AnswerCam: Taking your questions about NBA, Warriors

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Steinmetz

Every once in a while I take questions from NBA and Warriors fans on Twitter, through the AnswerCam app. I’m going to start posting them here. This is episode No. 3:

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Clippers’ problem: Their ‘bigs’ get outplayed by Warriors’ ‘smalls’

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Steinmetz

The Golden State Warriors came from 23 points behind on Thursday night to beat the LA Clippers 124-117 at Staples Center. The win pushed the Warriors’ record to 13-0 overall, while the Clippers fell to 0-2 against the Warriors this year. Let’s face it, the Clippers’ overall record doesn’t matter anymore; just that they can’t beat the Warriors.

Right now anyway.

In the wake of their devastating loss last night, it’s easy to dismiss the Clippers as contenders and come to the conclusion: The Warriors have their number. Do that at your own peril. It’s still only November, the Clippers figure to get better as they get healthier and they’ll also do a better job assimilating their new players. A lot can happen.

Still, Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers both came clean after the game, indicating that this isn’t so much a rivalry as a big brother getting over on a little brother time and time again. Who knows? Perhaps the Clippers acknowledging they’re not where the Warriors are will work for them. Maybe it makes them hungrier. Maybe it makes them realize they have to reach a level of play they haven’t reached yet. In any event, admitting you have a problem is the first step toward solving the problem.

And when it comes to the Clippers, they’ve got one giant problem: They’re big players — supposedly the strength of their team — cannot consistently produce against the Warriors’ small-ball lineup. Let me repeat that: The Clippers’ big men can’t get anything done when the Warriors defend them with their smaller players.

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Few teams help their superstar like the Warriors help Curry

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Steinmetz

There’s a phrase we’ve heard forever about a certain kind of great basketball player: “He makes his teammates better.”

It’s the ultimate compliment you can give a player – that he alone can turn so-so players into effective ones and good players into really good ones. I think we can all agree that Stephen Curry is one of those players.

He is playing so well and he demands so much attention from the opposing team that it is simply impossible to pay as much mind to players not named Curry. And because of that, Curry’s teammates thrive.

That dynamic alone can help create a championship team, which it has here in Golden State. But there is a level beyond this, a level some championship teams don’t even reach, and it’s a place the Warriors may be getting to.

And it’s this: Not only does Curry make his teammates better, but general manager Bob Myers has managed to put teammates around Curry that make Curry better. That’s not always with the case with some of the game’s great players. It’s frequently a one-way street, with the star helping the role players but the role players not doing much for the star.

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