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50 games above .500 and the strong possibility of Texas seceding
Last night, the Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 123 - 110 in Dallas.
It was a strange game—Dallas shot a whopping 54 free throws and still managed to lose by 13—featuring this particularly strange sequence in which Shaun Livingston almost ignited another war with Germany. Or, at the very least, gave Texas another reason to try and secede:
Dirk was, as you may imagine, not pleased.
"Noooo! No!? Why...why would you?? THAAZZZNOTNICE!!! In ze boys??"
Livingston's sterling reputation as a good guy won out, at least amongst the players. Dirk, it seems, came away from the exchange with a modicum of satisfaction:
A joking Dirk: "I’m not really sure what [Livingston] was trying to do there. … I really enjoyed his tight grip. I really enjoyed that."
— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) April 5, 2015
The crowd, however, was a different story. They booed him every time he touched the ball for the rest of the game. Curry even got in on the fun:
Steph Curry is on the bench, joining in with the crowd booing Shaun Livingston as he dribbles
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) April 5, 2015
Kerr wins the rookie challenge
Steve Kerr has now won more games than any other rookie coach. Ever.
Another milestone along this journey!!! You know we had to hit Coach Kerr with the shower #DubNation pic.twitter.com/RgESoiFUDW
— Harrison Barnes (@hbarnes) April 5, 2015
Harrison Barnes wrote a thing for the Player's Tribune
About failure in the NCAA tournament. It includes this very cool quote about his move into the starting lineup, and subsequent success, in that Denver Nuggets playoff matchup from his rookie year:
Just before the start of the national anthem for Game 2, coach came over to me and said, "Harrison, you are going to start at the four." I had never played the power forward position as a professional. And here we were, in a playoff game! As the singer continued, I broke out in a complete sweat. Memories of the NCAA tournament ran through my mind. And at that moment, I made a decision. I might fail in this game. We might lose. But I wasn't going to go down passively. I was going to figure out whatever defense they threw our way, and I was going to take the action to them.
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From around the NBA
Spurs!
The San Antonio Spurs have won 50 games or more in SIXTEEN STRAIGHT SEASONS!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh shit, that is straight psychotic. Even the Lakers sucked from time to time, going in and out of swoons as they rebuilt. (See: this year). The fact that the Spurs have been so freakishly consistent (to the point that for much of the past decade they were, dare I say it, underwhelmingly consistent—aka people calling them "boring") is a testament to the greatness of 1.) the whole organization, 2.) their stability under Popovich, even-keeled through these long years, and, 3.) let's be real, most of this has to do with TIMMMMAAAAY Tim Duncan. Bless yr sweet heart Tim.
Also, there's a game tonight! 7pm ET - NBA TV. Our trip through Texas (I mean, if we are ever to convince Texas to secede, we'll need to unite all the various towns against us. Next up: San Antone) continues unabated.
Boston!
Also, Marcus Smart hit a last second game winning tip-in. Boston is now in eighth place in the East. I like their team, primarily because Brad Stevens is a baby-faced Warlock-in-training.
BAZE!
Lastly, BAZEMORE 4 EVVVAA. Do yr thing good buddy.