98 Comments

Is this gonna be the game thread too?

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Looks like there is a new thread

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Wow, more hoops in just a few hours. Kinda wild after the 8 day break.

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We're the only team that has played 41 games. Everyone else has played 42-45 games so far.

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Yeah, there won't be many breaks outside of the ASB. I was commenting more on my state having to switch from "huh, what should I do tonight?" to " okay, get ready for another game". Gotta get back in shape to handle back to back rooting, it's hard work!

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tuned in for a few fragments of the game last night, what I saw:

1) Kuminga making a statement that the team shouldn't trade him for Murray

2) Quin Snyder's red glasses

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Are you sure that Al Pacino isn't the Hawks' head coach?

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Quick Question: I know the concept of "Trash Talk": jawwing at a player a la Gary Payton I and trying to win some kind of 'Game within the game' edge. I'm more familiar with cricket where the term is 'Sledging': talking at or about a player to put them off their game. I guess similar to ""swing, batter, batter, batter, batter, batter…swing, batter" in baseball, but a heck of a LOT more personal.

But when I see players making a shot near the opposing bench and they turn and say something to them, are the opposing bench players saying things to put the player off? As I can't hear anything and have never played I'm curious what goes on, what's allowed, is there an unwritten line that you can't cross? Thanks in advance for any insight.

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Shit talk at your own risk.

The more shit talking someone does to me the more locked in I get.

I can only imagine that is amplified at the NBA level.

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In baseball it was much stronger stuff than "swing batter." Bench jockeys (so-called because of the way they "rode" opposing players) would call out brutal taunts from the dugout and on the field. It was considered an art. Guys like Gene Mauch and Leo Durocher were masters.

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In cricket it was dubbed "Mental Disintegration" were you could "earn" an out by how well you could get into a batters head, and yes, sounds like Baseball has that too. But instead of calling out taunts from the dugout, sledging is a lot more, shall we say, 'intimate', and less obvious.

A cricket batter is alone in the middle of an Oval (e.g move the pitcher, catcher, hitter into the centre of the diamond) and can be surrounded by other fielders (i.e not uncommon to have 5-7 fielders 10-15m from the batter, all out of earshot from the umpire or your team mates off the field.

Probably one of the most mentally exposed of sports, hence such a high suicide rate amongst cricket players.

Trash talk seems more ego bashing. Sledging is more soul crushing.

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In the earlier years of baseball, bench jockeying could go way too far, with racist taunts, physical threats, name-calling, all sorts of stuff. It sometimes led to fistfights on and off the field, especially in the first half of the 20th century, when the culture was rougher, and the players were a mix of working-class/industrial and farm boys. The umpires were no choir boys either, and they were not too concerned with bench jockeying that wasn't aimed at them; even then, arguments with umps could go on awhile before players or managers got thrown out of the game, and the umps had their say too.

Of course this has all changed a lot, perhaps in part because of the big money involved now. Plus a lot of the roughest bench jockeying was before the advent of TV broadcasts, so only fans in the stadium heard it. People listening on the radio or reading stories in newspapers and magazines got the sanitized version.

I didn't realize cricket was that hard core! I thought cricket would be more refined than baseball.

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Sooo pretty much Draymond 1.0? 😂Yikes, that sounds like the Wild Wild West. Cricket certainly doesn't have the teams 'charge the field' or manager confronts the umpire situations. But I guess that's why only the players know and therefore could get away with it before said stump mics came on the scene.

I highly recommend watching Fire in Babylon, the story of The West Indies (collection of Caribbean countries) uniting against the world after being humiliated and creating a Dynasty for the ages if you are into social and sporting docos.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ3pty20Rh8

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Yeah no stump mike to pick that fun chatter up 😬

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"So how's your wife and my kids?" :P

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"Your daughters are doing great"

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Last night was the first time in Kuminga's career he's taken that many shots without a 3. Hopefully something finally clicked, he's capable of being Denver Aaron Gordon if he's willing to accept that as his game. It took Aaron Gordon an entire failed stint in Orlando to accept it, if Kerr gets Kuminga to accept it on his rookie contract then it's one of his finest moments. We'll see though, what I'd like to see is how Kuminga fares against a matchup like the Lakers, which luckily we will be seeing very soon.

They needed to change their second unit identity with CP3 out and bringing Draymond in as the bench 5 made a huge difference. Also some signs of life from CoJo, finally. Was an encouraging game.

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Sounds like it was a team concept (Kerr) having the guards set screens to allow his downward drive to the basket.

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I still have full hope in kumingas 3. All we need is 35%

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I just want to see his FT% stay above 70%

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Feels to me like Kuminga showing himself that he can keep his FT% up above 70% will help him stay confident after missing the first FT, so he can stop badly bricking the 2nd seemingly every time he misses the first... and that, in turn, will help his confidence in his 3pt shot if/when he needs to take it.

