Game 53, Warriors at Jazz 6PM PST, the usual suspects

[Coxy]

From game 6 Klay to 6th man Klay.

Soon to be 6th offensive option Klay.

[vvoland]

I know people are killing the team for its defense against the Jazz but after rewatch, the Jazz just hit a ton of contested shots and even did well with the open ones - better than average at least - and the Warriors not only kept pace, but won. Even with the late game meltdown

I think the biggest takeaway from this game, and the entire series, is that plan 1A should not be to just give the ball to Steph and hope for the best anymore. It not only puts pressure on him, but takes everyone else out of rhythm

9th game in 13 or 14 days (depends on how you count). I think it's not an accident that they played very good defense the first 7.75 games and starting in the 4th quarter vs the clips, they just ran out of gas.

They gave up 181 points in the last 5 quarters. Offensively, they've been outstanding but it seemed pretty clear they didn't have the defensive effort at the same level as they had prior to the clips 4th.

[cpower]

great video listing out 3 major problems down the stretch

Watch on YouTube

1. over helping
2. no 2nd option
3. lack of rebounding

[CDM_Stats]

I know people are killing the team for its defense against the Jazz but after rewatch, the Jazz just hit a ton of contested shots and even did well with the open ones - better than average at least - and the Warriors not only kept pace, but won. Even with the late game meltdown

I think the biggest takeaway from this game, and the entire series, is that plan 1A should not be to just give the ball to Steph and hope for the best anymore. It not only puts pressure on him, but takes everyone else out of rhythm

9th game in 13 or 14 days (depends on how you count). I think it's not an accident that they played very good defense the first 7.75 games and starting in the 4th quarter vs the clips, they just ran out of gas.

They gave up 181 points in the last 5 quarters. Offensively, they've been outstanding but it seemed pretty clear they didn't have the defensive effort at the same level as they had prior to the clips 4th.

So they werent tired offensively, but they were defensively?

What I posted was directed towards posts like these.. they contested just as well as they have in most games since January. The difference was that the Jazz got hot. Sexton was great, George went nuclear, and giving up 18 OREBs didnt help obviously. But this is why tracking >> metrics >> fans eyeballs. People see a high score, think defense had to be bad, not that offense was especially good. Its repeated over and over until its a fact

Like your example - its clear the defensive effort wasn't at the same level? Well-contest% (in context with wide open %) is the best single-stat barometer that I know of for evaluating team defense.. and their contest % was slightly worse than their '24 average (71.3% to 70.5). Compare that to earlier in the year when it was in the mid 60s, and the low 60s when Klay played with the starters (to include Dray and Looney)

If anything, as I said above, the takeaway is to stop changing their style in the 4th. Bad offense can lead to more points for the other team, just like good Warrior defense has led to better Warrior offense. Starting the 4th with Q-Podz-Wiggins-Saric-TJD was a bad idea, got the Jazz rolling, and they followed it up with a lot of Curry-ball, which similary didnt work.

2 TOs
4 missed FTs
9 OREB allowed

That was the story of the 4th.. bad rebounding and 3 missed FTs from shooters. 1 from Dray but eh... him getting 3 FTs in a row is crazy so 2/3 is fine IMO

[Onus]

great video listing out 3 major problems down the stretch

Watch on YouTube

1. over helping
2. no 2nd option
3. lack of rebounding

Our defense is based on over helping and being in the gaps. We rather force the driver to pass and then close out and force a shooter to make shots over a contest. It’s just what our defense is designed to do. Some games the other team is going to make shots.

[Onus]

I know people are killing the team for its defense against the Jazz but after rewatch, the Jazz just hit a ton of contested shots and even did well with the open ones - better than average at least - and the Warriors not only kept pace, but won. Even with the late game meltdown

I think the biggest takeaway from this game, and the entire series, is that plan 1A should not be to just give the ball to Steph and hope for the best anymore. It not only puts pressure on him, but takes everyone else out of rhythm

9th game in 13 or 14 days (depends on how you count). I think it's not an accident that they played very good defense the first 7.75 games and starting in the 4th quarter vs the clips, they just ran out of gas.

They gave up 181 points in the last 5 quarters. Offensively, they've been outstanding but it seemed pretty clear they didn't have the defensive effort at the same level as they had prior to the clips 4th.

