The Warriors currently have the best record in the NBA and after years of exiting the playoffs in the first or second round, this year could prove to be different. With MVP candidate Steph Curry leading the way and his fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson beside him, this team could be very dangerous in the postseason.
-== Under Armour: The Curry One Officially Unveiled ==-
Health is always a concern, especially with Andrew Bogut, but if he’s healthy and controlling the paint, then the Warriors will be in fantastic shape. However, not everyone is gushing about this current squad. According to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, Kenny Smith believes the Warriors won’t be able to sustain this success:
Kenny Smith picks POR over GSW b/c of sustainability. “They can play like this the rest of the season. I don’t think GSW can win the West.”
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) January 9, 2015
Strong words from the Smith, who has been with TNT for a long time now and played 10 seasons in the NBA. The Warriors have clearly been the best team in the NBA and no offense to Smith, but picking Portland over Golden State is a bit puzzling. If Smith would have picked the Spurs or a more established team, then you can justify his reasoning.
What has been impressive about the Warriors this season is their ability to win games and attack their opponent in various different ways. Steph Curry could drop 35, 10, and 9 or Klay Thompson can drop 40 on any given night and that’s only where it starts. Players like Draymond Green, Marreese Speights, and Shaun Livingston are capable of having big nights, but it’s the combination of all their role players that makes this team great.
They get it done offensively, but more importantly is their defense. This team is primed for a long postseason run. Hopefully they will prove Smith wrong.
I guess if you sit next to Barkley as long as Kenny has his stupidity rubs off eventually.
You heard it on the Pacers broadcast Wednesday night; right now, the Warriors have three All-Stars coming off the bench. How can anyone compete with that?
We have to take into consideration that Kenny, Shaq and Barkley are all ex-players and so they mostly relate what they see in today’s game to the way it was when they played. Each of them are not going to believe in the Warriors because they don’t have a legit ‘Big Man’ that they can reliably go to for easy buckets. They also take more jump shots than championship caliber teams from their eras, so they can’t correlate the Warriors with a Championship.
Warriors score a lot of points in the paint. Championships are won on the defensive end, they’re number one in FG% defense and defensive efficiency (points per 100 posessions).
Maybe Kenny, like Barkley, is concerned that the Warriors rely too much on fast pace and outside shooting. In the playoffs, teams will try to slow them down and run them off of 3-point line. Portland has inside and outside game. This may win out in the end. Who knows. We’ll find out soon enough.
That would make sense, but the warriors are 4th in the league in points in the paint while portland is 26th
Another fan tossing up irrelevant stats. LMA is the best pick n pop big in the league with Terry Stotts’s system he runs in PDX. They don’t need to score in the paint when it’s their advantage to have him score away from the basket. It’s all about proper spacing.
If you watched the PDX/HOU series you’d see he did most of his damage on the right block. He forces double teams while GS doesn’t have a big you can toss the ball to and let him go to work. Lee isn’t an AS, people need to stop bringing that garbage up. With that logic BKN would’ve had the best team ever with Pierce, KG, D.Will, B.Lopez, G.Wallace etc…
I hope they meet up in the playoffs as it’ll be an amazing series and can go either way. This is what snuffyjoe was alluding to. Critical thinking is your friend Al
LMFAO! love your reply AL………besides people who actually watch warriors games know that the warriors seem to have portland’s number…..don’t get me wrong, they are a good team, I actually like them too, always a shout out to our home grown Damian Lillard….of course I really like Lamarcus too……lots of pundits seem to think we can only win by shooting jump shots…..we also play something called Defense (lock you up defense). what did kenny smith say about our D? sorry can’t hear you! FEB 20th mark that day – rematch with the Spurs – I hope we are healthy…….hey Kenny you’ll have to wait till march 24th till when we play your pick again, and on their floor, but we get them here April 9th….LET’EM ALL TALK! just tell them two words – 29-5
Uh, have you watched your own games? You don’t have portlands number, hell you haven’t even played us twice. I don’t know what you are talking about. We played once early in the season and you won because of last minute mistakes. You guys all talk about everyone watching and not watching your team. Maybe you should watch some blazer games, or just go rewatch that one and realize how close you were to losing, then you would know how useless that stat is points in the paint stat is. Inside scoring is in reference to big men, of which you have none left, most of your inside scoring is done off drives.
Ive been a Warriors fan since the 1980s and have played organized ball all my life.. With that said Kenny does have a point about Dubs sustainablilty..
