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The Golden State Warriors were handily beat or just missed 800 wide open threes against the Los Angeles Lakers (whichever you prefer), lost a heart-breaker to the Denver Nuggets and now face a long week ahead against several good teams on tap.
My coping mechanism is to cobble a whole bunch of stuff, sit down, and read until my eyes bleed. I'm not telling you to do the same. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't be bleeding at all. That's weird and sounds unhealthy.
Anyways, here are your weekend links through Monday.
The Lakers hire Mike D'Antoni to replace Mike Brown
The biggest news in all of basketball throughout the weekend was Lakers' coach Mike Brown's firing and the attempted wooing of Phil Jackson by the Los Angeles Lakers. Apparently, Jackson asked for road games off, control of personnel decisions and freedom to spend for the Los Angeles Dodgers as well (just kidding), but the Lakers didn't bite. Why would they?
They just signed Steve Nash and fleeced the Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard in the offseason. How can one do better? Anyways, here are the best reads over the internet on different perspectives of Mike D'Antoni's surprise hiring.
Mike D'Antoni May Be Second-Best, But He Can Lead the Lakers - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
Phil Jackson would've been great, but D'Antoni fits Lakers just fine - CBSSports.com
Mike D'Antoni-Steve Nash reunion in Los Angeles will be fascinating - Jack McCallum - SI.com
Mike D'Antoni hired as next coach of Los Angeles Lakers - ESPN Los Angeles
Why Lakers' hiring of Mike D'Antoni is bad, in 7 seconds or less - latimes.com
Klay Thompson recovers from missed free throws against Denver
Back to Warriors-related news, here is the Klay Thompson section of this post. If you were too busy going out, having a couple drinks, doing what normal people do, you may have missed Klay's forgettable game against the Denver Nuggets. He missed two free throws to clinch the game and forgot to foul Danilo Gallinari at the end of the game. He also struggled to shoot throughout the game, taking 26 shots to score 23 points.
I'd caution against throwing too much flak against the guy since he did play 55 minutes so the shot attempts are a bit skewed. The season just started so expectations play a big role when judging a player. I even saw stuff on Twitter about bringing back Monta Ellis. Uhh no. I'm past the ball-hogging, lackadaisical defense and low IQ stage in my career as a fan.
Here are a few articles recapping what he did and Matt Steinmetz has a sit-down with Thompson about the game.
Revisiting Game 7: Poor Klay Thompson - Inside the Warriors - with Marcus Thompson
Klay Thompson's role in the Warriors' loss to Denver
Klay Thompson talks about forgettable game
Progress on the San Francisco arena
There are good things happening with the Golden State Warriors right now. Did you know that? Here are a couple looks at what the new stadium in San Francisco may mean for fans.
Warriors arena means millions for S.F. - SFGate
Additional Warriors commentary
A quick look on Warriorsworld on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the team. It discusses rather simple concepts like shooting, turnovers, rebounding and free throws. On face value alone, it would appear that the Warriors would fare quite well on at least two of those things. But looking deeper into the numbers, it shows that some of the struggles in past seasons will continue to haunt them throughout this one. Stop me if you've heard this before.
Jackson defends playing small, Lee's defense
Because one cannot get through the day without a little fun at the expense of David Lee's "defense".