So they werent tired offensively, but they were defensively?

What I posted was directed towards posts like these.. they contested just as well as they have in most games since January. The difference was that the Jazz got hot. Sexton was great, George went nuclear, and giving up 18 OREBs didnt help obviously. But this is why tracking >> metrics >> fans eyeballs. People see a high score, think defense had to be bad, not that offense was especially good. Its repeated over and over until its a fact

Like your example - its clear the defensive effort wasn't at the same level? Well-contest% (in context with wide open %) is the best single-stat barometer that I know of for evaluating team defense.. and their contest % was slightly worse than their '24 average (71.3% to 70.5). Compare that to earlier in the year when it was in the mid 60s, and the low 60s when Klay played with the starters (to include Dray and Looney)

If anything, as I said above, the takeaway is to stop changing their style in the 4th. Bad offense can lead to more points for the other team, just like good Warrior defense has led to better Warrior offense. Starting the 4th with Q-Podz-Wiggins-Saric-TJD was a bad idea, got the Jazz rolling, and they followed it up with a lot of Curry-ball, which similary didnt work.

2 TOs
4 missed FTs
9 OREB allowed

That was the story of the 4th.. bad rebounding and 3 missed FTs from shooters. 1 from Dray but eh... him getting 3 FTs in a row is crazy so 2/3 is fine IMO

This is why they’re looking for a true 2nd option. We rely so much on Steph down the stretch of games and if he doesn’t have it going, we’re pretty much screwed. No one can really score reliably other than Steph.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I don’t think Lester minutes have anything to do Moody. Paul is hurt, CoJo is gone, and Podz is now starting. He’s a backup combo guard. Moody is stuck behind Wiggins, Kuminga, Klay and GP2.

I don’t see Lester Q as a point guard. He is a defender and a scorer. He was great in G-league last year and great in Summer league.
He is 6’ 5”.

Moody is a bit taller and has long arms.

Quinones or Podz are the players most similar to Moody.
Podz is the guy doing Chris Paul’s job.
Lester is the guy doing Moody’s job.

I see Q getting minutes as taking Moody’s minutes. But Q probably deserves the minutes more than Moody does.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I guess Kerr just doesn't like Moody as a player for his system, either that or there is too much overlap with him on the team. It's just unfortunate as he should have been traded if he was going to rot the bench.

Lester over him? I mean I like lester but one of these players is a lottery pick. Such a shame

Do you still want Wiseman?
I does not matter that Moody was a lottery pick.
Moody has to outplay Lester.

Both my mom and dad have documented descents from Charlemagne and I was in the 96th percent on SATs but that does not mean that anybody should hire me. Moody being drafted in the lottery just means that people thought Moody had potential but does not mean that Moody can reach the potential that people thought Moody had.

You fall for a girl and think she is great. When you marry her you learn more. My child abused wife who died last year was great but she was a little insane and had a hair trigger temper and could get violent. If she could punch like Draymond I would not have been safe to stay with her for 35 years. Luckily for me she punched like a girl.

Every person of European ancestry which includes African Americans because they tend to have a lot of European ancestry are descended from Charlemange in undocumented ways. Lester was not drafted. Being drafted is like having good SAT scores. Hire the guy who can do the job better not the guy with the better SAT scores.

Moody probably should leave the Warriors and find a team that does not have a Podz, Payton, Santos, Klay and Lester. If Moody was playing up to his lottery potential Moody would be playing over Podz and Lester. I do think Moody is an NBA level player but Podz and Lester might be better than Moody.

The Klay haters thought Moody should play over Klay. But if Klay is washed up it might be Podz and Lester that deserves
Klay’s minutes rather than Moody deserving Klay’s minutes. Moody can sit on the bench next to Klay and they can pout together about Podz and Lester getting their minutes.

[oaktownwarriors87]

I know people are killing the team for its defense against the Jazz but after rewatch, the Jazz just hit a ton of contested shots and even did well with the open ones - better than average at least - and the Warriors not only kept pace, but won. Even with the late game meltdown

I think the biggest takeaway from this game, and the entire series, is that plan 1A should not be to just give the ball to Steph and hope for the best anymore. It not only puts pressure on him, but takes everyone else out of rhythm

9th game in 13 or 14 days (depends on how you count). I think it's not an accident that they played very good defense the first 7.75 games and starting in the 4th quarter vs the clips, they just ran out of gas.

