Wilting Warriors--and the Trade Deadline

 Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr spoke little more than a week ago about having no feeling of urgency regarding the upcoming trade deadline.  He liked the players he had, felt they were the most talented group he'd coached and was looking forward to seeing them flourish. 

 If that reflected management's attitude as well, my guess is that it all changed definitively on January 7th. After the game that night is when--I would bet--the Warriors went into high gear to make a big trade, urgently.  There's no guarantee they will find one, or that it will turn out to help. In fact, it doesn't look likely.  But they may be a lot less reluctant to reach out.  

On Tuesday the 7th the Warriors were defeated at home by the Miami Heat, who were playing on the road in the second of two games in a row, after losing in double overtime, their third consecutive loss.  The Warriors were also coming off a loss, another embarrassing one, to Sacramento as well.  But the Heat brought force and the Warriors wilted.  In his postgame interview Kerr did not hide his anger at the lack of effort and competitiveness, the crisis of confidence on his team.  

That's how the Warriors were characterized in stories in both the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times on Wednesday.  Fans who didn't leave early Tuesday night booed the team, after they collapsed in the fourth quarter.

But what really made this a paradigm of the Warriors at the moment is the game that Steph Curry had: he scored game high 31 ( the Heat's top scorer had 20) with 8 threes, and a shooting percentage of 50%.  This came on the same day as a long story on the ESPN site about how other teams are devoting their main defense to stopping Steph because they don't fear any other Golden State shooters.  And still he excels.  The story focus on his legendary status but also his age and the coming end of his career. He wants another championship, and the dare was that this group could find a way to get there.

Kerr also said that Steph is having trouble coping with this stretch of mediocrity.  The Warriors are brilliant some times and awful a lot of the time, but at the moment are exactly a .500 team. Count the number of times Curry has said recently, I just want to win.  And imagine you are in the Warriors front office.  What are you thinking today? 

In the meantime Kerr's analysis is that the only thing this team can do is concentrate on defense, and even after the trade deadline that's where it needs to go.  

A New Year for the Warriors, a Bad End for the Niners

 There's an interesting play of perspectives in the analysis of recent Golden State Warriors woes by Coach Steve Kerr and Steph Curry.

Kerr said that players weren't moving the ball enough and jacking up shots early in the shot clock instead of looking for the open shooter, or simply Steph Curry.  He also mentioned pace and turnovers.  When asked the same question, Curry said it was because we weren't making our shots.  Not making shots is discouraging, which leads to slower pace and getting disorganized, as well as less effective defense.

These two perspectives are different but compatible, and certainly understandable.  Kerr analyzes like a coach, looking at the big picture, at structure and pattern.  Curry analyzes as a player in the middle of it.  

In any case, the Warriors started to look better recently.  First there were two monster 30 plus points games for Jonathan Kuminga on a back-to-back, the first without Curry but the second with both of them on the floor.  Kerr called it a breakthrough of sorts, and a possible key to the future.  It seemed to be a key to the present anyway, as the Warriors won that second game, against Phoenix.

Then a dispiriting loss to Cleveland--but then everybody is losing to Cleveland these days.  And then the new year--and the first two game winning streak since mid-November.  Better yet, the shooting came back, especially against Philadelphia, in which Curry hit 8 three pointers on 8 shots, scoring 30 with 10 assists--one of those magical games in a stellar career.  

But he wasn't the only one--Moody, JK, Schroder and Lindy Waters all had multiple 3s, and as a team the Dubs shot 61% and 56% from three, after a long streak of below 50% shooting.  Ball movement in particular was noticeably robust, which Curry said afterwards was possible because everyone was making shots so there was no problem where the ball ended up as long as the player was open.  

The next game, the Warriors stayed ahead of Memphis to notch the win, despite Curry on the bench for the first in a back-to-back.  Andrew Wiggins stepped up with 24 points, Schroeder had 17, Lindy Waters 16.  And just as Shroder began looking comfortable on offense and made shots against Philadelphia, Buddy Hield (who started) may have come out of his deep slump with 14 points, including 4 threes, and led the team with a plus 18.  

All would be looking very hopeful except that JK went down with a "significant" ankle sprain that is likely to keep him out of the lineup for an "extended" period.  And so the potential of this team remains elusive, which won't help as the Warriors look at the trade deadline in a month.

Meanwhile as the NFL finishes its regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their fourth in a row to the Bengals, who therefore still have a chance to get into the playoffs, joining the Ravens and Steelers from the AFL North.  The Steelers' collapse doesn't bode well, except for a one and done.

The San Francisco 49ers will finish a hellish season against Arizona with their backup quarterback.  Only serious betters are likely to care who wins this one.  Even with all their untimely injuries, the Niners will probably be looking at some major changes for next season.

Otherwise, Kansas City has been looking more like a dominant team, but the Philadelphia Eagles look better.  Both contenders are resting stars for their final regular season game. Baltimore also has momentum, and Detroit, Buffalo and Washington are also in the Super Bowl hunt. 

In college football, the Bowls gave us a Penn State and Boise State matchup that was closer than the score indicated, plus some upsets and close games.  Ohio State demolished the undefeated Oregon Ducks, so forecasters who picked them as likely champions had a good day. 

 Notre Dame was impressive in their quarter-final.  The semis matchups of Notre Dame and Penn State, Texas and Ohio State should be interesting games though for different reasons.  But these games are each a universe in themselves, and predictions are futile.  I'd give the edge to Notre Dame in theirs, and Ohio State in theirs, but anything can happen on the day.