By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
The next round won’t be this easy. It can’t be. The Warriors are good, very good, record-setting good, and the Houston Rockets were, well, not very good at all. The Rockets probably shouldn’t have been in the playoffs.
For certain they weren’t at all in Wednesday night’s game. Figuratively, of course. Literally, that’s open for debate.
©2016 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
They missed Steph Curry. What, you thought the Warriors wouldn’t? But the Warriors didn’t set the all-time record for regular-season victories — 73, as you know so well — because they were dependent on only one player, even if he is the MVP.
They are a team, and what they didn’t miss Monday night at Oracle was a chance again to beat the Houston Rockets.
©2016 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — These are the playoffs, when basketball changes from ballet to boxing, when defenses rule and physical play is not only tolerated it is expected. So when Patrick Beverley smacked Stephen Curry early on in Saturday’s first-round game between the Warriors and Houston Rockets and the sellout crowd at Oracle Arena booed and hollered, the men on the floor and bench all but shrugged.
“No, there was nothing dirty,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr responding to a question on how to explain the style. “It’s the playoffs. There was nothing dirty. Just two teams that want to win. So there were a few physical plays. So that’s to be expected.”
Also to be expected was a Warriors win — after all, the W’s were 3-0 this regular season against Houston and 11-1 over the last two seasons, playoffs included. Expectations were met in grand style, with the W’s, in arguably their best defensive performance in a year, building a 29-point lead and winning, 104-78.
Not to be expected was Stephen Curry twisting the right ankle that used to give him problems — the official description was “a tweak" — and for his own precaution being held out for all but three minutes of the second half. Despite Curry pleading with Kerr. “I was 0-for-3,” Curry said of his attempts to persuade the coach.
Where it mattered, on field goal attempts, he was 8 for 13 (5 of 7 on three-pointers) and so still ended up as the top scorer for either team with 24 points.
Game two of this best-of-seven series is Monday night at Oracle, and the only question is whether Curry, who was limping as he left the post-game interview room, will be ready. Kerr used the description “questionable,” a fall-back phrase of indecision — but the man himself said, “Right now I don’t see a scenario where I’ll be out.”
Time to exhale? Probably. Early on this year one might have said, “Time to McHale,” but Kevin McHale, the Rockets coach, was canned in early November and replaced by J.B. Bickerstaff, who contended that Houston didn’t move around on offense when pressured by a great Warrior defense.
It was a physical game, yes, but it also was strange game. The Rockets’ James Harden, who was second in the NBA in scoring (29 points a game compared to Curry’s 30.1) and led in free throw attempts (he’s clever at making people foul him), had only 17 points and didn’t try a single, solitary foul shot, something that hadn’t happened since January 2015.
“Yeah,” said Kerr of Harden’s blank. “That’s what he does better than anybody in the league, get to the line, draw fouls. So I thought Klay (Thomson) and Andre (Iguodala) did a great job. Our bigs stayed vertical. They didn’t reach when (Harden) came into the paint.”
It’s a given in sports that defense wins, because it’s easier to keep the other team from scoring than to score yourself, to win a game 3-2 in baseball, 14-10 in football or, as the Warriors did Saturday, holding the opposition to under 80 points, the Rockets not even reaching the 20-point figure in three of the four quarters.
Kerr had said Friday he thought the Warriors were playing their best defense of the year, and so he wasn’t at all surprised when they jumped out to a 33-15 first-period lead, Houston making only six of 20 attempts, a pathetic 30 percent.
“I thought defense was excellent,” said the head coach. “We didn’t reach. We made them earn every point. We did have the brief moment when Steph went out and we lost our poise and lost our focus a little bit, but we quickly recovered.”
Curry had 16 in the first quarter (or one more than the entire Houston team), despite Beverley grabbing and shoving. When Curry shoved back it seemed there would be a fight — memories of Mike Riordan and Rick Barry in the 1975 finals — but a technical foul against each player ended that.
Curry, however, didn’t injure his ankle until just before halftime. “I just tried to change direction,” he said of what occurred. “Missed the shot and tried to get back on defense, and then slipped a little bit and felt it slip or tweak. That’s when the pain kind of came in. I was able to do a couple more possessions, and it started to get a little worse.”
Off he came. “As a competitor, I was ready to go back in,” he said.
He didn’t go back, and of course the post-game conversation dealt with the possibility of the Warriors having to play without the guy who was MVP last season and most likely will be again this season.
“Well, you lose the MVP of the NBA,” said Draymond Green, who some might say at times is the MVP of the Warriors, “it definitely changes your team, so there is some concern. Hopefully when we play again, he’ll be fine. If not, it’s the same mentality we’ve had throughout the year. He can’t go, next man up.”
In other words, if you’ll pardon the expression, just keep punching along.
By Art Spander
They’re not the Knicks, or the Celtics. Or the Lakers. They’re merely the best team in pro basketball, the team that on a historic Wednesday night set a record for the most wins ever in an NBA season. Yet, perhaps because of their geographical location, or maybe because they still aren’t taken seriously, the Warriors do not get respect due a champion.