They gave up 181 points in the last 5 quarters. Offensively, they've been outstanding but it seemed pretty clear they didn't have the defensive effort at the same level as they had prior to the clips 4th.

So they werent tired offensively, but they were defensively?

What I posted was directed towards posts like these.. they contested just as well as they have in most games since January. The difference was that the Jazz got hot. Sexton was great, George went nuclear, and giving up 18 OREBs didnt help obviously. But this is why tracking >> metrics >> fans eyeballs. People see a high score, think defense had to be bad, not that offense was especially good. Its repeated over and over until its a fact

Like your example - its clear the defensive effort wasn't at the same level? Well-contest% (in context with wide open %) is the best single-stat barometer that I know of for evaluating team defense.. and their contest % was slightly worse than their '24 average (71.3% to 70.5). Compare that to earlier in the year when it was in the mid 60s, and the low 60s when Klay played with the starters (to include Dray and Looney)

If anything, as I said above, the takeaway is to stop changing their style in the 4th. Bad offense can lead to more points for the other team, just like good Warrior defense has led to better Warrior offense. Starting the 4th with Q-Podz-Wiggins-Saric-TJD was a bad idea, got the Jazz rolling, and they followed it up with a lot of Curry-ball, which similary didnt work.

2 TOs
4 missed FTs
9 OREB allowed

That was the story of the 4th.. bad rebounding and 3 missed FTs from shooters. 1 from Dray but eh... him getting 3 FTs in a row is crazy so 2/3 is fine IMO

Offensively it looked just like the Lakers series. The Jazz camped their big man in the paint and then they put pressure on Curry. No one on the floor can finish around length, no one has a midrange game and no one other than Curry can create offense.

Curry himself explained that Lakers camped LeBron and AD in the paint and pressed the 3 point line. Curry said it worked because the Warriors didn't have a "changeup pitch" to throw at them, and then he said they didn't have "enough variety in the way we were trying to score".

The Jazz game was no different. This is why you need guys with midrange games like OPJ or finishers like TJD or an elite second option like KD. The only way the warriors put pressure on the opposing defenses is from Stephen Curry and the 3 point line. That's not good enough.

[michaelm]

I guess Kerr just doesn't like Moody as a player for his system, either that or there is too much overlap with him on the team. It's just unfortunate as he should have been traded if he was going to rot the bench.

Lester over him? I mean I like lester but one of these players is a lottery pick. Such a shame

Do you still want Wiseman?
I does not matter that Moody was a lottery pick.
Moody has to outplay Lester.

Both my mom and dad have documented descents from Charlemagne and I was in the 96th percent on SATs but that does not mean that anybody should hire me. Moody being drafted in the lottery just means that people thought Moody had potential but does not mean that Moody can reach the potential that people thought Moody had.

You fall for a girl and think she is great. When you marry her you learn more. My child abused wife who died last year was great but she was a little insane and had a hair trigger temper and could get violent. If she could punch like Draymond I would not have been safe to stay with her for 35 years. Luckily for me she punched like a girl.

Every person of European ancestry which includes African Americans because they tend to have a lot of European ancestry are descended from Charlemange in undocumented ways. Lester was not drafted. Being drafted is like having good SAT scores. Hire the guy who can do the job better not the guy with the better SAT scores.

Moody probably should leave the Warriors and find a team that does not have a Podz, Payton, Santos, Klay and Lester. If Moody was playing up to his lottery potential Moody would be playing over Podz and Lester. I do think Moody is an NBA level player but Podz and Lester might be better than Moody.

The Klay haters thought Moody should play over Klay. But if Klay is washed up it might be Podz and Lester that deserves
Klay’s minutes rather than Moody deserving Klay’s minutes. Moody can sit on the bench next to Klay and they can pout together about Podz and Lester getting their minutes.

I was probably even better than you at doing exams in my youth which doesn’t make me any more correct about NBA basketball than you are,

Very few people want Klay actually gone, just not playing heavy minutes in his former role which imo and that of many others his body is no longer up to. I myself have been pushing for him to be sixth man off the bench playing around 20 minutes in which he can give full effort without overly fatiguing, extending his minutes if his shot is falling, which seemed to work rather well the first time it was tried last game. Klay even referenced Manu Ginobli himself which I had done previously when recommending a sixth man role for Klay.

