Jazz down to Phoenix by 10 after one quarter. Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Conley, Royce O'neal, and Jingles not playing. If your starting lineup is Rudy Gay, Daniel House, Whiteside, Clarkson and Forrest, don't expect me to One-Day-Root for you. By the way I looked it up because I thought Rudy Gay has been around a long time and it turns out he was initially drafted by the Cincinatti Royals in 1961, played with the Big O. Did not remember that.
I do not believe the sky is falling. Aside from nerves related to Klay whom I hope is okay, I feel very peaceful about this season and Steph and Dray and everything else. Maybe I'm the nuts one.
My favorite part about the win yesterday was the crispness of the passing compared to a few of the preceding games. If the Warriors can continue to make that a priority for the next couple of weeks, they will be in great shape heading into the ASB.
As you look at the Western Conf. standings, do you have any team in mind to move up or down by the end of the season? (Reminder: 1 Suns 2 Dubs 3 Grizzlies 4Jazz 5 Mavericks 6 Nuggets 7 Timberwolves 8 Lakers 9 Clippers 10 Portland.) I mean obviously all our hearts yearn for the Dubs to rise. But just rational analysis -- anything going to change? My only one is Portland might catch the Lakers. Clippers if they get PG and Kawhi back might rise ... But hey what do I know, let's hear from ....
Mavericks are actively rising, and Memphis is due for a minor correction...
And the Lakers:
1. I hear Davis is coming back, so that should help them.
2. I keep hearing "they have the toughest remaining schedule", then I look up and they're playing against Orlando, Minnesota, or Houston... so, in theory, they should struggle.
Keen to know, if you were an opponent and could choose to face The Warriors without Steph or without Dray, who are you picking and why? (Current form/injuries aside)
Without even looking at the stats, I'm pretty sure teams would prefer to play us without Steph. I'm willing to bet Draymond himself would acknowledge that.
The only season where it was really a close call — i.e. where Dray was really MVP level in terms of impact — was. ironically enough, the 2015-16 unanimous MVP season. Otherwise, Steph has consistently been the #1 or #2 player in the league in terms of overall impact, where Dray has been a bit all over the place, but rarely top 10. (Essential as he is to what we do!)
Jan 24, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
My first game at Chase. Dubs are now 2/2 win rate for the games I've cheered (screamed) for in person. Accepting donations so I can afford to attend more.
In person, the physicality of the game always hits different. Defense from Loon, Wiggs, JK, GP2, and some low-key good Beli work stood out last night--getting to the right place, staying firm in front, arms up, core strength on, to nearly shut down Atlas-like Gobert and bother the rest of the Jazz. Bogdan, Ingles, and especially Rudy Gay were a problem, but with Dray as an anchor, our wing defenders can cover them so much better.
From the tip, the starting unit moved smooth and confident in their role on offense. JP was moving smart, clear on his job back alongside the starters, and it paid off in open shots and smooth layups. A lot of us want to see JK get more minutes, but against a crafty vet defense, he wandered or was frozen in indecision a lot more than OPJ, who continues to wow. Curry was struggling to get open, looked like less offball zip than I'm used to, Conley was chewing his jersey--our guy deserves some rest. Loon's slick midrange jumper brought the house down, or maybe that was just me.
Chase feels like a bank lobby-conference center hybrid, has gift shops or ads for one of our corporate overlords every six inches, but the crowd sounded good in there, and even our top corner seats had a solid view. My favorite part was to close my eyes, and take in the sweet Fitz-less sound of Dubnation roaring from every corner.
Yes, many times. I like seat stacks, but dislike architecture, glitzy so-called decor, mall-feeling layout, and feeling of decorated cinder blocks (Not actual). I keep getting the feeling of surface glamour, but lack of substance. I don’t know how else to say that. There are some beautiful arenas out around the country, but for me, Chase is over-hyped and not one of them. But it’s all a matter of taste and I respect yours.
Your comment about Steph showing less off-ball zip is something I’ve noticed recently. He seems to be saving his energy on offense for moves timed to pull defenders away from his teammates; almost like his head is even more into opening the floor for his teammates than usual. I’m wondering if the decrease in his usual constant motion, or the increase in “gravity” assists could be throwing off his rhythm.
