No marquee matchup, no urgency. That’s how I see it and what I concluded was the thesis of these losses, see timestamped notes from the live chat commentary last night below. Stephen Curry used the term “the meat of the game” twice in his postgame podium visit last night.
“Understanding how thin the margin is throughout the meat of the game…that’s where you really build confidence in what you’re doing,” Curry said (full quotes below, in reverse chronological order). Speaking of “margins”, Draymond Green also mentioned that word, as has Steve Kerr in recent games, so the message is certainly out there in the Golden State Warriors’ locker room. Kevon Looney was also part of the postgame (below) and has been a frequent podium visitor during the tough times, a role that I recall fellow veteran Kent Bazemore having a lot in the difficult 2019-20 season.
Other topics discussed in the pregame and postgame — remember that there are broader issues in the pregame with Kerr, so check those out way below:
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Steve has talked with Moses Moody about his turnovers and fouling.
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Kerr thinks Looney is part of the second timeline, if you’re splitting hairs: “still young enough.”
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Curry thought Mike Brown’s late strategy of trapping him should have given them confidence to take advantage of the more open space.
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My opinion: If there were one team out there we could be happy about taking one from the Dubs, it would be the Sacramento Kings. Fact: Domantas Sabonis talked about the growth of the Kings through the three games against the Warriors, finally figuring out their pace. Score one for Adam Silver’s schedule-makers.
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I liked Steph’s usage of the words “too early to get consumed” by the 5-8 record, mentioning there’s 69 games left.
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And Wardell’s understanding of the overall balance: “a little bit of patience, but you have to win games.”
The Warriors try to right the ship again tonight against the San Antonio Spurs. We’ll have the “second screen” livestream commentary and analysis up on the YouTube channel at 6:30PM ahead of the 7:00PM tipoff. NBC Sports Bay Area will have a #RunTMC Takeover with Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway, Sr. so that should be fun to watch simultaneously on the regular game broadcast.
STEPH POSTGAME
DISCLAIMER: These are all just notes for my main workflow of YouTube videos, tweeted by beatwriters, as listed, or transcribed by me. I used to transcribe every interview but it became too tedious and not worth the investment for the small amount of views we got on the soundbites on YouTube. The links to the tweets are not available because sometimes I don’t use the full tweet and just having a ton of tweets on this website imo isn’t aesthetically pleasing and gets away from the main goal: transferring information (not so much entertainment) to the brains of DubNation asap.
• Steph Curry on the Warriors starting 0-7 on the road: “You convince yourself you could be .500 with the way games have gone, but we’re 0-and-7. We showed a lot more life tonight, a little bit more consistency of trying to maintain momentum in the game. Just gotta keep figuring it out in terms of putting together a complete game, knowing that the other team is gonna feed off their home crowd, probably gonna play better than you expect. You gotta meet that intensity especially in the defensive end. It’s pretty disappointing to be 0-7 for sure.” (me, 95.7 The Game)
• On Kings’ defense: “trapped…(gotta be ready for that).” (me)
• On Draymond saying second unit more like having Steph on floor with Poole: “just something you have to figure out… Little bit of patience but you have to win games… Control the flow of the game better than we have.” (me)
• On Kings gelling: “they’re understanding how to play together… Take that jump from a non-playoff team… That consistency…” (me)
• On De’Aaron Fox: “quick as lightning… Efficiency is key.” (me)
• On the turnovers: “always about the type of turnovers… Organized chaos… I had one to Klay… No defense for those types of turnovers… Mindful about it but not be robotic… Scared… In the NBA the momentum swings happen in the blink of an eye.” (me)
