Warriors’ blowouts help chemistry, Bogut remains underrated

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Steinmetz

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PHOTO BY DANIEL KATZ

Here’s a little of this and that after the Warriors’ 127-107 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday at Oracle – a place where they haven’t been defeated in more than a year.

It’s been a wonderful stretch for the Warriors, with impressive wins over Cleveland, Chicago and San Antonio. Not that Indiana and Dallas aren’t competent, but those first two were on the road for Golden State and the game against the Spurs was the biggest game of the year so far.

They haven’t just won, they’ve been dominant.

A few things:

—-If there’s one frustration Warriors’ fans might have with this team it’s that they’re so good Stephen Curry frequently doesn’t play in the fourth quarters. And fans want to see him as much as possible.

But there’s a really nice byproduct of the Warriors blowing out many teams and it has nothing to do with rest for their core players. It has to do with maintaining team chemistry and letting everyone in on the success.

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Is greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history playing alongside greatest frontcourt passing tandem in history?

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Steinmetz

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PHOTO BY DANIEL KATZ

OAKLAND — After watching the Warriors blow out the San Antonio Spurs 120-90 on Monday night at Oracle, I asked the same question I’ve asked myself after most of their wins: How is anyone going to beat this team?

First off, the Warriors are a great team. There’s not just one or two things that you have to do to beat them. You need a comprehensive approach, from start to finish, offense and defense, and it needs to have multiple contingency plans.

You need to keep Stephen Curry under a little bit of control, you’ve got to lessen Draymond Green’s impact, you have to make sure Klay Thompson doesn’t beat you, you have to factor in Andrew Bogut’s elite rim-protecting, you have to take care of the ball, you have to execute offensively, you have to blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc.

You have to do it all.

The Warriors, who are now 41-4, have many facets to their greatness. They’re dynamic and explosive offensively, they’re long and tough defensively, and they can beat you in a fast game or slow game. But I keep coming back to the one thing that makes them historically unique, and it’s why I’m not sure they can be beaten in any seven-game series.

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Ethan Sherwood Strauss talks Spurs-Warriors matchup, what ifs about Kevin Love, more

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Steinmetz

On this weekend’s “NBA This Week” show, John Dickinson and myself were joined by ESPN.com NBA and Warriors writer Ethan Sherwood Strauss. With the biggest game of the season on Monday — San Antonio vs. Golden State at Oracle Arena — it’s time to look inside the game a little bit.

You can download the “NBA This Week” show here and at end of post.

After all, there has never been a game with teams this good (Warriors 40-4; Spurs 38-6) playing this late in an NBA season.

Topics of the interview include how the San Antonio Spurs might utilize their best defensive player: Kawhi Leonard. It would seem that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could use Leonard to defend Stephen Curry, Draymond Green or even, most conventionally, Klay Thompson. It’s likely that Leonard takes a shot at all of those three at some point in the next four regular-seaosn games.

Discussion also centers on Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, who was almost traded to the Warriors before last season. Strauss, Steinmetz and Dickinson wonder how so many could have been so wrong about Love’s ability and talent and what might have happened had Golden State acquired him.

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