Moments after the W’s crushed the Memphis Grizzlies, 125-104, at the Oracle, head coach Steve Kerr learned they would be opening the playoffs Saturday afternoon, which is known as the worst possible viewing period on TV. And as a onetime commentator, Kerr was well aware of the slight.
“I always thought the Sunday time slot was the coveted TV slot,” Kerr remarked. “But maybe that’s changed, because two years in a row we’re playing Saturday afternoon. So very little time to prepare. But obviously, the same goes for Houston.”
But Houston isn’t the defending NBA champion. Houston didn’t finish a regular season with 73 wins (73-9) breaking the record of 72 set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, on which Kerr and Michael Jordan played. The Warriors, who won all three games from Houston during the regular season, are the attraction — but apparently not that much of an attraction.
Unless it’s the Lakers, the people in the NBA, at ESPN, at TBS, have little regard for franchises in the Pacific time zone. The folks in Brentwood and Beverly Hills are sophisticated. Up north? Have you seen those people parading on Market Street or Telegraph?
Of course, when and where should be inconsequential when compared to who and what, and the who and what of the NBA are the Warriors and what they’ve done. So, Kobe Bryant’s farewell was classic Hollywood. He scored 60 in a game that meant nothing except that it was a last hurrah. But Steph Curry scored 46 for the Warriors — and set a season mark of 402 three-pointers, after hitting 10 of 19 attempts — in a game that for the 19,596 spectators, the 175th straight sellout, meant everything.
It likewise meant a great deal to the Warriors players. And so, as they’ve done so often this season, they grabbed it early, building a 20-point lead before the second quarter was done.
“I told our guys I never in a million years would have guessed that record would be broken,” said Kerr. “I thought it was like DiMaggio’s hit streak, really, and I was wrong.”
That’s because his players treat basketball for what it essentially is, a game. They play with élan, with joy. They’re like high school kids out for a good time as well as for wins, and throughout they’ve had both.
“But I will say the same thing now I said 20 years ago,” Kerr offered. “I don’t think this will ever be broken. Somebody’s got to go 74-8, and I don’t see it. I hope our fans aren’t expecting that next year.”
Right now they’re expecting a second straight championship. For good reason. The Warriors play fearless, if not exactly flawless, basketball. They can shoot you to bits — they were 52 percent on field goals and 42 percent (20 of 47) on three-pointers. They can play effective defense, which experts will tell you is where games are won. And they have the confidence born of success.
There was no possibility the Warriors were going to lose last night. By the early part of the third quarter, the only way the W’s were going to lose was to hit two balls into the water on the 12th hole. OK, an obscure analogy, but we’re not that far removed from the Masters.
When asked if with Steph’s and the team’s numbers — Curry didn’t get off the bench in the fourth period — this was as close to perfection as imaginable, Klay Thompson gave a flip answer that was as close to perfection as possible.
“If I would have shot 25 more threes and got to 300, yes,” quipped Thomson, who scored 16, “but I’m amazed by Steph, especially as a shooter. To get to 400 threes in a season, that’s hard to put into words. That’s hard to do ... so congrats to Steph and the 14 other guys in the locker room. We fought hard and didn’t take a night off all year.”
Someone asked Curry the difference between the 2016 Warriors and the 1996 Bulls — not that he would know, since he wasn’t even out of elementary school 20 years ago.
“I think the game has evolved a lot,” said Curry, “but we have a certain identity of how we play.”
Which by the Bay is considered state-of-the-art but elsewhere isn’t good enough to get them a Sunday spot in the opening round of the playoffs.
By Art Spander
HOUSTON — Did he know? Did Kris Jenkins know when that ball left his hands, the ball that would sail through the rim and into the net with 0:00 on the clock, would win a national championship for Villanova and leave a North Carolina team in disbelief and tears?
“When you let it go ... ” asked Jim Nantz, holding a microphone. There was a pause.
“I knew it was good,” said Jenkins.
And so it was, a three-pointer that would give Villanova a 77-74 victory over the favored Tar Heels and an NCAA championship.
You want drama? This game at NRG Stadium had it. You want elation? This game had it. For Villanova. You want dejection? This game also had it — for Carolina, the school with a great basketball history, the school of Michael Jordan, who was in the stands.
What a wild, wonderful conclusion to the college basketball season of 2015–16, a season that some called mediocre because there wasn’t a dominant team, as Kentucky had been a year earlier, and because the tournament was a swarm of confusions — right until the final ticks of the clock.
Two days earlier, the semifinals had been boring, one-sided, Villanova setting a record by beating Oklahoma by 44 points and North Carolina sweeping past Syracuse by 17. See, said the basketball junkies, we told you. A bad season topped off by a bad tournament.
But just like that on Monday evening — dare we use the phrase “one shining moment"? — the whole basketball season bounced as no one foresaw, and the title turned into a memory that will be cherished by Villanova — winning its second championship — and despised by Carolina, which was unable to win its sixth.
