At first, I was disappointed at the coaching staff last night after the loss. I was befuddled. How could you not insert Andrew Wiggins for defense in the waning moments of both Q2 and Q4, to counter the great DeMar DeRozan?
How could the Warriors not want to treat this as a must-win (more on this, later)? How could you coach your butts off against an elite Eastern team (the Bucks), then 24 hours later, drop the ball with the game plan against the current 10th-seed in the same conference? How could they do this the day after I went out of my way to laud Steve Kerr?
I even chalked this up as perhaps the worst game plan I’d seen all season, and most times I’m in agreement with Kerr’s overall game plan (you know, fill in Mike Brown’s old rotation spreadsheet accordingly), or at least understand why it was done, such as the one where sagging off Jaylen Brown was blown out of proportion (spoiler: GSW didn’t have Wiggins or Brandin Podziemski so the got desperate).
Then, mainly because I stayed curious and humble instead of outraged and entitled, it came to me. The smoking gun really was Wiggins, who only played 15 minutes, as well as his replacement when he was gone with the personal reasons, Moses Moody:
Their minutes played were basically facsimiles across the two games (Milwaukee on the left, Chicago on the right). Kerr literally just confirmed to 95.7 The Game in his weekly interview that Wiggs’ limited minutes for both games was pre-planned: “He missed eight or ten days. He wasn’t ready to go long minutes, so with the back-to-back we purposely kept his minutes down to help him get back in the groove. I’d expect his minutes to go up from here on.”
I don’t know what Kerr means exactly by “long minutes,” but Draymond Green was limited to 24 minutes upon his return and we all know that Wiggs’ athleticism (and frame) is rather super-human, so imo in an effort to continue to reward Moody for his stellar play of late, they kept Andrew’s minutes down to a relatively paltry 14-15 per game and just stuck with that, no matter what.
The crazy thing is, the youngster-centric — namely Trayce Jackson-Davis’ bump to 16-20 minutes as well as Moody’s — rotation worked like a charm against Milwaukee. But against Chicago, not so much, as DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic employed their below-the-rim old school pick-and-roll to near perfection, causing all sorts of problems for the same youngsters.
And so I get why they didn’t make adjustments as they would, say, a Game 7 versus the Bulls. Ironically, now the youngsters can finally chalk up their “humble pie game,” as DeRozan schooled Jonathan Kuminga on not one, but two plays just ahead of the buzzer. The Season of Humility continues, for Wiggs (started the season horribly), Draymond (the suspensions), for Stephen Curry (realizing his bad turnovers and cutting those down dramatically), Klay (coming off the bench), and now add all the young guys to that list. ✅
Also, it was a back-to-back game. The “Limited Wiggins” template worked swimmingly well against a championship contender the night before, so why not just copy that to the T, twenty-four hours later? Incidentally, with the lack of energy as Kerr pointed out on the postgame podium (see transcript below, per usual), the youngsters had “low energy” on the back-to-back. Whodathunk? It’s not just the vets, after all!
I would’ve been interested to see to what degree they would continue the “Limited Wiggins” template, but now that is all moot. The ankle tweak of Curry (see notes below) will probably have the coaching staff constructing some new rotation from scratch. On our game livestream we took a vote of who would replace Curry in the starting lineup:
BP (by definition, CP+Klay 2nd unit intact): 62%
CP (straight swwap): 25%
OTHER: 12%
Quinones (straight swap): 0%
At the time of the vote, which was postgame last night, I would’ve gone with Podziemski in order to keep the CP3-Klay combo with the second unit, but then again Kerr could go with CP to start just because Steph does leave a rather large gravity hole.
Heck, maybe just go ahead and keep the CP3-Klay combo and start both alongside Wiggs, JK and Dray. The fact that there are multiple permutations makes it fun to see what Kerr goes with. That’s actually my No. 1 interest in the game, even though all eyes are on Victor Wembanyama, obviously.
As far as every game being a “must-win”, words that I had uttered on the pregame show with KNBR’s John Dickinson (can I retract that?), I finally looked at the remaining schedule and counted up what I think the Dubs have to accomplish. The sixth seed has, for weeks, been ten or eleven games over .500, which is far better than Golden State’s own nab of the 6th seed last season at just four games over .500.
