As the haunting chants echoed through every foot of the Arena, the players sauntered out onto the court for one last goodbye.
Like gracious students at the retirement of their favorite teacher, the players began to clap, radiating emotion with each and every smack.
The circle began to grow, as coaches, trainers and cameras join the mass.
Just before Mark Jackson hands Steph Curry the microphone, David Lee spots Festus Ezeli wandering with uncertainty. Like a youngster at lunch with nowhere to sit, Lee points at Ezeli at invites him to the table.
Family.
“We just want to thank you guys for your continuing support all season.”
Curry’s voice quivers as the chants continue to ring out.
“You guys made Oracle Arena a great place to play, the energy, the passion you have for us, it’s unmatched across the league.”
Cameras move closer as they sense the rarity of such a moment.
“Obviously this didn’t end like we wanted it to, but all the hard work, and the foundation that we built this year, we’re going to keep growing, and get back to this level next year.”
The players raise their hands and applaud the sea of yellow still inside the arena.
Then, as if Chuck Lorre had scripted it himself, Curry invites Oracle into their huddle, for one last goodbye.
“When I say three, you say “just us,” as we break it down for the season.”
“One. Two. Three.”
“Just us.”
Players embrace as the fans cheer once again, thanking with applause for such an intimate invitation.
The court begins to clear as the enormity of the moment starts to sink in.
Oracle was not just an arena, it was home to a loud and passionate family who gathered twice a week to sit and drink and enjoy each other’s company.
But rather than feel sad that it has all come to and end, we’re cheerful. For the opportunity we had to spend so much time together.
I’ve long been a proponent of giving Harrison Barnes more run at the power forward slot. Golden State badly needs the spacing, since nobody on the team is especially adept at getting to the hoop. So, I was delighted to see Barnes-at-the-4 take off in the Denver series.
After spending almost no time at power forward, Barnes found himself playing the 4 in what was Golden State’s most used lineup against Denver. The results were incredible. Young Harrison responded to the extra space by hitting 40% of his threes and upping his attempts to 5.3 per game. He also did this to Anthony Randolph:
I was curious as to Barnes’ feelings on his breakout series and the new basketball paradigm that served as his launching pad. So I asked the (heavily stitched) rookie about it.
ESS: “You had a break-out series against Denver when you were playing the 4 in the small line-up, four three-point shooters. Do you feel like there’s more space with that lineup?”
Barnes: “First I’m honored you called me a three-point shooter. (Laughs.) Never been called that before. It was fun to kind of play that style. We’d never really done that before this season. Really, I’d never really played that at Carolina. I’ve always been so accustomed to having two bigs, especially fixtures on the block. So just to be able to play that spread out basketball, kind of drive and kick… it was fun to have four people who could handle the ball, just get out on the break, we all had different mis-matches. It was exciting.”
Tim Kawakami: “Can you play the 4 spot for extended periods in the future?”
Barnes: “I’d definitely have to bulk up. I don’t think I could check guys like Zach Randolph, Serge Ibaka. That might be a little different. But for that playoff series, it worked. It was fun to play in David’s spot for a little while. I enjoyed that… But next year it’ll be different. We’ll have a lot of guys who are healthy. I think a lot of people are kind of forgetting the fact that we’ll have David and Brandon, so it’ll give us more depth. I think we have to kind of re-invent ourselves once again next year with healthier bodies.”
Notice how Harrison Barnes, not the most effusive of players, uses the word “fun” three times. The four-out strategy can be fun because it foments ball movement and rhythm shooting. More importantly, surrounding Bogut with shooters can pay some practical dividends. The Warriors took some of what were two-point attempts and converted those to three-pointers, drowning the Nuggets in the process. While I can’t blame GSW for abandoning this strategy against the bigger San Antonio Spurs, I would blame them for avoiding Barnes-at-the-4 in 2014. Harrison isn’t just a small forward. He’s a tweener, which is actually a great development for Golden State.
If football is a game of inches, basketball is one of something smaller. Centimeters? Millimeters? After last night, Warriors fans probably think it’s about something even tinier.
