There won't be much analysis here tonight, folks. Everything that was bad last game rang true for 48 whole minutes of this crapfest. I'll just direct you to yesterday's recap to get it over with.
The Bad:
- Jarrett Jack had people open, passed them up, and missed shots. A lot of them.
- David Lee played some of the worst interior defense he's played all season. That's saying a lot considering he was going up against Lavoy Allen, Arnett Moultrie, and Spencer Hawes.
- After a couple games of better defense against threes, Royal Ivey somehow got open for a million and went 4-4 from there.
- Mark Jackson didn't have many options down low as Lee was playing bad, Carl Landry wasn't effective on either side of the ball, Andris Biedrins hurt, and Andrew Bogut hurt. The 76ers were able to outrebound the Warriors 48-35.
- Festus Ezeli got two hands on the ball on a missed shot and the ball somehow flew out of bounds sideways.
- Lee and Ezeli bumping into each other while the ball flies harmlessly out of bounds on a missed shot.
- A Jack-Landry pick-and-roll at the end of the game when Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 10-21 from three.
- Apparently Draymond Green and Festus have green lights.
- Jack runs away from Curry, passes to Klay, Klay drives, passes to Festus, Festus shoots ball 20 feet away from the basket.
- Miscommunication between Curry and Klay when screens were set for Evan Turner leading to open isolations, threes, and rebounds.
- The Warriors lost to a Sixers team on a seven-game losing after a complete Doug Collins meltdown. Details here.
The Good:
- Spencer Hawes is a poor man's David Lee. That is a terrible thing.
- Klay finally regained his shooting touch after a tough February and buried seven treys to tie a career-high. He also found ways to create just enough space to squeeze off mid-range jumpers and make them.
- Jack showed some veteran leadership when he dove on the floor for a loose ball and calling timeout. The Warriors will need more of this to battle through what should be an exciting last two months of the season.
- This stretch of games by Curry has truly, in my mind, shown he has recovered from the ankle injuries. He will always shoot, and shoot well. But when he starts to take the ball inside, as he has done more often in the past week, and makes his fingeroll layups and off-balance flip shots, we know he's back.
- The Warriors don't go on the road for more than three games the rest of the season.
- 16 of their last 22 games will be at home where they are 18-7.
The I-Don't-Know-What-To-Make-Of-This:
- Harrison Barnes came out aggressive yet again and had several nice drives but failed to finish. There were a couple post-ups drawn for Barnes but other than that, he wasn't much of a factor. An aspect he will have to work on this offseason is his dribbling in transition and keeping it strong through the lane. There have been many times he's been stripped of the ball going into the paint.
- Curry and Lee played 40 and 42 minutes, respectively. The rotation, after some trial runs with Green, Richard Jefferson, and even Kent Bazemore, is starting to take shape. The star players, Jack, and Landry are still playing heavy minutes but Jackson has gone to a seven and a half man rotation. The combination of Green/Ezeli are seeing less and less minutes.
- The Warriors play San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Portland to end the season. The Lakers are 3.5 games behind them but play ten of their next fifteen on the road.
- The Warriors didn't get to many loose balls in a crucial third-quarter stretch but it is a little excusable because this game was on a back-to-back and fifth game in one week.
- Andrew Bogut.
Bad stretch or not, this sets up for an extremely exciting, potentially depressing, and absolutely stressful last 22 games of the season. With so many young players, especially role players, that feel more comfortable playing at home, I fully expect them to make the playoffs.
Nothing like a long losing streak to coax some weird type of serenity over your sports fan alter ego, right? With that being said, the Warriors are still set in a somewhat desirable position. First, they are in the driver's seat of the playoff race. That's better than fighting tooth and nail for 48 wins and still missing out (ahem 2008). Second, there are only three back-to-backs left which bode well for the return of Bogut. Yeah, remember when we were wondering if he was taking away some of the chemistry and energy of the team with his presence? Nope, wrong, wrong and very wrong.
So worry all you want about an "epic" collapse to the regular season but if I'm a Warriors fan, I'd be damn happy knowing I'm in the position to even teeter on the edge of a very steep cliff.
Late revision:
The only player that played well.
Again.