San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
KEEPING THE BALL ROLLING
Thompson’s adaptation to new role key in maintaining Warriors’ recent momentum
It had to be their most enjoyable team flight of the season. In a week’s time, the longdoubted Golden State Warriors won four of the five games on a road trip, pledged loyalty at the trading deadline and impressed everyone — even their most ardent critics — on the court.
They were out of the playoff picture when they landed in San Francisco on Friday, 11th place in the standings and still a game below .500. That’s the kind of dismal outlook that prevailed all season, but things seem different now. Maybe not in the long run (nobody’s calling this a championship team), but for their peace of mind.
You can almost hear “finally” racing through the mind of head coach Steve Kerr. Just in time, Andrew Wiggins resurrected his game on the road trip and looked sensational — scoring, defensive intensity, shot accuracy, rebounding, the whole package. After his 21point, 10-rebound performance in 23 minutes against the 76ers on Wednesday night, ESPN’s JJ Redick said, “That’s the type of game that could get Wiggins going for the rest of the season.”
We’ve seen enough of Draymond Green, in his return from a soul-crushing suspension, to know that he’s serious about his new life — in basketball, with his family and in his relationship with the league. It’s all so simple: Just calm the hell down with the referees. Go for the textbook aggression, not the flailing arms and legs. He doesn’t lose a thing if he plays it smart, and the result is an exciting player just as influential as ever, with the full support of his teammates.
Add the ridiculously wonderful Stephen Curry and the ascending Jonathan Kuminga, clearly bound for a place among the NBA’s most dynamic young stars, and you can’t imagine why the Warriors would fear any team in the Western Conference. You can’t say it’s all up to fifth starter Klay Thompson, because “all” could be a seventh-place finish at best, but he holds the key to sustaining this sudden burst of enthusiasm.
Recent interviews have shown Thompson coming to grips with his fate: just another streak shooter out there, surely elite at his best but not reliable, gravely diminished defensively and vulnerable to benching in the final minutes of a close game.
Thompson spent years at a high-scoring level so otherworldly that only Curry could relate. But it’s a new Klay now, not to mention a new league, and he has come to realize how a lack of confidence takes its toll on professional athletes. Whether it’s a 3-foot putt, a break-point forehand into the open court or a routine throw from second base, if you doubt yourself, things can get ugly.
So it’s time to take a step back. He can’t be shooting a career-low 37.7% (through Thursday) from 3-point range, including a 24-for-80 skid over a recent eight-game stretch. He needs to seek out the open looks and forget trying to score in a crowd. But he has to know the organization remains in his corner, along with thousands of fans holding a special place for him in their hearts. That’s how much he is admired, and it’s gratifying to hear him praise Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos or whoever else is out there in his place, because he knows they deserve the time.
This starting five can work, in a major way. The Warriors also have an edge in depth on some very good teams, including Denver and Phoenix, with Chris Paul coming back. They’re long overdue for some hang-loose fun, or at the very least wrecking some other teams’ playoff aspirations.
So what’s the forecast? The Warriors have no chance to catch Denver, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and the Clippers at the top of the Western Conference standings, and let’s move No. 5 Phoenix into that echelon with its formidable Big Three potential. As for the five teams immediately ahead of Golden State, heading into Friday, here’s a look at how they fared at the trading deadline:
Utah: Did nothing of consequence, and with two games against the Jazz coming up this week (Monday and Thursday), the Warriors can quickly make up some ground.
Lakers: Zero transactions after striking out on Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray. That means LeBron James isn’t happy. He’s not crazy about the roster beyond Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves, and it’s easy to understand why. The Lakers are set up to offer three future first-round picks on draft night ( June 27), but that doesn’t help them now.
Dallas: Delighted with the Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving combination of late, and now they’ve added a lob threat and rim protector (Daniel Gafford) and a burly wing (PJ Washington) to help out rookie center Dereck Lively II in the frontcourt. On the flip side, in the wake of this deadline, the Mavericks don’t control any of their first-round draft picks between 2027 and 2030.
Sacramento: Discouraged after losing at home to a downtrodden Detroit team missing nine players (including Cade Cunningham), the Kings struck out after making a strong play for the Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma, among others.
New Orleans: No incoming talent, so it’s really up to Zion Williamson the rest of the way. If his motivational energy goes adrift, the team goes nowhere. If he decides to dominate, on a nightly basis, the Pelicans will make plenty of noise.
Quite the vagabond
• Seth Curry turns 34 in August, and now he has been traded from Dallas to Charlotte. That means Stephen’s brother, a man who five times has shot over 45% on 3-pointers in a season, has joined his ninth team in 11 years.
• I don’t get any kind of kick watching Milwaukee or Boston. Plenty of talent, but too often it’s just not good basketball. The Knicks really scored on Wednesday, trading for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic, and they’ll have superior depth when Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby return from injuries. They’ve been winning through a multitude of setbacks, and they have a ton of energy. Maybe it’s their year to break through in the East.
• Travis Kelce deserves all the credit he’s getting as the No. 1 receiving tight end in NFL history, but you wonder: Going back to long-ago eras, is he really that much better than John Mackey, Dave Casper, Mike Ditka, Jackie Smith, Kellen Winslow or Charlie Sanders? And here’s a plug for Ted Kwalick, a solid three-year starter for the 49ers (1971-73) in the John Brodie years.
• It recently occurred to me that one of the first live musical performances I ever saw was at the Tropicana Hotel, about to be razed on the Las Vegas Strip to make way (or maybe not) for the Oakland A’s new stadium. It was 1958, the club’s second year of existence under known mobster Monte Proser. My father, Gordon Jenkins, conducted a nightly show complete with a full orchestra, singers, dancers and Vegas showgirls, and they turned that production into a lively album, “Tropicana Holiday.” I wasn’t allowed into that show, not at 10 years old, but one night my father sneaked me in for a spell, way in the back. Unlike John Fisher, he was a smooth operator.