Matt Steinmetz

The best part of of the Warriors’ 112-87 win over Dallas on Tuesday didn’t happen on the court. It happened just off of it, on the sidelines.

That’s where Kevin Durant almost jumped out of his seat to celebrate a David West dunk in traffic in the second quarter that nobody saw coming. Durant had accompanied the Warriors on their two-day trip to Oklahoma City and Dallas and sat on the bench both nights.

West took a nice feed from Shaun Livingston among a sea of bodies and started pivoting to gain an advantage. Out of nowhere, West, 36 rose up and threw one down, sparking a big-time reaction from everyone. That bucket gave the Warriors a 32-25 lead.

LINK TO “WARRIORS WRAPUP” FROM WARRIORS’ VICTORY OVER DALLAS.

Durant injured his knee in a game earlier this month against the Washington Wizards. The Warriors said he would be re-evaluated in four weeks, and he obviously will. But that didn’t stop Durant from shooting around before the game and he looked pretty pain free. His bench explosion sent the same message. It’s hard not to take all of that as a positive sign if you’re a Golden State Warriors fan.

Talking points from the game:

–The Warriors don’t have a lot of weaknesses, but one they do have is defending waterbug type guards. And Dallas has a few of them in Yogi Farrell, J.J. Barea and Devin Harris — not to mention Seth Curry, who might exactly fit the description but pretty close.

Continue reading →

Question: Why are players taking the brunt of the criticism for resting during regular-season games?

For the past few weeks, all I’ve heard are things like “the players nowadays are so soft” or “it’s ridiculous that these guys sit out when they’re healthy,” or maybe something like “it’s so unfair to the fans that they don’t get to see players such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry play — even when they’re not injured.”

I heard one media member say today: “The players are angering the fans with this sitting out stuff.” This was the topic of conversation during my interview with 95.7-FM The Game this morning and it got pretty lively.

LINK TO INTERVIEW: “STOP BLAMING THE PLAYERS FOR RESTING; IT’S NOT ON THEM.

So, let me ask again: Why are the players getting the heat? They’re not the ones asking for days off; they’re not the ones complaining that they’re worn out and need to be healthy scratch; they’re not the ones responsible for this issue.

Continue reading →

Fair to say the Warriors might have Oklahoma City’s number.

The Warriors hammered the Thunder 111-95 at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Monday, their fourth win in a row. It was also their fourth win over the Thunder this year and in every one of the games the Warriors held a lead of at least 25 points. Dating back to last year’s Western Conference finals, the Warriors have beaten OKC seven consecutive games — with Kevin Durant or without.

LINK: “WARRIORS WRAPUP,” POSTGAME SHOW FROM WARRIORS 111-95 WIN OVER OKC.

The Warriors got up early and were in control all game. The best the Thunder could do was cutting the lead to just 12 in the third quarter. But the Warriors immediately bumped that up so as to take any crazy notions away from OKC.

The game was dictated by each team’s backcourt. The Warriors’ backcourt was brilliant; Oklahoma City’s struggled, to say the least. Klay Thompson finished with 34 points on 12-for-21 from the field, including 7-for-15 from beyond the arc. Stephen Curry had 23 points on 8-for-17 from the field, including 7-for-12 from 3-point range. Russell Westbrook finished with just 15 points on 4-for-16 from the field. That was just one point more than his season-low.

If the Warriors were looking for a signature moment this season, it very well may have happened at the end of the first half. With the teams lining up for a jump ball, Curry and the Thunder’s Semaj Christon got into a little back-and-forth, slap-push that quickly escalated.

Into the fray came Westrbrook, Taj Gibson, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and a few others. No punches were explained but the Warriors’ players seemed to successfully move the pile back with their pushing.

There were four technical fouls given out on the play; Christon, Westbrook, Curry and Green. With 5.3 seconds remaining, the Warriors controlled the ensuing tip in their backcourt. But inexplicably the Thunder allowed Curry to leak out while Thompson was controlling the ball and Thompson found a wide-open Curry at the other end behind the 3-point line.

Curry proceeded to knock the 3-pointer down, giving the Warriors a 59-39 halftime lead. After the ball went through the net, Curry sprinted to the Warriors’ locker room as most of the other players looked on in amazement.

Curry’s bucket put the exclamation point on a wonderful first half for Golden State — particularly its backcourt. Thompson had 18 points and Curry 17 at halftime, combining to shoot 13-for-24 from the field, including 8-for-14 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Westbrook and Victor Oladipo combined to shoot 3-for-17 from the field, including 0-for-4 from the 3-point line. With a discrepancy like that, it’s no surprise OKC found itself down 20 after 24 minutes.

The Warriors have won 89 road games over the past three years, the most road wins by a team in NBA history.