league is catching up to Warriors

first, defensively, the Warriors overall defense has slipped from their first championship season. I think a lot of that is other teams are copying the Warriors emphasis on 3 point shooting

second, opponents are figuring out how to defend the Warriors

and until Cousins can play (and assuming he can play close to 100%), the Warriors will continue to have a difficult time inside

Therefore, I can see the Warriors might only make the playoffs as the 3rd or 4th seed and lose home court advantage for much of the playoffs

should they be worried?

Yes.

With their current 4 and 5 positions hardly better than any other NBA teams (given Draymond's current play), there is reason for the Dubs to worry.

Also, their bench is mediocre, with Iguodala and Livingston both showing their ages a lot of the time.

I believe the San Francisco Warriors have a chemistry problem. My input to Joe Lacob: "Tough titty said the kitty when the milk went dry." Draymond and KD, indidually and collectively, are cancers on the organization.

bearister said:

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I believe the San Francisco Warriors have a chemistry problem. My input to Joe Lacob: "Tough titty said the kitty when the milk went dry." Draymond and KD, indidually and collectively, are cancers on the organization.

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Sigh. No.

Green is having a terrible season so far though. Klay too.

I'm not worried. They run a motion dribble drive offense like Cal....all is well. But to say those guys are cancers? Really now.

cal83dls79 said:

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I'm not worried. They run a motion dribble drive offense like Cal.

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LOL. Nice.

No doubt there is concern this season.. will see how GSW jells with Cousins after All Star break in rotation...
hard to get tooth paste back in tube after what was said between Draymond/KD, as what was said was what was real feelings of both.. similar to Shaq/Kobe both had resentment towards each other..

Will see if GSW can figure this out the last months of season and take care of business with 4 in 5..

but if not and it blows up this summer, I will take 3 in 4 any day of the week.. and glad I have able to watch this GSW run these past few years...

go GSW
goBears

Lacob is reaming Oakland just like Blond Moe. Go Rams! Go Celtics! But always, Go Klay!

"Who needs team chemistry to win a championship?"
--the 1974 Swinging Oakland A's
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/A-fighting-spirit-A-s-of-1974-sparred-with-each-2741406.php

It really saddens me to hear that millionaires who play a game might have to be worrying about something.

The reality is the players don't care much about the regular season. I had season tickets last year and they weren't all that great during the regular season last year. If they are healthy for the playoffs they will be fine. Otherwise they will be in trouble, just like last year.

I do think that Jerebko could make a big difference if Livingstone and Iguadola are healthy also.

oldblue83 said:

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The reality is the players don't care much about the regular season. I had season tickets last year and they weren't all that great during the regular season last year. If they are healthy for the playoffs they will be fine. Otherwise they will be in trouble, just like last year.

I do think that Jerebko could make a big difference if Livingstone and Iguadola are healthy also.

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I agree with this - the Warriors have played so many games the last 4 years and realize the only thing that matters is the playoffs. This strategy is smart for the amount of miles the players have on their tires, but it's also somewhat playing with fire. There's no guarantee they can find that extra gear when they need it in rounds 3 and 4.

Heck - if Chris Paul didn't get hurt, or if Houston hadn't missed a shocking 27 straight 3 pointers, the Warriors might have lost in the Conference Finals last season.

So while I agree with the Warriors current strategy of sacrificing some of the regular season to try to peak in the playoffs, I realize it's not a foolproof strategy, especially this year when it seems more wide open with a number of teams capable of winning it all.

Lakers fan here. The Dubs are coming back to the pack. I think it's the gradual changes to the periphery of the roster, the mileage on the tires and the problems between stars. Reminds me a bit of the end of the Lakers with Kobe and Shaquille. I also think the once dynamic offense has fundamentally changes with KD on the roster, even though KD is a phenomenal talent.

tequila4kapp said:

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Lakers fan here. The Dubs are coming back to the pack. I think it's the gradual changes to the periphery of the roster, the mileage on the tires and the problems between stars. Reminds me a bit of the end of the Lakers with Kobe and Shaquille. I also think the once dynamic offense has fundamentally changes with KD on the roster, even though KD is a phenomenal talent.

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I'm a W's fan. And I think you nailed it. This season, the mileage on Livingston and Iguodala is showing. Last few years, it seemed like each of these guys would win a few games each on their own - coming off the bench. This year, I can probably identify a few games that they have LOST for the W's

Waiting to Boogie

tequila4kapp said:

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Lakers fan here. The Dubs are coming back to the pack. I think it's the gradual changes to the periphery of the roster, the mileage on the tires and the problems between stars. Reminds me a bit of the end of the Lakers with Kobe and Shaquille. I also think the once dynamic offense has fundamentally changes with KD on the roster, even though KD is a phenomenal talent.

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You wanna bet whether the dubs win the title this year?

There's two weaknesses that opposing teams are currently exploiting without mercy.

- when dubs go small, teams are now feeding the low post time and time again. If boogie comes back at least somewhat healthy, this won't be a problem. Even if boogie doesn't come back, the dubs will double the post and take their chances. During the playoffs, when they play defense with actual energy, they can get away with this type of strategy

- teams used to sag off dray and to a lesser extent iggy. Now they aren't even pretending to guard draymond. They are just sitting their center under the basket. So the dubs are basically playing 5-4. There are easy fixes to this (such as using dray as a screener when teams sag on him) that Kerr will figure out once the all star break rolls around. It's a short term strategy that teams can use effectively now but won't be working once playoffs rolls around once the dubs figure it out.