My guess (and essentially all my posts are uneducated guesses) is that Curry has a bad case of the “yips” especially his wide open looks, being the point of the spear, the focus of everyone’s attention and the hopes and dreams of a nation (a Dub nation) for another Championship has to make this hiccup in his shooting scary for him, the golfer, Kevin Na developed a bad case of the yips in his Putting and it really tanked his game, the only reason I mention it is because one of the commentators at the time had an interesting observation, he had also gone through the yips and in his opinion it was going to be really tough for Na to overcome coming as it did during the height of his success and with the eyes of the entire Golf world directly on him
Everybody is different, what works for some doesn't work for others. Hope Steph figures out how to get his mind right. I'm hoping that a weeklong break of messing around on the basketball court with his buddies, and maybe winning a 3 point contest, will do the trick.
IF fatigue is a possible cause for Steph's shooting woes, then maybe he should sit out the All Star. I think the All Star may also be a potential breeding ground for more covid cases, so I'd like to keep our players out of it.
I think that for a player like Steph who's been there before so many times, the ASB shouldn't be too fatiguing... it's a 3 point contest to mess around, and 15-20m in a relaxed game. Yeah, maybe there's some more media obligations too, but it doesn't strike me as heavy lifting.
So... what's the right balance between "Steph's just in a shooting slump, he'll get over it," and "WTF??? CURRY'S AGE HAS CAUGHT UP WITH HIM AND THE END IS NEAR!!! LET'S SELL HIGH RIGHT NOW ON OUR BIG THREE, COLLECT MAJOR ASSETS AND START THE YOUTH MOVEMENT RIGHT NOW!!!"
My take is: He's in a shooting slump, but it's a very long one and he's never had one at this stage in his career, with this many miles on the tires. Therefore, no one knows how extended it will be nor how close to previous status he can get. This is different from slumps in years past when he was a young guy and you knew that any day he could turn it around. Such is my take hit me up for more of them
I thought this was a realistic discussion about Steph Curry and some struggles he's been facing that bring him from immortal to great player. How does Westbrick even remotely fit in that conversation?
As per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUrL3VlCqhs Westbrook isn't assisting at a high rate now as he's trying to cut down on turnovers, so he's just shooting more. Meanwhile Steph is playing excellent at "point guard" stuff and playing excellent defense, which Westbrook has never played. So, yes, even struggling ice-cold volume shooting version of Steph is still significantly better than Westbrook.
I’m still not sure I should have used Curry and Westbrooks name in the same sentence but what one does in a game thread seems more about catharsis than analysis, I was going for the hyperbolic as in Curry’s shooting slump reaching its bottom, should have included the disclaimer - only referring to volume/efficiency
Draymond Green, the league’s best defender who leads the team in rebounds and assists, has missed 13 of the team’s 47 games this season. fixed that for you :)
Curry + Green have been unstoppable this season. They are two halves of a whole. Neither is the Curry without the Green neither the Green without the Curry.
Add in a healthy and re-adjusted Klay? I don't see anyone stopping this team.
Doesn’t make sense to me. I assume they have used their measure-everything-meter to determine if he has 1/4 inch off on that or 10° off on that. But adjusting his three-point shot does not address the problem of missing layups, floaters, closer jumpers… And even free throws. I’m assuming this is multifactorial and cumulative. I cannot imagine the emotional strength it must take to address a press that’s constantly asking you what’s wrong with your shooting. Privately, I think there’s a factor of which we are not aware.
That may be. There are things we do know -- like he's had injuries to both recently. What we don't know is how bad it is. But maybe it's more troublesome than expected. I like that Steph doesn't make excuses or play up injuries as the reason for his troubles, but it leaves us guessing. I don't like that so much.
What I meant to say was that he has had game to game ups and downs all season but it feels alot worse than it is In January. January for sure is worse but it's not as extreme as it feels during the games.
This to me is actually a good news. It is not all fatigue related. There is injury factor in there and that will go away (although that may mean Steph needs to sit for few weeks). I know we will drop in seeding, but Steph should sit for couple of weeks and rest of the team including Klay/JoKu/Moody can carry us.
I'm guessing it's a minor tweak while the hand/fingers are bothering him. Nothing major. My bigger concern is how much his added bulk is effecting his shooting touch both near the rim and beyond the arc. Just doesn't look as fluid. Kinda like when Tiger bulked up and he had to keep tweaking his swing. (I know there is a bunch more complexities involved but that's what my eyes see and interpret)
Didn't Steph even have a season with Durant where he bulked up and talked about playing stronger defense, and then got into a shooting slump, and actually ended up slimming down before the playoffs? I think it was 2017-2018, but may have been the first KD year.