The NBA is a make or miss league, they say. The outcome of a simple shot or two at any given time often draws the razor-thin line between winning and losing. It’s not always obvious when it happens but sometimes it is, and that’s when the sting of loss – from players, coaches and fans of the team on the less fortunate side – hurts the most.
The clock reads 2 minutes and 10 seconds remaining in a crucial game 6. The San Antonio Spurs lead the desperate Warriors by just three now, after four consecutive points by Jarrett Jack.
With Oracle Arena’s crowd deafening but growing louder still, Manu Ginobili retreats, then receives a high ball-screen from Tiago Splitter. Ginobili has the space he needs to get Festus Ezeli on his heels, and crosses the rookie over from right to left, drawing help from Carl Landry, the strong-side corner’s defender. He whips a pass to an open Kawhi Leonard. The precocious sophomore wing shot 39% from here in the regular season, a mark near league average. But it doesn’t matter now. Leonard connects, giving his team some extra breathing room and quieting the masses.
Jack determinately dribbles back up the floor with under two minutes remaining and his team down six points. If there’s a group most likely to erase such a deficit at these stakes against a team like the Spurs, it’s this one, with the record-setting duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Hope is hardly lost despite Leonard’s make.
Jack accelerates to the right wing after receiving a staggered double-screen from Ezeli and Landry. The two then continue left, setting the same action for Thompson, who has momentarily lost a ball-watching Ginobili. Thompson settles at the top of the key as Jack’s pass hits him square in the hands and Ginobili struggles to get an effective contest. He shot 39% from here during the regular season, five points better than the average shooter. But it doesn’t matter. Thompson’s shot hits the back rim, the front rim, and finally the backboard before caroming off San Antonio out of bounds. Long. Barely.
It’s still Golden State ball. After video review, the officials confirm the ball was last touched by Leonard. No harm, no foul. The Warriors have another chance to score before the Spurs do.
Curry in-bounds the ball to Thompson, who swings it to Jack at the top of the circle. Thompson clears to the far side of the floor as Ezeli and Landry prepare another double-screen for Jack to go right. They set it, and Curry finishes faking a baseline cut and begins to circle the three-point in a near full sprint. Ezeli and Landry take a few steps his direction to set a final staggered screen, and Curry comes off it with Tony Parker several feet behind him. He’s alone at the top of the key – his weakest spot, but one still above-average with respect to the league – and lets fly. Front rim, back rim, side rim, rebounded by the Spurs. Short. Somehow.
San Antonio still leads by six and it seems impossible. NBA history’s best three-point shooting pair got off two open attempts in one possession from the same spot. They just missed. The Spurs caught a break and the Warriors didn’t.
On the ensuing possession there’s one minute and 25 seconds remaining. Parker catches on the right wing and passes to Tiago Splitter at the elbow extended, then sets a pin-down for Ginobili. Splitter hands the ball to Ginobili as the latter reaches the perimeter and immediately turns to set a flip-screen. But Ginobili’s already passed the ball to Parker, who now stands in the near corner defended by Jack. He shot 47% from here during the regular season on a mere 21 attempts. Parker sizes Jack up, catches him napping and releases. Boom. Spurs by nine and comeback hopes all but officially over.
A game of millimeters, makes, misses, triumph, heartbreak. The Spurs got the bounces in game 6, and the Warriors didn’t. There’s more to losing a game and obviously a series than a string of shots late as the outcome hangs in the balance, but that doesn’t make the circumstantial and almost accidental nature of it all any easier.
That Golden State was in position to make those shots matter in game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals was a surprise. Maybe next season and in future ones, the inch or something less will work out in their favor.
*Statistical support for this piece provided by NBA.com.
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” – Anonymous
It’s a sad day. Not because the Warriors lost. I’m okay with the loss. The team was far more successful than any of us realistically thought they’d be.