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Gordon career TS in Orlando (age 19-25): .531

Kuminga career TS in GS (age 19-21): .599

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While this is valuable info and does tell a story, do keep in mind that in Gordon's rookie season, league average TS% was .534 and this year it's .582.

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If we aren't going to consider role/teammates when citing TS% then how would one explain Gordon's massive TS% jump going from Orlando to Denver? 61% in the last three seasons.

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Play Gordon next to looney and Draymond of the past 2 seasons and let's see what his TS is

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Jan 25Liked by Eric Apricot, Daniel Hardee

I had some thoughts about the team last night, so here are some thoughts about the arena and the fans this time.

I've been to, I think, three Warriors games in recent memory: one vs San Antonio where Steph rolled an ankle and KD "emptied the clip" to come back and win it in the final minutes; one against Sacramento during the cursed '19-20 season; and last night. The first of those was at Oracle, the other two at Chase Center.

The feel of the fans and the arena was very, very different. Oracle was a concrete jungle packed with raucous beasts, cheering and yelling so loud it felt like it drained the energy out of you and suffused it into the very air. I was hoarse the next day. I've been to watch some other sports and nothing compares to the manic, primal intensity of that arena at that time.

Chase Center is nothing like that vibe. During the down season, when it was new the fans felt somewhat confused, tentative. Some were obnoxiously loud and heckling (like the guy behind Sacramento's bench yelling at Harry Barnes to shave his beard) but many more were resigned to the fact that this wasn't a winning team. Last night's crowd also seemed bewildered; so was I, unsure what kind of team I would see in the circumstances. Of course I had heard of Milojevic, I knew Loon credited him for improving his rebounding, but I didn't know who he was as a person before the tribute video; I imagine most people in attendance were little more familiar than that, so it felt like of like attending the memorial service for a stranger.

The Chase Center facility itself is very nice: it feels state-of-the-art, there are a lot of good seats, the giant center screen helps a lot with following the action, and there are some nice food and drink options, which are very pricey of course. The fans around me did seem to know their stuff, but it was a more reserved, tentative, well-behaved fanbase. There were cheers and boos of course, but they weren't egging on the players anything like the Oracle fans. I'm sure the circumstances and the game itself contributed at first; this Atlanta team, impacted by injuries, may as well have been made of strangers, and Warriors had a comfortable lead through most of the 4th and at a few points besides that. (I feel like at some point in the 3rd, the team realized they had no one who could guard Kuminga and that was pretty much doom for the Hawks.) Probably the trepidation over Draymond being in only his second game back after suspension, the team playing in Deki's memory, and uncertainty for the future with the trade deadline looming and rumor mill in full tilt, made it hard to fully commit to cheering your heart out. Or you could blame it on economic class differences, and say that the rich San Francisco tech workers who can afford to attend the games these days are just a more introspective, quieter people. I feel a little like everyone wants to be on their best behavior to respect the arena while it still feels new, whereas a weathered old place like Oracle needs no such consideration.

In any case, I now give credence to the theory that the fan energy level in Chase Center is not on the same level as Oracle and the team can't muster the same effort level as a result.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Something else I've been thinking about: this run has also been a reallllly long run... 10 years or more depending on when you want to start counting. The raucous crowds from the early days are ten years older! The core aren't the only ones that have aged...

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Also, even the working class hard core Warriors fan neighbors of mine lost some of their edge when the team got KD after losing at the end of the 73 win season. They went into a whats the point of the regular season mode that I think some folks haven’t really gotten back from.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Honestly, I was almost more impressed by JK's career high 9 defensive rebounds than his scoring outburst. And his 4 stocks...

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author

I was really pleased by JK’s 0-0 from three. That means he focused on inside scoring against an ATL team that had questionable rim protection and no one big and fast enough to really guard him.

That also meant Kerr ran enough plays for him that put JK cutting towards the basket. This was a low key big thing about this game. I can’t remember Kerr ever running so many plays for JK (and here I mean all the back screens that shooters set to get JK cutting to the rim; I don’t count JK just isoing at the arc).

The big Q going forward for JK is how he deals with big size defenders. I see him trying some stuff to get inside and it looks promising. I really don’t think shooting over them is the right answer for now. (He’s quietly been one of the worst 3P shooters in the league this year.)

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The play in which he went straight into the chest of Jalen Johnson (who has an inch or two and what looks like 15-20 lbs on him), put him right under the rim, and dropped it gently in was one of my highlights of the night. Esp. given JJ is one of two or three players drafted below JK who I would consider taking over him.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

1. His 3P% & FT% splits are trending back to reasonable land.

2. He seems to be showing that he doesn't need a 3pt shot to be effective on this team in this offense.

3. His midrange & fadeaway are looking better and better. If he can be that "triple threat from the wing", that's a big weapon for this team.

The biggest question for me is how he defends bigger players. Can he can credibly switch onto centers without just getting overwhelmed giving up easy layups & offensive rebounds?

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Jan 25Liked by Daniel Hardee

Woke up feeling really proud of this team. They showed up absolutely last night, both emotionally and professionally.