• On standings watching: “I don’t look at it too much. You look at your record more, like anytime you’re below .500 it’s not a good thing to look at next to your team name…You’d like to feel like you’re not that far off from getting on a run and putting a string of games together. We obviously have to play better on the road, but it’s real early to get too consumed with that. I heard we’re 13th in the West right now, but it’s not so much you’re just staring at the standings after every game because (there’s still) 68 or 69 games left.” (me)
• On not closing out games: “had three or four legit opportunities to close out a game. Think about Charlotte, Orlando, Miami, tonight. Detroit was back-to-back so it’s kinda tough to gauge that one but it’s more understanding how thin the margin is throughout the meat of the game that puts you in that position where a team is feeling good about themselves at home…I think about those windows in the game more than down the stretch especially this early in the season because that’s where you really build confidence in what you’re doing when you can capitalize off those good runs throughout the meat of the game… The confidence and the flow of the game is a lot different… It was a pretty electric fourth quarter… those mental portions of the game where we made the game a lot harder than we needed to.” (me)
• On the late missed threes: “I took one bad one… The way they were defending us we had some space out there… Confidence in those shots.” (me)
• Is Steph Curry playing tomorrow? “Absolutely. I’ll see you there.” (Dalton Johnson)
DOMAS POSTGAME
• Domantas Sabonis on the Kings playing at their own pace: “The Warriors run and push that pretty fast. The first game they killed us in transition, the second game we did better and tonight we finally figured it out.” (me)
DRAY POSTGAME
(same video as Steph full Q&A above)
• Draymond Green on the Warriors being 0-7 on the road: “That’s crazy. That’s insane.” (CJ Holmes, Anthony Slater)
• Draymond explains that the margin for error is much smaller on the road. (NBCSBA)
• On De’Aaron Fox. (me)
• On rotations: “Just gotta keep getting better.” (me)
• “We’ve shot a lot of there’s, shot a lot of jump shots… our shooters are gonna shoot.” (me)
• Green with a detailed answer on the difference between past Warriors’ second units and the current one. Said older group used to change up the offense when Curry rested, current one doesn’t because Poole plays like Curry and there’s an adjustment: “(last year we had more) elder statesmen…right the ship… We have to figure that out… With Jordan it’s more of the same that you get from Steph… They don’t really play a ton with Steph… We understand the randomness of it … That’s takes time.” (Anthony Slater, me)
• On Keegan Murray. (me)
• Jordan Poole has been playing better. (me)
LOON POSTGAME
(same video as “Warriors Postgame” above, no quotes available)
STEVE POSTGAME
(same video as “Warriors Postgame” above)
• Steve Kerr on Mike Brown/Kings: “Mike’s crushing it. They’re defending way better… offensively they’ve really built an identity.” (95.7 The Game)
• Kerr says too many turnovers in the 2nd quarter and then some mental mistakes in the 3rd quarter caused problems for the Warriors. Kerr says he loved the effort from his team – Kerr says the Kings are well coached, they played better and deserved to win. (Kylen Mills)
PREGAME, IN-GAME, POSTGAME COMMENTARY
3:00 Steve Kerr pregame explanation on Moses Moody rotation minutes (lack thereof)
42:14 5min26 Q1 20-16 Jordan Poole reaches in on Fox
43:15 4min55 Q1 20-16 Kuminga help to block Sabonis
45:00 4min00 Q1 24-19 JP sucked in, couldn’t close out on Huerter
46:00 me explaining what JP did wrong (lunging), doesn’t have a plan on where to go next
48:45 3min45 Q1 27-19(21) both Donte and Steph lunge towards Huerter
50:15 2min30 Q1 29(32)-21 Donte had hit 7 straight corner threes in pregame
1:05:00 8min59 Q2 43-35(37) Metu 2-hand smash, from JP’s area on defense (again, no plan)
1:07:45 hot take: what will develop faster, Wiseman’s timing on rebounds or JP’s radar on D?
1:10:30 7min32 Q2 46-39 JK lunges out too much, 47-46 rotations bad
1:13:00 5min30 Q2 46(48)-47 Warriors basketball in transition Dray to JK to Dray to Klay (?)
1:14:30 5min10 Q2 48-47(49) Klay didn’t suck in to Sabonis
1:15:15 JK shouldn’t hang his head (social media bullies)
1:19:45 Huerter knew the Warriors were in zone (Steph late) and had confidence in the 3
1:23:00 1min09 Q2 64-58 JP goes in and immediate reaches in for a foul
1:30:00 biggest dumb take on Warriors social media: “we need GP2”. Why? SALARY CAP
1:39:00 like in real estate, the latest home that got sold sets the market
1:42:30 two great defensive sequences to come out of halftime
1:46:00 10min00 Q3 68-67 Huerter 3 vs Klay
1:49:00 8min27 and before Q3 78-72 Warriors basketball: Wiggins D vs HB, Klay 3s, transition
1:52:30 Dray hits Sabonis in the face, hot take: strongest 7′ wingspan in the league?