It’s a sad day because we won’t get to watch this Warriors team play a game for another five months. No family trips to Oracle for five months. No high-fives around the living room couch after a Curry three, a Bogut block or a posterizing dunk from Barnes. For five months. No speaking to the TV like the players can hear me. “That’s great defense right there, Klay. Keep it up!” “Carl Landry, your pump fakes are a thing of beauty.”
None of that. For five months.
The Warriors are my favorite team in all of sports and this may have been my favorite Warriors team ever. When picking a favorite team, it’s not just about the team itself or the results. It’s also your personal context around that team.
For me, the competition for my favorite team has always been between the two Run TMC seasons (1989-90 and 1990-91, hard to believe there were only two of them) and Chris Webber’s rookie season (1993-94, his only season with the Warriors).
Run TMC was the prime of my basketball fandom. A 15-year-old starting to understand and appreciate the game. With dreams of glory for my team and aspirations of basketball relevance for myself by working day-in-day-out on my Mullin jumper and Timmy crossover.
Webber’s rookie year was best remembered for the excitement of the season and the hope for the future. A future that never materialized. Webber was traded before his second season while Mullin and Hardaway were never healthy or successful as Warriors again.
The 2007-07 “We Believe” team is probably the pick for many Warriors fans. But at 33, I was too focused on two new babies to get overly excited or inspirational about basketball. Plus, that team had Chris Cohan, Bobby Rowell and ugly jerseys. But they also had one of my favorite Warriors, Jason Richardson.
Now at 38, just when I thought nothing could beat the youthful exuberance I felt in the 90s, I get this year’s exciting group of overachieving, brotherly-loving, do-gooding, Aussie-intimidating, Jack-jacking, Stephlon-Donning Warriors.
This may be my favorite team because of the impact it had on my 8-year-old son. He has Steph Curry as a sports role model and the conduit to his dreams of making the NBA.
The skinny, unathletic 6-foot-3 (on a 2-inch block) shooter. Not the beast that is LeBron James or the freak of nature that is Kevin Durant. If my son works hard, he’ll still never be those two. But if he practices his handles and his shot, just maybe, he can come close to doing what Curry does. At least he can believe in that. And so everyday he goes out and plays basketball because of Curry.
This may be my favorite team because my wife used to watch Real Housewives TV shows while running on the treadmill. Now she watches NBA TV. Because of this Warriors team.
This may be my favorite team because my 6-year-old daughter is a big David Lee fan, owns his jersey and only watches the games when he plays. Sure, as a father, this causes me to be a bit more wary of Lee than I should, but I’ll take her David Lee crush over a Justin Bieber crush any day.
This is my favorite team because Harrison Barnes got up and walked off the court.
This is a hard-working team with likable guys. Guys that will stay out of trouble and live most of their lives in the gym. As Coach Jackson said, “I never had one issue. Didn’t have one guy with a separate agenda. Didn’t have cliques inside of my locker room.”
The Warriors have a smart and likable front office, led by Bob Myers with Jerry West. On the court, the team is led by a coach who gets the most from his players. He is a born leader and the players buy in. Maybe my thoughts on the amalgamation of sports and religion aren’t in alignment with his, but it works. His players will do anything for him.
Remember how much we had to hear from, and about, Bobby Rowell when he ran the business operations? Compare that to Rick Welts. Hardly a peep from him and he’s working on a new arena. Oh, and he was the first major sports executive to disclose that he was gay. He’s great at his job and doesn’t get involved in areas outside of his expertise. I’ll take it.
The guys at the top running the show, for me, are not as likable. But Joe Lacob and Peter Guber are getting the job done. Sure, they have huge egos and are pompous. That doesn’t go over well if they are screwing things up. But these guys are doing excellent work. And Lacob has actually taken himself out of the spotlight quite a bit in the last year. But really, let them be egotistical and pompous, as long as it helps the Warriors become a better team, who cares?
In terms of leadership, strategy and organizational structure, the Golden State Warriors are more stable than I can ever remember them being. The playoff run proved they are closer to championship potential than we thought.
Curry became a bona-fide star this season. Now he will actually enjoy an offseason where he can work on key aspects of his game like defense. Expect him to be even better in Year 5.