More even than for their physical gifts, I admire athletes for this ready access they have to what for most of us would be an unattainable duality; almost an enlightened coincidence of oblivion and focus. Truly amazing. Sustaining that may well prove impossible—often there's a crash to follow an event like last night's—but they showed real heart.

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Being able to get into a flow state despite bad things happening to you is the admirable and unusual part imo. I can get into a flow state for a number of things, but I wouldn't really expect that ability if I just watched a mentor die last week.

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But you could take it as inspiration. A mentor and close friend of mine died Dec. 30, not in front of me (that obviously is another level of trauma) but it was rough enough. Flow and focus were among the things we worked on and talked about frequently. Every day since she passed, I've thought, "what would she advise," and it has helped me stay focused and get into that flow state.

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Thanks PointGawd. As some of y'all know, I have livestock guardian dogs (big farm and ranch guards) and do a lot of training for performance in obedience and draft (dog carting). My dogs hold all the records for their breed (Kuvasz) in draft, so I'm known for that. This was my training mentor for the past 35 years.

When you're working with a dog in performance, you have to get in a zone with the dog, locked in mentally together, and you flow together. It's a team sport in that sense. When it works, it's beautiful. My mentor worked with me a lot on how to get and stay locked in and ready to work as a team. It's the key to superior performance.

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Happy to say it is just under 2 weeks until the trade deadline, and we can get back to talking about Kerr's coaching malpractice or whatever your favorite flame is, and not worry about is Mike going to trade CPIII, GPIII, Looney, JK, MM, BP, TJD, and 4 firsts for a 3 month rental of a mid level backup point guard or a big man who can't defend switches.

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If the Dubs go on a bit of a run in the next two weeks, there's a very real chance that MDJ stands pat - esp. if JK continues to show out like he has. They'll ned the depth that's returning from injury to withstand the long intense road trips coming up in the second half, and with the whole team coalescing after the death of Deki, trading part of the team away, may not be the move MDJ wants to make - risking a chemistry fuck-up.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

The only time the Warriors have ever showed signs of a knee jerk move in the Lacob era was the Oubre move when Klay went down going into the draft.

It’s highly doubtful that they will make a trade simply for the sake of making a trade.

Edit: Hopefully 🙏

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Man, you read my mind. I was going to post the same thing this morning.

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I thought Draymond looked relaxed but engaged. He was having fun out there. I used to think Kerr needed to find ways to keep the OGs feeling disrespected and underrated, but what if the fix is to embrace #nothingLeftToProve and encourage them to ball out for the sheer hell of it? Just to see how high JK can fly?

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I LOVE how hyped GPII was when JK came back after a T/O when he was picking up from 94ft!! *Stares whimsically into the imagined future over the next 5-7 years as he grows and improves towards his peak athleticism and skill... 🤤

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Klay Thompson's HISTORIC 37-PT Third Quarter | NBA Classic Game | NBA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmbFUcXqy9I

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Rewatched the whole Q (not just the highlights). What's crazy is he scores a "pedestrian" 10 in the first 6:30 and THEN goes Calypso Klay for 27 in the last 5:30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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IIRC he also made 3 shots that were waved off? Bonkers.

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Not only is that crazy, he doesn't even take a shot until 9:44 left in the quarter: https://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay/_/gameId/400578943. I think this is right up there with Wilt's 100 (and Kobe's 81) as craziest single-game accomplishments of all time (probably a few other worthy candidates).

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He hit that one modest mid-range 2 at 9:44 and then did not attempt a second shot till 8:21. At that point, I’m pretty sure I was not thinking, “Klay is going to score 37 this quarter.”

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Wilt's game was crazy for his 28/32 at the free throw line. Not bad for a career 51.1% freethrower. If he shot his career average, he'd have finished with a lowly 88 points.

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88 points is like any Tuesday in the NBA this season

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JK was the obvious choice, but I vote Steph Curry be added back into Warrior Wonder polls.

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Why was Bob and Kelenna brown nosing Murray like crazy yesterday? I mean, yeah, he's a good player but they were talking about him like he is some generational player we've never seen before lol

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+1.

I feel like if you gave Jordan Poole a weirdly short torso, disproportionately long arms and legs, and slightly better D and rebounding chops, he’d be DeJounte Murray.

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TBF that's a lot of changes, haha

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Because 99% of basketball commentary is hyping up the designated “stars” of the teams playing, and Murray is one of two the Hawks have.

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Ding ding. And the other star wasn’t playing.

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Cuz trade speculation drives interest/clicks... especially with casuals.

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Life is much more important than my petty rivalries with fans of LBJ, KD, Booker or Clippers, Nuggets, Gobert etc.

I can stay with this core till the end of this sad season. Makes no difference for me if it will be a play-in ending, or one or two playoff series runs. These people made me so happy in the past, even in the darker days I've been through, that I can stand and support even this 2024 team

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