A laundry list of problems is being mentioned from the podium after the back-to-back losses and the overall 3-4 record. But as I said on the livechat commentary last night, a lot can be solved if quite simply the first team can come out more focused during at least both their opening rotations (and hopefully the start of Q3 and the final stretch of Q4, obviously). Of course, the age of the starters, the cross-country travel, the uninspiring names on the opposing jerseys, and perhaps still being affected by the long-tail of Ring Night might be extra intangible mental obstacles.
In Detroit, the starters did bring the intensity from the tipoff, but not when they checked back in with about eight minutes left in Q2. Throughout the first five games, the bench struggled with defensive cohesion, as might be expected for a new unit, then seemed to correct themselves on that end of the floor a bit in Charlotte, but now has problems with ball stagnation and shot selection on offense.
But these are all the typical chemistry problems you see at the beginnings of basketball seasons, at every level of this great game, whether it’s, ahem, pickup ball at the park (I guess more so the first few buckets instead of the beginning of a “season”), the men’s rec league downtown, or AAU, or high school, or college, or FIBA, and, yes, the NBA. Like, that’s why this game is so great.
And so, as if on cue, we are seeing a separation of observers on social media where one side is preaching patience based on recent experience (remember the six-game losing streak in mid season of 2021-22?) — well, at least we see a lot of this happening on our YouTube channel; I can’t say that I’ve seen positivity on other social media platforms. Meanwhile the other side seems driven by short-term memory and entitlement, with their clamoring for immediate better basketball results. Optimists versus pessimists.
But maybe the pessimists are just transferring negative energy from negative parts of their life onto Warriors-related platforms? You know, an easy place and an easy target to re-allocate ongoing frustrations? Someone ought to do a Psychology Ph.D thesis on this. I mean, the “hot takes” I’m seeing (again, in the vast minority) on our YouTube channel are quite panic-button-y preposterous: “trade James Wiseman”, “trade Jonathan Kuminga”, “should’ve kept Mac McClung”, “Klay Thompson is washed”, just to name a few.
That being said, here’s the video, notes and quotes dump from postgame after the Golden State Warriors lost to the Charlotte Hornets, then also the Detroit Pistons, as given by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole, Steve Kerr and Kevon Looney, in reverse chronological order (most recent interview first). I might have additional behind-the-scenes footage uploaded to the YouTube channel by tomorrow, as well:
STEPH POSTGAME DETROIT
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 issues: “It’s the communication…be the first one to strike instead of reacting…Draymond talked about it after the game in the locker room. Everyone’s coming after us.” (me)
• On if the youngsters are able to do that: “Whether you were out there on the floor in the playoff run or the Finals or whatever, we know what that feels like. But everybody has to meet that intensity from the jump and give ourselves some momentum to make teams uncomfortable. Communicating, being the first one to attack and set the tone for Warrior defensive championship level basketball on that end of the floor. We haven’t done it consistently enough to give ourselves a chance to win games like tonight…We just have to put it altogether as a group…four quarters in which they scored 30 in every quarter.” (Dalton Johnson, me)
• On the recent struggles due to cohesion or effort: “I think the effort’s been pretty solid, it’s just not cohesive…We’ll get there. It’s still October.” (me, 95.7 The Game)
DRAY POSTGAME DETROIT
• Draymond Green on what’s needed to improve: “We got to find a sense of urgency, it’s not there and it’s showing in the results…Idk…Just have to chip away at the things we have to chip away at. We know the things we have to correct, we just have to go out there and do them…We still got to figure some stuff out, but we will…we just gotta go out there and do them.” (Dalton Johnson, me, Mark Haynes)