1:54:45 we’re missing urgency but it’s the Kings (but not the Cavs or Celtics like Friday)
1:57:30 ATO out of the timeout found Wiggins wide open down low
1:59:30 4min51 Q3 84-80(83) Wiggs extra pass to Poole
2:04:30 Kerr shrugged, indicating Steph might not have wanted to come out (27 mins so far)
2:13:00 pulling off a win vs Sacramento reinforces the lack of urgency every year lol
2:15:15 Big Wiseman with the smile for Lamb after the splash to start Q4
2:24:00 ATO to Steph: splash!!! Causes multiple switches to end up with Metu chasing Steph baseline
2:27:30 6min23 Q4 105-109 Lamb with the help leads to a SAC turnover
2:29:00 5min45 Q4 Donte great backdoor show vs Monk, then at this mark Klay help TOV
2:34:30 4min15 or so, Klay couldn’t shake HB, yikes
2:38:15 nice adjustment by HB to score vs Wiggs, last time Wiggs got him
2:45:00 hero ball late was due to the hero wins vs Cavs and Kings?
2:54:00 recap: Fox 94 feet 3min59 113-112
3:16:00 biggest fix: Jordan Poole play better defense, eliminate bad defensive sequences?
3:22:00 looking at the Spurs’ roster
3:29:00 if you don’t ratchet it up with urgency then you might end up in Q4 with a make-or-miss-league game
3:30:30 I think we can afford to sit Lamb (and Klay) and therefore have two rotation spots available for Moody and Wiseman
3:45:45 “bench Klay” — you would do that if this were NBA2K
3:56:00 Steph says he’s playing tomorrow
STEVE PREGAME (no video)
• Arizona football upset No. 12 UCLA last night. Kerr, rocking a Wildcat shirt, began his pregame news conference with Bear Down. (CJ Holmes)
• Steve Kerr says everyone is playing tonight for Warriors vs. Kings. Going for win tonight. Will deal with with any decisions about rest after the game tonight and leading to tomorrow. (John Dickinson)
• On Mike Brown: “(jokes)…he’s gonna be angry tonight.” (me)
• On Cavs game having Warriors’ best defense: “18-20 foul…kind of the range we need to be in…gaining some momentum and becoming a good, solid team.” (me)
• On Malik Monk: “Better defensively than I remember in the past…the puzzle really fits…number one in the league in handoffs…hard to guard with Sabonis…Fox running downhill…Monk is a big part of that.” (me)
• On Fox: “When De’Aaron Fox makes shots…downhill…he becomes a handful.” (me)
• On Klay: “putting a lot of pressure on himself in general…defensive competitiveness…down the stretch…we had to have stops…just need him to focus on (defense and competitiveness)…too wrapped up in every single shot.” (me)
• On Donte DiVincenzo: “when he gets on the floor you feel it…gets to a lot of loose balls…everybody off the bench should come in and play with high energy…great example…do it without fouling.” (me)
• On Poole maybe being the bridge between the timelines: “You put Wiggs in that conversation…Loon is still young enough but Jordan’s a really key player for us…when we really get Klay and Jordan going…easier on our bench because they’re both part of our bench rotations.” (me)
• Moses Moody has been nudged out of the Warriors’ current rotation. Kerr said he’s talked to Moody about “turnovers and fouling” as the inhibiting issues, but expects Moody to get back in the picture soon: “need to learn by making mistakes but we’re not a team right now…it’s unfair to them (the youngsters)…we’re not good enough to withstand making mistakes.” (Anthony Slater, me)
• On the Kings’ defense getting better over the last three games vs the Warriors. (me)
• On Poole dealing with the added pressure: “added responsibility lineup-wise…last year we started him 50 games or so…he’s getting the best defender on the floor (because when he started, Steph was getting the toughest defender).”
👍👍💛💙