Villanova led by three, when after a scramble and an attempt to pass, Carolina’s Marcus Paige hit an off-balance jumper to tie the game, 74-74, with 4.7 seconds to play. Surely, this was going to go on for a while.
“We play defense, the game goes into overtime and it’s ours," said Paige. "(But) it didn’t work out. Kris is one of the best three-point shooters.”
Jenkins, a junior, had four fouls and had been on the bench (he played just 21 of the 40 minutes), but he wasn’t flustered as time ran out.
“I think every shot is going in,” he said. “So that one was no different.”
Except it meant a championship for Villanova and heartbreak for North Carolina, which had trailed 67-57 with 5:29 left and then rallied. Only to lose.
“This is a difficult time period as a coach,” said Carolina’s Roy Williams, who was trying for a third title. “You fought so hard throughout the course of the season to have a chance to win a national championship.
“We couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket in the second half. We shot 34 percent. They shot 58 percent.”
One reason may be a Villanova defense that is everywhere and turns the other team’s misses into its own baskets.
Villanova coach Jay Wright was more bewildered than joyful at game’s end. He had a sour look, as if he had bit into a lemon.
“I can’t wait to see that look,” said Wright after his first championship. “Because I was just shocked. We have an end-of-the-game situation play. We put it in (Ryan) Arcidiacono’s hands. He made the perfect pass. And Kris Jenkins lives for that moment.”
That moment is one that made the season for college basketball — and for the Villanova Wildcats.
By Art Spander
Senior Analyst
HOUSTON — He probably won’t get on court for North Carolina in what will be his final college game. You could look at the career of Justin Coleman, a perennial backup guard for the Tar Heels, and say it hasn’t been very impressive. Except for one thing: It’s impressive he even had a career.
When he was in high school, playing AAU ball, May 11, 2010, Coleman was tripped and fell into a wall, incurring a broken neck. Doctors said he never would play again. But play he did.
Copyright © 2016 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
By Art Spander
HOUSTON — It’s a team game. Sure, that’s the cliché of basketball, but it’s also the reality. Another reaffirmation came Saturday night in the Final Four.
Oklahoma had the Player of the Year, Buddy Hield. The man scores from everywhere. Or, as in the semifinal against Villanova, from nowhere. Hield did hit a three-pointer in the opening half-minute, giving everyone the impression he and the Sooners were on their way.
To oblivion, it turned out.
Villanova, shooting 77 percent in the second half, 17 of 22 from the field, and 71 percent for the game, got Oklahoma sooner and later, winning 95-51.
“I thought they popped us there in the first half, and we didn’t respond very well to that,” said OU coach Lon Kruger. “We came out with a little better fight to start the second half. Villanova withstood that, then popped us again.”
And hard. But that’s nothing new for Villanova, the school in the tony suburbs of Philadelphia’s Main Line. It was virtually a repeat performance for Nova, using the term loosely, unlike the defense Villanova plays. No looseness there.
Thirty-one years ago, 1985, in the NCAA final, the Wildcats made 17 of 28 shots, nine of 10 in the second half, and upset Georgetown.
In this final, Monday against North Carolina, which defeated Syracuse in the other semi, Nova also will be an underdog. That might mean something. Or mean zilch.
“They made shots, and we didn’t,” said Oklahoma guard Isaiah Cousins, and could a result be described more simply than that?
“Everything just fell apart, even when we got stops.”
What stopped was Oklahoma’s intensity. They’d miss — the Sooners shot a pathetic 31 percent, 19 of 60, and Hield had nine points, one of eight on threes — and then Villanova would sweep down the court. It was a classic example of what coaches have been teaching forever: defense sets up the offense.
“We were just trying to find a rhythm how to stop them,” said Hield. “I feel early in the second half we got a rhythm. After that, missed a rebound, (Josh) Hart got it up, got a three-point play, momentum went back their way. They played really well today. One of the best teams I ever played in college.
“They made it tough on me, throwing a bunch of bodies at me. Just couldn’t get it going.”
Brilliant strategy by Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose Cats are now 34-5. Brilliant execution from the “bodies,” particularly Hart, Kris Jenkins and Ryan Arcidiacono.
Hield is from the Bahamas, a senior who chose to stay four years in the hope of winning an NCAA championship. That can never be, but at least he made it to the sport’s last weekend. Now he’ll end up with on the NBA’s last-place teams, perhaps the awful 76ers. The Philly nightmare may continue, if in a different way.
“Villanova dictated everything,” said Kruger, the OU coach. “They were up into us the first half. We didn’t rip it strong and attack. We were playing laterally instead of downhill.”
Instead of going to the basket, but how can you go when there are defenders everywhere you look?
Asked if he’d ever seen a game like this, Kruger philosophized. “Oh, it’s happened, I’m sure,” he said, “but I don’t like being a part of it ... You’d like to think you can stand up and change that. We weren’t able to.”
Villanova was prepared, yet preparation doesn’t always mean success. Every time the Golden State Warriors play, the other team is prepared to stop Stephen Curry. But it’s rare when the plans work. They definitely worked for Villanova against Hield, who had averaged 29 points in the four tournament games leading to the semi.