• On adjusting from the physical playoff defense: “We need to better at the things we’re normally better at.” (me)
• On the core issues, shot selection: “I think our offense is killing our defense…the two ends aren’t connecting. In order to be a great teams, those two ends have to connect…We gotta connect those two ends of the floor.” (95.7 The Game, Kendra Andrews, me)
• On how to correct the issues: “You try to correct the things you see more of…pinpointing the things that are really hurting us.” (me)
JP POSTGAME DETROIT
• Jordan Poole game recap: “We just gotta pick it up…We need to fix it and we definitely will.” (me)
• On the fouling: “We take pride in playing physical defense…middle ground…try not to foul.” (me)
• On the physicality of the playoffs and readjusting: “We got comfortable playing with that physicality…we’ll fix it. We know we will.” (me)
• On the youngsters and chemistry: “Just see who does what…it’ll take a little bit of time. Even the second unit that we had last year it wasn’t smoothly out the gate.” (me)
STEVE POSTGAME DETROIT
• Steve Kerr says that tonight’s loss stems from the same string of issues: lack of ball movement, defense (especially in transition) and fouling, and questionable shot selection, poor defense: “We’re trying to string together good offensive possessions and then get back defensively, defend without fouling, and do that over and over and over again. But right now it’s just a pickup game…I’m very confident that we’ll figure this out…We haven’t figured out our identity yet…There needs to be a sense of purpose and we need to figure out what that means.” Kerr says he doesn’t feel a sense of urgency from his players to figure out their struggles yet, and that is the key thing they have to address. (Kendra Andrews, CJ Holmes, 95.7 The Game, Kerith Burke)
• On the fouls: “We just can’t stop fouling. 38 more free throws tonight. We talk about it every day.” (Anthony Slater)
• On young guys figuring out their role: “We have the luxury of having these vets…in theory it should be more manageable.” (me)
GSW-DET LIVE CHAT COMMENTARY
TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS:
5:00 Steve Kerr pregame on Wiseman
19:00 silly rumor about PBJ being preferred over Kuminga (apples & oranges)
26:30 on trying to be happy like it’s your birthday or Xmas or Thanksgiving = PVO!
40:00 beautiful team defense: Dray close-out, Wiggs 7min44sec to go Q1
50:30 on Kuminga: we’ve always known what guys can do (see Ty Jerome!)
1:06:00 the NBA is NOT built on midrange so stop complaining about that on missed 3s
1:13:30 fyi wings didn’t use to shoot at all, now they shooting 3s so that’s why no midrange
1:26:30 on Klay and letting things play out, not having to control with predictions, having awe
1:43:30 did the GSW logo change (less bridge stripes)? Per Leandro Barbosa’s IG post
1:53:30 starters: -8 became -17 in 2min7sec of play lol. Do the Pop and bench some?
2:14:00 not sure about staying in zone even with Cade out
2:15:30 Dean wants the Warriors to win to avoid social media complaining lol
2:40:00 Saddiq Bey is Desmond Bane-ing us! Smh
3:05:00 Wiseman and JK’s development timelines likely to elongate on champ culture
3:05:30 Moody is a little different because he plays like an old head lol
STEVE PREGAME DETROIT
• Steve Kerr says Jordan Poole is out on the court right now testing out his injured ankle. His status is still uncertain for tonight. Poole will start in place of Klay Thompson if he can go: “If Jordan can go, Jordan will start.” Poole is listed on the injury report as questionable. Minutes later: Jordan Poole is available for the Warriors tonight, per GSW PR. (CJ Holmes, Kerith Burke, Anthony Slater)
• Kerr said Klay resting during back-to-backs won’t be an “all season” thing. (Kerith Burke)
• Kerr texted James Wiseman last night saying “another game tomorrow, that’s what I texted him right after the game,” after he played only 5 minutes and didn’t come back in after 3 fouls in the first quarter. (Dalton Johnson)
