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Welp. You win some, you lose some.
This one is a big loss. One of those that will stick in the teeth for a while and make you think about it.
If you missed the game, here’s my quick rundown:
The Warriors defense is lackadaisical and teams are putting up big numbers against the Golden State Warriors. It’s not just the Phoenix Suns that found a soft chewy defense, this is a troubling early pattern:

Sure, the refs may have been calling a bit of a lopsided game, but it wasn’t that lopsided. The defense just couldn’t stay in front of a fairly basic drive and kick Suns offense.
Then, Klay got really mad about some stuff. After the refs intervened and handed out double technical fouls, Thompson kept up the banter as he sauntered away and somehow earned the wrath of the referee again.


Welp.
From there, it was a fairly strong slide as the Suns pulled out to a big lead and stayed there for the rest of the game. The Warriors never got back to within single digits.
Is there something fundamentally wrong with the defense? I don’t know, but Golden State is certainly missing one Gary Payton II a whole bunch right now.

Welp.
Here, please have a moment of Jordan Poole Zen, I know I needed it.
Post game: welp...
It's kind of amazing:
Wiseman is now averaging (per 36): 22.8/10.6/2.0 on .690 TS% and IMO he's been a negative player so far. His absurd Net Rtg is -48.6. Even with Steph, his Net Rtg is -22 per 100. Small sample sizes abound, but I think it matches the eye test: there a lot of little things he needs to clean up. He has the physical tools to be a monster, but right now, he's going to cost this team games. I think there's going to be a large correlation between what seed the Dubs end up and how much PT Wise gets.
That said, there are now some clear strengths he is showing. Even if when he's on court, the team has a distressing 89.9 ORtg. Something to monitor as things continue.
After the Klay ejection (and I still don’t have a clue what that was about. Jawing with Booker? Leads to that much upset? Weird.) the Dubs couldn’t shoot at all, especially long range. Being pissed off definitely plays havoc with adrenaline and body chemistry, but the Dubs are usually pretty good at maintaining composure. Not last night. In short: WTF?
October loss, though: Meh. The season of developing youth and watching the vet core slowly round back into form. Maybe they’ll start playing defense some time this winter.