“We were watching film on how good Buddy is,” said Arcidiacono, “We knew he would take and make tough shots. We tried to keep fresh bodies on him, tried to make him take tough, contested shots. If just happened he didn’t make them tonight.”
It just happened that Villanova, with Hart scoring 23 points, on 10 of 12, did make them.
“I’m happy,” said Wright, the Nova coach, “we had one of those games where we just make every shot. Kind of similar to our (December) game in Hawaii against Oklahoma. They made everything, we made nothing.”
There was difference, a huge difference. This one was to make the national finals.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
So the pulse raced a bit. What’s going on out there, you were thinking. The Warriors weren’t really going to lose a regular season home game, were they? Of course not.
Look, every painting can’t be Picasso. Every game can’t be memorable. They don’t give style points in the NBA. The only thing that counts is the final score, which Tuesday night at the Oracle was W’s 102, Washington Wizards, 94.
©2016 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
This isn’t going to last forever, this Warriors brilliance, the winning streaks — 53 in a row at home now — the sublime shooting of Steph and Klay, or is it Klay and Steph? The all-around game of Draymond Green.
The head coach reminded us as much, and around here where we saw the 49ers, Raiders and A’s on top only to tumble, Steve Kerr’s words resonate.
©2016 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — There are only two questions remaining for the Warriors at the moment, to wit: How fast was Draymond Green, driver or passenger, really going in his BMW, and exactly when will they clinch home-court advantage through the playoffs? OK, there’s another indirect question: Whatever happened to the Los Angeles Clippers?
You’re probably aware the W’s on Wednesday night won another regular season game at Oracle Arena, their 51st straight at home, beating the Clips 114-98, their sixth straight win and fourth in four tries this season over the team that, with the collapse of the Lakers, was supposed to be the best in L.A.
But what nobody knows for certain is who was in the driver’s seat in the video that appeared on Green’s Snapchat account which shows an inside-the-vehicle view of a speedometer hitting 118 mph. Well, somebody knows but isn’t talking publicly. Not to this point.
The since-deleted video — we can erase our sins in the electronic age — was posted on TMZ.com before Green, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds, beat the Clippers.
A video subsequently posted on Green’s Snapchat account showed people inside the same BMW but the car traveling at what could be described as a prudent speed. It is uncertain if, in either video, Green is the driver or the passenger, and before the game Warriors GM Bob Meyers told Diamond Leung of the San Jose Mercury News, “I’m not talking about it.”
Neither was Warriors coach Steve Kerr, but he had a legitimate season: “I didn’t know about it until just before the game.” And why would he?
This is probably teapot-tempest stuff, the type of mildly embarrassing incident that happens when young men seek a bit of off-the-court frivolity that, fortunately, ended up hurting no one. Green has been both a model citizen — he has donated millions to his alma mater, Michigan State — and a brilliant player. But with the Warriors having become the shining star of Bay Area sports, wildly successful, wildly popular, you hope nothing negative gets in the way.
The Warriors, as teams do when confronted with off-court, off-field issues, issued a statement that said they are aware of the video and alluded to their high standards, adding, “We look forward to having a conversation with Draymond and getting additional information.”
His mother, Mary Babers-Green, said in a tweet — she is more than an occasional tweeter — “RELAXXXXXX…y’all act like y’all have never tried to see how fast your car would go.
The Warriors weren’t going very fast the first quarter. Then, whoosh. With Andrew Bogut back in the lineup, his bad foot having healed, the defense took over, enabling the offense to open up. Stephen Curry (12 of 23) had 33 points; Klay Thompson (12 of 21) had 32 points.
“We weren’t playing our brand of basketball in the first half,” said Thompson. “We didn’t play bad, but we didn’t play good, until we pushed the pace on the defensive end. It always carries over on the offensive end, and we’re able to get on a break. I think we’re the most exciting team in the NBA on a fast break.”
Did someone say they’re as fast on the break as whoever was behind the wheel of Draymond’s car? Sorry. Just like the Snapchat video, erase that.
See, the problem with the Warriors’ season is it’s repetitively boring. So they lost at San Antonio? Even in the defeat, on the road, Curry going 1 for 12, the W’s were in it until the end. That tells you how good they are. That tells you why a Draymond Green video of a car’s speedometer well into three figures becomes a major story. Because very little else with the Warriors is. It’s the same old, same old.
“For many years,” said Kerr, addressing a question of a Clippers-Warriors rivalry, “nobody cared about the Clippers against the Warriors. The last few years, people have cared ... but for some reason I didn’t think tonight had the same juice.”
But it had the same result, a Warriors victory.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
OAKLAND, Calif. — The funny thing with the Golden State Warriors is that they love the funny things, the joke video clips, the needling by their coaches. Basketball, even at the highest level, the NBA, is a game to them, a chance to live it up, laugh it up and maybe because of those two factors win, win, win.
Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — This was one of the greatest, the Logo, the man whose silhouette is the emblem of the NBA, Jerry West, who said his own farewell so many 40 years ago, talking so glowingly, acting the fan as much as the expert, reflecting, praising another about to enter retirement, Kobe Bryant.
Those of us of a certain age inevitably link past with present, perhaps too much because memories often outshine reality. West and I broke in together, the fall of 1960, in far different professions but very close connections, he a rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers, I a rookie with the wire service United Press International.
He wasn’t yet “Mr. Clutch,” but he already was Mr. Reliable, and from press row, on the floor in those days, his skills were unavoidable.
It was fascinating Thursday night to hear West, now an executive with the Warriors, discuss the brilliance of Bryant, whom West, then the Lakers' general manager, maneuvered to make L.A.’s surprising No. 1 pick in the 1996 NBA draft.
This was Kobe’s night, his final appearance at Oracle Arena as a player, and despite a sore right Achilles tendon, Bryant did start — after pointing out, “I think the fans deserve that effort from me” — and scored just eight points in the Lakers' 116-98 loss to the Warriors.
This was also West’s night. He was Kobe years before Kobe, and what Jerry prized in himself — a love of the game, unshackled intensity, greatness under the spotlight — he prized even more in Bryant.
West and Bryant are one and the same, 40 years apart, driven, almost obsessed and, of course, unbelievably talented. You couldn’t stop West as he drove toward the basket or tossed up a jumper. You couldn’t stop Bryant. How many times did Kobe hit that winning basket when everyone in the place knew he would take the shot?
“We got what I thought was the No. 1 player in the draft, Kobe Bryant,” said West, “17 years old, and it wasn’t in vogue to draft 17-year-old kids yet ... I think the one thing that was very evident to me right away was that, from my perspective, at 17 years old, I’d never seen anyone with the skill level that he had.”
So the Lakers traded their center Vlade Divac to Charlotte for the 13th pick in that ’96 draft, and got someone West said “was a showman but he was also a winner, and he has left a legacy throughout the world ... One of the things I admired most about him from a distance, because I wasn’t there any longer, was his ability to play when other players would simply not play. He would play through things that other players just wouldn’t.”
These farewell tours have their purpose, even if the man or woman being honored is not what he or she used to be. Some 10-year-old is presented an opportunity that would never come again. Even if Kobe has a one-for-14 night, as he did at Oracle in November, the kid saw him.
If a 37-year-old Kobe Bryant, a 39-year-old Peyton Manning or a 40-year-old Tiger Woods are not what they used to be, they’re still trying, still living the dream, still fighting against what the future holds. West, 77, understands. After a sporting career, life can be an endless search for stability.
“I told Kobe tonight — I had a little time to spend with him — when I left the game, I could have played more,” said West. “I could have played at a very high level, too. I could not play at the level everyone wanted me to play. And I was not willing to compromise what I felt was a standard I had established in this league. The thing that people don’t realize is that players who play the game at a very high level put an awful lot of pressure and stress on themselves every day to come out and try to make the team win.
“ ... I’m not comparing myself to Kobe at all. I’m just telling you, if we lost I always felt it was always my fault, my fault because I felt could have done more. It took me a year, frankly, to realize what an enormous burden had been lifted off my shoulders.”
Bryant’s shoulders still look strong as he finishes his NBA record — and last — 20th season. His legs do not, however, and that’s why he’s struggled on the floor. West reminds us that a different sort of struggle is ahead of Bryant, replacing basketball with another challenge, difficult for any athlete, particularly one as famed as Bryant.
“This has been a remarkable player,” said West of Bryant, “a player for the decades, simply one of the greatest that ever played the game.”
As judged by one of the greatest who ever played the game.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
Someone shouted, “We’re back.” From where? One defeat? Back? The Warriors never left. They aren’t a basketball team, they’re a human blitz. So they lost a game. That was eons ago, on the road. What they did Wednesday night was what we expect, what all of basketball expects — a thrashing of an opponent.
You don’t watch the Warriors thinking about who’s going to end up ahead. That’s a given. The defeat that ended the season-opening record win streak was the exception that proves the rule. These Warriors are entertainers. These Warriors are 24-1 in 25 games.
© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — They wanted it, and they said as much. No false modesty, no “it doesn’t matter that much,” which in truth it doesn’t — but at the same time it does.
The record, 16 straight wins to open an NBA season, is just another notch on the gunslinger’s belt, another verification that the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are a very special team.
But we knew that already, didn’t we? They won the championship last season, and that’s the ultimate goal in any sport, and now they’re focused on trying to do it again. But the playoffs are months away, so what they’ve accomplished in the first 16 games of the 82 on the regular schedule is a guidepost to their greatness.
And the way it happened Tuesday night at the Oracle, with a 111-77 victory, similarly was a verification of the decline and fall of their once superior, once proud opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers, who along with the Celtics were one of two great franchises of the '70s, '80s, '90s and early 2000s. The Lakers of West and Baylor, Magic and Kareem, Shaq and Kobe. The Lakers, who once, during the 1971-72 season, set an even more impressive record, winning 33 in a row. The Lakers, who forever and a day owned the Warriors.