I'm 98% sure this happened, it just wasn't as long of a slump.
Slater had a couple tweets where he summarized what he heard and saw from Steph.
These are both audio/video links but to try to summarize: Slater feels the recent injuries (landing on hand and jammed finger on offhand) are affecting his shot but Steph won't reveal anything or make excuses.
Yea, Slater addressed that this would only be relevant for the last 5 games or so... he was mentioning how off one of Steph's recent shootarounds seemed to be. This was Slater talking about the game after Steph jammed his finger:
"And I was out there pregame. And we was /really/ missing it. Like, he was missing a ton in pregame and he kept looking at his hand and fidgeting with it... and even stopped his routine... had Bruce Frasier come over and he was picking at his left middle finger -- the guide hand. Then, he called Leandro Barbosa over [...] to slap at the ball..."
Again, I'm still just some dude on the interwebz, but my human body makes far more repeatable set shots when I release early while my legs are still firing. I know Steph is not human, but he's been using his human form while he plays basketball, so it should function by these same sort of rules.
I don't know what's going on there but I've never seen steph miss in practice. Like, at all, let alone a bunch of times hitting the front of the rim. Work in progress or pointless work? Dunno.
Neither have I and we always get to our seats when the doors first open to watch the shoot arounds, even the night of the December Portland game when there was buzz about the record he stayed on the court extra time and wasn’t missing anything from three, that video is a real head scratcher to me
One coach, trying to educate the 12 to 24-year-olds in the BR warriors community, said that what is important is where the tweak was, and that 2 to 3 days of resting/pain management is usually required to decide how ‘concerning’ this sort of event is.
In the few games where Klay returned, I was not a fan of him driving to the basket, colliding with opponents, and crashing to the floor. In fact, I called it out and said he should stick to making threes for now. So now, he's hurt. Sigh.
I keep hearing this but isn’t it better to err on the side of caution? I guess coming back all gung-ho is a more exciting storyline, but then here we are with him hurt.
His old rotation was to play the entire first quarter. Playing the first nine minutes is not playing the first twelve. So, I fail to see how this is inconsistent?
2. Earlier this season, Kerr switched to have him playing the first few minutes, taking a break, then playing the end of quarters. Reasoning given was to have him on the court at the beginning and end of each quarter.
3. Last few games, he's playing the first 9 minutes of the first quarter, but had him start each quarter, and had him take a break early in the 4th quarter.
Conclusion: They're still tinkering on Steph's rotation.
Will they go back to old rotation (that worked for ~7 years)? Kerr says "No", but he's said a lot of things strongly, and then later changed his mind. So, we'll see!
Just to clarify: if one wants to predict each game individually for fun, that’s of course totally cool. But if one wants to get the most accurate projection of what their record will be at the end of the stretch, assigning a binary W-L to each game is not the best way to do it, since it ignores the (guessestimated) chances of winning each game.
For example: if the Warriors without Dray had six of the next twelve games against junior high teams and six road games against the Suns, the “binary W or L” system would tell you they’d be 6-6, whereas the “assigning guesstimated percentage chances to each game” system would give you more like 8-4 or 9-3.
It's not impossible, for sure. But if they do go 6-6, it'll make a 13-13 stretch after a 27-6 start. If they go 6-6 over this stretch, it means they'll have been playing much like they've been playing recently (good defense, bad offense). Having it persist for a whole 26 games is a real problem.
Update Jazz down only 2 at halftime come on Jazz big fan. big big fan
Jazz down to Phoenix by 10 after one quarter. Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Conley, Royce O'neal, and Jingles not playing. If your starting lineup is Rudy Gay, Daniel House, Whiteside, Clarkson and Forrest, don't expect me to One-Day-Root for you. By the way I looked it up because I thought Rudy Gay has been around a long time and it turns out he was initially drafted by the Cincinatti Royals in 1961, played with the Big O. Did not remember that.
I do not believe the sky is falling. Aside from nerves related to Klay whom I hope is okay, I feel very peaceful about this season and Steph and Dray and everything else. Maybe I'm the nuts one.
My favorite part about the win yesterday was the crispness of the passing compared to a few of the preceding games. If the Warriors can continue to make that a priority for the next couple of weeks, they will be in great shape heading into the ASB.
As you look at the Western Conf. standings, do you have any team in mind to move up or down by the end of the season? (Reminder: 1 Suns 2 Dubs 3 Grizzlies 4Jazz 5 Mavericks 6 Nuggets 7 Timberwolves 8 Lakers 9 Clippers 10 Portland.) I mean obviously all our hearts yearn for the Dubs to rise. But just rational analysis -- anything going to change? My only one is Portland might catch the Lakers. Clippers if they get PG and Kawhi back might rise ... But hey what do I know, let's hear from ....
This season has random ending written all over it, my prediction right now is Grizz/Hornets Finals, how’s that for a prediction
either that or Warriors/Heat
Mavericks are actively rising, and Memphis is due for a minor correction...
And the Lakers:
1. I hear Davis is coming back, so that should help them.
2. I keep hearing "they have the toughest remaining schedule", then I look up and they're playing against Orlando, Minnesota, or Houston... so, in theory, they should struggle.
Mavericks could pass the Jazz at this rate.
I would not want to face Memphis at all.
Keen to know, if you were an opponent and could choose to face The Warriors without Steph or without Dray, who are you picking and why? (Current form/injuries aside)
Without even looking at the stats, I'm pretty sure teams would prefer to play us without Steph. I'm willing to bet Draymond himself would acknowledge that.
Without Curry.
The Warriors are 8-6 in the past two seasons with Curry and without Green. They'd probably be a play-in team.
I believe they are 1-4 in the past two seasons with Green and without Curry. They'd probably be in the lottery.
Opponents do not double/triple team guarding Green. So, no Warrior is left open to shoot.
Without Steph, clearly.
See 2019-2020 Warriors.
Or this:
Steph on: +12.5
Steph off: -1.9
Net: +14.4
====
Dray on: +8.8
Dray off: +6.8
Net: +2.0
The only season where it was really a close call — i.e. where Dray was really MVP level in terms of impact — was. ironically enough, the 2015-16 unanimous MVP season. Otherwise, Steph has consistently been the #1 or #2 player in the league in terms of overall impact, where Dray has been a bit all over the place, but rarely top 10. (Essential as he is to what we do!)
Suns get the Jazz tonight on a road b2b. Some teams have all the luck.
(Yeah, they're good, really good. They are also lucky).
Now do how many rings do they have. :-)
Ask me again in July...?
Answer will be the same then.
^
My first game at Chase. Dubs are now 2/2 win rate for the games I've cheered (screamed) for in person. Accepting donations so I can afford to attend more.
In person, the physicality of the game always hits different. Defense from Loon, Wiggs, JK, GP2, and some low-key good Beli work stood out last night--getting to the right place, staying firm in front, arms up, core strength on, to nearly shut down Atlas-like Gobert and bother the rest of the Jazz. Bogdan, Ingles, and especially Rudy Gay were a problem, but with Dray as an anchor, our wing defenders can cover them so much better.
From the tip, the starting unit moved smooth and confident in their role on offense. JP was moving smart, clear on his job back alongside the starters, and it paid off in open shots and smooth layups. A lot of us want to see JK get more minutes, but against a crafty vet defense, he wandered or was frozen in indecision a lot more than OPJ, who continues to wow. Curry was struggling to get open, looked like less offball zip than I'm used to, Conley was chewing his jersey--our guy deserves some rest. Loon's slick midrange jumper brought the house down, or maybe that was just me.
Chase feels like a bank lobby-conference center hybrid, has gift shops or ads for one of our corporate overlords every six inches, but the crowd sounded good in there, and even our top corner seats had a solid view. My favorite part was to close my eyes, and take in the sweet Fitz-less sound of Dubnation roaring from every corner.
When I look at Chase Center, I see all glitz no content.
Have you actually been inside the arena? Because I don't find this to be true at all after attending a few games in person.
Yes, many times. I like seat stacks, but dislike architecture, glitzy so-called decor, mall-feeling layout, and feeling of decorated cinder blocks (Not actual). I keep getting the feeling of surface glamour, but lack of substance. I don’t know how else to say that. There are some beautiful arenas out around the country, but for me, Chase is over-hyped and not one of them. But it’s all a matter of taste and I respect yours.
Your comment about Steph showing less off-ball zip is something I’ve noticed recently. He seems to be saving his energy on offense for moves timed to pull defenders away from his teammates; almost like his head is even more into opening the floor for his teammates than usual. I’m wondering if the decrease in his usual constant motion, or the increase in “gravity” assists could be throwing off his rhythm.