Prople want Moody given minutes because he has attributes like reasonable size for his position, defensive capability and some shooting ability. He of course does not approach peak Klay as a player overall, particularly as a volume shooter, and neither does pretty much anyone else in current or previous Warriors history, or NBA history for that matter. I don’t see how you can judge Moody on form this season given he has hardly been given a chance, while GSW fans have had ample opportunity to evaluate present Klay given he has been playing among the heaviest minutes of any player on the team. There is actual evidence for Moody delivering if given consistent minutes, cf the play-offs last season when irrc his three point percentage was over 50% among other good numbers which still didn’t prompt Kerr to extend his minutes even when the team was losing.

I find your stuff about Moody’s draft position or people wanting to justify their evaluation of him as a draft prospect to be a complete red herring btw. Pretty much the same people advocating for Moody also advocate for TJD and Podz, changed whatever evaluation they had made of Wiseman when it became evident he couldn’t deliver, and those among them who were here then as I was had no problem with Draymond Green supplanting David Lee.

[Sandy333]

It is great to have a all defensive team but where is the scoring coming from. No crunch time scorers apart from steph. Moody and Kuminga have not developed into reliable shooters from 3pt line. Lester is a better option from 3pt. Moody has in stretches last year and earlier in the year been good, but seems to fall back to his low averages.
Wiggins will be inefficient as always. He get a occassional bucket with his fadeaway if nothing else is working.
Podz is the hope, he is ultimate glue guy presently. most hardworking guy in the team, not condusive to great shooting at the end of games.
Klay when hot is the answer, but he is only so every other game.

[michaelm]

It is great to have a all defensive team but where is the scoring coming from. No crunch time scorers apart from steph. Moody and Kuminga have not developed into reliable shooters from 3pt line. Lester is a better option from 3pt. Moody has in stretches last year and earlier in the year been good, but seems to fall back to his low averages.
Wiggins will be inefficient as always. He get a occassional bucket with his fadeaway if nothing else is working.
Podz is the hope, he is ultimate glue guy presently. most hardworking guy in the team, not condusive to great shooting at the end of games.
Klay when hot is the answer, but he is only so every other game.

As has been said Kerr does seem to have a philosophical /ideological objection to the pick and roll, even when he could call upon Curry and KD. In the glory days when talent management was the issue I could see his rationale which was to keep everyone involved, but what is wrong with a Curry/Kuminga pick and roll given the current roster
?. And once again how can anyone evaluate Moody on the basis of the chances he has been given this season, he performed well when given more if still not plentiful minutes in the play-offs last season.

I totally agree about Curry being the only real offensive option/only player capable of creating a shot in crunch minutes at the end of games though. I haven’t seen/regarded Q as a player capable of winning them games independently of Curry, but if he can fine, he should be ahead of Moody.

[Crazy-Canuck]

It is great to have a all defensive team but where is the scoring coming from. No crunch time scorers apart from steph. Moody and Kuminga have not developed into reliable shooters from 3pt line. Lester is a better option from 3pt. Moody has in stretches last year and earlier in the year been good, but seems to fall back to his low averages.
Wiggins will be inefficient as always. He get a occassional bucket with his fadeaway if nothing else is working.
Podz is the hope, he is ultimate glue guy presently. most hardworking guy in the team, not condusive to great shooting at the end of games.
Klay when hot is the answer, but he is only so every other game.

As has been said Kerr does seem to have a philosophical /ideological objection to the pick and roll, even when he could call upon Curry and KD. In the glory days when talent management was the issue I could see his rationale which was to keep everyone involved, but what is wrong with a Curry/Kuminga pick and roll given the current roster
?. And once again how can anyone evaluate Moody on the basis of the chances he has been given this season, he performed well when given more if still not plentiful minutes in the play-offs last season.

I totally agree about Curry being the only real offensive option/only player capable of creating a shot in crunch minutes at the end of games though. I haven’t seen/regarded Q as a player capable of winning them games independently of Curry, but if he can fine, he should be ahead of Moody.

I dont think kerr actually runs anything late in games other than after a time out.

