Warriors’ travails are good for NBA
James Harden seems to have the MVP Award all wrapped up, but what about the MVT — Most Valuable Team?
The Warriors are putting in their bid.
Presented as evidence: Wednesday night’s game against the Lakers. Under normal circumstances, that’s not a game, it’s another tedious mismatch. But the Warriors, with three All-Stars and a couple of key role players sidelined, trotted out what looked like a Las Vegas summer-league lineup, and had to scrap hard to earn a win over a non-playoff team.
Remember when the Warriors were going to destroy the NBA with their overwhelming talent and dazzling style? They would steamroll their way to a second straight championship, and in the process, they would make the rest of the league look bumbling and desperate.
No longer the lovable newcomers of three seasons back, the Warriors would be the yawning bullies, just too good for the league’s own good, too cute to love and too powerful to stop.
The rest of the league, mean-
while, would retreat into rebuilding mode, would-be contending teams laying low for a couple of seasons until the Warriors came back to earth.
That was the feeling around the rest of the league. In the Bay Area, fans would have enjoyed the romp and another championship, but deep down, a bit of boredom would have set in. How many routs can you watch without pining for the old days, when most games would be games?
The irony: The Warriors, the most fun team in sports, were going to take the fun out of the season.
Well, the fun is back. When the Warriors have had everyone healthy, they still have been oddly out of sync at times. Great, still, but not unbeatable.
Meanwhile, at least some other teams, rather than being demoralized by the Warriors’ talent overload, have been energized and challenged. Like the Houston Rockets. They added a couple of key players and have been smart enough — not just head coach Mike D’Antoni, but Harden and the rest of the crew — to meld themselves into a team, rather than a group of strong performers. Right now, the Rockets lead the league in joy.
Instead of being intimidated by the Warriors, the Rockets have been inspired. It’s the circle of life. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr stole a lot of his offensive concepts from D’Antoni, and D’Antoni has said, “I’ll see your spacing, Steve, and raise you a rain of three-pointers.”
Now, instead of a one-team show, we’ve got a season cookin’.
Even the Lakers. They came into Wednesday’s game rocking 20 wins in their previous 29 games. They’re a season away, but they might get there under Luke Walton, the Warriors’ gift to Los Angeles.
The Warriors’ injuries have played a role in the rest of the league joining the fun. Stephen Curry’s right ankle alone has created a competitive balance and added a major dash of suspense to the Warriors’ run for a title.
Curry sat out another game Wednesday, on his 30th birthday, and on the day his new shoe dropped. The new Curry kicks are — seriously — an homage to Pi Day, a day when we honor the number 3.14 (etc.). Another reason for the haters to hate Curry: Now he’s a math snob? Incidentally, if you put a scoop of ice cream on each of the new Curry sneaks, you have pi a la mode.
Oh, the mysteries of the universe. We can compute pi to a million decimal points, but we can’t design a shoe that will prevent Curry’s right ankle from rolling every time he steps on a gum wrapper.
Since the Warriors began their run of excellence five years ago, injuries have been their friend. Most of their significant injuries, inevitable in the NBA, have occurred at fortuitous times. Example: Last year’s Kevin Durant injury energized Curry’s game. Injury rehabs have provided valuable rest breaks.
With Curry and Klay Thompson out Wednesday, Quinn Cook got an extended run, another chance to thrive offensively. The Warriors like Cook’s potential, but if he’s going to be useful come the playoffs, he’s going to have to earn the respect of Kerr and the Warriors. On Wednesday, Cook took a step in that direction.
There was a danger, at the beginning of the season, that the Warriors would get too full of themselves. What they’re going through now is giving them a touch of humility, a taste of reality. Whatever they accomplish from here until the end of the season, they’ll appreciate it.
And the rest of basketball will appreciate the Warriors more. Hey, they get injuries just like we do.
The Warriors have turned a boring NBA season into a fun one. But it will be a lot more fun when all the Warriors come back. Maybe when Curry unveils his Theory of Relativity sneaks.