Bogut showed us what he could do when he’s a bit healthier. Just a bit healthier. Let’s hope he can get closer to his norm next season.
Barnes may be the most exciting notion going into next season. Without David Lee in the playoffs, Barnes proved what he could do with more responsibility.
[Doesn’t know what to say about David Lee here for next season … moving on.]
With his defense, Klay Thompson has proven he will focus on something in the offseason and become very good at it. I will not be surprised if he has better handles next season and is able to get in the lane and finish at the rim much more successfully. History has proven that the third NBA season is when players make their biggest jumps. Let’s hope this proves true for Klay and that he doesn’t run out of steam at the end of the season like he did against the Spurs.
Did you get frustrated about how impactful Danny Green was during the Spurs series? Well, Brandon Rush will be a better version of that for the Warriors next year. Mix that with continued growth from Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli and you have one solid bench trio. Even Kent Bazemore has some potential, but he’s still a question-mark at this point.
If I had to guess, I can see the Warriors bringing Carl Landry back but not Jarrett Jack. I expect Curry, Klay and Barnes to hold down a large bulk of fourth quarter minutes next season. You also have to factor in Rush, which means the wing minutes are pretty well accounted for.
For a back-up point guard, the Warriors are likely going to bring in someone who won’t require many minutes on the court and who is primarily a distributor. Really just someone to spell Curry at the point, because when Curry is not playing point, he, Klay, Barnes and Rush will take up all the minutes at the two and three positions with Green likely splitting time at the three and four.
I truly enjoyed my first year writing for WarriorsWorld and I thank you all for reading.
We did it everyone. What a season. For most of us, it was the best Warriors season we’ve ever been a part of. And it should only get better from here.
Preview: This installment of the Golden State Warriors is now sailing in uncharted waters. They will face an elimination game at Oracle Arena when they host the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals tonight.
Gregg Popovich and company shellacked the Dubs in Game 5 in San Antonio. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were rendered ineffective thanks in large part to a great defensive effort by the Spurs.
They challenged the Warriors’ starting backcourt on every possession. Popovich’s defensive game plan forced Curry and Thompson into putting the ball on the floor to gain any type of separation.
Consequently, the Splash Brothers were often surrounded and corralled by multiple defenders.
Further exacerbating matters for the Warriors, the Spurs’ coaching staff refused to let Curry off the hook. His mobility was clearly affected by his injured ankle and San Antonio made him chase Danny Green through a plethora of screens.
Curry seemed to wear down as the game went on and kept losing his primary assignment. If Curry’s movements are hampered once again, Mark Jackson must consider sitting his leading scorer.
Obviously, if Curry is making shots and facilitating the offense, the Warriors can live with that even if he is somewhat physically compromised. However, if the Davidson product submits a performance identical to what was witnessed in Game 5, the Dubs’ star must sit.
It’s an incredibly tough call, but it could be the difference between keeping the contest close and stealing it at the end or simply getting blown out at home.
It’s worth noting Andrew Bogut missed some time in Game 5 as well due to injury. The Aussie only played a mere 19 minutes and collected four rebounds and four fouls for his troubles.
The Warriors will undoubtedly need him for a few more minutes. Otherwise, Jackson will have to turn to Carl Landry, Festus Ezeli and Andris Biedrins. Perhaps the Warriors can get by for a few minor stretches with that trio, but for the entirety of the game it’s a hurdle the Warriors might not overcome.
With that said, the Warriors have an emerging player in Harrison Barnes. His confidence is at an all-time high. The former Tar Heel has looked incredibly comfortable in the past two games of the series against the Spurs.
He has taken the shots he wants and more specifically in Game 5 he picked his spots masterfully. He got himself to the free throw line, shook free from his defender for good mid-range jumpers and spaced the floor well.
If Curry can give them anything tonight and Barnes replicates his previous back-to-back outings, there is a big chance the Western Conference semifinals gets extended to a decisive Game 7.
