13/82 L Oklahoma City Thunder 109-128
14/82 L Oklahoma City Thunder 123-130 OT
15/82 W Houston Rockets 121-116
16/82 L Phoenix Suns 115-123
17/82 W San Antonio Spurs 118-112
18/82 L Sacramento Kings 123-124
19/82 W Los Angeles Clippers 120-114
20/82 L Los Angeles Clippers 112-113
Record 9-11
Washington Wizards 3-16
It’s been another gap since I’ve written. I blame the cat. From mid-September-last Friday I have had a determined and playful cat with me and in the evenings this is what I deal with every time I try to use the computer.
It seems cute, but she escalates quickly from paws to claws to teeth and I have the marks on my hands as proof. Plus I’ll admit that watching every Warriors and Wizards game is a bit much. I knew it was twice the amount of games, but somehow it feels like more than that - I’m always behind.
In the meantime, the Warriors have been up to any of a number of things, depending on who in the rabid Warriors fan base you ask. Over the past 7 days, I’ve heard: Trade Klay! Trade Wiggins! Fire Kerr! Start Podziemski! Trade Chris Paul! We’re over! We’re just getting started! All the reactivity does not include the nuance of what is happening when you watch. In nearly every game, a Warrior is setting a record. Steph sets one every time he hits a 3. They are also hitting different milestones - like dropping 2 20 point leads in the past 3 games. Or being up by 4 or more points with less than a minute left and losing. The stats will confirm any version of events. This is the stat that stands out to me. The Warriors have had 16 clutch games out of 20, with clutch defined as being within 5 points during the last 5 minutes. They’ve won half of those games, but that’s not the point. It’s too many close games and really far away from the Warriors style (and now myth) of closing teams out in the 3rd quarter.
The Sacramento game is a case in point. It was the most important game of their season as yet - the Warriors had to win by 12 to advance in the In Season Tournament. Their path might have been easier if they hadn’t previously let the San Antonio Spurs, one of the worst teams in basketball, back into a game and won by only 6, making it a larger point differential for the Sacramento game. The Warriors gave the Sac game away after playing brilliantly in the first half which was the first time all season when the starters looked like themselves and more importantly when Wiggins got his groove back. The second half was error after error by the veterans, For me, two narratives stand out from that game, Draymond Green and Moses Moody.
The Sacramento game was Draymond’s first game back after a five game suspension, for putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock.
In his press conference the day before his return, Dray gave a meandering and contradictory talk about how he both needs to grow and how he is never going to change. At this point, words don’t matter. Let’s focus on his play in the Sacramento game. Some context: the Sacramento fan base hates him, boos him, cheers for his demise, and not only because he was suspended last year in the playoffs against them for stomping on the chest of Sabonis. Sac has a raucous fan base with their eyes on Draymond. In the 4th quarter, he gets a technical. On the following play he gets knocked over and stays on the floor while play goes on. Steve Kerr is yelling at him to get his ass up, and the fan base goes wild. The Kings get renewed energy from that, and the Warriors looked lost for the rest of the quarter as they watched their significant lead turn into a bumbling turnover-filled loss, including one by Green (the other by Curry) in the final minute.
Draymond poked the bear. You don’t do that on an away court, but Draymond does. He continues to equate his talent with his anger when they are not the same thing. He absolutely makes a difference when he’s on the floor, but lately he has either not been on the floor or his attitude has been so dominant on the floor that it’s just a matter of time before he gets a tech or gets ejected. He confuses his affect with his ability and I wish he would untangle the two. There is no one better when the Warriors are in transition and they are a team built for transition play. He continues to be a costly player.