If teams were at all smart, they would have saved the "leave draymond wide wide open" strategy for the playoffs. But instead teams are using it to win meaningless games in December. Well, I guess they aren't meaningless for opposing teams.

I agree that we need to wait and see on:
Can Boogie be healthy, play well, and integrate into current stars? - biggest question.
Can Klay and Draymond improve their shooting come playoffs?

What is more interesting to me is what will W management do with the contracts in the offseason.
As I understand it they have Klay, Draymond, KD, and Boogie all expiring?
Wow. Next year could be Curry, Livingstone and Iggy as they move into SF.

concordtom said:

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What is more interesting to me is what will W management do with the contracts in the offseason.
As I understand it they have Klay, Draymond, KD, and Boogie all expiring?
Wow. Next year could be Curry, Livingstone and Iggy as they move into SF.

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Obviously they'll keep some subset of those guys. There's no way they open the new arena in SF without resigning some of their stars, luxury tax be damned if need be. But I agree that not everyone on the team will be back next season - the math wouldn't work to keep everyone.

GSW lost Javale to FA... his MPG not that much..but.. when in, the D had to stick to him as his area to pull in a lob and slap is probably as good as anyone in the league... thus, stay home or get slammed on when Javale was in the game.. Javale's defense and lateral movement improved during his 2 years at GSW to point Lebron could not shake him "one on one".

More unknowns this season than any of the previous 4.. but still plenty of time to figure out how to best utilize Cousins into the mix.

Let's see if team can get their groove back after the All Star break....

goGSW
goBears

concordtom said:

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What is more interesting to me is what will W management do with the contracts in the offseason.
As I understand it they have Klay, Draymond, KD, and Boogie all expiring?
Wow. Next year could be Curry, Livingstone and Iggy as they move into SF.

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Draymond expires in 2020

bearister said:

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Lacob is reaming Oakland just like Blond Moe. Go Rams! Go Celtics! But always, Go Klay!

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It made me wanna puke on Xmas day, to see the warriors in "The Town" jerseys, when Lacob is taking them to SF next season. Fine, try and go as "big time" as you can, but that palace in The City will be a corporate mausoleum after the wins start to wane.

Also, as a Cal fan, the Warriors excellence the past few years has started to bore me. Integrating Cousins should provide a little interest later this season.

Yogi Bear said:

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Green is having a terrible season so far though. Klay too.

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This. If Dray and Klay play like this in the playoffs, the W's won't be in the finals.

Dray and Klay finally played well in a 10 pt warrior win

HoopDreams said:

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Dray and Klay finally played well in a 10 pt warrior win

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I think it was the dribble drive offense that freed them up

Yogi Bear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Dray and Klay finally played well in a 10 pt warrior win

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I think it was the dribble drive offense that freed them up

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they must have studied film from our SJSU battle. Smart. Give Kerr credit for that. That said, Lillard went off as did Klay. Lots of T's, very entertaining game.

Probably not a good sign when the Warriors are the trending topic on our board.

bearister said:

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Probably not a good sign when the Warriors are the trending topic on our board.

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excuse me, old fart camps are also trending pretty strong

cal83dls79 said:

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Yogi Bear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Dray and Klay finally played well in a 10 pt warrior win

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I think it was the dribble drive offense that freed them up

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they must have studied film from our SJSU battle. Smart. Give Kerr credit for that. That said, Lillard went off as did Klay. Lots of T's, very entertaining game.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/aay1by/another_look_at_damian_lillards_insane/?st=JQBUY8R8&sh=fede1524

Last night was a reminder of what the dubs look like when they give their opponents 75% of their attention.

Anyone still want to bet against them this year?

Yep. Franks probable tomorrow night in Pullman.
A WIN would work wonders for our men.

ducky23 said:

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Last night was a reminder of what the dubs look like when they give their opponents 75% of their attention.

Anyone still want to bet against them this year?

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the 25% attention deficit was due to the pelicans unis, can't fault them

Did anyone watch/listen to the Clippers game? There was ZERO analysis of the game but purely focused on trade gossip and rumors. Horrible announcing. Stuff was happening in the game with no explanation, 2nd half was better even Clips coach Rue Paul had no answers

cal83dls79 said:

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Did anyone watch/listen to the Clippers game? There was ZERO analysis of the game but purely focused on trade gossip and rumors. Horrible announcing. Stuff was happening in the game with no explanation, 2nd half was better even Clips coach Rue Paul had no answers

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I watched the Warriors feed. Always gotta get my Jim Barnett.

cal83dls79 said:

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Did anyone watch/listen to the Clippers game? There was ZERO analysis of the game but purely focused on trade gossip and rumors. Horrible announcing. Stuff was happening in the game with no explanation, 2nd half was better even Clips coach Rue Paul had no answers

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You watched an ESPN broadcast, and it wasn't your first time watching a game on ESPN, right? So you can't be surprised that the announcers talked about anything and everything except the game they were supposed to be broadcasting.