However, this is contingent on their defense showing up. The Spurs converted 51.9 percent of their field goals in Game 5 and also made 10-of-21 shots from 3-point range. The Warriors were routinely a step slow — Curry was partly to blame here – and it cost them.
This has been arguably the best second round series of the 2013 playoffs and it almost seems like a shame that it’s scheduled to soon end.
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
There’s a lot to like about the Oklahoma City Thunder Model. Home-grown stars, patient team-building, responsible cap management, respectful player hierarchy and one of the league’s best and most loyal fanbases.
Of course, if it was as attainable as Sam Presti, Kevin Durant and company have made it seem over the last several years, we’d see far more organizations enjoying success. It’s not, but that doesn’t mean loose iterations don’t exist, franchises that combine some attributes of what make the Thunder archetype so desirable.
And all of them begin and end with the same two traits that are the hallmarks of their original standard in Oklahoma City – top-shelf talent acquired through the draft and dedicated, knowledgeable fans that understand the championship process.
Sound like a team you know?
I wrote about 2012-2013 being an established success for the Warriors last month, when the team clinched its first playoff berth since 2007. Nobody anticipated this amount of playoff success back then, either, only confirming the original assertion made back on April 10th,
No matter how this season ends, know that it is and was always going to be a stepping stone for future ones.
Win or lose tonight, advance or fall short of the Western Conference Finals, Golden State has shown the NBA world it will be a force to be reckoned with over the next several years. That’s of chief importance to remember tonight, as the natural crush of a potential loss could get the best of Oracle’s emotions.
A game 6 failure won’t be that at all in the bigger picture, and that’s what matters most should the Warriors lose tonight, and it’s also when we need to look to the Thunder Model again. Say what you will about Chesapeake Energy Arena’s lame t-shirt patterns or its staunch bias with regard to 50/50 calls, but the understanding, belief and unbreakable spirit of its inhabitants.
That unique fandom is on display on a nightly basis, but never more than when the Thunder come up short of their ultimate goal and are eliminated from the playoffs at home.
We saw it in 2010 when Oklahoma City’s puppies pushed made the champion Lakers earn a game 6 win and the crowd stayed past the final buzzer, on their feet encouraging their upstarts with uniform chants and raucous applause. And we saw it last night, too, as the short-handed Thunder – three years older and coming off a Finals appearance but fatally flawed without Russell Westbrook – were eliminated by the Memphis Grizzlies, and that same faithful cried “O-K-C! O-K-C!” as Durant and his teammates walked off the floor for the last time.
The Warriors deserve similar adulation tonight. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter.
Steph Curry’s rapid ascent warrants undaunted celebration, as does Andrew Bogut’s persistent vigor. Klay Thompson’s developing defense needs praise, and Harrison Barnes’ postseason rise does, too. The bench contributions of Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack merit special attention, and the surprisingly influential play of Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli demand Oracle’s gallant acclaim as well.
This team is on the rise whether the season extends past tonight or not. If Golden State faithful are indeed the fanbase of new Roaracle lore, they’ll act like it by following the Thunder Model when the game’s final buzzer sounds. It’s worked for the Warriors so far.
WarriorsWorld is providing an unbiased series of posts while watching and reporting on Jarrett Jack, and only Jarrett Jack, on both ends of the floor for the entire Western Conference Semifinals. This installment covers Game 5 in San Antonio.
Sometimes the stars don’t show up. It happens in every medium – sports, movies, TV, music. It’s why you need role players. The Paul Giamatti, Don Cheadle, Flip Mode Squad, Vin Rock, Lench Mob, Billy Preston, Newman (Hellloooo), Hugo Hurley, Bubbles and Paulie Walnuts of the world.
And Jarrett Jack.
Sometimes the role players can make up for the disappearance of the stars. Like Jack did in the regular season against the Cavs and Hornets. Sometimes a young, raw player steps in and shows the potential to be a future star. That’s Harrison Barnes in the last two games.
But it’s not enough in the playoffs. Not against the San Antonio Spurs.
