Warriors’ road to championship will be tougher than last season

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Steinmetz

When Clippers coach Doc Rivers said the Warriors were lucky they didn’t have to play the Spurs or Clippers during this past offseason, it obviously struck a nerve with the Golden State organization and fans.

The implication was that if the Warriors would have met either of those teams in the 2015 playoffs, Golden State might not have won the title. That sounded like sour grapes from a coach whose team melted down during the Western Conference semifinals, but nevertheless the criticism stung … and has been remembered.

Well, without addressing how hard or easy it was for the Warriors to go 16-5 in the postseason and win their first title in 40 years last year, one thing does seem apparent: Winning a title this year is going to be a lot harder than winning one last year.

Here was the Warriors’ run to the title last season: New Orleans, Memphis, Houston, Cleveland. The reality was that the Pelicans and Rockets had virtually no chance to beat the Warriors in a seven-game series, given health. The Warriors had owned both teams heading into the playoffs … had each team’s number in a big way and still do. Golden State swept last year’s season series with Houston and the Warriors entered the playoffs having beaten the Pelicans 6 of their past 7.

To further pile on, the Warriors are 2-0 vs. New Orleans this year and 3-0 vs. Houston. That’s been flat-out ownage of those teams by Golden State. Those two teams struggle to beat the Warriors in a game, let alone a series.

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Posted in Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Warriors | Tagged | 4 Comments

Iguodala’s injury will impact Warriors — but how much?

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Steinmetz

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before Saturday’s game against the Phoenix Suns that forward Andre Iguodala would miss two weeks because of a sprained ankle. Iguodala injured the ankle during Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, when Damian Lillard and Iguodala got caught up going for a loose ball.

According to my co-host John Dickinson, Kerr said during pregame availability that the injury to Iguodala was “a really big deal,” because of how much Iguodala impacts the game on both ends of the floor.

Earlier today, on the “NBA This Week,” we talked extensively about Iguodala and how important he is to the Warriors.

You can listen to to the “NBA This Week” here.

During the course of our conversation, we talked about how Iguodala has gotten more and more important to the Warriors the longer he’s around. If you’ll remember, it wasn’t all good with Iguodala from the get-go.

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Posted in NBA This Week, Phoenix Suns, Warriors | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Warriors assistant Jarron Collins: on nit-picking this team, how Curry has gotten better, the proven formula for repeating

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Steinmetz

Jarron Collins is a Warriors assistant coach, so that right there makes him a potential head coach down the road. When you’re doing as well as the Warriors, assistants can become head coaches in a hurry.

Alvin Gentry went from Warriors assistant to New Orleans head coach last offseason, and now Luke Walton looks like he’ll be in the running for a head job come the end of the year. So, who knows? Things can happen pretty quickly.

Collins joined the “NBA This Week” and discussed a variety of Warriors’ topics, including the importance of Ron Adams, establishing habits for the playoffs, this incredible two-year run, whether to nit-pick the team or not, and lots of other terrific stuff.

You can listen to the interview with Jarron Collins here. Included below are some excerpts of the interview.

–On the difficulty of coaching this team and knowing the difference between legitimate criticism and nit-picking:

COLLINS: That’s the beauty of coaching: It’s our job to nit-pick. There’s something you may mention or may think or see as a small thing – say, not boxing out. For a guard, say a shot is taken and a guard didn’t get to what we like to call the ‘boxes and elbows’. So bigs cover the boxes, guards cover the elbows to get a defensive rebound. Say somebody leaks out trying to get in offensive transition. He doesn’t necessarily get to that elbow to get that defensive rebound.

It’s maybe a small thing because we may be able to get that defensive rebound but a small thing can be a big thing when each possession means so much later in the year, in the playoffs.

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