Is why we are so dependant on curry, we actually don't do anything other than try to get the ball to steph. It's a decision moreso than not having a reliable second option.

Teams key on steph and leave dray wide open. And the typical outcome is steph to create and force something for himself.

So, if we are so steph centric, what is the actually point of having poor rebounders and defenders to close games? I'd rather just put rebounders and defenders around him.

Kerr is making a choice, just not a good one.

And once he realizes the value of rebounding and defense more than ballhandling, moody will get minutes.

Again, kerr is making a choice, just a bad one.

[Jerry Maine]

I don't think we should read too much into the Utah game. We got a win. The team needs a break as much as any team following the death of Deki, which happened in Utah too. We were spent both physically and mentally. The 4th quarter meltdown was disappointing given how often it has occurred this season, but not an entire surprise. But Klay looks well suited to a microwave bench role. Dray played well, particularly offensively. TJD and Moody got some burn, albeit limited. Curry was off but we got the win.

Enjoy the break fellas, hopefully we do alright after and make them playoffs even if it's just to play spoiler and get the young guys more playoff experience.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I guess Kerr just doesn't like Moody as a player for his system, either that or there is too much overlap with him on the team. It's just unfortunate as he should have been traded if he was going to rot the bench.

Lester over him? I mean I like lester but one of these players is a lottery pick. Such a shame

Do you still want Wiseman?
I does not matter that Moody was a lottery pick.
Moody has to outplay Lester.

Both my mom and dad have documented descents from Charlemagne and I was in the 96th percent on SATs but that does not mean that anybody should hire me. Moody being drafted in the lottery just means that people thought Moody had potential but does not mean that Moody can reach the potential that people thought Moody had.

You fall for a girl and think she is great. When you marry her you learn more. My child abused wife who died last year was great but she was a little insane and had a hair trigger temper and could get violent. If she could punch like Draymond I would not have been safe to stay with her for 35 years. Luckily for me she punched like a girl.

Every person of European ancestry which includes African Americans because they tend to have a lot of European ancestry are descended from Charlemange in undocumented ways. Lester was not drafted. Being drafted is like having good SAT scores. Hire the guy who can do the job better not the guy with the better SAT scores.

Moody probably should leave the Warriors and find a team that does not have a Podz, Payton, Santos, Klay and Lester. If Moody was playing up to his lottery potential Moody would be playing over Podz and Lester. I do think Moody is an NBA level player but Podz and Lester might be better than Moody.

The Klay haters thought Moody should play over Klay. But if Klay is washed up it might be Podz and Lester that deserves
Klay’s minutes rather than Moody deserving Klay’s minutes. Moody can sit on the bench next to Klay and they can pout together about Podz and Lester getting their minutes.

I was probably even better than you at doing exams in my youth which doesn’t make me any more correct about NBA basketball than you are,

Very few people want Klay actually gone, just not playing heavy minutes in his former role which imo and that of many others his body is no longer up to. I myself have been pushing for him to be sixth man off the bench playing around 20 minutes in which he can give full effort without overly fatiguing, extending his minutes if his shot is falling, which seemed to work rather well the first time it was tried last game. Klay even referenced Manu Ginobli himself which I had done previously when recommending a sixth man role for Klay.

Prople want Moody given minutes because he has attributes like reasonable size for his position, defensive capability and some shooting ability. He of course does not approach peak Klay as a player overall, particularly as a volume shooter, and neither does pretty much anyone else in current or previous Warriors history, or NBA history for that matter. I don’t see how you can judge Moody on form this season given he has hardly been given a chance, while GSW fans have had ample opportunity to evaluate present Klay given he has been playing among the heaviest minutes of any player on the team. There is actual evidence for Moody delivering if given consistent minutes, cf the play-offs last season when irrc his three point percentage was over 50% among other good numbers which still didn’t prompt Kerr to extend his minutes even when the team was losing.

I find your stuff about Moody’s draft position or people wanting to justify their evaluation of him as a draft prospect to be a complete red herring btw. Pretty much the same people advocating for Moody also advocate for TJD and Podz, changed whatever evaluation they had made of Wiseman when it became evident he couldn’t deliver, and those among them who were here then as I was had no problem with Draymond Green supplanting David Lee.