But it’s all different now. The Warriors have taken control of pro basketball, so much so that ESPN and TNT continue to revise their schedules to show the Warriors, to show Steph Curry, who scored a game-high 24 points, to show Draymond Green, who had 12 points the first quarter and 18 overall.
The Warriors, once the punching bag (they won only 17 games in 2000-01), once the laughing stock, now are the class of the league, must-see basketball, the “New Showtime,” while the Lakers, the old Showtime, have gone the other way, almost to oblivion.
They are 2-12, which would be awful even if it weren’t matched up against 16-0. And inevitably, sadly, Kobe Bryant, 39 and losing the battle both to the men guarding him and Father Time, is only a shadow of what we knew. In this historic game for the W’s, Kobe also made history of a sort, going 1-for-14 from the floor (it was a 3-pointer) and ending with just four points.
But this is supposed to be about the Warriors, the wonderful, enthralling Warriors, who at game’s end shared their delight with a sellout crowd (listed at 19,596, but there might have been dozens more) by staying on court while the fans, cheering, stayed in the stands. The guys on the floor loved it. The spectators in the building loved it.
“It feels great,” said Luke Walton of the record and the reaction. As you know he’s listed as the interim coach, temporarily replacing Steve Kerr, who is recovering from spinal leaks incurred during off-season back surgery. Walton — the son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton — insists this is Kerr’s team, and that’s probably accurate, but Walton is pulling the strings in this record run.
For certain, Walton — the son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton — has never lost a game while a head coach, whatever the designation. For sure he’s never backed away from the idea that the record is inconsequential. It’s like a 30-foot shot. If you’re going to go after it, then get it.
“You’ve got to celebrate it,” he said of the Warriors overtaking the 15-0 starts of the ’48-49 Washington Capitals and the ’93-94 Houston Rockets. “You’re obviously a piece of history now, and we want to continue the streak. We feel like we can. But you can’t be content because it’s only November.”
Whatever the month, 16 wins without a defeat is mark of distinction, a mark that others envy and of course will try to halt, which, sooner or later, someone will. But it’s like the “A” you learn in the classroom. It always will be there no matter what occurs in the future.
Before the game, Walton said that Kerr, who sits in the locker room as a matter of medical precaution and to show Walton is the boss courtside, reminds him of four core values: enjoyment, compassion, mindfulness and competition. In other words, have a great time and win. Which is what the Warriors have done since the season started.
“We went by and congratulated each player,” said Walton of what took place in the locker room immediately after the close of the game. “What they did, they now are in the history books. This turned into a mini-goal a couple of games ago, and we accomplished it and now we have to make sure we don’t drop off.
“I don’t think our guys play with any pressure, to be honest. I think challenges like this, in this streak, bring out the best in them. We saw that tonight with the way the guys played.”
Beautifully, brilliantly and successfully. What else is there?
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — They’re going to lose one of these nights. Maybe Thursday on the road against the Clippers. Maybe Friday at home against the Chicago Bulls. Nobody goes through an NBA schedule, 82 games, unbeaten.
But so far, the Warriors, with a lot of talent and a little luck, are without a loss through 12 games.
That ties the modern-era record for the fourth-best start in recent history — no, we’re not counting the 1948-49 Washington Capitals. The ’93-94 Houston Rockets began 15-0 (as did the Caps), the ’57-58 Celtics and ’02-03 Dallas Mavericks went 14-0, while the ’82-83 Seattle SuperSonics, now the OKC Thunder, won their first 12, as have the ’15-16 Warriors.
The W’s remained perfect with an imperfect 115-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night, and as the very perceptive Luke Walton, the anointed interim coach, so astutely pointed out after it was time to exhale, sure, it was sloppier than usual. Who cared?
We’re spoiled. We’re so used to watching the Warriors get control in the second quarter or maybe the third — all right, the OT win over the Brooklyn was the exception — that when something happens like that against the Raptors we, media and fans, are not quite sure how to act. Not that we outliers are alone.
“We’re all spoiled,” Walton agreed in wonderful candor. “Not just you (meaning the demonic critics from the fourth estate). We keep winning. Our guys are so good. That’s our style. Our guys have a special gift to make big plays, and it’s not just one or two of them.
“We weren’t happy with the way the game was turning in the second half, but we were thrilled the way we stepped up to finish it to get another win.”
Walton, of course, has done nothing but win since he was designated as the temporary replacement for Steve Kerr, who since directing the Warriors to a championship last season has, because of back surgery and complications, been unable to coach a game.
But if the administration changed, the performance is mostly unchanged.
Against Toronto, Stephen Curry had 37 points in 39 minutes, and nine assists. Klay Thompson had 19 points (but only one in the second half). The W’s shot a competent 53 percent.
However, Toronto, which chooses to play what is known as deliberate basketball and thus draws fouls, took 39 free throws and made 30, while the W’s were a mere 18 of 27 from the line. The W’s, who prefer running, which they are able to do after the opponent misses a shot, were restricted to walking. Yes, they had an 18-point lead a few seconds before halftime, but they also were tied with under six minutes left. Unnerving.
