if you like that, I recommend reading the books by Hugh Howey. People say it's a faithful adaptation, but there are enough differences that they are entirely separately worthwhile pieces of entertainment.
And a tangent- the film Annihilation, with Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, is a totally wild and nuts dark fantasy horror thing that, while not for everyone, may intrigue those of you who like creepy beautiful stuff. The trilogy of books that inspired it (Southern Reach Trilogy, of which the first book is a relatively different story called Annihilation) is completely its own thing that would generally appeal to folks who like the film.
The book trilogy is amazing. The movie tried really hard to re-create that magic and the casting was pretty good, but it unfortunately just couldn't hold a candle to the books. They are some excellent sci-fi, some of my favorites in recent years.
Don't choose too quickly. Give it all your thinking, consider the pros and cons. Our question: Who wins "Clipper back court player who has won much acclaim in the league yet is most likely to hog the ball, not play defense, get his head going off in a different direction from the team, and not step up when most needed?"
Harden easily, imo. Westbrook has always been a high character, high effort guy with his head in the same direction as the team, and he plays a lot more defense than Harden.
I'm not sure I can go there with you entirely on Westbrook . I have no issues with his character. I have however often viewed him as pursuing his own game plan rather than the team's. Or even stat padding. He gives a lot of effort on defense but also gets completely lost a lot. But Harden is, you're right, bad on all these.
I missed all the fun (my best friend was in town; had all the fun with her instead)!
I'm glad we won this game because everything about it was so underwhelming it just makes me question the NBA and scheduling choices in particular.
Both teams looked exhausted from the tipoff. The Dubs, of course, have basically not had a break from traveling all season long, and both were on the back end of a b2b. Detroit has some skilled young players but their roster isn't really built to win games—too many bigs, no veteran leadership (Bogdanovic, maybe, if he were healthy).
But even more sad, it felt like they didn't have fans. The crowd wasn't exclusively Warriors-leaning but I could believe 50/50 with how the gasps and cheers went, when you could hear any. It was pretty different than Cleveland. Hell, Sacramento brought like 5x this energy level for a freaking preseason game.
In the end, Steph Curry and friends (considering Chris Paul, frenemies?) mustered enough give a damn to actually come away with it, despite looking like they'd rather be napping. It's good the team that wanted and needed the win earned it, but overall this one looked and felt like work more than fun.
I'm not optimistic about our odds against the final boss of this road trip, the Denver Nuggets, in their high-altitude arena. The only reason I can think of to not write that one off as a loss already is that the Warriors have a history of stepping it up for high-profile games, and the first encounter of the season with the defending champs seems like it should qualify.
You didn't mention that 3 starters were unavailable for Detroit, 2 of their best big men and Bogdanovic.
I do agree with your last paragraph but will be amazed if the Warriors do win this.
Fair, Detroit missing 3 big players is another easy explanation why the team looked as listless as they did despite coming kind of close to beating the Warriors. Sometimes that underdog mentality of an injured team can really get dudes' energy up, but it didn't exactly seem the case here.
because they were also on a b2b.
Apparently (per Slater) signing Santos instead of a vet-min saves the dubs $10-15 M this season since he's signed as a second rounder at a much lower contract for this season.
Edit: Nate Duncan + Danny Leroux think the savings for this year is more like $6.4 M. Not sure why they’re differing, but Slater is normally well sourced and Leroux and Duncan both know the salary cap well, so who knows.
https://theathletic.com/5038034/2023/11/07/golden-state-warriors-chris-paul-steph-curry/
https://duncdon.supportingcast.fm/posts/monday-daily-duncs-11623-2
Damn those taxes really stack up
Yeah, it's crazy that signing Gui as a second rounder instead of a vet min saves the team $10 million. That's like Loon's entire salary! That's probably like decades of revenue (maybe more!) from this little fan site. Heck, it's decades of my tech salary which is already shocking amounts of money compared with what I grew up with.
Or, you know, 0.02% of what some idiot paid for Twitter.
Oh, that explains a lot.
Not their peak performance, but it's great that the Ws are winning these kinds of games. The road record alone is reason for celebration. And with the signing of Gui Santos, I'm super hopeful.
Will he see any playing time? That may depend on Kuminga.
If Wiggins continues like this there will be minutes to be had
Doug Moe NBA Standings (Road Wins - Homes Losses)
+4 Warriors
+3 Celtics, Mavs
+2 Nuggets, Magic
+1 76ers, Hawks, Nets
Curry now has 121 regular season games in which he has hit 7 or more threes. The next closest player is Klay with 46: https://stathead.com/tiny/IDM3k
You have to go back to Johnny Davis in the 1978-79 season to find the last player to start the season with 6 or fewer turnovers through the first 8 games and more than Chris Paul's 62 assists: https://stathead.com/tiny/g2wjJ
Over the last 20 NBA regular seasons, no player has ever had any 8 game stretch of 6 or fewer turnovers, 12 or more steals, and 62 or more assists before Chris Paul's first 8 games as a Warrior: https://stathead.com/tiny/BlH4Z
Curry never fails to impress.
https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=397&GameID=0022300145&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Saric%2025%27%203PT%20Jump%20Shot%20(6%20PTS)%20(Moody%201%20AST)
A mystery to me why the only time they let Moody handle in the PNR is by accident.