Were you here for Anthony, baby Jesus, Magic Randolph?
Sid the squid was a funny realgm poster.

Where a guy was drafted should not matter. We just get higher hopes for lottery picks.

David Lee was good but point forward Draymond fit better. Nobodt complained about Draymond takining David Lee”s minutes even though there was not much David Lee hate.

The general trend is to overrate the young players and underrate the veterans.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

It is great to have a all defensive team but where is the scoring coming from. No crunch time scorers apart from steph. Moody and Kuminga have not developed into reliable shooters from 3pt line. Lester is a better option from 3pt. Moody has in stretches last year and earlier in the year been good, but seems to fall back to his low averages.
Wiggins will be inefficient as always. He get a occassional bucket with his fadeaway if nothing else is working.
Podz is the hope, he is ultimate glue guy presently. most hardworking guy in the team, not condusive to great shooting at the end of games.
Klay when hot is the answer, but he is only so every other game.

As has been said Kerr does seem to have a philosophical /ideological objection to the pick and roll, even when he could call upon Curry and KD. In the glory days when talent management was the issue I could see his rationale which was to keep everyone involved, but what is wrong with a Curry/Kuminga pick and roll given the current roster
?. And once again how can anyone evaluate Moody on the basis of the chances he has been given this season, he performed well when given more if still not plentiful minutes in the play-offs last season.

I totally agree about Curry being the only real offensive option/only player capable of creating a shot in crunch minutes at the end of games though. I haven’t seen/regarded Q as a player capable of winning them games independently of Curry, but if he can fine, he should be ahead of Moody.

I dont think kerr actually runs anything late in games other than after a time out.

Is why we are so dependant on curry, we actually don't do anything other than try to get the ball to steph. It's a decision moreso than not having a reliable second option.

Teams key on steph and leave dray wide open. And the typical outcome is steph to create and force something for himself.

So, if we are so steph centric, what is the actually point of having poor rebounders and defenders to close games? I'd rather just put rebounders and defenders around him.

Kerr is making a choice, just not a good one.

And once he realizes the value of rebounding and defense more than ballhandling, moody will get minutes.

Again, kerr is making a choice, just a bad one.

I am not ready to say that our board know coaching better than Kerr does.
I would like to upgrade the assitant coaches.

[michaelm]

As has been said Kerr does seem to have a philosophical /ideological objection to the pick and roll, even when he could call upon Curry and KD. In the glory days when talent management was the issue I could see his rationale which was to keep everyone involved, but what is wrong with a Curry/Kuminga pick and roll given the current roster
?. And once again how can anyone evaluate Moody on the basis of the chances he has been given this season, he performed well when given more if still not plentiful minutes in the play-offs last season.

I totally agree about Curry being the only real offensive option/only player capable of creating a shot in crunch minutes at the end of games though. I haven’t seen/regarded Q as a player capable of winning them games independently of Curry, but if he can fine, he should be ahead of Moody.

I dont think kerr actually runs anything late in games other than after a time out.

Is why we are so dependant on curry, we actually don't do anything other than try to get the ball to steph. It's a decision moreso than not having a reliable second option.

Teams key on steph and leave dray wide open. And the typical outcome is steph to create and force something for himself.

So, if we are so steph centric, what is the actually point of having poor rebounders and defenders to close games? I'd rather just put rebounders and defenders around him.

Kerr is making a choice, just not a good one.

And once he realizes the value of rebounding and defense more than ballhandling, moody will get minutes.

Again, kerr is making a choice, just a bad one.

I am not ready to say that our board know coaching better than Kerr does.
I would like to upgrade the assitant coaches.

Your argument would be fine if it was the 2021-2022 season, when nobody was advocating supplanting the vets. He faced criticism then mainly for how he allocating Curry’s minutes, but whatever he did was obviously ahead of any opinions against him given they won the title after being near the top of the standings throughout the regular season.

I don’t know if you noticed, but they got creamed by the Lakers in the play-offs last season and have a barely better than .500 record now having had a losing record for most of this season, admittedly mostly without a veteran in Draymond Green, but still the reason for people looking to at least mix in some youth with the veteran players. Despite NBA basketball being an athletic pursuit BBIQ not infrequently trumps athleticism and this has been the case with the GSW dynasty including with GPii and OPJ, although GPii did add athleticism and OPJ size to the 2022 title winning team as well as being smart players. Father Time cannot be defied indefinitely however, and there has never yet been an NBA player who didn’t get old. The average age of Curry, Green,Thompson and CP3 is now in excess of 35.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I dont think kerr actually runs anything late in games other than after a time out.

