While the Golden State Warriors displayed some sloppiness the other day against the Los Angeles Lakers, fans should be reminded that basketball is often a game of attrition. It’s a 48-minute game with stopped clock, a marathon. Against the Lakers, both coaches wanted to ease their main players into game shape, and neither team played a whole lot of their regulars towards the end — in fact, Coach Mark Jackson did not play any of the Warriors’ starters in the entire second half — and the Lakers ended up winning the game.
Yesterday, the Warriors’ main guys got to go back in and sweep up the mess, some of it caused by themselves in the form of 22 total turnovers, en route to a blow-out win against the Sacramento Kings. Similar to Summer League, often times the goal of preseason isn’t necessarily to win, although Jackson has pointed out that during the last two years and due to the franchise’s previous futility, the Warriors made special efforts to win preseason games.
Adam Lauridsen summed up the game best in his opening paragraph…
On paper, the Warriors are poised for a tremendous year. On the basketball court, they still need to prove themselves. Against the Kings on Monday night, the Warriors looked lackadaisical and unfocused for most of the first half — as if they expected to coast through the game on preseason hype alone. When the second string — a group with something to prove — took the court, the intensity of the game picked up a bit. But it wasn’t until just over four minutes into fourth quarter, with a narrow lead of 71-68, that the Warriors finally looked like a team deserving of their early praise. Mark Jackson re-inserted Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut into the game. Over the next 4 minutes, the Warriors went on a 15-4 run — blowing open the lead and giving fans their first real taste of what the future may hold.
The game even ended on an upbeat note as Seth Curry was inserted with about three minutes to go with Stephen Curry also on the court. Steph subbed out shortly thereafter, but it was really nice to see the brothers playing on the court together. As the buzzer sounded, Seth drilled a three-pointer from the right wing: 3 points for Seth, a game-leading 23 for Steph.
Harrison Barnes, who started in front of Klay Thompson — who, by the way, had another brilliant game off the bench — for the second straight game, apparently has been suffering from left foot inflammation. Jackson said, “It’s been an issue a couple of days now. First game I don’t think he felt 100%. He fought through it, wanted to give it a go tonight. Just was smart to shut him down…(he) probably will not play tomorrow (at the Utah Jazz).”
On the topic of Barnes starting, Jackson reiterated not to read into it and that he was “letting (his) eyes tell me” how the different combinations of players might work, be it starting or off the bench.
One glaring “zit” that may have formed was the Kings sagging way, way off Andrew Bogut, exposing Bogut’s lack of a midrange jumper. We’ll have to see how that gets addressed by not only the Warriors but also the Jazz. Also, various players on the bench played well, some didn’t. Kent Bazemore has not been playing up to his Summer League level, for example. Stay tuned for player-by-player notes after the Warriors face the Jazz tomorrow in Salt Lake City.
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