And so I think the squad needs to finish 47-35 for that sixth spot, which means they need to go 14-6 on their final twenty games. Looking on paper, there are certain games you mark down as “we got this” and others you say “we’ll see”. The ones that are up in the air, it boils down to this, barring crazy anomalies — and the absence of Steph is kind of a crazy anomaly, tbh: Can they get get two wins out of DAL, LAL, MIN, MIA, DAL, DAL, LAL, and NOP? Maybe I’m simplifying it too much, but go look at the schedule. We’ve got some cellar dwellers as opponents coming up (Link for all the remaining games: here).
Btw, our audience voted “yes” to the above two wins with a resounding 82% vote of confidence. This all makes the effort seem a lot more doable, but again the injury to Curry and any nights they happen to take off — Chicago doesn’t count as one, to me, anymore, a day later — aren’t really accounted for.
Before we get to the videos and transcripts below, here’s how the day unfolded, plus the latest and greatest as it relates to Steph (in chronological order), plus an ankle prognosis by Dr. Nirav Pandya of UCSF:
• ESPN Sources: Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry’s MRI on his right ankle returned clean on Friday and a clearer timeline on his return will come with how ankle responds over next several days. (Adrian Wojnarowski)
• Warriors star Stephen Curry will miss some time – at least a game or few games – with a right ankle sprain but there’s optimism his absence will not be lengthy, sources tell me and Anthony Slater. (Shams Charania)
• There’s a level of optimism about how Steph Curry’s ankle sprain responded overnight from the Warriors. They face the Spurs at home, Spurs on the road and Mavericks in the next six days. (Anthony Slater)
• NBA source: Stephen Curry’s MRI result was “positive news”and expects return timeline to be “similar” to that of Devin Booker (7-10 days). Warriors say they expect clarity Saturday, after lead health/performance exec Rick Celebrini has had “a better read of results.” (Monte Poole)
• Steph Curry is officially ruled out tomorrow against the Spurs. Right ankle sprain. Trayce Jackson-Davis is questionable. He also sprained his right ankle against the Bulls. (Anthony Slater)
0:00 Do you know any severity on Steph’s ankle yet?
STEVE KERR POSTGAME CHI-GSW: “Yeah, he’s got his foot in a bucket of ice right now. I haven’t talked to the training staff yet.”
0:11 What part of, I guess, the last couple minutes is kind of most regretful for you?
“Give them credit. I mean, DeMar made the and-one. I thought that was the key shot in the, closing few minutes. And so we’ve got to tighten up defensively and execute better. But he made the shot and give him credit. Our guys executed offensively pretty well down the stretch, made some big shots. The key to the game for me was, kind of late third. They went on that run. They made a ton of threes and for the game, they made 16 threes to our 11. And these days in the NBA, it’s tough to tough to win when you make five fewer threes than your opponent.”
1:07 You called the DeRozan shot kind of like the key shot of the game. It was on a pump fake and-one, which obviously he’s known for. How difficult is it for a guy like Kuminga even knowing that the pump fake might come?
“Yeah, I mean, DeMar is one of the great closers in the game. He has been for 10 years. So, it’s a great experience for all of our young guys, JK and BP were in the pick and roll exchange. So it’s good for them to feel this. Moses to feel these big situations. And like I said, I’ve got no problem with our effort, execution. We just got outplayed. Chicago was great. They’ve been playing well, watching them on tape coming into this game. I was watching them, pretty worried just because you could see the force that they were playing with and the confidence and they came in and earned it.”
2:00 Steve, your defense has been a big part of this surge; you guys have had these last few weeks, but in the second and third quarters, they shot 60 percent, scored 74 points. Did you see what, could you tell what went wrong? What fell short there?
“Energy. Just didn’t feel like we were pressuring the ball, rotating quickly. Just felt like we never impacted them; they kind of got into their stuff. We had occasional good possessions, but never felt like we had a stretch in the game where we kind of locked them down for a few minutes where we could make a run. So, they scored 125, shot 53 percent, and 16 threes. They deserve to win until the second quarter there. And second and third quarters, they kind of found their offense. They shot 60 percent between those two quarters, scored 74 points.”
