The Golden State Warriors lost the sixth game and the second round series to the Los Angeles Lakers. Steph Curry couldn't carry them offensively when J. Poole struggled and Klay Thompson wasn't Game Six Klay this time. Defensively they once again sent the Lakers to the line too often. They started slow--shots not falling, maybe low energy--as they often did on the road, came back nearly even a few times but in the end were thoroughly trounced. It was the game for the Lakers' adjustments and they made the right ones.
Since then the picture emerging is contrary to what we were told during the year. Coach Kerr said the Dubs had maxed out in the second round, and they were not a championship team. Apparently he'd seen that for some time. Stories also emerged, one after another, of dissension, dissatisfaction or at least confusion between the younger members of the team and the core. The team trust, the strength in numbers we were assured was there, apparently wasn't. Kerr said that rebuilding the trust and the Warrior culture is an essential off-season task.
Several coaches of playoff teams that exited in the first and second round have already been fired. Kerr's job doesn't seem to be in question, but a lot is. Apparently whether Bob Myers returns as GM is up to him--he's been offered several possible contracts. Kerr says he wants Draymond back, Draymond says he wants to be back, but those decisions--complicated by new rules regarding how much teams can spend--are yet to be made. Klay Thompson will be negotiating a new contract. The key to all of this may be whether Myers returns.
Although Kerr says he likes the roster as it is, most outside observes are either clamoring for trades or resigned to them. Free agency will very likely take some players, and make others available. Interesting to me is Steph Curry saying that the Dubs didn't have a change-up to throw at the Lakers. That change-up might have been James Wisesman. Although many observers point to the players from last year who weren't on the team this year, we also didn't hear about players who were described as game-changers last year, such as Poole, Wiggins and Payton II. Wiggins seems to have had one excellent game, just before he got hurt. Klay had one 30 point game. Draymond had great games and bad games. The whole team just wasn't as good this year, obviously not in the regular season but also in the playoffs. Apart from what's being talked about now, it suggests that in many ways--most of them more psychological than physical, but also the physical toll-- it's very hard to repeat as champions.
The NBA would probably love a Lakers-Celtics finals, but the Lakers might not have enough to conquer Denver this year. The Celtics should handle Miami but they might not. One bit of good news as I say goodbye to NBA basketball this season: the San Antonio Spurs won the draft lottery, and the right to draft the young French player who is being called a generational talent, Victor Wembanyama. It's good news for the NBA and for the kid, because the Spurs are a class organization, and Gregg Popovich is as good a coach as Wembanyama could hope for, particularly since he brought alone a previous French star, Tony Parker, and two previous number one picks, David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
