Warrior News:
‘That’s what we did with teams’: Warriors’ Stephen Curry praises Celtics after blowout loss | Boston.com
“They made 10 threes in the first quarter, that’s what we did with the teams,” Curry told reporters, according to a video posted by CLNS Media. “It’s a bit demoralizing, especially on the road. A shot you’re willing to give up or whatever the case may be, they take advantage of it.
“Then you feel like you have to play basketball on the other end to try to catch up,” Curry added. “And that’s where the momentum shift kept going, and then it seems like every little play is going its way and you look up, you’re down 40. So, just one of those nights.”
Why the Warriors’ human handling of Wiggins’ absence is a good decision | NBC Sports Bay Area
Yes, the Warriors are entering the final quarter of the regular season. Yes, they hope to rally and climb the Western Conference standings. Yes, they would benefit from having their starting small forward, a very good two-way player, putting in around 30 minutes each game.
But compassion is one of the virtues that explains why the Warriors have become one of the most attractive professional franchises in American sports. In a world where so many billion-dollar companies are comfortable swatting their employees like flies, they strive to treat their most valuable audiences with a sense of humanity.
Brown calls Warriors game plan ‘a little disrespectful’ | NBC Sports Bay Area
” This is the first time that it happens to me. Honestly, I was a little surprised,” Brown told reporters after Boston wins 140-88. “A little bit of an adjustment, but I think we just took advantage of it and made the most of it.”
“For the most part, my job is to do the painting. We have enough 3-pointers on our team, so I don’t take a lot of them throughout the season because we have enough. I get to the painting and usually open it up for everyone.
“But if you want to challenge me to shoot, we can do that too.” I thought it was a bit disrespectful. But we made the most of it and haven’t looked back.
How SGA and the Thunder compare to Stephen Curry and the 73-win Golden State Warriors | ESPN
Golden State had its guards – Curry included – set up off-ball screens. Countless times this resulted in two defenders chasing down the best shooter in the world, only to find the teammate Curry was scrutinized for going wide open for a layup at the rim. Cheat code stuff.
As the second-youngest team in the league, Oklahoma City isn’t quite up to snuff that level again. Still, the similarities should be terrifying for the rest of the league. At 39.6%, the Thunder are shooting threes better than any other team. And with a 56.7 percent effective success rate on jumpers, they recently outpaced the Warriors by 73 wins in 2015-16, who held the best mark in the shot-tracking era, according to statistics and information from ‘ESPN. Much like Golden State, they rarely run pick-and-roll sets, despite being the most efficient team in the league when they do. Instead, they have their guards do the dirty work – like the Dubs.
Warriors rookie Brandin Podziemski keeps receipts after being left off NBA Rookie of the Month list
NBA News:
Hollinger: Are the Boston Celtics the new future of the NBA? + Takeaways from the Sloan Conference | Athleticism
So the basic strategy against every other team – deny the rim, live with the 3 – is essentially a death sentence against Boston, a proposed 58 percent field goal percentage. The distributed nature of the threat is the other issue and stands in stark contrast to Sunday’s Warriors. While the Warriors surrounded two generational shooters with much more ordinary perimeter skills, Boston rotates eight guys who can burn you.
Ironically, the teams that seem to cause the most problems for Boston are the ones that gamble on taking away 3s; a losing bet against everyone, this gives you a fighting chance against the Celtics. The Pacers, for example, beat Boston twice; Detroit gives up the second-under 3 and was plastered by everyone, but took the Celtics to overtime in Boston in their only meeting this season. Denver is third on the list and won at Boston (the two teams meet Thursday in a potential matchup NBA Finals overview, moreover); Minnesota is sixth and both meetings with the Celtics went to overtime.
Bucks extend winning streak despite absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo | ESPN
During his pregame availability, Rivers said Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 30.8 points on a career-best 61.9 percent shooting, was dealing with an Achilles injury over the past few matches.
Antetokounmpo took the court for his usual pregame shooting routine hours before Monday’s game, but stopped several times to stretch his legs. Eventually, he broke off his routine and returned to the locker room.
“It’s been on and off the last two or three games,” Rivers said. “This morning he looked really good…we’ll figure it out from there.”
Lakers’ LeBron James and Celtics’ Jaylen Brown named NBA players of the week
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown were named NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 19 of the 2023-24 season (February 26 – 3 March). pic.twitter.com/dh6XV0DN8f
-NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 4, 2024
In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:
A Brief History of Embarrassing Losses in Great Seasons
Bad losses happen. Hell, Really bad losses happen. Granted, that’s usually not the case – this was only the sixth time in franchise history that the organization lost by 50 points or more, with a 53-point loss to the Toronto Raptors as of 2021, this is the only other time this has happened in the last 50 years.
But stay. Bad losses happen, even for good teams.
The Warriors are still trying to prove they are a good team. A fantastic month of February won Steve Kerr Coach of the Month honors and put the Dubs squarely back in the playoff picture, looking like one of the best teams in the NBA. They’ll have to figure out how to maintain that, how to improve on it, and how to beat some very good Western Conference teams before even considering ways to beat the Celtics — the heavy favorites in the East — in a seven-game series. games.
Steve Kerr named Western Conference Coach of the Month for February
In February, Kerr reached 500 career wins and led the Warriors to 11 wins and only 3 losses, the best record in the league that month. On February 23, Kerr sign a record two-year contract extension worth $35 million, making him the highest-paid coach in the NBA and securing his spot as head coach of the Warriors for the next two NBA seasons.
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