My buddy Dan the Man is a knowledgeable hoops guy and big Boston Celtics fan. He’s a buddy of mine, and I put his basketball opinions up there with just about anyone. We talk a lot of NBA and recently had this text exchange about the Warriors and how many games they’d win. No, I didn’t ask him if I could post this:
Dan the Man: “I’ll tell you, man, if Steph Curry bombs from all points on the court in the fourth quarter like that all season, they will be a force. I just can’t wrap my head around that being done consistently over, say, 100 games.”
Me: “Essentially, that’s what he did last season, though not to the extreme he’s doing it now. It’s over, bruh, the Warriors figured it out, they’ve got a way and strategy of doing something that everyone’s trying to catch up to. Curry’s too good, and they always have five above-average basketball players – note, BASKETBALL PLAYERS, not guys who are simply playing basketball – on the court. It’s like a pickup basketball game where one team (the Warriors) is loaded every single game, with the best player on the floor and then about two or three more of the top players on the entire court. Meanwhile, the other team is always playing with at least one stiff – like when you were on my team. Haha.”
Dan the Man: “Sounds like you’re crowning them repeat champions a week or two into the season. Don’t do that. I don’t know, the season is way long, and obviously there’s an injury factor. Talk to me in February or March. And this talk of 72 wins is really very silly. Why do you even want to do that if it over-works players and derails a path to the title? Plus they could have easily lost the other night to the Clippers and the rhetoric would be totally different. Luke Walton should have called timeout when they went down 5 or 7 in that fourth quarter. I know it’s nit-picking but it’s true. Coaching is a possible question mark.”
Matt Steinmetz 