With Steph Curry and Klay Thompson completely off their games offensively and defensively, Jack played solid on both ends of the floor. He was Donnie Wahlberg in Righteous Kill. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were awful, but Wahlberg was working his ass off to make up for it. It didn’t matter. That movie was terrible.
And despite Jack’s efforts, the Warriors were terrible without Curry and Klay. It didn’t help that Andrew Bogut came up with just two points, six rebounds and zero blocks.
A play-by-play analysis of Jack’s game would be as worthwhile as studying Wahlberg’s performance in Righteous Kill. Awful game, awful movie. Let’s just move on.
What Jack did was prove why he is such a valuable back up. When the stars are off, he can be there to pick up the slack. An average-to-below-average defender, on this night Jack worked hard on defense while hitting his patented mid-range jumper that makes him one of the most efficient in the league at that shot. He was also able to get in the lane quite a bit. As usual, he had his share of turnovers, but nothing too costly.
Not surprisingly, most of Jack’s best games of the regular season came in losses. When your role players take the lead, it means something went wrong. That’s what cost the Warriors. A role player or potential future star can’t make up for the disappearance of your top three players.
I wanted to break down exactly how and why San Antonio took over this series, but it’s a duller story than how Golden State briefly came alive at the beginning. Explaining why the Warriors are good is like unveiling a sudden mystery. Exciting! Explaining why the Spurs are good is merely to repeat what’s been said for nearly two decades. Moderately less exciting! The hope is that I can explain some of what’s happening here along with explaining what Golden State needs to do to win future series. I mean next year. This one is all but over.
San Antonio came into this series with a stingy perimeter defense. At the beginning, the combination of Parker guarding Curry and Duncan hanging too far back on high screens, helped Curry spring loose for a massive third quarter. Klay Thompson took over in the next game and dropped bombs on Manu Ginobili’s head.
Great perimeter defense be damned, maybe this just wasn’t San Antonio’s matchup. Maybe the atypical Warriors were just the right team to crack San Antonio because Curry could fire 3s off the dribble and Klay Thompson didn’t need much daylight to sling. Turns out, the Spurs are fine and the Warriors are on the brink of death.
Warriors are Spursish
I was amused to find the Warriors cast into the “young, athletic team overwhelming creaky Spurs” narrative for a minute. Warriors aren’t the Thunder, people. The “young” part was correct, but the “athletic” part wasn’t. Harrison Barnes is the only guy on Golden State who can jump, and he flies less often than John Madden. The Warriors are carried by crafty sets and good execution.
I’m sure San Antonio fans would be loath to admit this, but the Warriors are a bit like Spurs Lite. Both teams shoot 3s splendidly, but lack the athleticism to draw fouls. David Lee plays a bit like current Tim Duncan on offense. Andrew Bogut plays a bit like Tim Duncan on defense. The Spurs have Danny Green. The Warriors have Klay Thompson. The Warriors have Harrison Barnes. The Spurs have Kawhi Leonard. Jarrett Jack is no Manu Ginobili, but he plays a similar role off the bench. Curry and Parker go about their point guard duties differently, but the final production is similar. The Spurs love Hawk angle pick and roll. So do the Warriors.
This brings us back to three-point defense. The Spurs were good at it all year, and the Warriors were bad at it. That’s a major difference between these two teams, and the series is finally starting to reflect this chasm.
Now, Kawhi Leonard tends to guard Klay Thompson, Danny Green tends to guard Steph Curry, and Tony Parker (or whichever little guy replaces him) often “hides” on Harrison Barnes. When Parker isn’t hiding, he’s guarding a guy who only vaguely resembles Steph Curry. With the way Steph is moving, it might as well be Dell Curry out there.
The result is that San Antonio is squeezing Golden State’s 3-point attempts out of the offense. The Warriors are still shooting well when they take these attempts; The attempts just rarely appear. GSW is averaging 3.1 fewer 3-point attempts than they hoisted last series against the Nuggets. Stephen Curry is usually the guy who can create 3s from nothing, but the mix of Danny Green defense and swollen ankle pulp has compromised that quality. Kawhi has erased Klay to the degree where Thompson didn’t even try a 3 on Tuesday night.
