Post game take it to the dome thread: Golden State wins big
Post game take it to the dome thread: Golden State wins big
Eight Warriors score in the double digits
144 points. A record-setting attendance record, and a Golden State Warriors team that suddenly looks on track again. Weird how getting healthy can do that. Golden State broke their three game losing streak in dramatic fashion by absolutely blasting the San Antonio Spurs and picked up just their fourth road win of the season.
We talked earlier about how hard it has been to judge this Warriors team that hasn’t been able to field their full roster all season. It’s a subtle addition, but when Kevon Looney picked up two quick fouls, it was Andre Iguodala that came off the bench first. Like Draymond Green, it’s hard to quantify his impact, but you sure do notice it when he’s around versus when he isn’t.
During his post game availability, Green was asked about the huge difference between this game and the last and he pointed towards focus and intention. It’s the magic formula that is going to save the season faster and more completely than any potential trade.
Of course, there’s two sides to every game, and the Warriors were certainly helped by the Spurs paltry defense. Even so, this is the sort of maximum dominance that this dynasty has been built on. It starts with Curry drawing so much attention that it breaks defenses - and then tonight we got to see what happens when the rest of the team is hitting shots and taking advantage of those holes that Curry causes in the defenses they face.
Whew.
Good times!
So many things looked better it’s hard to know where to start. This is the Warriors team that had a lot of people excited in the preseason.
Grab your drinks and desserts, curl up somewhere warm, and bask in this win.
LOOK AT THE OLD FELLA GO!!
42 games in and no contender has separated themselves all that much from the rest, imo. The only teams I'm currently afraid of, are those young nothing-to-lose teams, with heaps of energy and "must take down warriors" mentality. Such a headache in the regular season
Monte Poole finally wrote what I have been thinking:
“The superpowers of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were for years enough for the Warriors to bully the NBA. With Curry demolishing defenses and Green wrecking offenses, the league was at their mercy.
Precisely halfway through their fourth championship defense in the last nine seasons, the Warriors are discovering those days are over. They are, as Klay Thompson is fond of saying, in the past like a ponytail.
Riding the same formula into battle against a league adjusting its strategies, the Warriors’ 20-21 record illustrates their difficulty navigating the new NBA. Coach Steve Kerr, his staff and the players are discovering that today’s league is a different beast. Their first 41 games have been a tour of humility. The next 41 games, and any that come in the postseason, will determine whether the Warriors can decipher what they have yet to solve.
The source of their troubles is their roster, constructed differently than most others because Curry and Green are such unique talents.
Green’s versatility has allowed them to roll out a 6-foot-6 center and prosper at both ends. Curry’s offensive gravity has allowed the Warriors to stay with non-scorers Kevon Looney and Green and somehow thrive with a “three-out” system.
It's Curry, Thompson and Andrew Wiggins on the perimeter, spacing the floor, leaving non-scorers Draymond and Loon on Throwback Island.
Which is at odds with the most obvious trend in basketball. Offenses, certainly those in the NBA, have in recent years made a hard shift toward four- and five-out systems -- with four or five players capable of firing from distance.
And on the better teams, the non-shooters can finish at the rim. Neither Green nor Looney does that well. They’re terrific screeners with high intellect, and they know how to best unlock the shooters...…
While other teams were chasing long, rangy shooters in the draft, the Warriors chose to use their three recent lottery picks on a project center (James Wiseman), an electric athlete (Jonathan Kuminga) and a wing with two-way potential (Moses Moody). All three entered the NBA as teenagers with thin resumés.”