This Is It

Change of Heart

86/82 W Sacramento Kings 123-116

87/82 L Sacramento Kings 99-118

I’m not ok. Game 7 is not a thing I wanted to say. This week has shown everything good and everything bad about the Warriors. Perhaps I am not made for the playoffs. 

The Game 5 win in Sacramento was everything. Everything amazing about the Warriors was in full effect. Looney with crazy rebounds. Draymond with 22 points! Good ball movement and assists.  GPII seemingly everywhere at once, getting rebounds, getting steals and Wiggins with his quiet 20 points. More importantly they were locked in the entire game, playing as a team, moving together, working together, celebrating together. It was a massive victory. The best one of the year. 

Funny story: I was a mess watching it. The game was far too close. I’ve seen them blow too many leads to know that it could fall apart at any moment. Right before the game, I was watching this clip of Take 6 and Michael McDonald rehearse Don’t Worry Baby at the Beach Boys tribute.

The song stayed in my head through the first half and before I knew it, I had my headphones on and listened to the Beach Boys version on repeat for most of the second half. It helped a great deal. if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are overanxiously watching sports, Don’t Worry Baby is good medicine. 

I allowed myself to be hopeful after Game 5. They’ve turned the corner, they’ve flipped the switch, championship DNA, blah, blah, blah. 

But Game 6.  Game 6 was what we’ve seen all year on all those other games, the games I watched that maybe you turned off early. The other side of the coin. They started out lackluster. As the game progressed they added hapless. There was no evidence that they were playing Game 6 of a playoff series. It looked like a lot of earlier losses. Those against Charlotte, against Detroit, against teams early in the season where there was nothing at stake. It was disheartening, disconcerting, it made me deeply sad. One thing that’s been true about this season is that the Warriors have always gotten up for big games. They have always been able to get themselves in the fight with a combination of heart, experience, grit, pride and grudges, whether real or imagined. But in this game, it was clear from the first three minutes that they didn’t have it in them. I mean, win or lose, we want to see a fight, right? This is uncharted territory.

It’s also surprising because upsets have been in the air. Older players were showing young upstarts the door.  The Miami Heat managed to take down the #1 seed thanks to Jimmy Butler.  Butler put the team on his back and dragged them to victory two games in a row. And then the total domination of the Lakers over the Grizzlies, winning by 40. 

I am not ready for the season to end. I would love to see a Warriors/Lakers series. I am waiting for Poole or Klay to have a breakout game. Win or lose, I want to see them play with all the heart, grit, pride and grudges they can summon. We have seen that they are capable of every single sports cliche there is.

I would like to be a mess until June.  At the edge of my seat, please turn it around.

Go Dubs. 

Timeout Books:

I swapped out my book for Pet Sounds

The Spotify Playlist for A Game At A Time (this week includes the songs in my head during the games)

Don’t Worry Baby - Beach Boys (Game 5)

Possession - Elvis Costello (Game 6)

Change of Heart - Cyndi Lauper

This is It - Kenny Loggins