“We’d love to keep pushing up the ball,” said Walton. “We started Steph in the fourth quarter and thought we could build up our lead. But you’re going to have sloppy games like this.”
The Warriors had Andrew Bogut at center for the first time since he incurred a concussion, but they didn’t have Shaun Livingston as sub at guard — he has hip problems — and that’s why Curry had to play so long. But great teams, and we’ll include the Warriors in that category after winning a title and their first 12 games the following season, manage to succeed.
“We didn’t feel like we played great tonight,” said Bogut, the designated interviewee. “We played good in spurts. It’s a positive sign for us.”
Not that the other 11 games have been very negative.
But Curry said the Warriors expect more of themselves, and even though they finished in the right place the trip was strenuous.
“They’re good,” he said of the Raptors. “There’s a lot of talent in this league. Tough games are good to experience. But we hold ourselves to a certain standard. We didn’t put any pressure on them defensively, and when we were sloppy on a couple of pressures, they came to life.”
Asked what went wrong — a bit strong when you’re undefeated — Walton shrugged and reminded, “The first half we were phenomenal. We had 21 assists at the half with only seven turnovers.
“We are putting together nice halves and finishing games nice, but we have gotten away from the overall great game of basketball.”
By Art Spander
OAKLAND, Calif. — About the only thing that didn’t happen Monday was Dusty Baker taking over as the Niners' starting quarterback. But Blaine Gabbert is. And Dusty is about to become manager of the Washington Nationals. And, of course, Stephen Curry had another huge game — as did the unbeaten Warriors.
Down Santa Clara way, the 49ers, in either a fit of panic or of desperation, benched their QB, Colin Kaepernick, which, yes, was man-bite-dog news. Up here at the Oracle, where Curry finished with 30 despite not playing a single second in the fourth quarter and the W’s built up a 52-point lead in the third quarter, it was dog-bite-man stuff.
In other words, tell us when something remarkable happens, which these days doesn’t really describe any Warriors performance, even when they crush the Memphis Grizzlies, 119-69.
The Dubs are 4-0 now, every win against a playoff team, and their next game, Wednesday, is against the Los Angeles Clippers, who have a history with the Warriors. Meaning rough play. But Golden State didn’t take the NBA championship last season by backing away from anyone, rough or not so.
There’s a tradition of teams coming out the year after they win the title and playing better than ever — the Portland Trail Blazers of Bill Walton, father of W’s interim coach, Luke, did that — and wow, are the Warriors on a roll.
“We can’t wait to start in March or April,” said Draymond Green. “We got to start now.” They’ve started, and there’s no indication they’ll ever stop, and one of the reasons is they know how to stop the other team.
For the third time the in four games, Curry had a quarter of 20 points or more, getting 21 in the third. But it was at the other end of the court the Warriors grabbed the game, holding the Grizz to 12 points in the second quarter and 15 in the third. When a team scores only 27 points in 24 minutes, it has no chance. Memphis had no chance.
“It’s not a surprise we’re playing this well,” said Walton, who has replaced the ailing Steve Kerr for as long as needed. “This is what these guys do.” That sounds like one of those commercials. If you’re on the Warriors, who play to near perfection, that’s what you do.
“Our defense was fine in the first quarter,” Walton said, referring to a 22-21 deficit. “The message at the start of the second quarter was more that we needed to play with a faster pace. Twenty one points in a quarter is not points for us. The second unit was great again tonight. They came in with a smaller lineup and got some stops and we started pushing it, and they got some energy.”
They defended (Memphis shot 27 percent for the game), they rebounded (65 to Memphis’ 44) and they swept down the floor in waves as the sellout crowd of 19,596 joined in with roars and screeches. “Get Loud,” orders the matrix board over center court. As if the advice as necessary.
Walton was comparatively quiet in the postgame interview, but his words were meaningful. He gave high praise to Green — “Draymond has been awesome; that’s why we pay him $82 million” — and to Festus Ezeli, starting at center in place of Andrew Bogut, who has a concussion.
Green had 11 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three blocked shots. Ezeli had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
“This is a championship team,” Memphis forward Zach Randolph said of the Warriors, who held him to four points, “but they’re not 40, 50 points better than us. We know that.”
They were Monday night, and Walton who played on the champion Lakers in their glory days, said it’s not a surprise the Warriors have come out of the gate like, well, American Pharoah.
“When we play at a level like this,” said Walton, “we are very, very hard to beat.”
So far they’ve been impossible to beat.
“I’m impressed that we’ve started this well, and hopefully we just continue to do it," Walton said. "Confidence has always been something that our guys have, but it’s a fine line because you are also getting everybody’s best shot. But there’s also a little bit of an intimidation factor. When we start making shots and locking up on defense, it can cause some teams to fold.”