OTOH, no Dray and working in Klay could do it too
great report! And the acoustics in there are pretty amazing for sure
My guess (and essentially all my posts are uneducated guesses) is that Curry has a bad case of the “yips” especially his wide open looks, being the point of the spear, the focus of everyone’s attention and the hopes and dreams of a nation (a Dub nation) for another Championship has to make this hiccup in his shooting scary for him, the golfer, Kevin Na developed a bad case of the yips in his Putting and it really tanked his game, the only reason I mention it is because one of the commentators at the time had an interesting observation, he had also gone through the yips and in his opinion it was going to be really tough for Na to overcome coming as it did during the height of his success and with the eyes of the entire Golf world directly on him
Everybody is different, what works for some doesn't work for others. Hope Steph figures out how to get his mind right. I'm hoping that a weeklong break of messing around on the basketball court with his buddies, and maybe winning a 3 point contest, will do the trick.
IF fatigue is a possible cause for Steph's shooting woes, then maybe he should sit out the All Star. I think the All Star may also be a potential breeding ground for more covid cases, so I'd like to keep our players out of it.
I think that for a player like Steph who's been there before so many times, the ASB shouldn't be too fatiguing... it's a 3 point contest to mess around, and 15-20m in a relaxed game. Yeah, maybe there's some more media obligations too, but it doesn't strike me as heavy lifting.
Is Steph in the 3 point contest? Gosh, I hope not!
Thank you, my thought exactly. They can all take nice vacations, but
Klay can go to boat shows, and come back fully healthy, unbelievably wealthy, and hopefully wiser.
So... what's the right balance between "Steph's just in a shooting slump, he'll get over it," and "WTF??? CURRY'S AGE HAS CAUGHT UP WITH HIM AND THE END IS NEAR!!! LET'S SELL HIGH RIGHT NOW ON OUR BIG THREE, COLLECT MAJOR ASSETS AND START THE YOUTH MOVEMENT RIGHT NOW!!!"
Asking for a friend.
My take is: He's in a shooting slump, but it's a very long one and he's never had one at this stage in his career, with this many miles on the tires. Therefore, no one knows how extended it will be nor how close to previous status he can get. This is different from slumps in years past when he was a young guy and you knew that any day he could turn it around. Such is my take hit me up for more of them
Lol
The right balance is 100% the former and 0% the latter. :-)
Hmmm... that doesn't feel very blindly reactionary to me. Are you sure you're really a sports fan?
But if we swapped him for Westbrook RIGHT NOW...
I thought this was a realistic discussion about Steph Curry and some struggles he's been facing that bring him from immortal to great player. How does Westbrick even remotely fit in that conversation?
Just figured I'd throw the worst takes possible out there so everyone can feel more comfortable with their own ideas.
Well done. Worked for me.
He doesn't and he shouldn't.
As per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUrL3VlCqhs Westbrook isn't assisting at a high rate now as he's trying to cut down on turnovers, so he's just shooting more. Meanwhile Steph is playing excellent at "point guard" stuff and playing excellent defense, which Westbrook has never played. So, yes, even struggling ice-cold volume shooting version of Steph is still significantly better than Westbrook.
Yes, but Westbrook has won an MVP more recently than Curry. Also, Westbrook has lots of triple doubles, so....
Also, Curry's career is forever tainted because he doesn't have a FMVP. Westbrook doesn't either but he's still awesome because, reasons.
I’m still not sure I should have used Curry and Westbrooks name in the same sentence but what one does in a game thread seems more about catharsis than analysis, I was going for the hyperbolic as in Curry’s shooting slump reaching its bottom, should have included the disclaimer - only referring to volume/efficiency
You wash your mouth out with soap right now, young lady!
Not gonna lie... if the Warriors traded Steph for Westbrook, I'd find another team. Not the Lakers, probably, but maybe Detroit or something...
Draymond Green, the league’s best defender who leads the team in rebounds and assists, has missed 13 of the team’s 47 games this season. fixed that for you :)
Curry + Green have been unstoppable this season. They are two halves of a whole. Neither is the Curry without the Green neither the Green without the Curry.
Add in a healthy and re-adjusted Klay? I don't see anyone stopping this team.
> Curry + Green have been unstoppable this season.
They've been unstoppable together their entire career.
Caveat - Curry + Green only bought down by a historical Oubre Jr shooting slump. Now that’s a shooting slump! And he came out of it just fine 👍🏻
all eggs in one basket?
