Postgame party thread: The Bench Rises

Talk is cheap!

Give me the gift of watching Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies eat humble pie! Man, there is something special about watching every Golden State Warriors game, and tonight was one of those extra fun nights. Without Stephen Curry or Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors welcomed the Grizzlies to San Francisco and handed them a nice fat loss on Christmas day.

There really is something to these random games. Maybe it’s the special Christmas day setting. Or maybe it was the extra cirricular Morant smack talk - after getting trounced from the playoffs last year by this Warriors team. Whatever the combination of causes, the Warriors absolutely took it to Memphis tonight. I can’t wait for the post game press availability from both sides!

First of all, James Wiseman looks like an asset again. This is why you’ve got to remember to be patient - there’s a multi year timeline with this kid, and even the long initial blueprint has had to take some adjustments due to Covid and injuries. And look, I don’t know what James Wiseman will eventually become, but there’s just no way this guy is still unplayable in a year.

Joe Viray @JoeVirayNBA

Watch James Wiseman during this entire possession:

The second timeline wasn’t just done off Wiseman though. Golden State couldn’t run a deep lineup if they had wanted to this evening, but take a gander at what they got out of Ty Jerome, Jermey Lamb, and Moses Moody:

There were some attempts by the men in black and white to mar this most wholesome victory over the fraudulent-talking Grizzlies.

Anthony Slater @anthonyVslater

Jordan Poole gets ejected by Marc Davis. Second technical. Seemed like Poole kind of looked over toward Davis after he thought he was thrown down. First ejection of Poole's career. Seventh and eighth technical of the season tonight.

I’ve also just got one more little moment to take here for my guy Klay Thompson and the whole second timeline movement with Poole here. Everything is far from certain. I think that I might come down on the nervous edge of the fandom spectrum around DNHQ but I’d like to give praise to what Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson did tonight to defend the honor of the frnachise. Morant was talking some truly wild sounds, and without Curry or Wiggins, the signs weren’t especially promising for Golden State. But that’s why you have to watch every game… and yet at the same time understand that not every game truly matters. This season is a wild ride between suckitude and excellence. There’s a lot developing in Golden State, but I think Draymond Green was right: any team that runs into the Warriors in the playoffs should rightly be nervous.

kinefresh @kinefresh

WE BEAT THE DYNASTY 🏆🏆🏆🏆