Imitators pushing back at Warriors BRUCE JENKINS
The NBA was in a better place on Thanksgiving. The Warriors’ loss at Oklahoma City lent much-needed meaning to the regular season, revealed a few things about the Golden State powerhouse and raised delicious possibilities for the playoffs. A few thoughts:
The Warriors have played three elite teams designed specifically to stop them — Houston, Boston and Oklahoma City — and lost each time. Next up: Cleveland on Christmas, in Oakland. Glancing at the 15game schedule until then, the Warriors have a few difficult tests, notably games in Miami, New Orleans and Detroit in a
six-day span, but they’ll be heavy favorites every night.
There were no great revelations about the Thunder’s offense Wednesday night. Their half-court sets remain somewhat awkward and built around isolation. It just so happened that on this night, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony were collectively hot — every opposing team’s nightmare. Too often ignored is the fact that OKC ranks third in defensive efficiency. This team is relentless on that end of the floor, and as George said after the game, “We had an attitude and a swagger defensively. We didn’t allow them to relax at any moment.”
Just as Houston loaded up with PJ Tucker and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and Boston relies so heavily on the likes of Jaylen Brown, Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart, OKC epitomizes the NBA’s emphasis on rangy, multidimensional wing defenders with George, Andre Roberson and Jerami Grant, who brought the house down by shutting down two Kevin Durant drives to the hoop. The Warriors were at the forefront of this trend when they won their first title in 2015. We won’t see an offense to match their sophistication (on the good nights) this season, but teams are catching up to them defensively.
Let’s really not hear that the Warriors took the floor without “energy.” The first few minutes were dramatically riveting on both sides, ESPN analyst Mark Jackson marveling, “These teams are getting after it.” But the Warriors eventually became passive on offense, abandoning their commitment to ball movement, and that was a killer.
“We played with some decent energy,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “We just didn’t play smart.”
The Warriors are into their fourth season playing an electrifying brand of offense marred by careless turnovers. They talk about “tightening things up,” but there has been zero progress (22 turnovers against the Thunder, who racked up 27 deflections). Why would anyone expect change, especially from Curry? His game is based on a certain amount of risk, and head coach Steve Kerr can live with that, so it most definitely will continue.
Durant and Westbrook went forehead-to-forehead on one exchange, something everyone wanted to see, and the always-toosensitive refs issued a double technical. “I’ll never understand that for the life of me,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “People pay to see that. I don’t know, maybe everyone in the NBA should stop playing with passion.”
One Internet headline noted the Westbrook-Durant confrontation and blared a headline that they “finally had it out.” Not quite. If the two had been left alone, no intervention from teammates or the refs, that would have been interesting. But they won’t “have it out” until they sit down together in private, and that could be years in the distance. (On ESPN, Scottie Pippen predicted they would “never” be friends again.)
Enjoy Westbrook while he’s in his prime. He’s the best athlete ever to grace an NBA backcourt, and he attacks the game with a raging fury. “I feel like that’s my gift,” he said. As for Durant, “I’m coming at your neck every single night,” he told ESPN after the game, “and I’m gonna let him know that.”
George hit a big shot and did a little shimmy, causing some to wonder if he was mimicking Curry. The man says no. “That goes back to the Indiana (Pacers) days,” he said. “I’ve always had a little shimmy in me. Tonight was a good time to introduce it.”
Next up for the Warriors: Chicago at Oracle on Friday night. The Bulls are truly awful, but don’t miss a look at Lauri Markkanen, the 7-foot rookie from Arizona. He has fulfilled all of the potential he showed in the NCAA Tournament, and as the Bulls’ leading scorer (14.6 points per game), he has mixed a reputable inside game with a sweet three-point touch.