2:55 What were you able to sort of diagnose what you saw out there and felt out there?
“When DeMar started getting to the free throw line, it changed the game. So the game plan was to keep him off the line. And once we got undisciplined, he started the game-change.”
3:12 How tough is it to stay down on his pump fakes and stay disciplined against him?
MOSES MOODY: “I mean, it’s like his game is pretty deceptive. And he’s baiting you into things and he’s drawing fouls. Like on that last one, he hit that turnaround. I promise, I could have blocked it, but I didn’t want to get the foul. And then he makes tough shots. So, it’s kind of like dancing on that line. How to be aggressive and not be too aggressive. And stay disciplined and not let him bait you into fouls.”
3:41 Steve kind of mentioned that he thinks some of this could be good for some of the younger guys, even mistakes late in games. I mean, you have this younger part of the roster that is experiencing a lot of this for the first time. I mean, do you feel like you learn stuff from games like this, even though it’s a loss?
“Yeah, you always learn from bad situations, whether that’s a loss, whether that’s adversity, an obstacle, whatever it is. So it’s a lot easier to learn from a loss than it is a win.”
4:16 It seemed like the intensity in the fourth kind of ramped up. I know you had a bunch of hustle plays, but how would you evaluate the team’s effort, tonight?
“Yeah, we definitely picked it up later in the game, but we competed. It’s always hard, hard to get that energy in the second half on a back to back, but we competed. I felt like we did a good job of doing that. They made a lot of shots. They got to the free throw line, hats off to them.”
4:48 After you came from the bench, it’s been, like, 10 games, and there are some games, some nights you play so well and sometimes the points are not good, but you still can do another things to help the team win. And do you think you feel, like, different from a month ago, or you think you are still you and just do it better?
KLAY THOMPSON: “I don’t know. Yeah. I still think on me, whether I start or come off the bench – and most important part of playing is just being yourself. You don’t want to pigeonhole yourself into playing a certain role. And it’s been an easy transition for me, and I look forward to continuing to try and help this team win as many games as possible.”
5:51 Klay, obviously, Podz had that little chippy on the other side, the little reverse. He didn’t get it. He’s a rookie. Is he the type of person you’ll say something to encourage him?
“He doesn’t need that.”
6:05 What do you do as a veteran who’s seen guys fail and succeed?
“Well, it’s part of the process. I mean, he made a great move. I love that he was aggressive to the rim. It happens. He just shorted it and BP is gonna be a great player for a long, long time. He does so many things that don’t show up in the box score, whether it’s taking charges or reversing the ball or penetrating lane. So one missed shot isn’t gonna alter my view of him in that situation again. I know he’ll have plenty of huge moments in his career, plenty of game winners and we all go through it. I went through my rookie year. I went through my sophomore year in this league where I missed two free throws against the Nuggets to win the game. And I think I left the arena in my uniform. So it just stings a little more when you’re younger and you don’t have as much experience under you, but he’ll be fine. I mean, that was a great look.”
7:07 Have you seen Steph post game or engaged his spirits or how he’s maybe doing?
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he had his ankle wrap on and he was icing his ankle, but I know we’re going to miss him if he does have time off. We’ve been in this position before where he has had time off and we just got to do it collectively and I know he’ll go when he does come back. Whenever that is. We just want to wish him a speedy recovery and to take his time.”
7:41 Steve Kerr said that maybe it was last night that he had two Hall of Famers coming off the bench and you and Chris Paul. And I mean, just continue to have whoever else needs to step in, right?
“Absolutely. Strength in numbers.”
7:59 Did you ask Steph about the ankles? You get any sense?
“Not really… unfortunate, but it’s part of the length of the season. It’s hard to play every game, especially not have any minor injuries. And well, we’ll make up – we’ll do well without him. We can rely on our history and how to execute without him.”
8:24 To follow on that, just what did you think of the way you guys executed tonight after he left the floor?
“I thought Moses and JK were great, especially Moses, his on-ball defense and put backs. His ability to pester the ball-handler. And then JK as well. I mean, he did make a mistake jumping on DeMar’s pump fake, but we trust him in that situation, 10 times out of 10. And that energy they brought was infectious, and we look forward to having a nice bounce-back on Saturday.”
