8/82 L Miami Heat 109-116
9/82 L Orlando Magic 129-130
10/82 L New Orleans Pelicans 105-114
12/82 W Cleveland Cavaliers 106-101
13/82 L Sacramento Kings 115-122
Last Monday I was in the middle of writing about Week 3 when Steph’s masterpiece took my breath away and I wrote about that instead and jumped right over Week 3. No matter. It’s old news. I watched. They lost. The Warriors are slowly getting better. There are a lot of things I would like to say about the Miami Heat but the moment has passed. Now we are caught up.
This week the college basketball season started, adding 3 more teams for me to follow. Did you honestly think I was only watching the Warriors games? I’m also watching the Michigan men and the UConn men and women, though I do not have the same commitment to watch all their games. But to be honest, I will absolutely watch all the Michigan and nationally televised UConn women’s games.
At the Warriors the story is still one of Steph and what he is able to do in any one game. Friday was another amazing Steph night where with 1:30 left and the score tied, he scored the next 10 points for the Warriors, propelling them to a much-needed win. The defense was much better, but it’s a risky business to rely on Steph for so much of the offense at the end.
Sunday was the flip side of that coin. After a Steph-filled first quarter, the Kings were not having it, throwing everyone at Curry and letting anyone other than him try and beat them. The Dubs came close, but in the 4th quarter Wiggins, Klay and Poole all missed key 3s. This is both a huge problem and a short-term problem–what are the chances that Wiggins, Klay and Poole are going to continue to miss 3s like that? They all love the big shot in the big moment–it will turn around for them. Klay is getting better-at least when it’s catch and shoot. Poole is getting better-at least when DiVincenzo is on the floor with him. Still the Warriors haven’t won on the road, and with Phoenix as their next road game, that is not going to be an easy task. They play again tonight.
It’s been a month of watching games, so it’s time to check in with myself. How is this project going of watching every Warriors game? Great. It’s going great. It is always a better day with a Warriors game in it. This week is a challenge with 12 games in it for me–4 Warriors, 3 Michigan, 2 UConn women and 3 UConn men. Every night but Saturday, I’ll be watching one or two games, trying to be the best fan I can. Speaking of…shoutout to Jett Howard, Juwan Howard’s youngest son in his 1st year at UofM–he’s a fun one to watch. And shoutout to the UConn women who play #3 Texas on FS1 this afternoon. You know who else shouts out the UConn women? Steph Curry.
This is Steph from his post-game conference on Friday. He’s wearing Azzi Fudd’s jersey, who signed an NIL deal with Curry’s management company last year. Friday was her 20th birthday. Their relationship goes back to 2018 when she was one of two young women invited to Curry’s summer camp for promising high school players. Fudd won the 3 point contest.
Here’s 2018 Curry Camp when Fudd was a high school sophomore Yes, that is James Wiseman in the back and Warriors Assistant Coach Bruce Fraser in the front. This summer, Curry Camp was evenly divided between young men and women and Fudd was a coach.
I know lots of people, mostly men, who say that they don’t like watching women’s college basketball and in their next sentence they bemoan the men’s game because the players are one and done, and no one is there long enough to learn the system. Welcome to women’s basketball where the players stay all 4 years. They have good defense, lots of ball movement, 3 point shooting. Maybe that style of play sounds familiar…
Again, the UConn Huskies play today on FS1, 3:30 PST. The Huskies are particularly known for playing the entire game as if they were down by 6 with 1:00 left. They hustle or they don’t get minutes. Check out the game! Steph watches Azzi’s games. What, do you think you know more than Steph?
But I do understand this is late notice, so here are two other notable women’s games on this Sunday.
#3 UConn vs #10 NC State on FS1 at 10 am PST
#1 South Carolina vs #2 Stanford on ABC at noon PST
It’s a good week to watch basketball!