STEPH POSTGAME CHARLOTTE
• Steph Curry wasn’t happy with his last two shots, said the one before regulation was “wrapped up in trying to hero-ball my way to a hometown buzzer-beater”. (me, Anthony Slater)
• On the Hornets: “They don’t want to give us anything easy…aggressive with a sense of pride (especially after Charlotte’s game last night)…31 to 14 (fouls), that’s the game right there.” (me)
• Steph is planning to play tomorrow against Detroit, the first back-to-back of the season: “I feel good…you wanna play as much as you can early and build as much of a rhythm as you can.” (NBCSBA, me)
• On what he would’ve done differently last play vs Dennis Smith: drive or kick it, “knowing how he’s pressuring the ball…I read it all the way wrong.” (me)
• On defensive miscommunications. (me)
• On Matt McKillop at Davidson College, Bob’s new title of Leader in Residence, “he’ll make his presence felt for sure, even in retirement.” (me)
DRAY POSTGAME CHARLOTTE
• Draymond Green says this loss is deflating because they were up four with less than a minute to go. He says he can count on one hand how many of those the Warriors have lost over the last eight years: “We were up four with a minute left. We never lose those games.” (Kendra Andrews, Anthony Slater)
• Stephen Curry and Draymond Green say they’re both hopeful to play tomorrow. Let’s see what the training staff decides, though. (CJ Holmes)
LOON POSTGAME CHARLOTTE
• Kevon Looney game recap: “missing a little bit on the details. Communication is a little bit lacking…getting the timing right. Defense isn’t easy especially in the NBA, when guys are making shots…50-50 balls.” (me)
STEVE POSTGAME CHARLOTTE
• Steve Kerr opens his postgame comments by saying that the Warriors had some really poor defensive possessions, miscommunications on switches which doomed them He does mention that the cross-country travel could be a factor in the team’s slow start. (Kylen Mills)
• On Draymond Green: “He’s the best defensive player in the world.” Offensively, Kerr says in the small ball lineup is when Green can wreak the most havoc. (Kylen Mills)
• Kerr says the small ball lineup got the Warriors back in the game in the second half. Kerr says the Hornets were doing a good job of clogging the paint, he says spreading the floor with those 3 guards opened up some space for Steph and others. (Kylen Mills)
• Kerr says the Warriors main problems against the Hornets are defensive possessions and miscommunications on switches. He said playing in the first game after a cross-country flight is challenging and the Warriors lost steam going into overtime. (Kendra Andrews)
• Kerr re-iterates that he is not concerned about Klay Thompson’s slow start to the season: “He only had one exhibition game … He just has to stay with it and he’s going to be fine … He just needs to get his legs underneath him.” (Kendra Andrews)
• Kerr will meet with the Warriors’ training staff tonight to determine who might need rest tomorrow in Detroit. (CJ Holmes)
GSW-CHA LIVE CHAT COMMENTARY
2:30 Steve Kerr said pregame that Kuminga is a 4 (I thought he was 3 with Wiseman)
7:00 ACTUAL KERR PREGAME PRESSER
17:00 NBA news: Josh Primo, Kyrie Irving
17:30 Charlotte a great place for behind-the-scenes, why I don’t travel anymore for that
24:00 Steph Curry has a new commercial from visit back to Davidson (Under Armour)
26:30 Twitter rant, please let it die ha, Elon Musk!
58:30 should Kuminga do a G League stint? (Me: who knows, leave it up to Kerr’s staff)
1:05:00 does Mike Brown’s departure have anything to do with the bad defense?
1:09:30 Ty Jerome impressive righty, even the foul to stop the “break”
1:12:00 Steph now 8 pts like Jordan 8 x 4 back in the day or maybe not lol
1:40:00 CHARLIE AKA DPOYMOND AT HALFTIME!!!
1:48:30 why we’re down 15: no focus, they’re focused, their defense
1:57:00 chess match, Steph was the decoy for JP
2:00:00 Kerr working the refs paid off on the Steph and-one
2:43:00 Klay should’ve set a normal pick instead of flaring out before buzzer (later Kerr said he drew up the play with Steph as a decoy so that nitpicky analysis actually cannot be blamed on Klay)
👍👍💛💙