That hard drive was pretty amazing too... he's gonna get better every year, I suspect...
Warriors have now played 6 road games so far this season. No other team has played more than 4.
And Steph is making 5.7 3s per game... he'd have to play 71 games at that rate to break his record... which is very doable, barring long term injury.
Curry is good for business. What NBA fan is going to sit at home when they can go see the legend in their home arena? He puts butts in the seats. He's a once in a lifetime player. No one has ever been like him. Jordan was great but Curry is lovable and relatable.
45 days and counting for my first Curry Live Experience!!
Have fun! Are you going to Chase?
Indeed! Vs Washington so added JP drama.
Ahh that'll be fun! I hope JP puts on a show in a 140-110 blowout 😉
Wiggs doesn’t have a steal this season
He seems to be stealing his high salary this year.
He had 1 tonight. But yeah, damning stat.
Woah... unlike.
A couple thoughts.
*The Dubs minutes management has been superb through 8 games. The most minutes anyone has played was Klay's 36 on opening night. I don't think any non-Splash Bro has played more than 30 minutes in the last 5-6 games. And Moody is averaging the 10th most minutes and he still is averaging 18 MPG.
*CP3 was really, really good tonight. Only 21 minutes, but 17 points on 9 shots with 6 assists and a +13? Just incredibly solid.
*I continue to be incredibly impressed with all the little winning plays from Moody. Before this game, per 36, GPII led the team with 2.9 steals. Moody was second with 2.3. CP3 was third at 2.1. Moody had 3 more tonight. (GPII had 2).
*Kuminga, I feel the opposite. I often see him overhelp and his guy is left open for 3. For as athletic as he is, he's seldom involved in those hustle 50-50 plays. He's in a bit of a funk right now. He's been very high variance throughout his career, with 5-10 game stretches where he's either awesome or detrimental to the team. My hope is now that he is still getting 20 MP even in his down stretches, he can develop that consistency.
*Klay is definitely trying to pass more than he ever did prior to this year. 3 assists and one overambitious behind the head drop off to Looney that became a turnover. He also was hitting his 2Ps in this one. 7/8 on 2PA, bringing him to .577 on 2PA for the season. Incredibly good sign.
*52-32 points in the paint advantage in this one. They obviously adapted from last game on that front. The Dubs also got up 17 more shots than the Pistons. So even though Detroit outshot them and shot pretty damn well (.481/.433/.952), the Dubs overcame it.
*Steph has come out like gangbusters a bunch this season and come back cold after sitting for a long time .I can't argue with his MPG, but it has irked me a bit that he can't keep bombing away. Today, he launched his most 3PA this season so far, and while he made 6/7 to begin, he went 1/10 on his last 10 3PA.
*I almost forgot to mention Wiggs. But that makes sense since he almost forgot to show up. Lowest +/- on the team and he probably deserved it. The starters have yet to come out and blow teams away in a Q1 yet. I think Wiggs' lack of energy and defense may be a big reason for it.
*Now a win on Wednesday would be really nice, but a loss understandable.
-cp3 has fit perfectly, no drama, just assists and winning. i'd say he should win 6th man, but he's 2nd in total minutes and 3rd in minutes per game. he might not start, but he's definitely playing starter minutes. nice work old man!
-wiggins and kuminga, not guys i expected to drop off from last season. who will step up first? can we win if only one of them shows up? not a fan when they iso, seems forced. they need to drive to the basket, but wait until a defender over commits on a close out. i expected a drop off from the core+cp3, not from our 21+28 year olds. i trust these guys to improve, hopefully get them both a lot more minutes when the game isn't on the line.
-saric/gp2/moody these guys should be paid more.
-steph curry
Klay was so overambitious, he even pegged a ref with a behind the back. I thought he was gonna get ejected.
Chris Paul minutes per game:
34 -> 33 -> 27 -> 25 -> 28 -> 28 -> 25 -> 21
Stephen Curry minutes per game:
31 -> 35 -> 31 -> 30 -> 32 -> 31 -> 31 -> 33
I would still like Steph’s minutes to be below 30.
Once they start blowing teams out, it'll start going downwards.
I do too but I think he wants a semblance of a chance to be one of the scoring leaders even if he's playing 10-15perc less than his scoring peers. And also as most announcers note - his mere presence changes the game
He needs to get some minutes doing that Davidson thing where he stood well-away from the basket, double-teamed. He could rest for a while and still open up the court. And if his defenders ever left him, he could bomb away from 30-35 feet.