Also, the Warriors have shifted to “bigger” lineups than the ones they used against Denver to match against San Antonio’s bigger frontcourt. Versus the Nuggets, the Jack-Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Bogut lineup got the most burn of any combo. In this series, Curry-Thompson-Barnes-Landry-Bogut has seen the most action. As a result, there’s one fewer 3-point shooter on the floor, and also, less space for the shooters who are on the floor.
The Klay Thompson problem
The guys on the TNT set love Klay Thompson and who can blame them? He has a perfect 3-point stroke and a fast developing defensive rep. But the Inside crew doesn’t see Klay every night and they likely aren’t perpetually frustrated by his flaws. With Curry hobbled and shooting horribly, the Warriors could have used Thompson’s presence. The problem is that Thompson is such a limited player on offense.
Most premier three-point shooters are at the very least, efficient scorers. Klay gets around this with an unholy combo of poor handles, blind court vision, and terrible layup skills. Below, I’ve captured the archetypal bad Klay Thompson possession. Somehow, he ignores a wide open Curry, one pass away. After that, he isolates on Kawhi Leonard, a defender on whom he claims no advantage. A slow dribble then trudges Klay towards the hoop where he fires ball-off-backboard as though engaged in a line rebounding drill.
This isn’t meant to be a declaration of Klay’s suckitude. I like Thompson, and believe he has a lot of potential as a “3 and D” roster building block. I’m merely pointing out that these are the obstacles between what many see in Klay Thompson and where he is right now. The decision-making could stand to improve. Also, he could stand to garner more free throws off that shot fake. Over the past four games, Thompson hasn’t attempted a single free throw. Considering that he averaged 43.8 minutes over that span, this is an almost incredible feat. It’s further compounded by how Thompson shot 36% at the rim over those four games. It’s hard to be an efficient player when you rarely get easy buckets or find them for teammates.
San Antonio’s O
San Antonio’s offense has started moving the ball again, creating open three-point shots all over. Curry has been slow to contest and it’s not like he has the length to scare Danny Green on catch-and-shoots. Harrison Barnes has overhelped on occasion, generating openings. The most frustrating, though, is Jarrett Jack’s ability to get screened in whichever precise way the opposing team would prefer. The Spurs are experts at employing drift screens to spring a guy racing towards the corner 3 area. Check out how Jarrett Jack gets stuck on Boris Diaw’s belly in this brilliant Manu Ginobili pass to the corner 3:
To be fair to Jack, he’s been an offensive force these past 2 games. I don’t believe the Warriors should re-sign him, but some other team should. He’s a great guy to have around in a lot of other offenses. It’s just that the gradual ramping up of Curry’s role made Jack an awkward fit. It’s no surprise to see Jarrett killing it now that Curry’s less effective. Jarrett Jack’s job shouldn’t be to find shooters on opposite sides of the court–he lacks the peripheral vision for that. Instead, his job should be running pick and roll and scoring as he pleases. The sputtering Warriors offense currently doesn’t mind his illogical decisions.
Kawhi So Serious is the Best
It should also be noted in this space that Kawhi Leonard’s been the best player of this series. Tony Parker’s been awesome at times, and especially so in Game 5, but Kawhi’s versatility and efficiency have been crucial. At 14.4 points, 9 rebounds, 62.4% True Shooting, and shut down defense on Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard is a certifiable Warrior killer. With Tim Duncan struggling, Leonard picked up the slack as his team’s best two-way player over the past few games.
Harrison Barnes
Barnes will never rebound like Kawhi does, but he can become a more versatile scorer. I still wish he would drive more and pull-up less, but the kid is growing and will make mistakes. Even if the Spurs want him shooting, Barnes deserves credit for making them pay in Game 5. Had Stephen Curry been himself, had Andrew Bogut been himself, GSW might have had something on Tuesday night. Perhaps more importantly, they might have something in Barnes in the coming years. If ever Golden State makes the playoffs again, I want Harrison Barnes to be the starting power forward again–even if David Lee is fully healthy.
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