Warriors loss to OKC is for a good cause
For Golden State — for these Baby Dubs — moral victories are the best kind of victories
It doesn’t feel like it right now, but deep down, in the places people don’t talk about at parties, we all know that Monday night’s outcome was the best possible outcome for the Warriors, right?
The Baby Dubs — down Draymond Green, again — played well, again, opening up a lead as large as 15 points against the Thunder at Chase Center, and then gave it
all back and a bit more, losing 100-97.
For some teams, there’s no such thing as a moral victory. For the Warriors, truth be told, those are the best kind of victories — they don’t hurt the team’s NBA lottery odds.
But while the long-term effects are positive, it’s fair to feel a bit of a short-term sting over Monday’s loss — the Warriors fell apart late, their inexperience shining through against a team laced with veteran savvy.
The little things did in the Warriors against OKC. Little things like leaving Chris Paul wide open as to double team Danilo Gallinari in the post, setting up a CP3 3-pointer with three minutes left to cut the Warriors lead to 7.
Things like Ky Bowman — feeling himself amid a career night — deciding on the subsequent possession to challenge Steven Adams 1-on-1 at the rim. That works, what, one out of 100 tries?
Things like pulling down Adams after a Thunder miss with 1:30 remaining, when he was the only OKC player in the lane with four Warriors ready to grab-and-go.
Or not being able to inbound the ball in a threepoint game with 1:22 remaining, creating an easy transition layup for OKC.
Or not running any semblance of an offense with roughly a minute to play in a one-point game, leading to a blocked 18foot jump shot. Or again, when the shot clock was off and the Thunder were up three.
Thunder guard Dennis Schroder shoots between the Warriors’ Alec Burks, left, and Glenn Robinson III on Monday in San Francisco.
Make no mistake about it, Monday was a choke job by the Baby Dubs. But at least it was for a good cause. At least it was not in vain.
Maybe they’ll learn and improve from the loss to the Thunder, or maybe it, like so many other things happening this season, will prove to not be germane to the future.
Regardless, the main, unspoken goal — to secure as many ping-pong balls as possible (something that manifests in so many subtle ways around the organization that it might be insidious) — was not challenged.
• It didn’t take long for opposing teams to figure out that the Warriors are overly reliant on Eric Paschall on offense, and for them to target him on that end of the court.
We’ve seen in the last few weeks, but no one has highlighted it quite as
much as the crafty Gallinari.
Paschall had three offensive fouls against the Thunder. Two, at least from my perspective, were justified calls, but Gallinari no doubt flopped his way to one of those turnovers.
“It’s part of the deal for Eric . ... Teams are paying attention to him,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “Gallinari is a tough guy to face because of his ability to flop and draw fouls and flail around and do all the stuff that he does ... he’s still fooling the refs after all these years.”
Regardless, foul trouble is starting to become a trend for Paschall this season — whether it be not setting his feet on defense or running into less-physical players on offense, it’s something that the rookie will need to acknowledge and change if he wants to
keep being the Warriors’ No. 1 option with the stars out.
• I’ve half-joked for a few weeks that the Warriors, only a few years after going 73-9, are poised to go 9-73 this season, balancing the universe in the process.
But Monday’s game is making me rethink that stance, no matter how poorly set my feet might have been.
The Warriors do have one advantage when it comes to winning games that’s rarely taken into account in the NBA — the West Coast.
The Thunder just played two games in L.A., but Monday was OKC’s first game back on the West Coast after a one-game jaunt in the plains. They’ll now head up to Portland, but they’ll have some more time to recuperate from the flight and adjust to the two-hour time change before that contest.
You can’t tell me OKC’s travel didn’t have something to do with Monday’s low final score.
It’s not much, of course, but the Warriors are going to catch teams in precarious sleep and travel situations this year at Chase Center — I wouldn’t be shocked if they can pick up three, four more wins this season thanks to the schedule.
Then again, Monday was such an opportunity and they could not take advantage when it really mattered.