thats his future with the team :D
but we really need to either have wiggs/jk develop a more *consistent* ability to drive or shoot midrange shots or we need to find some someone else. both wiggs/jks handles arent strong enough. poole was more that guy albeit a little inefficient and a LOUSY defender. I guess those guys dont grow on trees or cost too much - we should target someone like that in the next draft or two that has bbiq and experience
Have I but one heart to give this noble comment
Not only do the Lakers lose, they played LeBron 37 minutes tonight. I know he is hearty, but that can't be ideal, and if he wears down they don't seem to have much of a team besides him. Pretty shocking that AD hasn't grabbed the reigns as the leader of the team and they still need all of LeBron's minutes /s
That "minutes restriction" is more of a joke every day
Lebron James minutes per game:
29 -> 35 -> 39 (OT) -> 33 -> 42 (OT) -> 35 -> 37
Anthony Davis minutes per game:
34 -> 39 -> 42 (OT) -> 38 -> 48 (OT) -> 32 -> 25 (didn't play in 4th Q due to groin injury)
keep those OTs coming! love to see it
One guy I'd never heard of (Umude) and the literal worst shooter in the league last year (Hayes) dropping 36 and going 7-9 on 3s felt so much like last year.
But unlike last year they gritted through, outfought them on the boards and got the win - even while shooting 29% from 3. Really good sign.
Also, that Jokic guy seems good.
Killian Hayes has been playing well. He finally had a break-out game in terms of scoring.
At our expense, of course
They're probably over in Pistonland complaining about CP3 having a breakout scoring game. At their expense, of course.
Umude had never hit a 3 before as a pro (small sample size). Going 4 for 5 tonight was serious random bs.
If Steph showed up in his first NBA game and hit 4/5, nobody would be surprised because they saw him do things in college. Most of us don't know who Umude is, but he was a decent 3pt shooter at Arkansas and is in the NBA for a reason. Him going 4/5 is frustrating, but not like Looney going 4/5.
Whoa there… Kevon shot .415 on 3s in college… Umude wishes!
weird, higher than curry's college 3pt% (41.2%)
I mean, sorta fair... but Loon's been in the NBA for 75 years and has yet to even attempt 2 3PA in a game yet... let alone 5. haha
Yeah but that's a shorter distance and Kevon had a lot more bounce before his hip injury. Plus NBA players can put a lot more pressure on a shooter than college players.
Of course, I jest. I like our loon just the way he is!
Draymond and Steph will take care of Jokic... and the media will wax poetic about how Denver was just undermanned without Murray.
I believe. Too many are already penciling it in as a loss for the Dubs.
To be fair, before Murray's injury, that was as close to a lock of a Denver win as it's possible to have against the Dubs when the Dubs are at full strength. The only thing worse would be a SEGABABA in Denver.
With Murray out, the game is definitely in play.
Completely apart from basketball, how many of y'all watched the tv show From (from the same people who created Lost)!!
Its this show about people who've mysteriously been guided to this small town and prevented from leaving by these frankly horrifying monsters. Its mindbending, filled with mystery, and creepy as fuck!!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
I loved that show. Lots of mysteries to try to figure out. If you liked From, got watch Silo next.
Silo is excellent, and if you like that, I recommend reading the books by Hugh Howey. People say it's a faithful adaptation, but there are enough differences that they are entirely separately worthwhile pieces of entertainment.
And a tangent- the film Annihilation, with Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, is a totally wild and nuts dark fantasy horror thing that, while not for everyone, may intrigue those of you who like creepy beautiful stuff. The trilogy of books that inspired it (Southern Reach Trilogy, of which the first book is a relatively different story called Annihilation) is completely its own thing that would generally appeal to folks who like the film.
One of my favorites of the last decade or so
The book trilogy is amazing. The movie tried really hard to re-create that magic and the casting was pretty good, but it unfortunately just couldn't hold a candle to the books. They are some excellent sci-fi, some of my favorites in recent years.
"creepy beautiful stuff" Oh, you mean like CP3 joining the Warriors? 😂
Touche
It’s gonna be epic when we knock the Nuggets out of the playoffs this year.
I think they're counting on too many young guys to back their starting 5 up and it's going to show big time in the playoffs.
Never heard of that happening to a defending champion before ... oh wait.
Don't choose too quickly. Give it all your thinking, consider the pros and cons. Our question: Who wins "Clipper back court player who has won much acclaim in the league yet is most likely to hog the ball, not play defense, get his head going off in a different direction from the team, and not step up when most needed?"
We have two super solid nominees.
Harden easily, imo. Westbrook has always been a high character, high effort guy with his head in the same direction as the team, and he plays a lot more defense than Harden.
It's interesting how Harden's absolute shittiness in so many ways has resulted in Westbrook smelling a little bit faintly of a rose, by comparison
Westbrook can’t shoot or play defense. He’s really good at a lot of other things and isn’t a complete ass like Harden is
I'm not sure I can go there with you entirely on Westbrook . I have no issues with his character. I have however often viewed him as pursuing his own game plan rather than the team's. Or even stat padding. He gives a lot of effort on defense but also gets completely lost a lot. But Harden is, you're right, bad on all these.
You said he doesn’t play defense.
Maxey unchained, Philly grateful. Tyrese M >>> James H.
Wolves beat the Celtics 114-109 in OT. Celtics get their first loss of the season and fall to 5-1. Wolves improve to 4-2.
also sac lost to houston again 122-97!
AAAAND Miami beat the lakers 108-107 :-)