9:02 Klay, Steve said one of the keys to the game tonight was the discrepancy in the three-ball falling. When it’s not going the way you guys want it to, is that frustrating out there? Do you feel it? Is there anything you can do during the game to try to turn it around?
“I mean, it’s frustrating when you miss any shot, especially when you expect them all to go in. That’s life. And what you can do when the shot isn’t falling from the perimeter is move the ball a little more and penetrate the lane and try and get to the free throw line or a couple easy looks at the rim. And that usually opens up plenty of catch and shoot opportunities from three.”
9:38 One not related to the game earlier tonight, you gave a custom wheelchair or basketball wheelchair to a girl from the Bay Area. How was that for you, Just seeing her excitement to receive that chair?
“Oh, sheesh, that was really cool and it was really cool to have her and her teammates support. They love the Warriors and that’s what it’s all about, is being able to give back to the youth and try and inspire them. And that was probably my favorite moment of the season. Just seeing how happy she was and how excited she was with the new chair she had. And she loves to hoop. So that was really a special moment. And I’ll cherish that for life.”
10:27 Any sense on Steph?
DRAYMOND GREEN: “No. He’s uh – his spirits are high. We’ll see – I think he may get an MRI and hopefully it’s good.”
0:00 refs: Mark Lindsay (17th season), Scott Twardoski (13th), Phenizee Ransom (6th)
5:30 GSW 2nd unit should smash that of CHI
6:30 on Kerr roasting Bob Myers on ESPN at halftime courtside
7:00 Dray wins tip without smash ball!
11m40 Q1 JK too slow on attack
10m49 Q1 Vuc bad help
10m39 Q1 JK good D on Dosunmu
10m23 Q1 JK fade no good
10m11 Q1 BP loses Dos
9m15 Q1 BP deflect, Splash Nephew 3!
8m49 Q1 JK downhill kick to Dray 3 swish
8m23 Q1 bad outlet Dray, but out on Coby
8m03 Q1 White 94ft — had a feeling our first unit
7m58 Q1 Steph misses again 0/3, hangs head during subs
7m31 Q1 BP fouls Coby no call (not lately), Dray to JK inside good
7m07 Q1 Dray good outlet TD to Wiggs downward scoop, timeout Donovan
5m43 Q1 BP FT only 61%
5m28 Q1 Dray help on Dos vs Steph, Vuc J
5m33 Q1 Steph to Dray to Klay 3
4m08 Q1 Vuc too big inside for Klay, tip-in, Kerr timeout (to get 2nd unit in? or Pop 2-0 style?)
2m47 Q1 Vuc too easy on TJD helping Steph vs Dos
2m42 Q1 Drummond forearm draws foul on TJD, who asks ref and nods ok lol (that ranks 2nd in okays this year 2nd to Dray’s ok ok after anxiously asking Steve for a challenge)
1m51 Q1 CP can’t stay in front of Coby but Drummond goaltend putback
1m34 Q1 Mo oreb putback STRONG ******
0m50 Q1 Klay good look on 2nd TJD good screen but off (3/6) all good looks exc 1 heatcheck
0m31 Q1 CP misses another 2for1 three, how many is that?
0m10 Q1 JK take foul with 0m06, only first team foul!
