BRUCE JENKINS
After solid victory in Dallas, how about an 11-game win streak?
What were those elements gone missing during the Warriors’ early-season run? “Joy and laughter,” in head coach Steve Kerr’s words. As nervous viewers tuned in to Monday night’s game in Dallas, not knowing quite what to expect, they enjoyed the thrill of resurrection.
Joy in the sight of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant drilling three-pointers. Laughter at rookie Jordan Bell’s audacity, throwing an alley-oop dunk pass to himself. And satisfaction, overall, at the Warriors looking very much like themselves.
Next up: How about an 11-game winning streak?
It’s right there on the schedule, as inviting to the league’s best team as an off-night in Hollywood. There’s no compelling reason why the Warriors, 2-2 at the moment, can’t be 12-2 when they head into Boston on Nov. 16.
That’s a very winnable assignment, as well, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The next three games are at home, against Toronto (Wednesday), Washington (Friday) and
Detroit (Sunday). With all due respect to DeMar DeRozan, John Wall and Andre Drummond, those are locked-in wins for a team that appears to have found its stride.
Monday night at Staples Center brings the Clippers, a team trying to convince everyone it’s better off without Chris Paul (answer: wrong). The road trip continues, without the annoyance of back-to-backs, in San Antonio and Denver (nothing guaranteed there, but no question as to who’s favored). Then it’s back to Oakland for a four-game homestand against Miami, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Orlando.
Don’t you get the feeling that, when this stretch ends, nobody’s going to remember the Warriors’ post-China doldrums?
The San Antonio game will be particularly intriguing. Insiders believe that team has grown old, with the likes of Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker (when he returns from injury) and Rudy Gay spotting their prime in the rearview mirror. LaMarcus Aldridge, at 32, can sense the downside, as well. Interesting, though: Near the end of a tense, 101-97 victory over Toronto on Monday night, after Aldridge engaged in a brief scuffle with Serge Ibaka, three of head coach Gregg Popovich’s rising talents — Dejounte Murray, Kyle Anderson and Brandon Paul — were in the lineup and acting like leaders, ushering Aldridge away from the scene.
Popovich matching wits with Kerr. The Warriors taking on Russell Westbrook and his new Oklahoma City teammates, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. Christmas Day against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. These are the dates that validate the regular season and will bring great scrutiny upon a Warriors team squarely in the crosshairs of every opponent.
As for the moment, with the season’s second home game at hand, several themes linger from Monday night in Dallas:
Turnovers were an alarming part of the ugly loss in Memphis, to the point where Curry and Durant made a point of lamenting their mistakes during the postgame interviews. Right out of the gate in Dallas, Curry committed a turnover with a sloppy pass. Early in the second quarter, Durant tossed an inbounds pass directly to Wesley Matthews, who scored. As Bob Fitzgerald loudly noted on the NBC Sports Bay Area telecast, “That just can’t happen!”
Curry has had 39 foul shots this season. All 39 have gone in. He’s getting to the line more often, by design, and at this rate, he’ll leave Rick Barry, Ray Allen, Mark Price and everyone else behind for a season at the line (the all-time record: Calvin Murphy’s 95.8 percent).
Throughout the Warriors’ epic run, they’ve had a habit of stepping hard on the accelerator, building a big lead, then pulling off the road to chill for a while. That happened in Dallas, especially as the Warriors failed to capitalize on some obvious mismatches — notably involving the ponderous Dirk Nowitzki — and settled on long-range castoffs. Invariably, the problem gets fixed and the final box score tells the story.
Dennis Smith, the Mavericks’ rookie guard from North Carolina State, is a phenomenal athlete who will be making big noise all season, and he has no fear. He tried to dunk over Draymond Green in the third quarter and got nothing but a hard foul, Green telling the postgame media, “Yeah, that s— ain’t happening. This ain’t Summer League, bro. Not gonna dunk on nobody.”
Smith, who jawed right back at Green in the play’s immediate aftermath, said later, “He can’t say nothing. He fouled me. It ain’t like he blocked it. He was just rambling, and I laughed at him.”
That’s never a good idea, but Smith — who has a 48-inch vertical leap — will be trying this again. Don’t bet against him confronting Green or anyone else.
Bell’s showy dunk drew looks of amazement on the Warriors’ sideline — not quite in the “joy and laughter” category but rather a stunned reaction to the rookie’s sheer gall. Kerr made a point of approaching Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle, who was clearly irritated, and Carlisle barely acknowledged him.
The view from here: Lighten up, Rick. It was great theater; the kid was just having fun. That’s a feeling shared by James, who saw a replay of Bell’s dunk and told cleveland.com, “Coach is always telling us to play til the end, to the final buzzer. Listen, we’re all men. Stop me from dunking. We’re not trying to hurt nobody. If he threw it off the glass and missed it, there wouldn’t have been no conversation. So you play the game until it’s over. Yeah, he threw it off the glass and dunked it — so what?”