What Kenny means that the Warriors have an injury prone team in the most important positions the Center and point guard positions.. Both Bogut and Curry have history of major ankle issues and injury issues. Y
es Curry is healthy now, but as any basketball player will know, ankles injuries are easy to get just by landing on someone else feet, cutting to hard and landing the wrong way can cause the ankle to give and injury itself..And since both Bogut and Curry have history of weak ankles, these average normal plays can lead to injury..
So to all the Warriors fans that like to hate on Kenny, lets be honest and not biase when making comments.. All Kenny means is season is long and every time gets injuries, the fact warriors already have injuries to Bogut, festus and David Lee says alot about sustainability or durability of the warriors..
As a long time fan and player, that’s your analysis? injury worries?
that applies to all teams. if portland lost lilliard, if houston lost harden, if warriors lost curry and?………..injuries can kill any team any time your point?
Sustainability. Warriors have no player in the top 35 in minutes played. Not one.
The warriors competition are the spurs(when healthy). Grizzlys and Mavericks. No other team will last 6games
blah, blah, blah
I think Kenny just isn’t watching the Warriors. He’s usually very knowledgeable and this comes as a surprise. The word sustainable tells me he’s not watching them and doesn’t realize how much contribution comes from the bench. He’s picturing the we believe team’s pace. I think if he watched the Warriors more, he’d change his tune.
My thoughts exactly, it sounds like he’s making his opinion based on the Warriors previous rep. They started off the year w/o DLee, and continued to win when bogut went out. And seeing as how we’re getting contributions from most of our players, I don’t see how their play isn’t “sustainable”
Well you know it’s always gon be haters. But on another note. I met Kenny Smith at a Costco in SoCal. When he walked toward me with those crazy looking knocked knees, I wondered how he even played in the league, let alone for 10 successful years.
Choosing one team over another doesn’t always mean it’s hating. If i asked you.. bulls or wizards? And you said bulls. Does that make you a wizards hater? Not necessarily, you just think bulls are better, that’s all. Don’t take it so personal if someone doesn’t pick your team.
Ppl get so butthurt whenever ppl say anything negative about the warriors. Those are their opinions. Ppl need to take a step back and put their bias aside.
I agree. Portland however tells me Kenny (who really does know the game) isn’t paying attention. Because portland is very thin at guard and center, and the dubs have a deep bench. I think being at TNT in Atlanta, he’s just not watching the west coast teams.
What? Dude you talk about watching the game but you have no idea what you are talking about. Portland is deep. Extremely deep at center and front court, we’ve maintained a top 10 defense with our best defensive player going down. We have Joel freeland, Chris Kaman, Trob, and Meyeres, all have payed serviceable minutes at the 5 and kept us a top 10 defensive team. Joel just went down two games ago who was filling in fantastically for Rolo, and guess what Portland is still a top 10 defensive team with Chris, Meyers, and Trob at the helm. It’s actually ironic because of how excruciatingly thin the warriors are at that position. You are talking out your ass now, saying stuff like Kenny is usually so smart, only when he’s talking about the warriors though, if he’s talking about any other team he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Maybe you aren’t paying attention. You should go stat and roster check a little more. Portland is number one for points allowed per game, a top 10 defense and offense, with two players in the top 10 scoring and poised to make just as deep as run into the playoffs if not further in their half court sets and the way they play “playoff” ball all season by playing staunch, hard D, and running their offense through slow controlled passing and swinging. None of their game is reliant on pace. They have two super stars that compliment every part of the others game, fantastic defensive role players, a top 5 back court and a deep young bench anchored by two veterans, that by the sounds of it is going to get deeper. You need to not talk out your ass about teams you clearly have no idea about.
When you say Joel Freeland and Deep in the same sentence, it tells me what I need to know about your overall basketball knowledge. Rage on kid.
Lol. Blazer homer
Not really. Been a warriors fan since 95 and watched all those years of suckage before getting to this point. Just annoyed with the new wave of spoiled warrior fans who think we’re so invincible and get butthurt if anyone says anything negative about them.
If some one asked you who would win btwn Dallas or Houston and you pick dallas, does that make you a rockets hater? Or a mavs homer? Not really. Just your opinion.
I’ll take Dallas. Been a fan of warriors since 82. Welcome
The Warriors can win the west and are well poised to do so. You know who cannot win the west Kenny? Your mom.