0m07 Q1 DeMar superstar 3 and-1 vs JK, rip through, maybe next time sub Wiggs in
11m51 Q2 BP strangely crowds DeMar on the switch with Wiggs on the pick, fouls him
11m38 Q2 BP fouled on oreb
10m52 Q2 BP good drop step, kick called on Coby, shooting foul
10m24 Q2 Wiggs draws foul, hits both FTs, now 10-for-his-last-10
10m04 Q2 Wiggs TD by BP
9m29 Q2 CP finally patented one leg fade on TJD P&R
8m52 Q2 Mo reaches in on DeMar drive (will be 5th, 6th FTs)
8m33 Q2 Mo shields DeMar banker
7m56 Q2 Wiggs tough push shot late clock
7m40 Q2 CP committed too far on Jevon, who scores runner
7m20 Q2 TJD oreb tap to CP J ****
6m25 Q2 Caruso 3 over Dray helping back on Vuc
5m38 Q2 BP in right spot again, fouled (2 orebs taken away by fouls)
5m33 Q2 Klay drive and1 vs White
5m22 Q2 Caruso 3 on open look again, Vuc screened Steph
4m44 Q2 Steph invert screen JK downhill foul on Caruso (3 pf)
4m31 Q2 Dray takes charge no call, steal Klay, then hits 3 on side step
3m33 Q2 Steph JK P&R downhill fouled rising high
2m11 Q2 good close Klay
2m03 Q2 Steph dribble off Vuc but ref calls it for Bulls
1m37 Q2 Dray charge to Phillips, grabbed jersey
1m09 Q2 good cut Klay after JK was 1on4, ast Dray
0m28 Q2 CP bad close on Vuc (should’ve left Carter)
0m07 Q2 JK late to react, ref calls it for GSW
0m02 Q2 Klay miss 3, CP chose not to go to initial JK cut
1:07:00 analyzing CP’s defense at 0m28 Q2: I looked it up, Vuc is at 27.6% and Jevon 33.3% so is that game plan or is that CP incorrectly choosing to have Vuc shoot the 3?
1:14:00 JOHN DICKINSON COMES ON
12m00 Q3 Dray steal, JK inside, then couple bad tov by CHI
1:22:30 Nicole says Steph has barely touched the ball — that’s actually up to Steph (Dray on TV mic’ed up)
10m37 Q3 Vuc powers Dray but Wiggs help steal
10m28 Q3 Dray loses ball tov
9m56 Q3 Steph TTBTTOT (Coby bad 3 tho)
8m57 Q3 double on DeMar creates corner 3 for Dos
8m10 Q3 Drayup! (BP oreb)
7m09 Q3 BP trans fake 3 then layup
6m44 Q3 good stop BP to JK trans
6m29 Q3 DeMar slow post and1 Kobe style vs Wiggs — I feel like it’s straight up GP2 for Wiggs rotation tonight, that’s why it wasn’t Wiggs for JK earlier
6m12 Q3 Steph air vs Craig
6m10 Q3 Coby too easy past BP (thought there was TJD help? but he was on Vuc)
1:33:15 analyzing the last play
5m50 Q3 Klay weaves thru Steph and TJD screens, foul by Dos
5m11 Q3 Craig too easy past Klay says my bad, couldn’t move
4m34 Q3 GP2 goaltend, equivalent to Steph TTBTTOT
4m23 Q3 GP2 can’t catch bad tov, fb CHI
STOPPED HERE
3m59 Q3 Vuc P&R push shot, too easy, Kerr not happy timeout — Michael Malone said on the podium postgame DEN-GSW that it was about their passion of execution rather than the execution and we’re seeing the defensive equivalent of that (lack thereof) tonight by GSW — not having fun!
3m41 Q3 CP TJD P&R
3m15 Q3 CP hesitate on the 3 miss wide open (TJD screen)
2m55 Q3 Vuc screen for Dos, goaltend TJD — Vuc killing us
2m43 Q3 CP TJD P&R and1 dunk, Vuc subs out for DeMar, TJD missed FT
1m36 Q3 Klay tough 2
1m24 Q3 Coby POA scores (DeMar 3?)
0m12 Q3 CP finagles a foul by Jevon on inbound for FTs
0m03 Q3 Dray close out on DeMar buzzer
11m29 Q4 Drummond initiates contact, foul on Mo (learn to take the charge?)
11m09 Q4 BP good cut Dray ast
10m51 Q4 JK throws ball away
10m32 Q4 CP J on double pick Mo Dray, Drummond dropped
9m53 Q4 good JK disrupt DeMar
9m46 Q4 obv foul on DeMar not called vs JK downhill
9m38 Q4 JK inside fade good decisive
9m25 Q4 Drummond charge vs Dray (finally)
9m12 Q4 CP Dray P&R J
8m50 Q4 good P&R JK Dray
8m04 Q4 JK great downhill step vs Jevon fouled
7m28 Q4 Mo guts out 2x oreb fouled
7m23 Q4 Klay in for Dray, Dray tells him something
7m08 Q4 Mo steal! scores fb
6m58 Q4 Mo another steal easy, Klay J as Bulls collapse
2:00:30 took awhile to get that spark, thanks Mo!