Is why we are so dependant on curry, we actually don't do anything other than try to get the ball to steph. It's a decision moreso than not having a reliable second option.

Teams key on steph and leave dray wide open. And the typical outcome is steph to create and force something for himself.

So, if we are so steph centric, what is the actually point of having poor rebounders and defenders to close games? I'd rather just put rebounders and defenders around him.

Kerr is making a choice, just not a good one.

And once he realizes the value of rebounding and defense more than ballhandling, moody will get minutes.

Again, kerr is making a choice, just a bad one.

I am not ready to say that our board know coaching better than Kerr does.
I would like to upgrade the assitant coaches.

Your argument would be fine if it was the 2021-2022 season, when nobody was advocating supplanting the vets. He faced criticism then mainly for how he allocating Curry’s minutes, but whatever he did was obviously ahead of any opinions against him given they won the title after being near the top of the standings throughout the regular season.

I don’t know if you noticed, but they got creamed by the Lakers in the play-offs last season and have a barely better than .500 record now having had a losing record for most of this season, admittedly mostly without a veteran in Draymond Green, but still the reason for people looking to at least mix in some youth with the veteran players. Despite NBA basketball being an athletic pursuit BBIQ not infrequently trumps athleticism and this has been the case with the GSW dynasty including with GPii and OPJ, although GPii did add athleticism and OPJ size to the 2022 title winning team as well as being smart players. Father Time cannot be defied indefinitely however, and there has never yet been an NBA player who didn’t get old. The average age of Curry, Green,Thompson and CP3 is now in excess of 35.

Beating the Kings last year was impressive. The team that beat the Kings looked like a different team than the team that lost to the Lakers.

In 2022 if my memory is right the Warriors were good early in the season bad at mid season and then good again at the end of the season, warriors were not close to 3rd seed when the switched gears from bad mid season to good late season.

I noticed that there was a big disparity between the 2022 betting odds for winning a championship and how good I thought the late season Warriors were. I had to place my 1st sports ever on the Warriors to win the championship fast before other bettors discovered that the Warriors were not garbage. I thought 2022 Bucks and Suns were overrated. But the Grizzlies upside potential and being a complete team scared me so I also bet on the Grizzlies to win the championship. Grizzlies were also unloved and underpriced by the bettors. Celtics also scared me but the Celtics were not giving me good odds. Celtics were liked by the bettors. So I placed a small bet on the Celtics that would cover my losses for betting on Warriors and Grizzlies if the Celtics won. Then the playoofs started and my Warrior bet to win the chamionship minus my hedging bets paid me $1,700.

I am keeping my eye on the Warriors. I can’t figure out if the Warriors are good or bad but I probably like the Warriors chance of winning the championship more than the bettors do. I might bet again if I think 2022 could repeat. Kuminga is kind of replacing Poole.

Will Draymond wear down because of playing heavy center minutes? How good or bad will Klay be? Will Podz start looking like a rookie in the playoffs? What do we do against big teams?

[vvoland]

I know people are killing the team for its defense against the Jazz but after rewatch, the Jazz just hit a ton of contested shots and even did well with the open ones - better than average at least - and the Warriors not only kept pace, but won. Even with the late game meltdown

I think the biggest takeaway from this game, and the entire series, is that plan 1A should not be to just give the ball to Steph and hope for the best anymore. It not only puts pressure on him, but takes everyone else out of rhythm

9th game in 13 or 14 days (depends on how you count). I think it's not an accident that they played very good defense the first 7.75 games and starting in the 4th quarter vs the clips, they just ran out of gas.

They gave up 181 points in the last 5 quarters. Offensively, they've been outstanding but it seemed pretty clear they didn't have the defensive effort at the same level as they had prior to the clips 4th.

So they werent tired offensively, but they were defensively?