By Art Spander
OAKLAND — The game? Oh yeah, the game, won by the Warriors in a romp. Even thought they scored only 14 points in the second quarter. Even though Stephen Curry didn’t score much in the second half. Even though head coach Steve Kerr made only a cameo appearance.
But on this night of championship rings and deafening cheers, when the W’s celebrated one season — the one in which they were the best team in the NBA — and began another, when despite all the predictions about Cleveland and Oklahoma City the Warriors may again turn out to be the best team, the game was almost beside the point.
If not beside Curry’s 40 points, 24 of which he scored in the first period, after those rings, not much smaller than the mag wheels of a Ferrari and loaded with diamonds, finally had been taken away and the basketballs brought out.
Sure, on Tuesday night the W’s 111-95 victory at The Oracle was accepted with pleasure, because if there’s one thing any franchise in any sport doesn’t want to do, it’s slip on its reputation when everyone is watching. Especially because Luke Walton, sitting in for the wiling Kerr, was interim coaching his first game.
Still, it was the ceremonies, which properly included everyone from owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber to Alvin Gentry, who last season was a Warriors assistant coach and this year is the Pelicans' head coach, that dominated the evening. After all, when you go 40 years between crowns, you make the most of it.
“I’m more excited than nervous,” said Walton before the game. Maybe his famous dad, Bill, was more nervous than excited. But father, mother and a brother, Chris, were there for Luke’s debut — and Curry’s continuing brilliance.
Steph was the NBA’s MVP the season past — as we were reminded by the chants of 19,596 enthralled people. And despite journos of the East Coast establishment contending the honor will go to LeBron James this season of 2015-16, Curry may again be the MVP. He was 14 of 26 from the floor (5 of 12 on three-pointers) and had seven assists and six rebounds.
Curry said it wasn’t easy getting back to the routine after he and teammates had become lords of the rings, but the team had received fair warning from Kerr, who picked up titles and rings with the Bulls, and Walton, a member of two Lakers championship teams.
“They warned us before,” said Curry, “and we tried to turn the pace quickly once the lights came back on. We were pretty focused and tried to make the simple play early, shots went in and we didn’t look back.”
They did look distressed for maybe a moment — well, the crowd sounded distressed — when the Pelicans actually went ahead by a point, 44-43, with 7:31 left in the half. But, zap, the W’s were again ahead by 11, and that was that.
The Warriors organization made the most of the night. It not only trotted out all the people associated with last year’s team, other than David Lee, who was traded, but it delved into history. Sharing the joy were Howie Dallmar Jr., whose late father was a member of the 1946-47 champ Philly Warriors (and, of course, the longtime Stanford coach); Walt Davis, who was on the 1955-56 champion Philly Warriors; and Rick Barry, star of the 1974-75 champion Golden State Warriors.
“Wear those rings with pride,” was Barry’s message to the current players. “I was so impressed with Steve Kerr, who had never coached before last year. Now they have to remember not to try and do more than they could do. Accept the roles and win.”
They did on Tuesday night. For the most part.
“We need to play better,” said Curry, “and we will play better. But it’s obviously a good start. You just want to get a win and have some good moments.
“You want to have that whole ceremony, the ring, the banner. Then you’ve got to turn the page on a new season, new journey. We were able to feed off the adrenaline rush from the ceremony and get off to a good start.”
While Luke Walton coached, Kerr, with spinal fluid problems, watched on TV in the locker room.
“Luke was prepared,” said Curry, no less prepared. “His preparation kicked in. He was calm and made some good calls.”
The Warriors and their fans had to like the call from Alvin Gentry, who helped build them a year ago and now must build the Pelicans.
“You know,” Gentry said of the Warriors, “they’re a great basketball team. They’re the world champs, and they got off to a great start.”
Hard to debate either thought.
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
This one was for Purvis Short and Sonny Parker, and even for Todd Fuller, who unintentionally became the scapegoat of previous failings.
This one was for Baron Davis, who eight years ago showed us what was possible.
This one was for the Golden State Warriors and their relentless followers — past, present and future, and yes, with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes still babes, the future would seem every bit as exciting as these most recent 11 days in June.
©2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
Sure, Stephen Curry splashed it up. But this Warriors victory, the one that made an NBA championship seem not just possible but probable, belonged as much to two players whose combined points couldn’t match what Curry had on his own.
Andre Iguodala, starting once again in Steve Kerr’s smallball scheme, had 14 points, and Leandro Barbosa had 13 off the bench. By his own self, Curry picked up 37. Yet Iguodala, again with the unachievable task of defending LeBron James, and Barbosa, a.k.a. “The Brazilian Blur,” reminded there is so much to basketball beyond putting the ball in the basket.
©2015 The San Francisco Examiner
By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner
Ten years and it changed for Andre Iguodala. Ten years of starting, of scoring and rebounding, of making the All-Star team, of helping the Philadephia 76ers upset the conference champion Chicago Bulls, of helping the U.S. win the 2012 Olympics — and suddenly he was out of the lineup and on to the bench.
It was all different. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” said Iguodala on Saturday of his role. “It’s harder than it looks.”
©2015 The San Francisco Examiner