Honkers girl’s basketball edges out Mira Loma
Wheatland soccer tops Blazers 5-1
A frigid gymnasium led to a cold start between the Yuba City girl’s basketball team and visiting Mira Loma last night. The non-league combatants managed to each put up 18 points at halftime before the host Honkers warmed up and out scored the Matadors, 34-24, to claim a 52-42 non-league victory.
“We’re a second half team,” stated Alyssa Richebacher, who paced all scorers with 22 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. “After the first half we’re winning and people seem to get more aggressive and start taking the ball to the basket. Our energy increases a lot more in the second half and we push the ball a lot better in the second half.”
Neither team was able to break away until Yuba City managed to gain a 34-28 advantage at
into the building,” Kerr said. “There’s a ton of great memories and some of the best basketball I’ve ever seen in my life between these two teams over the last four seasons.”
The Warriors (17-9) did not play their best basketball against the Cavaliers,, but they still satisfied the bottom-line results. They cemented a two-game winning streak with two feelgood wins against rebuilding teams in Atlanta and Cleveland. They showed their dominance with a third-quarter run that entailed outscoring the Cavaliers, 31-22, and having a stretch with 11 unanswered points. And in his third game since nursing a strained left groin, Curry has fully become himself again. He finished with 42 points, while shooting 11-of-20 from the field, 9-fo-14 from 3-point range and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Not that the Warriors are surprised their star player looks the same despite missing 11 games this month with his injury.
“It’s pretty rare,” Kerr said. “But Steph is rare in general in everything he does.”
Only the Cavs initially treated this game with NBA Finals intensity. They finished with a 64-58 halftime lead after the Warriors committed six of their eight turnovers and conceded 20 points in the paint. Kerr charged the Cavaliers “totally outplayed us” before “our talent took over in the second half.
Durant posted 25 points, including 15 in the third quarter. Warriors center Kevon Looney (eight points, six rebounds) and Jonas Jerebko (11 points, four rebounds) have further cemented themselves as dependable role players. And in his first game since missing the previous nine with a bone bruise on his left foot, Alfonzo Mckinnie added five points and five rebounds.
Still, the Warriors’ opponent looked much different. James is with the Lakers. Kyrie Irving has been in Boston. Kevin Love is hurt. J.R. Smith is away from the team so it can make a trade. Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, who had a team-leading 21 points, is a rookie. Jordan Clarkson (17 points), Cedi Osman (16) and Rodney Hood (15) did not play significant roles in last season’s Finals. Cavaliers center
Tristan Thompson, who had 14 points and 19 rebounds, is the line exception.
“Obviously it’s different. They don’t have a championship caliber team,” Durant said. “But they have a young team that is up and coming.”
Therefore, Curry and Kerr conceded they considered the rivalry to be dead.
“For sure. That stuff generally dissipates over time,” Kerr said. “This case, it’s an entirely new cast of characters.”
And apparently an entirely new locker room. Green posted on his Instagram story a video of the locker room and mused, “they got rid of the champagne fumes this time!”
“I didn’t think about it,” Curry said. “We got a lot bigger things to worry about in terms of where we’re trying to go this year.”
Steph Curry looks like Steph Curry again
The Warriors’ star has long reached the point where nothing he does surprises his teammates or his coaches.
“We rely on him to be the same way,” Durant said. “He’s coming in and is trying to pick up where he left off. We’re trying to do our best to support that.”
Curry does not simply just pick up the ball, dribble and shoot. Ever since injuring his left groin on Nov. 8 against Milwaukee, Curry stayed active with his regimen to ensure he did not stay rusty.
“He keeps himself in amazing shape all season,” Kerr said. “That allows him to come back pretty quickly when there is an injury. He has a pretty good conditioning foundation.”
Nothing seems to faze Jerebko. He loves his new gig. He has remained reliable. And he sounded apathetic surrounding the hyper focus on the Warriors, whether it’s involving their dominant play, their recent hiccups or last month’s argument with Durant and Green.
“The circus, I like it. It’s always fun to play when people care and you always got full gyms,” Jerebko said. “I don’t see it that way. It’s more fun. I don’t feel extra pressure. It’s fun when the gym is full and people are yelling. Even it’s bad things, I don’t care.” What does Jerebko hear? “I hear it all the time. It doesn’t matter if I’m on the Warriors or on another team. I always hear things,” Jerebko said. “I just take it as some fuel to the fire sometimes. Mostly its just fun and games.”
Good thing he has that mindset. The Warriors seemed more worried than Jerebko about his training camp struggles after signing with the team last summer after Utah waived him.
Jerebko went scoreless and played only six minutes in Tuesday’s win over the Thunder. He averaged 3.8 points on 31.8 percent shooting, 3.4 rebounds in only 14.8 minutes through five exhibition games.
“He looked slow and looked a step behind,” Kerr said. “I think everybody was kind of worried.”
Those worries evaporated when Jerebko made a gamewinning putback against Utah on Oct. 19. Recently, though, Jerebko has become even more dependable. On the Warriors’ trip, he has logged double-digit scoring performances in three of the their four games.