Record: 49-30 (10th) • Point Differential: +3.6 (10th) • Pace: 93.0 (13th)
Off. Efficiency: 108.1 (13th) • eFG: 49.2 (t-19th) • TO: 16.0 (t-23rd) • OReb: 28.5 (3rd) • FT/FG: 26.8 (2nd)
Def. Efficiency: 104.2 (8th) • eFG: 48.2 (4th) • TO: 16.3 (5th) • OReb: 26.6 (t-18th) • FT/FG: 22.7 (17th)
PreThoughts
Losing last night's game took some effort, but this one should be a piece of cake. The Warriors are performing the dreaded road-and-home back-to-back, returning to Oracle to take on a rested Thunder team that's won 25 of their last 34 games; OKC hasn't shown much interest in losing to the Dubs this year, and seeing as a loss would greatly increase their chances of playing the Lakers in the first round, these guys ain't hurtin' for motivation. If the outcome's in doubt when the fourth quarter starts, it'll be a surprise.
Since this is the last time we'll see the Thunder for awhile, it's worth pausing and marveling at their situation. They are, however you care to slice it, one of the ten best teams in basketball. They are the youngest good team in league history. Going into the summer, they'll have eleven players under contract (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Sefalosha, Green, Maynor, Krstic, Collison, B.J. Mullens, D.J. White), two obvious and easily filled needs (a three-point specialist, a big banger), the reigning Coach of the Year, $11.8 million in cap space and five picks in June's draft. It's not simply that the Thunder have a brighter future than any other NBA team -- they have one of the brightest futures any NBA team has ever had. God, it must suck to be a Sonics fan.
Warrior To Watch: Stephen Curry has this distinction nailed down, with a 2010 that just keeps on truckin'. On New Year's Day, he was averaging a mere 11.5 points a game... last night's performance upped his season scoring average to 17.1. However, if he 's looking to increase his ROY chances today, passing, not scoring, is probably the way to do it. Curry's assist/turnover ratio currently sits at 1.92. If he can nudge past Tyreke and over the 2.00 mark, he'll allow voters to promote him as the superior passer and all-around player. The odds are very much against his doing this -- even if he only turns it over once in each of the last three games, he'll need twenty-five total assists to reach 2.00. But the odds have been against a lot of things Curry has already accomplished. At this point, the kid definitely bears Watching.
Thunderer To Watch: James Harden, one of Curry's fellow rookies and one of the most slept-on young players in the league. Don't be fooled by the low minutes (22.7 a night) and ugly field-goal percentage (.395)... this guy is a beast. His per-36 numbers -- 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.2 turnovers, 1.7 steals -- reveal the well-roundedness of his game, and thanks to his three-point stroke and propensity to get to the line, his scoring efficiency is actually slightly above the league average. Most importantly, he is the rare rookie that rates as a genuinely good defender. Adjusted plus-minus lists Harden as the seventh-most effective player in all of basketball. He ain't that, but he's damn good, and the Thunder is the rare team that doesn't have to kick itself for having passed up Stephen Curry.
PostThoughts -- Warriors 120, Thunder 117
What a great game! What a fucking disaster!
This was one of the Warriors' most enjoyable performances of the season, and I'm not gonna hate on the players for still wanting to compete. Aberrantly good three-point shooting won the day, so it's not the team figured out how to play high-level basketball all of a sudden... still, they tried and persevered and outwitted a good young team, and the Oracleans loved it. There is a lot of good in all that.
But Jesus, that was a win the franchise didn't need. A loss here would've kept the Warriors in control of their lottery destiny -- as the third-worst team, they'd essentially be guaranteed a pick no lower than fifth, and would very likely pick fourth or better, in a draft with a quartet of top-tier guys. This win murked things up a good bit... if the Dubs don't land on a lottery ball, they'll have to flip coins with Washington and/or Sacramento to determine their slotting. This win might move the Warriors two notches down the draft board. Was that really worth it, people?
It was nice to see Monta out there again, and even nicer to see him contribute to a win. Ineffective though he's generally been, Monta has worked his ass off... he deserved to play a key role in a good home win.
The Warriors have won six of their last ten games. At no previous point in the season did they win even five out of ten. Nice timing, you clowns.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment