We've SWEPT the 3-1 jokes away, NOW WE SMELL LIKE CHAMPAGNE AGAIN(OFFICIAL WARRIORS 18-19 THREAD)
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Dudes say the craziest shyt to make excuses for Kerr.
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
which one of you Warriors brehs has the subscription to The Athletic?
is it worth it?
how is their basketball coverage overall?
how is their coverage of the Dubs?
also, I've googled ways to get around the paywall but a lot of them just seem like a big hassle
what you brehs think, should I do it
is it worth it?
how is their basketball coverage overall?
how is their coverage of the Dubs?
also, I've googled ways to get around the paywall but a lot of them just seem like a big hassle
what you brehs think, should I do it
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
so I was watching the end of the Hornets/Magic game and they asked Chauncey if they thought Kemba was coming back.
he said no and then they asked him where he thought he would like to see him go and Chauncey says "I'd like to see him go to LA and play with Lebron so he can be like another Kyrie"
WHY IS THE MEDIA ALWAYS TRYING TO FINAGLE WAYS TO HELP THIS BUM nikka OUT
he said no and then they asked him where he thought he would like to see him go and Chauncey says "I'd like to see him go to LA and play with Lebron so he can be like another Kyrie"
WHY IS THE MEDIA ALWAYS TRYING TO FINAGLE WAYS TO HELP THIS BUM nikka OUT
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Do it for us so you can post content here.which one of you Warriors brehs has the subscription to The Athletic?
is it worth it?
how is their basketball coverage overall?
how is their coverage of the Dubs?
also, I've googled ways to get around the paywall but a lot of them just seem like a big hassle
what you brehs think, should I do it
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
I got the Athletic last night fam 
I'm the plug for all my Warriors brehs
hit me up if you want me to lace this thread with exclusivity
can y'all hit a nikka wit some rep
I'm the plug for all my Warriors brehs
hit me up if you want me to lace this thread with exclusivity
can y'all hit a nikka wit some rep
Warriors-Clippers mega series preview: X-factor, key matchup, prediction and more
By Anthony Slater Apr 11, 201933
The bottom side of the Western Conference playoff bracket worked out well for the Warriors on the final night of the regular season, delivering them the Clippers instead of the Thunder as their first-round opponent. The middle of it didn’t.
Because of two absurd late-night comebacks on Wednesday — the Blazers flying from 28 down to the beat the Kings, the Nuggets finishing off the Wolves with a 15-0 fourth-quarter run — Houston fell to the fourth seed.
That puts the Warriors, Rockets and Jazz, the three best West teams the last two months (and the NBA’s three best defenses the last four weeks) on the same side of the bracket.
More specifically: It sets up a likely Warriors-Rockets cage match in Round 2 or, as one tweeter put it: “The NBA Finals will be the West semifinals.”
But let’s not yet look ahead. Let’s zero in on this first-round series against the Clippers, which isn’t dripping in as much drama as a Thunder series would’ve, but it at least has the potential to be mildly more entertaining than another Spurs series.
The first-round California showdown opens on Saturday night in Oracle Arena at 5 p.m. local on ABC. Click here for the rest of the schedule. Let’s get to the breakdown.
Biggest Warriors question: How aggressive is Kevin Durant against favorable defenders?
These teams played three times before the Clippers traded Tobias Harris, which completely reshuffled their rotation. The fourth meeting came this past weekend, but the Clippers had three important pieces missing.
One of those absentees was Danilo Gallinari, who had a much better season than you probably realize, averaging 20 points and hitting 43 percent of his 3-pointers. He’s the leading scorer in Doc Rivers’ preferred, imbalanced starting lineup: Patrick Beverley, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Landry Shamet, Gallinari and Ivica Zubac.
That’s three guards — one tiny, the other two rookies — Gallinari, a slow, stiff-legged defender and Zubac, a center. Who exactly, in that lineup, should guard Kevin Durant?
Beverley might be the best answer. Smaller, feistier guards historically have bothered KD a bit. But Rivers will probably use up all of Beverley’s energy and fouls chasing Steph Curry around.
So maybe it’s Gilgeous-Alexander, the tallest and quickest of the three guards? It’d be good experience for the 11th overall pick last June. This is a series about the future, not the present, for the Clippers. Toss him into the fire.
But then you start thinking about a 20-year-old trying to contain one of the league’s greatest scorers on a playoff stage and, yeah, your mind starts wandering to clips like this …
Gallinari has the most experience guarding Durant. Go all the way back to 2011. These two actually locked horns in a first-round Nuggets-Thunder series.
Oklahoma City had Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins at the time. Denver had Kenyon Martin and Nenê. So these two, both playing small forward in a more traditional NBA, guarded each other plenty.
Gallinari was quicker then, though. He’s had an ACL tear and some recurring knee trouble since. He still gets buckets, like always. But Rivers will be rightly hesitant to stick him on Durant longer than few spot possessions, for fear of Gallinari losing him, like the possession below.
The start of each half is where the Warriors may have their biggest advantage. The Clippers are deep. They have two bench players, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, expected to finish in the top three in Sixth Man voting. They’ll play a ton.
Wilson Chandler and JaMychal Green, two bulkier forwards best built for the Durant defensive task, will also get minutes.
But that starting lineup, which has been average (a +9 together in their last 130 minutes) appears most vulnerable to some Durant exploitation. Do the Warriors attack early by working through Durant? Does Durant even want to play that way?
He’s spent the past month throttling back his usage, often content as either a decoy or a distributor. Five times in the previous 11 games he’s taken fewer than 10 shots. He didn’t do that once in the first 66 games.
It’s worked well for the Warriors. They’re playing great. He’s playing great (and extremely efficiently). But in this matchup — at least early in each half — a heavy dose of Durant could be the wisest strategy.
Biggest Clippers question: Is this how they’re going to guard DeMarcus Cousins?
The Clippers had a chance to escape this fatal first-round matchup. One more win in the final week would’ve done it.
So there was some desperation behind their strategy in Oracle Arena this past Sunday, which may have delivered the Warriors an early glimpse at some of the tricks the Clippers may use to defend them.
One of them involves completely leaving DeMarcus Cousins open on the perimeter, sending his defender elsewhere to shade and double-team. The Clippers did it several times, especially early in Sunday’s game. Here are three examples.
No. 1: Shamet gets a turn guarding Durant, but that’s an obvious mismatch. So Harrell ignores Cousins, who is on the left wing, and slides over to show Durant an extra body on the right block. Durant skips a cross-court pass to a wide-open Cousins for 3. He misses.
No. 2: Garrett Temple gets a turn on Durant. He’s another bench option they have. But they don’t leave him on an island. Zubac, guarding Cousins, sags and shades over to Durant. He passes to Cousins, who misses from up top.
No. 3: Harrell falls all the way back under the basket in transition, leaving Cousins wide open up top for a 3 and he only half-heartedly closes out on the shot.
Here are all three plays.
In those instances, the tactic worked. Cousins missed all three 3s. The Clippers were playing the percentages. In his 30 games this season, Cousins took 95 3-pointers and only made 26, a 27.4 percent clip.
The Clippers opted to live with him taking it, however open, and will likely do so again to start the series. Which puts the pressure on Cousins to burn that type of defense with semi-regularity.
He did that in the second half last Sunday. Rivers stuck with the strategy, Cousins was left open for two more 3s and he hit both. Here they are.
X-factor: Montrezl Harrell against the Warriors bigs
Remember when Draymond Green blew up at Durant on that Staples Center sideline last November? Yeah, I figured you did. Well, you can partially blame Montrezl Harrell for that.
Why? The last-second play in regulation that sparked it all never happens if the game isn’t close. And the game isn’t close if Harrell doesn’t pulverize the Warriors’ interior for 23 points and eight rebounds in his 32 minutes off the bench.
Harrell was awesome that night, the best, or at least most energized, player on the floor the first three quarters. Nine of his 10 buckets came in the restricted area. He lives as a dive man in the pick-and-roll, mostly with Williams, and on the glass.
Rebounding is where the Warriors (most notably: Kevon Looney, who will often have his minutes lined up with Harrell’s) really have to match his effort. If they don’t, Harrell will just gobble up extra possessions and points that’ll help keep the Clippers competitive.
Watch him seal Klay Thompson after this screen, dive toward the rim, hold off Thompson with one hand and outmaneuver Durant with the other, one-handing the rebound, gathering and dunking.
Key matchup: Patrick Beverley’s tactics vs Steph Curry’s brain
This is going to be just as much of a mental challenge for Curry as a physical challenge. Beverley is one of the league’s best irritants and he’s going to try to set a contentious tone early, probably in Quarter 1 of Game 1.
Double technicals are wins for Beverley, even though neither side gets a free throw. He wants Curry thinking more about him and less about the overall task. Beverley wants to bother Curry with the physicality, the pre-whistle over-touching, the head in the armpit, the muttering, the raucous celebrations after a random first-quarter stop. All of it.
If it annoys Curry enough — in Beverley’s ideal world — maybe he’ll start operating out of the offense, trying to force 1-on-1 action to prove a point. Or maybe Curry will fight physicality with physicality and pick up an accidental charge or an overhyped reach, getting him into cheap foul trouble.
That’s the stuff Curry must avoid. Ignore the histrionics, take the smart shots when open, the heat checks when cooking and the high road after hard foul or mini scuffles.
What’s a statistic that could indicate a Warriors sweep?
If Lou Williams is at or below five free-throw attempts per game.
Williams finished 10th in the NBA this season with 485 free throws. Eight of the nine guys above him are All-Stars. All nine are starters. All nine played 2,150 or more minutes.
Williams wasn’t an All-Star. He isn’t a starter. He played fewer than 2,000 minutes. But he still shot those 485 free throws, more than six per game and 198 more than Curry despite playing 338 fewer minutes.
His foul-drawing skills — nearly equal to James Harden, some would say — is a major part of the Clippers offense. He parades to the line and makes them at an 88-percent clip.
This worked twice against the Warriors this season. Williams played in three of the four games. In the first, the lone Clippers win, Williams got to the line 14 times and made all 14.
In their second matchup, a slim two-point Warriors win, Williams again squeezed his way to the line 14 times, making 12. But this past Sunday, Williams only got there four times in his 28 minutes. The Warriors guarded him well, kept him quiet and won by 27 points.
Foul evasion is an Andre Iguodala defensive specialty. Expect him to get plenty of time guarding Williams in this series.
What’s a statistic that would indicate this series stays competitive?
If Landry Shamet hits more 3s than Klay Thompson.
Shamet is a sharp-shooting rookie out of Wichita State. He spent his first few months in the league studying under J.J. Redikk. He’s trying to sculpt his game in that Redikk/Thompson mold.
It’s way too early to know if Shamet will ever near either of their stratospheres, but he’s certainly capable of a detonation.
Since he was traded to the Clippers in February, Shamet’s already hit six 3s in a quarter against the Knicks, scored 13 fourth-quarter points during a comeback in Boston and popped five 3s in the first 18 minutes on the Warriors the other night.
If he gets super hot on the same night Thompson goes cold and then duplicates that later in the series, there’s no reason this series couldn’t get accidentally pushed to six. Basketball can be random.
Prediction
Warriors in 5. The talent disparity is too wide to think the Clippers will make it dangerous. But these Warriors have a tendency to yawn at least once during a four-game stretch. My guess: There won’t be two Los Angeles trips, but Joe Lacob gets to host a third Oakland game to help pay for some of that luxury-tax bill.
(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
What did you think of this story?
MEH
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AWESOME
Anthony Slater is a senior writer covering the
dayun
Superstar
I got the Athletic last night fam
I'm the plug for all my Warriors brehs
hit me up if you want me to lace this thread with exclusivity
Breh.Must have repped you recently. Got you next time.
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Repped.I got the Athletic last night fam
I'm the plug for all my Warriors brehs
hit me up if you want me to lace this thread with exclusivity
can y'all hit a nikka wit some rep
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
Some good reading in advance of the 'offs:
‘I don’t want to be Boogie’ — DeMarcus Cousins tries on something new for size
https://www.si.com
‘I don’t want to be Boogie’ — DeMarcus Cousins tries on something new for size
https://www.si.com
G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Roland Coltrane
Superstar
‘It was worth it’: Kevin Durant on why his decision to come to the Bay has paid off in every way
Michael Lee 7h ago61
Kevin Durant surrendered the chance to possibly claim more MVPs and scoring titles in order to be better positioned for championships. He swapped out nearly a decade of goodwill from rabid supporters in exchange for a deluge of venom. And he gave up the aw-shucks charm of relatively quiet anonymity for round-the-clock, nitpicking scrutiny. But ask him if being a member of the Golden State Warriors has been all that he thought it would, and Durant responds without hesitation.
“Of course,” Durant said in a recent conversation with The Athletic.
Durant’s alliance with the Warriors has been mutually beneficial, and neither side should be upset if these playoffs turn out to be the end of their dynastic run together. The two championship rings and Finals MVPs are what was expected when Durant posted a picture of himself, arms folded, in that sleeveless T-shirt, and declared on The Players’ Tribune that the rest of the NBA would be playing for second place until further notice. That success has come with some stress — some from the outside, some self-inflicted — but this experience has been rewarding nonetheless.
“I came here knowing for a fact, that every media member, every fan was going to call me every name in the book for however long I was here and I was going to take the brunt of everything. I knew coming here,” Durant said. “But I wanted to be a part of this so bad, I didn’t give a fukk. Same with LeBron. He took all of that heat, no matter what.”
In three seasons in Oakland, Durant has learned to move better without the ball and developed the kind of ball-handling needed to consistently make plays for others and get any shot, from anywhere he wants. His shot remains a lethal weapon, but he can be more discretionary surrounded by more offensive threats.
Oklahoma City ran a perfunctory, facile offense that only popped because of the explosiveness and unpredictability of Durant and Russell Westbrook. The Warriors have been a graduate school education for Durant, forcing him to improve not only as a player but also as a teammate capable of sharing and ceding the spotlight as the situation warrants.
“I enjoy the way they played basketball. I never played with shooters like that. That moved. That were versatile players. I wanted to be a part of that,” Durant said. “My game was talking to me. Not that other shyt. The spirit of the game was talking to me. Not the spotlight or the fame that comes from being the best player. Not the legacy. I swear on my life, that don’t mean nothing to me. How I build myself up in this NBA life, it doesn’t mean anything to me. I just want to play great basketball every second I’m on the court, and that was a perfect opportunity for me to do so.”
What Durant doesn’t possess are the kind of mind-blowing, get-on-my-back performances that players on teams with inferior individual talents ride into the record books and MVP conversations. His former Thunder teammate and reigning MVP James Harden just completed the greatest offensive season since Michael Jordan was demolishing scoreboards three decades ago.
Harden is about to finish no worse than second in MVP voting for the fourth consecutive season. Though he hasn’t finished higher than seventh since joining the Warriors — and is unlikely to finish much higher this season — Durant said he isn’t envious of the recognition other players are receiving. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Paul George could bump him from first-team all-NBA, an honor that, surprisingly, he has claimed only once since his MVP year in 2014.
“I watched James and I see what he’s doing and I admire what he’s doing and I appreciate what he’s doing,” Durant said. “Before, I would’ve been, ‘fukk, I wish that was me.’ But now, I can appreciate the game even more because I’m so secure with my game. I don’t have to go out there and shoot every time for people to recognize me. I’m cool with it, you know what I’m saying?”
The Warriors are again favorites to win it all, with the addition of a playoff-starved DeMarcus Cousins tipping the odds even more in their favor. Becoming the first team since Bill Russell’s Celtics to win at least four in five years is the motivation, since the Warriors have proven most all other points. But this season has been a challenge unlike any other for an organization that has been blamed for ruining competitive balance.
(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Boredom and maintaining good health aren’t the only obstacles impeding the opportunity to make history. With Durant, Cousins and Klay Thompson set to become free agents this summer, and Draymond Green facing the same situation next year, the sense that this is the last dance for this dominance has resonated throughout the league, providing hope that the Larry O’Brien trophy won’t just set up permanent residency in the Bay Area.
This summer, Durant is set to make another seismic decision that could alter the landscape of the league for years to come.
From majority owner Joe Lacob on down, the Warriors haven’t let Durant’s future, and the constant rumblings surrounding it, disrupt what they’ve set out to accomplish. The competition has improved this postseason, and the rest of the league has caught up to a style of play that sent shockwaves throughout the league once Steve Kerr took over as head coach. But the Warriors still have the edge in talent, with a starting lineup of five all-stars, including two MVPs. After winning his first title, Durant recognized that it didn’t automatically fulfill him, mend any fractured relationships in his personal life or remove any worry; winning merely validated his dedication to the craft. That realization has resulted in some dourness and complicated his relationships with a team, a franchise, that has made joy so much a part of the equation. He’s had fun but is still searching.
This season has provided some displeasing moments — the Draymond Green public spat against the Warriors’ first-round playoff opponent that needed to be hashed out, privately over a bottle of wine; and rumors about Durant heading to the New York Knicks that reached a crescendo after a cap-clearing deal at the trade deadline. Having to address those situations has been annoying and caused him to lash out in response.
Given the scorn he endured for leaving Oklahoma City, and the perception among some bitter fans that he wasn’t fully committed in his final season with the Thunder, Durant is sensitive to any suggestion that he isn’t all-in for right now. His game is talking, commitment resonating with each slashing dunk or pull-up, foul-line jumper. But everyone seems to be listening to everything else.
If he could control the narrative, Durant would want the focus to be on how much he has evolved as a player with the Warriors, how he has become more efficient and engaged as a playmaker and defender. His versatility and dynamic skill set are unique for a player his size. And with LeBron James unable to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the playoffs, a few more have reluctantly conceded that he is now the best player in the game. A rare superstar without a legion of diehard Stans, Durant knows what he believes but won’t waste his energy trying to make the argument for others.
“Comparison is a need for joy,” Durant said. “It takes a long time for you to realize that as an NBA player, especially when you’ve been pumped up, as soon as you come into it, you’re promoted a star. You always want to compare yourself to the next guy or the guy that did it before, the MJs, the Kobes, the LeBrons, to rookies. I want to compare myself to my teammates. When you compare yourself at all times to see what guys are doing, you’re taking away from the focus of trying to make yourself the greatest that you can be.”
Wherever Durant decides to play next season, that team will get a player who is undeniably better than when he arrived in Golden State. The Warriors remain optimistic that the appeal of becoming something historically great and moving into a sleek, new arena in San Francisco will persuade him to stay. They don’t need to make much of a recruiting pitch because they’ve provided the results and winning culture that he sought.
Although his accomplishments have been discounted by some because the Warriors remain Stephen Curry’s team, Durant understands that leaving the Warriors’ best potential rival, the Thunder, removed the lone impediment to Golden State’s dreams of domination. Durant’s decision to add some duper to an organically built super team topped what James did by teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. It also denied James the opportunity to make more than one ring in Cleveland part of his legacy.
Having has spent much of his career in pursuit of James, using his success as a barometer for what he needs to accomplish, Durant now has a chance to tie him in championships and capture the three-peat that would put him in select company alongside Russell and Jordan. He’s in that position because he’s endured the storm, all for chasing what had eluded him in previous places.
“I’m from Washington, D.C. I went to Oklahoma City for eight years. Out of nowhere, I went to the Bay for three years,” Durant said. “I’ve been roaming my whole life. I never had no stable environment. Ever. Ever. Since I woke up. I sacrificed a lot of shyt to be here and to change my game up to be with these guys. And it was worth it.”