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Deep Looney thoughts. The Dray/Looney split has finally arrived, and its about time. My argument for the split was for defensive reasons. I have always believed one of those guys should be on the floor at all times because they are our 2 best interior defenders. Slater made the observation that once Steph is back, the Dubs may start Green/Looney if they are up against one of the dominant big men. I think that's a mistake, but here is why.

The main reason for starting Loon w/Green vs the Big Guys is to save Green from the early game wear and tear guarding the 5. Looney fairs no better than anyone else in the league trying to guard the dominant bigs, that's why they are dominant. All he is doing in this case is clocking in at the 5 to take the first 6 minutes of punishment handed out by the opponent's 5.

But what is Looney's true superpower? What made him a legend around these parts? Harden. Looney's real post season value is in his uncanny ability to lock up or deter perimeter scorers. Anyone can collect fouls and get dunked on by KAT. But not everyone can gap wings the way Looney does.

I would start a game with JK, OPJ or Beli at the 5, doesn't really matter which. The last thing you want is Loon picking up 2 early fouls in the first 5 minutes of a game. I want to INVITE the opposing team to start the game going inside and often. I want KAT, Jokic, Ayton too expend energy right out of the gate. I want the opponent thinking they can feast inside on 2s. Let them. So, Beli goes to the bench with 2 fouls at the 5 minute mark and KAT has 8 points in the paint. That's a good thing.

In order to get through these Bigs, with our limited (small) lineup, we have to throw everything at them. You don't start the game with Dray at the 5. You sacrifice some pawns first. Then you bring in Looney, then you close with Green. As the game goes on, the Big tires and you put increasingly better defenders on him.

Just my opinion. When Loon/Green share the floor, their best defense has Green in the middle and Loon gapping wings. And we need that late in games and without our guys being in foul trouble. The 5th slot in the starting lineup is fodder. They are the heroic soldiers about to get posterized for the sake of the team.

Keeping Looney out of the starting lineup isn't a demotion. It's self preservation. Its a necessity if the Dubs are going to win a protracted war against a bevy of bigs.

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“Draymond’s performance will improve dramatically as he gets his legs underneath him here the next couple weeks. I’m not worried about that."

-Steve Kerr

We saw it last season as he recovered from COVID too, I remember people were calling him washed up in the beginning of that season too. He hasn't looked like himself yet since coming back and Klay's had a rough go of it as well. But I'm betting on Draymond and Klay to figure it out. 5 straight trips to the Finals, never had a series without a road playoff win, 24 straight wins to start the season, 73-9. You can't accomplish these things without being legendary competitors and I trust them to figure it out if their bodies allow for it.

Not a fan of the tenor of some of the conversation surrounding the mentalities of Dray or Klay recently, feel like they've earned a lot more patience from (some of) the fanbase than they are getting. But whatever, as long as it's basketball-related then it's fair game regardless of how I feel about it.

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Draymond's such a weird player offensively. He's simultaneously a very low usage player (he basically never shoots) while also being a very high-usage player (in terms of ball dominance). I don't know if he can play in non-Steph lineups offensively without being a significant negative on that end.

And of course, he looks terrible defensively right now (for his standards). Hopefully he gets better during these final few games of the regular season because we ain't winning anything if he's playing like a shadow of himself.

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76ers and Bucks are now 0.5 games behind the Heat. Heat's next game is against the Nets. If the Heat loses that one, the #1 spot in the East will have a three-way tie.

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Trae Young's incredible, my god. Just completely diced us up.

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Everybody healthy give me

Steph, Poole, Klay, Dray, JFK

GP2, Wiggins, Andre, OPJ and Loon to round out the 10 man rotation

Insert Belly and Lee for certain situations if needed

Steph, Poole/Andre(depending on if we REALLY need defense or not), Klay, Dray and OPJ to finish

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Draymond Point Forward. He is so key to how they operate when Curry is on the floor. However, the lineups with Green-Poole are pretty far down the totem pole. Poole hasn't fully grown into an off-ball shooter. At this point, he is just better when he has the ball in his hands more. When Dray on the court with him, Dray runs the point at the expense of Poole getting into a groove. Would like to see Green put into some more actions off ball, screening, changing sides under the rim, etc., such that Poole can manage the offense a little more.

Actually, I think it would be smart to pair Poole with Looney in all non-Curry minutes period. The lineup stats with Poole-Green are pretty telling.

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This is what we can expect from Klay for the rest of this year. Either Game 6 Klay or Hungover Klay. He'll probably go 2-25 the next game before dropping 50 against Memphis

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JP3 career high 10 assists tonight!

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If the Sixers win tonight, they'll be tied with the Bucks in the East and will be 0.5 games behind the Heat.

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Is Looney not starting today a hint at what the starting 5 would be when Steph returns? Steph, Poole, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond

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Klay up to 37.5% from three on the year.

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I am curious though… why not Kuminga on Young down the stretch?

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Best thing about tonight - Utah and Dallas both lost. We still have 3 game lead over both of them with only 8 to play. I like our chances in Washington on Sunday; if we split the next two on the road trip, we're in really good shape.

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Very good fight tonight, well done DubCubs. Sorry for JP3 that barely lost the offense brain challenge with a monster (Young), and for Dray that in the last play fell on the best screener in the NBA not wearing GSW jersey no. 5 (Capela). Let’s keep this good rhythm and mindset until the playoffs.

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Watched the 1st half ... missed the 3rd quarter for dinner, but saw the 4th....

It's tough being a coach... could see keeping the 4th quarter lineup in for so long with their great comeback behind Klay's 3-point shooting to cut it to down 3 ... but then they started missing shots and looked a bit tired... hindsight- it might have been nice to substitute around the 4:00 minute mark.... might not have made much difference though...like I said it's tough being a coach... It was a fun game to watch, except for the ending.

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