What I posted was directed towards posts like these.. they contested just as well as they have in most games since January. The difference was that the Jazz got hot. Sexton was great, George went nuclear, and giving up 18 OREBs didnt help obviously. But this is why tracking >> metrics >> fans eyeballs. People see a high score, think defense had to be bad, not that offense was especially good. Its repeated over and over until its a fact

Like your example - its clear the defensive effort wasn't at the same level? Well-contest% (in context with wide open %) is the best single-stat barometer that I know of for evaluating team defense.. and their contest % was slightly worse than their '24 average (71.3% to 70.5). Compare that to earlier in the year when it was in the mid 60s, and the low 60s when Klay played with the starters (to include Dray and Looney)

If anything, as I said above, the takeaway is to stop changing their style in the 4th. Bad offense can lead to more points for the other team, just like good Warrior defense has led to better Warrior offense. Starting the 4th with Q-Podz-Wiggins-Saric-TJD was a bad idea, got the Jazz rolling, and they followed it up with a lot of Curry-ball, which similary didnt work.

2 TOs
4 missed FTs
9 OREB allowed

That was the story of the 4th.. bad rebounding and 3 missed FTs from shooters. 1 from Dray but eh... him getting 3 FTs in a row is crazy so 2/3 is fine IMO

I hear about teams/players conserving themselves on defense in order to carry a larger offensive role all the time but yes, they were tired on both ends, particularly in the 4th of both of the last two games of this stretch.

Against uta, to my eye they weren't defending with much effort. You say contest % was the same as the '24 avg, you mean since Jan 1st? I'd need to know how that stat is calculated to know if it has any value. Our conversation on POA defense and how it's defined on SS doesn't fill me with confidence.

Stats aside, do you really think the warriors' defense the last 5 quarters was anything like the 7-10 games prior to the clips loss?

To my mind 18 orebs allowed is a pretty good indicator of team defense, as is 137 points, as is 19 fouls & 32 FTs allowed, as is the points off TOs for uta (how does uta score 29pts off 13 TOs, that's more that 2pts/1TO?) but as you said, the jazz just got hot.

But if the jazz just got hot, can we ask why? why did Sexton and George play so well on offense? I think it was because the dubs allowed them to get in rhythm early (39 1st quarter points) and it becomes hard to get talented NBA players out of rhythm. Sexton was killing them on drives and got a ton of early FTs which is probably the best way to get a guard into a good rhythm - early, plentiful FTs.

George wasn't a good 3pt shooter going into this game so I understand why the defense was playing him to drive. They lost that gamble and it was hard to get him off rhythm once he got hot. But there's a reason we held a very good clips team to 66 points in 31 minutes and gave up 64 in the last 17. Spoiler alert: Klay ain't it.

I don't think sending Sexton to the FT line, early and often, is going to show up in contest %. They had a defensive game plan to not close out on George like he was young Klay. They played a very fast pace and that also helped the point total. Transition defense was also very poor but that's been the case all season.

You and I have agreed this whole time that the defense/offense is even more related for the dubs than most other teams. I think we also agree that Kerr's lineups, especially to start and close quarters, haven't done this team any favors. That said, I think he's taking the close of quarters (not just the 4th, either) more seriously, making more offense/defense substitutions than before and actually valuing those possessions. It's been nice to see.

I also agree that we should stick to the movement offense in the 4th instead of iso-ing curry. The problem, to me, is that curry is not the best decision maker and, when he isos, he can get careless. The problem with our motion offense is, when teams really buckle down, the passing and decision making have to be precise and with the ever changing lineups, roles and even outright positions for some players, it's getting really tough for the team to get into that rhythm consistently. Especially down the stretch. If we can figure out rotations (seems unlikely) or at least have a consistent opening and closing lineup for the 4th we may see drastic improvement. Playing q, podz and Saric together seems like a preseason thing, not a 4th quarter trio for a team in desperate need of wins.

None of this matters if wigs reverts back to his pre-deadline ways and/or dray misses time. I've made it clear, that if those two things don't happen this year, we're probably right up there in the race for the 5/6 if not the top 4.

Even with those two MIA most of the year, Kerr terrible late game coaching and Klay's struggles, our point differential days we're better than the record indicates. We lost at least 8 games this season we had no business losing (OKC x2, den, lac x2, sac, and I'm forgetting a bunch) and we should be 6-2 in those games, at worst, not 0-8.