2:02:15 Pinky: It’s the hustle of the young legs to give the team momentum! — took them four quarters but maybe it’s attrition (both teams on b2b)
6m38 Q4 JK fouls DeMar — odd that we’re not seeing Wiggs
6m23 Q4 Klay curl to TJD dunk
6m02 Q4 Klay great D on DeMar then steal, TJD great pass to Mo finish
5m22 Q4 Steph good cut JK putback
5m03 Q4 Dray great close on Coby 3 airball
4m44 Q4 JK 2x oreb saving the day *****
2:08:30 I don’t think the last hero ball by Steph was all that bad (if there was one)
4m29 Q4 JK dunk on BLOB via Steph gravity, DeMar bit
4m18 Q4 DeMar charges into Steph *****
4m01 Q4 Steph tweaks ankle on kick pass after cut
3m39 Q4 Dray tough layup via Klay
3m19 Q4 good dreb tap by Mo
3m12 Q4 Klay rushed 3 with 15
2m55 Q4 Vuc 3 ???
2m07 Q4 Alex outjumps Klay oreb, later JK good reb on late Vuc 2
1m03 Q4 Dray moves on screen for Klay, yells at ref, no tech (tie ball game)
0m44 Q4 Klay hero 3 ATO
0m31 Q4 DeMar and1 vs JK
0m11 Q4 BP blows layup, Klay comforts him
0m07 Q4 CP 3, Klay fouls DeMar
2:26:00 weird how Wiggs didn’t play much — maybe they thought JK’s same size as DeMar would be effective
2:27:45 analyzing the pbp to figure out where the game was lost (maybe): 10m36 Q4 down 9 or 3 threes in a row down 87-85 2m38 Q3 (TJD dunk): Jevon Bitim DeMar 3s
2:36:45 STEVE POSTGAME AUDIO
2:42:00 DEAN JOINS US: we’re confused with Wiggs and GP2 not being out there for D, although Mo played well, Klay played well, so understood why they finished, DeMar is like Kawhi though, so now more worried about Clippers, no energy to stop the dribble and therefore not over-help
2:58:15 they weren’t reading the game, like they were playing a generic team (b2b)
3:00:00 on Steph not touching the ball per Nicole: he had plenty of touches
3:01:00 on not playing zone
3:06:00 Ayesha in that movie with Lindsay Lohan Irish Wedding premiered in NYC the other day we have video for later
3:07:15 MOSES POSTGAME AUDIO
3:09:45 Steph and Ayesha expecting their 4th child
3:12:15 KLAY POSTGAME AUDIO: Interesting to hear Matt Steinmetz of 95.7 back in the Bill King Interview Room!
3:15:30 I had said we needed to go 14-7, we now need to go 14-6, is this possible? Analysis: we need 2 wins out of the following: DAL LAL MIN MIA DAL DAL LAL NOP
3:24:00 on Steph’s tweaked ankle
3:28:15 KAT surgery, out til start of playoffs, DEN cancels White House visit to face MIN, per Chris Haynes, Denver beat Boston and we analyze the boxscore
3:36:30 Pistons won tonight, 9-10 games won, Sixers (Sam Hinkie trust the process era) 2015-16 were worst team in NBA at 9-73, opposite of GSW record-setting 73
3:44:00 we have a better team this year to face Lakers
3:45:30 POSTGAME KLAY AUDIO (MORE)
3:49:30 on the lineup in Steph’s absence: BP Mo Wiggs JK DG — we have a debate of whether or not CP starts
3:50:45 Hypothetically, can we get 2 wins out of DAL LAL MIN MIA DAL DAL LAL NOP?
Yes (82%)
No (17%)
Poll complete: 39 votes
3:54:00 on who replaces Steph: BP, CP, Lester was mentioned (Bruce and Bloomer want CP), Dean brings up “OTHER” which is TJD (!)
4:01:45 Who would you start at the 1 in place of Steph?
BP (by definition, CP+Klay 2nd U) (62%)
CP (straight swwap) (25%)
OTHER (12%)
Lester (straight swap) (0%)
Poll complete: 16 votes
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