I don't think you traditionally put eggs in a green curry
Realistically I don’t think anyone puts eggs in a basket either.
Doesn’t make sense to me. I assume they have used their measure-everything-meter to determine if he has 1/4 inch off on that or 10° off on that. But adjusting his three-point shot does not address the problem of missing layups, floaters, closer jumpers… And even free throws. I’m assuming this is multifactorial and cumulative. I cannot imagine the emotional strength it must take to address a press that’s constantly asking you what’s wrong with your shooting. Privately, I think there’s a factor of which we are not aware.
That may be. There are things we do know -- like he's had injuries to both recently. What we don't know is how bad it is. But maybe it's more troublesome than expected. I like that Steph doesn't make excuses or play up injuries as the reason for his troubles, but it leaves us guessing. I don't like that so much.
I think recency bias makes it feel like sky is falling over last 5-6 weeks but he has had similar number of bad games in Nov (and Dec) too.
Games: Total__<33%__<25%__<20%_<15%
Octobr: ___6____2______0_____0______0
Novem: __14____4______3_____1______0
Decem: __12____3______1_____0______0
Januar: __11____5______4_____3______3
However in January, what is different is that bad games are really bad.
How is this good news? January is worst in every column and isn't over yet.
What I meant to say was that he has had game to game ups and downs all season but it feels alot worse than it is In January. January for sure is worse but it's not as extreme as it feels during the games.
I'd rather see Curry struggle in January than in March or later.
Yup. I be concerned if he is shooting like this post ASB also.
This to me is actually a good news. It is not all fatigue related. There is injury factor in there and that will go away (although that may mean Steph needs to sit for few weeks). I know we will drop in seeding, but Steph should sit for couple of weeks and rest of the team including Klay/JoKu/Moody can carry us.
I'm guessing it's a minor tweak while the hand/fingers are bothering him. Nothing major. My bigger concern is how much his added bulk is effecting his shooting touch both near the rim and beyond the arc. Just doesn't look as fluid. Kinda like when Tiger bulked up and he had to keep tweaking his swing. (I know there is a bunch more complexities involved but that's what my eyes see and interpret)
I vaguely remember something similar happening to Kobe after an offseason of bulking up
Well I'm EXTREMELY bulked up and muscly and I can't shoot at all so QED, it all checks out
Not necessarily. I've got hardly any muscle mass, but still can't shoot.
I read somewhere that he gained like 5 pounds of muscle I the off season
Didn't Steph even have a season with Durant where he bulked up and talked about playing stronger defense, and then got into a shooting slump, and actually ended up slimming down before the playoffs? I think it was 2017-2018, but may have been the first KD year.
I'm 98% sure this happened, it just wasn't as long of a slump.
We need the data guys.
Chump, I'm in a grump, so dump the 'Pump n Slump', and jump trump this hump with a thump and bump the lump on your plump rump.
God I love big data
Slater had a couple tweets where he summarized what he heard and saw from Steph.
These are both audio/video links but to try to summarize: Slater feels the recent injuries (landing on hand and jammed finger on offhand) are affecting his shot but Steph won't reveal anything or make excuses.
https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1485480741282541571
https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1485682282312519687
The hand/finger injuries didn't happen until the last week or so. Wouldn't explain the first 5 weeks of his slump.
Steph has had multiple injuries to his hands going back over a month ago.
Yea, Slater addressed that this would only be relevant for the last 5 games or so... he was mentioning how off one of Steph's recent shootarounds seemed to be. This was Slater talking about the game after Steph jammed his finger:
"And I was out there pregame. And we was /really/ missing it. Like, he was missing a ton in pregame and he kept looking at his hand and fidgeting with it... and even stopped his routine... had Bruce Frasier come over and he was picking at his left middle finger -- the guide hand. Then, he called Leandro Barbosa over [...] to slap at the ball..."
It's Steph Curry, and I'm just some dude on the interwebz, but it looks like his release is late.
I had the same thought FWIW. Looks like a lot of relying on upper body... figured it was just me...
Yeah...
Again, I'm still just some dude on the interwebz, but my human body makes far more repeatable set shots when I release early while my legs are still firing. I know Steph is not human, but he's been using his human form while he plays basketball, so it should function by these same sort of rules.
Maybe. But can you imagine altering the shot mechanics of the greatest shooter of all time. Doesn't that seem kinda risky?
