Recap #82: Golden State Warriors 110, Portland Trailblazers 86 - Back to a Familiar Place

Jeremy Lin's first made 3 of the season. No, really it is.

Final Boxscore  |  Game Day Links  | Game Thread

Blazers Edge

The end. No dramatic finish. No surprise outcome. No holy crap, that's Keyser Soze moment. The Warriors finish the season with a 36-46 record. It's what most of us thought would happen since the beginning of the season - somewhere in the neighborhood of 34-38 wins. We didn't know how it would happen, but we knew what would happen, mediocrity and a double digit lottery pick. No amount of ownership change is going to turn a bad 26-56 team around quickly enough to get into the playoffs without some sort of divine intervention or Tim Duncan falling into your lap.

Was getting to the playoffs unrealistic? Yes. Overly optimistic? Yes. The Warriors finished with 10 less wins than the 8th place Memphis Grizzlies. That's a long way to go. But you know what, a 10 win improvement is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it's a pretty big jump and something this team can build on. And just think, if they keep doing that every year, in another 4 years they'll be 76-6. Sweeeeeet. 

As far as this game is concerned...hit the jump.

As I wrote in the game thread,  the only thing I care about is sitting Stephen Curry to make sure he doesn't get hurt. I'm upset that he played. At least he only played 24 minutes. The guy has had ankle injuries all year and he rolled his ankle running up the court yesterday. I think he just rolled it again sitting on the bench. Maybe he was fine to play, but if he got seriously hurt in this meaningless game and didn't have an offseason to work on his game, Lacob and co would have upset even more fans. It just wasn't worth it to play him when he needs to get that ankle back to 100%. Protect your assets.

Maybe getting to 36 wins was that important. I doubt it.

At least they didn't play Monta Ellis. Maybe if the game was close they would have put him in there.

Some fun statistics:

• Local St. Mary's alum, Patty Mills got some burn and put up some nice stats (how many guards don't against the Warriors?). 29 minutes, 23 points (7-16 FG's, 4-7 from 3), 5 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
• Reggie Williams was on fire. He played all 48 minutes, scored 28 on just 18 shots (12-18 FG's), grabbed 7 boards, and handed out 5 assists. Not bad sir, not bad at all.
  
• Jeremy Lin played and the home crowd has finally stopped cheering when he walks to the scorers table, touches the ball, picks his nose, or shoots a shot. Finally. 24 minutes, 12 points (his first 3 in the NBA), 5 boards, and 5 assists.

This game is the end of a journey. The Warriors season is over and they have time to analyze what happened this year and how to improve next year. They can sit back and appreciate some of the surprising wins over some of the elite teams. Despite missing the playoffs, there are some positives this year that hopefully the franchise can build on. And they'll do it with some fresh blood, Bob Myers, Warriors new assistant GM. Many around the league are applauding this move.

There are lots of negatives aka things to improve. Many of these have been discussed on this site ad nauseum. Let's not dwell on those because we have the entire offseason for that.

Looking forward, as a basketball fan, I'm excited for these playoffs. There are a lot of great teams so whoever wins it all will have really earned it. Lots of drama and excitement this year for sure.

But, we're Warrior fans, the most exciting part of the playoffs is...

Yes Warrior fans, it's time to wait for the middle of May, where at halftime of a playoff game we get to find out if this team gets a top 3 pick or not. I wonder who will represent the Warriors this year. Steph? Monta? Lacob? I hope it's Lacob. I hope he is disgusted to be there and he feels miserable there. If he's happy to be there, that means he's already too comfortable being a losing franchise. No proud owner ever wants to be at the draft lottery.

The Blazers starters on the bench. I had this exchange with them at the game.

Me: What's so funny?

Bench: We played our B squad tonight and they shot 33% from the field. U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi.

Me: C'mon, it's not funny to laugh at your teammates.

Bench: Earl Barron: 37 minutes, -35 plus/minus. For every minute he was on the floor, the Blazers' deficit grew by one point. That just doesn't even seem possible. Imagine a season long reputation like that.

Me: Okay that's kind of funny.

Bench:

Me: Oh grow up. Those pictures are not funny anymore.

Bench:

Me: *smirks* okay maybe one is funny.

Bench:

Me: Haha that's a classic Funleavy Foto. Good job guys.

Bench:

Me: LOL. Those never get old or cease to put a smile on my face. Oh Dunleavy, you may be in the middle of nowhere, but you'll always make us smile.

Why not end another disappointing season with some Funleavy Foto Fun?

It's been another fun season at Golden State of Mind.

Thank you to the community.

Thank you to the GSOM Crew.

Thank you and good night.