ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Brooklyn Nets are in town — well, they might be stuck in traffic as a trailer has jack-knifed on southbound I-880 which caused their coach’s pregame press conference to be delayed — to face the Golden State Warriors.
[NOTE: click the left and right arrows of the photo gallery above!]It’s a matchup of the NBA’s respective Conference Players Of The Week, Deron Williams and Stephen Curry.
PRACTICE YESTERDAY AND MORNING SHOOTAROUND
TNT was on hand, as we saw Grant Hill talking to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Alvin Gentry (Hill’s former coach with the Phoenix Suns) and Draymond Green. Hill would later have lunch with Klay Thompson for an NBA Inside Stuff clip.
For this morning’s shootaround, David Aldridge was on hand again and Warriors PR joked how the franchise had once only won two games after the All-Star Break. Aldridge laughed and shook his head.
Kerr talked to media about the turnover problem and said that the team “thrives on a little bit of chaos and the frenzy of Oracle.”
Next up was Harrison Barnes and he was asked about Kerr’s suggestion that Barnes emulate Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs. Barnes joked that he asked for a different comparison.
Barnes also discussed how Kerr often gives credit to what the Warriors accomplished last season. For example, they were a Top Five defensive team, but Kerr said he wasn’t there to make the team Number One. He was there to continue on the foundation they had built.
At today’s morning shootaround, Shaun Livingston addressed the turnover issue as well.
“It’s the instincts that you’re going against. It takes repetition. Over the course of the season we’re going to get better,” Livingston said.
PRE-GAME AT ORACLE
At the pregame presser with Coach Kerr, there was high praise for the Nets’ veteran power forward and future Hall-Of-Famer Kevin Garnett. Kerr said that Garnett still had “that fire” and admired Garnett’s passion for the game.
Kerr once more talked about the turnovers and how he sat down with Curry after the loss in Phoenix and explained that perhaps four turnovers as opposed to ten was better, to make the safer play, and that Curry could have any shot he wanted on offense — Kerr only cared about the turnovers.
Monte Poole asked how the Nets’ backcourt would be defended, largely in reference to Williams’ size over Curry and if Klay Thompson would start on Williams, but Kerr dodged the question, saying that he would have multiple combinations going on tonight.
However, he did tell Poole that he’d “thrown him a bone” and answered the question about Garnett: Draymond Green would indeed cover him to start.
Back on the court, Ognjen Kuzmic was out early with light work and we saw a glimpse of the Hulk Hogan spot on the jumbotron. Hogan would introduce the Warriors tonight. Here’s the end of the video intro: (click here).
Green shot around with Barnes, then Curry shot around with Livingston. Curry practiced scoop shots, then eventually made his way to the tunnel, where he could not find the basket on his first four tries, hitting the backboard and missing badly.
But then he finally splashed the shot and we caught Andre Iguodala giving Curry some props, in his own way.
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