Do we even want opposing teams to see this?
I hope so. It'll make teams not take Curry seriously anymore, so that Curry can start hitting more than 5 three pointers per game again.
I hope they do. I hope they realize their defense has nothing to do with Steph missing shots he would usually make in his sleep.
I don't know what's going on there but I've never seen steph miss in practice. Like, at all, let alone a bunch of times hitting the front of the rim. Work in progress or pointless work? Dunno.
Neither have I and we always get to our seats when the doors first open to watch the shoot arounds, even the night of the December Portland game when there was buzz about the record he stayed on the court extra time and wasn’t missing anything from three, that video is a real head scratcher to me
Good thing we have Jordan Poole …
Didn't KD go in and out of the lineup with soreness last year too?
I would like to know the answer to this also.
I think Kerr should've had Klay on the bench instead of putting him on the starting lineup as soon as he returned from injury.
One coach, trying to educate the 12 to 24-year-olds in the BR warriors community, said that what is important is where the tweak was, and that 2 to 3 days of resting/pain management is usually required to decide how ‘concerning’ this sort of event is.
In the few games where Klay returned, I was not a fan of him driving to the basket, colliding with opponents, and crashing to the floor. In fact, I called it out and said he should stick to making threes for now. So now, he's hurt. Sigh.
I keep hearing this but isn’t it better to err on the side of caution? I guess coming back all gung-ho is a more exciting storyline, but then here we are with him hurt.
So not concerning, eh?
Who is the 'we' of whom he speaks? Does that include Steph?
But... last few games Steph has played the first 9 minutes, so they're definitely actively tinkering.
Also, I've recently re-learned not to trust anything Kerr says to the media at face value.
His old rotation was to play the entire first quarter. Playing the first nine minutes is not playing the first twelve. So, I fail to see how this is inconsistent?
My observations:
1. His old rotation was playing first 12 minutes.
2. Earlier this season, Kerr switched to have him playing the first few minutes, taking a break, then playing the end of quarters. Reasoning given was to have him on the court at the beginning and end of each quarter.
3. Last few games, he's playing the first 9 minutes of the first quarter, but had him start each quarter, and had him take a break early in the 4th quarter.
Conclusion: They're still tinkering on Steph's rotation.
Will they go back to old rotation (that worked for ~7 years)? Kerr says "No", but he's said a lot of things strongly, and then later changed his mind. So, we'll see!
Ha, was about to post the text, which will make some people unhappy
***
Steph Curry won't go back to his old rotational pattern in the near future. Steve Kerr: "Not right now. We're comfortable with where we are."
Full Kerr soundbite
That'd be 6-6 over the remaining 12.
vs Dallas
vs Minnesota
vs Brooklyn
@ Houston
@ San Antonio
vs Sacramento
@ OKC
@ Utah
vs New York
vs LA Lakers
@ LA Clippers
vs Denver
Predictions:
vs. Mavericks- Loss
vs. Wolves- Win
vs. Nets- Win
@ Rockets- Win
@ Spurs- Loss
vs. Kings- Win
@ Thunder- Win
@ Jazz- Loss
vs. Knicks- Win
vs. Lakers- Win
@ Clippers- Loss
vs. Nuggets- Win
Statistically close to 0% chance of that prediction happening. Just saying. You’re better off picking lotto numbers! :-)
Just to clarify: if one wants to predict each game individually for fun, that’s of course totally cool. But if one wants to get the most accurate projection of what their record will be at the end of the stretch, assigning a binary W-L to each game is not the best way to do it, since it ignores the (guessestimated) chances of winning each game.
For example: if the Warriors without Dray had six of the next twelve games against junior high teams and six road games against the Suns, the “binary W or L” system would tell you they’d be 6-6, whereas the “assigning guesstimated percentage chances to each game” system would give you more like 8-4 or 9-3.
If they can't get to 6-6 in that stretch, they got real problems... not "Bonta jinx" problems.
I'd say 6-6 is a solid prediction.
It's not impossible, for sure. But if they do go 6-6, it'll make a 13-13 stretch after a 27-6 start. If they go 6-6 over this stretch, it means they'll have been playing much like they've been playing recently (good defense, bad offense). Having it persist for a whole 26 games is a real problem.
Edited to fix 29-7 start to 27-6 start.
Honestly, even with Draymond out, going only 6-6 in those games would be a disappointment.
Bonta wishes he were that powerful