San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Wiggins shows Irving how to take one for the team
The Warriors had a great night against the Nets on Tuesday, catching Brooklyn flatfooted and out of sync. That happens.
But there was a subtle subplot to that game that maybe said a lot about the difference between the two teams, and about what makes the Warriors the Warriors.
The Nets were without star guard Kyrie Irving, sitting out games as he remains unvaccinated. The Warriors got 19 points in 22 minutes from Andrew Wiggins, who has contributed greatly to the team’s 14-2 start. Wiggins got vaccinated just before the regular season, reluctantly. He held out, for unspecified reasons, then gave in, indicating he had been coerced financially by the specter of losing all or part of his $25 million salary.
During Wiggins’ vax holdout, his teammates had his back. No criticism, not even subtle, even though his holdout threatened to be a major problem. Draymond Green even went on the offense in defending Wiggins, with a semi-unhinged anti-vax screed fit for Fox News.
One or two days after Green’s rant, Wiggins got vaccinated.
Even though Wiggins never said it, here’s what Warriors’ true believers want to believe: He took one for the team.
The Warriors, under head coach Steve Kerr and superstars Stephen Curry, Green and Klay Thompson, have developed a team, rather than a collection of me-me superstars, like some teams (Nets).
It doesn’t seem to bother Irving that he is sabotaging the Nets’ run at a title.. Wiggins, on the other hand, had to be aware that his teammates want him, need him, and were willing to defend and protect him.
Opposing teams and their fans are going to start getting sick of the theme of the Magic Warriors, where average and flawed players are initiated into the brotherhood and give up all selfish habits and thoughts and rise to a higher level of humanity.
But from the outside, all we can know is that we see.
Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots ... The A’s plan to “shoot for the moon” by raking in a big haul of minor-league prospects for
Matt Olson. Here’s the moon that the A’s should shoot for: Keeping Olson. However, the A’s might want to shoot for the moon, propertywise. There’s a lot of available land up there on the moon, ripe for development. And they want a waterfront ballpark? How about building one on the shore of the Sea of Tranquility, hundreds of thousands of miles away from Schnitzer Steel. Why confine your search to Earth when you can embrace a parallel-planets approach? How good is Curry this season? He’s even making freethrow shooting exciting. TV has tried to devalue the free throw by screen-sharing free throws with annoying commercials, but Curry’s freebie-flinging is a show in itself. In making the case that Curry is playing the best basketball of his life right now, here’s a bit of evidence: The Warriors’ point guard is having his best season ever at the free-throw line. He’s hitting 95.8% of his freebies. Best previous season for Curry was 93.4 in 2010-11. (Curry’s 95.8% is No. 3 through Friday, behind Jeremy Lamb’s 100% and Bradley Beal’s 95.9%.) Curry has moved into first place on the all-time list for career free-throw percentage, at 90.8%, passing Steve Nash, 90.4%. Guess who’s No. 5 this season. Jordan Poole, 94.1%. Oddly, although Curry seems to be attacking the rack regularly, his free-throw attempts per game are a lowish 4.8, down from 6.3 last season. James Harden, even with his createcontact foul trick mostly taken away from him, is still being awarded 7.0 freebies per game. In free-throw attempts per game, Curry’s 4.8 is No. 19 in the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo is tops at 9.5, Harden is No. 4. Of the 18 players ahead of Curry in attempts per game, Trae Young (No. 11) is the only other player under 6-foot-6. Shout out to Mark Purdy, inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the first journalist so honored. When do we get the statue of Purdy, waving a notepad in one hand and a San Jose restaurant menu in the other? I’ve been around the guy for 40-plus years, and even in retirement he has not lost his enthusiasm and curiosity. Antonio Brown’s former live-in chef outing Brown for allegedly obtaining a fake vax card is the best sports-chef story since 2004. That’s when Gary Sheffield accused Barry Bonds of luring away his livein chef with a car, a home and repayment of student loans. It was history’s most celebrated case of chefjacking.
With apologies to Walt Whitman, a few words about
Brandon Belt: O Captain! our Captain! our fearful contract situation is done, the Giants weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won!