The Warriors, and by that I mean Kerr, Steph, Klay and Draymond, don’t seem to fully understand that they are not who they were. Steph has said more than once that they need to look in the mirror but I’m not sure what they are seeing. They are slower while the rest of the league has gotten faster. While they are a high basketball IQ team and they are often able to win when they are the lesser team, they can’t count on that. They no longer have the scoring margin to make….20 turnovers and expect to win. If their strength is smartness and experience then they can’t do things like…be up by 4 with the ball and :50 seconds left and have two turnovers. Teams are not scared to play the Warriors anymore. They’ve seen the Dubs lose to the Pistons, to the Hornets, they’ve seen how the Warriors collapse in the 4th quarter instead of locking in, how they will beat themselves if you give them a chance. Teams are scared of Curry (as they should be), but the Dubs are entirely vincible. This team of older, shorter players struggles against opponents who are tall and young. Unfortunately, that’s a growing number of teams like the Rockets, the Cavaliers, the Timberwolves and the Thunder.
This Sacramento game used to be the kind of game the Warriors always won. As a fan base, we were told don’t worry about the games that don’t matter, because when something is on the line, the Warriors win. It did not help that both Chris Paul and GPII went out with injuries. If either one had been able to stay on the floor, they probably would have won. GPII was lighting up the floor and Chris Paul would have kept the turnovers lower and he also appears to be one of the only people the vets will listen to.
The promising part of the Sacramento game was Moses Moody. For as long as he’s been with the Warriors, everyone describes him as an old soul wise beyond his years who is always ready. Last year for inexplicable reasons Moody watched his minutes vanish, replaced with two-way players. It made no sense. In the playoffs, he finally got some floor time and he was magnificent. It’s a story that keeps happening to Moody.
At the start of the 4th quarter in Sacramento, the Warriors were up 104-95, with Moody on the floor. For the next seven minutes, the only Warrior to make a shot from the floor was Moody, scoring 11 points (Wiggins had one free throw). But Moody got pulled at 4:26 with the score 116-114.
The Warriors style of basketball is to feed the hot hand and ride with it for as long as possible. It’s part of their ethic. Kerr benched the hot hand, and once a team switches their values, it creates a larger problem. Players don’t know what to expect. If hard work and effort and output doesn’t result in playing minutes, then what does? Although Kerr has now admitted his mistake, and Moody has been starting in the absence of Paul and Payton, it still begs the question: what does Moody have to do when he’s done everything that’s been asked of him?
Kerr’s strength as a coach is his ability to manage personalities. The way he is managing personalities now is resulting in losses. The deference to the veterans instead of to the hot hand is standing in their way. I love a union, but tenure should not be the guiding issue here, especially when all the veterans have expressed that they are here to win it all and they are willing to make the sacrifices to get there. If they get in their feelings from time to time about it, that’s ok. That’s what sacrifice means.
The Warriors have a good problem - their bench is strong. In any game, Moody, Kuminga, Saric, GPII and now Podziemski can bring the energy and light it up offensively and defensively. It’s a great problem to have. Kerr needs to figure out how to solve it.
Two other NBA thoughts, both about Adam Silver. As the In Season Tournament concludes this week…it’s working. The games on Tuesdays and Fridays in November were noticeably more competitive and more entertaining. These quarterfinals have all been high intensity close games. What seemed like a silly idea turns out to do exactly what it was intended to do–make the games in November something to watch.
On a less positive note, there’s Josh Giddey and Miles Bridges and why oh why are they still on the court. Josh Giddey has allegations of sexual misconduct with a 15 year old, who says she was dating him. Miles Bridges recently returned to the Charlotte Hornets after a lengthy suspension for domestic violence against his girlfriend and mother of his two children. He has since violated his release agreement and was again violent towards his ex-girlfriend in front of the children. (Bridges’ ex-girlfriend is the sister of Mychel Johnson, Andrew Wiggins’ long-time girlfriend). As you might remember, Ja Morant is suspended currently in large part because of the message his behavior sent to young people about guns. However you feel about what Morant did, it was not a crime and there were no allegations, unlike Giddey and Bridges. The NBA’s insistence to let justice run its course for domestic violence and sexual assault when everyone knows that the justice system rarely works in those situations is gross. Do better Adam Silver.
The Timeout Books: (books I read during the timeouts and halftimes in the moments when the cat wasn’t trying to bite me)
A Game At A Time Playlist (the songs that pop in my head while writing this)
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror - Tasmin Archer (or the Elvis Costello original, if you’d rather)