Thursday, May 9, 2013

This One's For You......KLAY

     My readers, friends, and family would know that I'm not the BIGGEST fan of the Golden State Warriors shooting guard, Klay Thompson. Before last nights game, he never seemed to impress me with his play. I thought all along that all he had was a 3-point shot. I was even hoping that the trade got done to send him to New Orleans for Eric Gordon before the trade deadline. I'm not saying after last night's performance I'm going to become his #1 fan, but i think I owe him some props after his historic night. I support Mark Jackson when he said, "Klay had one of the best first halves in the history of the NBA." It's not everyday we see someone score 29 points and shoot 7/8 from the 3-point line, especially on the road in hostile playoff territory in a place where we haven't won in 16 years. But Klay did just that. On top of his stellar shooting, he's starting to show DubNation how good of a defender he really is. Throughout this whole season, Coach Jackson has gave him the duty to guard the opponent's best player. It stretched from guarding guys like Tony Parker and Kobe Bryant, to Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. He's not the best defender in the world like Bruce Bowen once was (although that's all Bowen really did), but he does enough to slow the other team's superstar down or get them out of their rhythm at least. What exactly is "good enough" defending? Gary St. Jean explained it perfectly on the post game show, he said Klay does what the best defenders do, really well. Those things are closing out on the shooter, knowing how to fight through screens, and moving your feet quickly to stay in front of the ball handler. This is exactly what he's been doing this whole playoff series so far against Tony Parker. He's been making him work for his buckets whenever he is faced up against him. In Klay's post game interview, he said that he listened to his biggest critic, his dad. His father told him after the game 1 loss that he's got to stay out of foul trouble. In game 2 he only had 3 fouls which was far different than game 1. To wrap it all up, I'm not praising Klay Thompson just yet because it's all about what you do in the next game. Are you gonna show people it was just a fluke and go back to the inconsistent Klay? Or are you going to build off of your strong performance and show us you could shoot like that on a nightly basis? I'm not saying put up another 34 or shoot 8/9 from three again. Just show us you could be a consistent player Steph could rely on for help so people could stop doubting you. Now the ball is in your hands, game 3, Friday, it's your turn to show Dubnation what your made of, again.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Reaction to Game 1: Warriors vs. Spurs

     I just wanted to start off by saying THANK YOU San Antonio for beating us tonight. You definitely showed us what it's going to take to win a championship. To the Warrior fans, there's no need to panic. Yeah we lost a 16 point lead, but this game was just like game 1 in the Denver series. So please don't get complacent and start losing hope on the Dubs because they're just getting started. San Antonio stole this game from us and this game will only make us stronger. This game made us battle tested and hungry to get it in game 2. I don't know about you guys but we are seeing the young Warriors grow in front of our eyes. From everyone like Draymond Green to Stephen Curry, all the way down the list everyone is getting accounted for and growing into their roles. There's one key, Stephen Curry, who we are seeing blossom in these playoffs. He's really working his way into being one of the top point guards in the league. I truly believe that he is still bitter by being snubbed on the All-Star team and now he's just showing the world how good he could really be. He could have the potential to be accountable for every point that we score whether it be from a shot or a key pass in a play. Especially if he keeps going at this rate, playing every single minute in a double overtime game. I mean he joined history tonight by being the second player ever to record at least 40 points and 10 assists in a playoff game with the other playing being the great Michael Jordan. But enough about that and onto some of the reasons we lost the game.
     The first quarter went smoothly by us coming out the gates fast like I said would be one of the keys to the game. But if you guys paid attention, we shot 60% from the field that quarter while they shot a low 39%. But why were we only up 28-25 that quarter? It's because they were sinking their three balls by making 4-5 that quarter and the Warriors struggled only making 1-4. So maybe closing out quicker and getting a hand in their face could've saved a some of their threes from going in. But, I really like how Mark Jackson played the matchups. By saving Curry's energy by putting him on the 3-point sharpshooter Danny Green and putting Draymond, one of our better defenders on Tony Parker who will be giving us nightmare matchup problems all series.
     The second quarter was just okay on our part. Yeah we were leading by 4 at the half, but Curry never really answered my keys to the game that I had posted the night before. At the half Curry only had 10 points with Klay being the leading scorer for our team so far. One key play of the quarter was what I warned us of in my Keys To the Game, which was Ginobili's driving dunk on us. This guy is playing healthy and we can't fall asleep on this guy no matter how much he is balding.
     In the Third Quarter, The Human Torch finally caught fire. He came out and scored 22 that quarter. I wonder why he always waits until the third to decide to come out and become a game changer. My guess is that he is just studying what the opponent is doing to him in the first half. Then he adjusts and changes his style of play in the third and comes out firing. That could be the only explanation unless the 3rd quarter is really just his quarter that he owns. Because later in the game he just starts to fade away, but that may just be from logging so many minutes throughout the game. But the 3rd quarter really had me believing that the drought would be over. But in the NBA no lead is safe and any team is capable of going on a run, especially the home team.
     The fourth quarter was whhere we had one of our biggest meltdowns all season long. It's not surprising yet to some people it was. Throughout the regular season, the Warriors always had a hard time protecting a lead.  We just get too comfortable and forget there's still 10 or 8 minutes left in the game. We can't be satisfied with just running the clock down and settling with horrible shot selection. That's exactly how we let San Antonio back in it. They were making easy lay-up shots that fueled their momentum to the point where we couldn't stop their run. Like I said, in this quarter, Curry started fading away. I'm not saying he was non existant. I'm just saying he wasn't taking over the game like he was in the 3rd quarter. I think he just got tired and his shots just started not falling for him. He could've even gotten a better shot with the ball in his hand with time expiring. But then came overtime.
     I wasn't around for the first Overtime but was able to follow it on my phone and was surprised that we were able to match bucket for bucket with them since Klay got fouled out following one of his career performances. But I did watch the 2nd Overtime closely. Especially the last minute when Draymond fouled out and we inserted Kent Bazemore. He's a great defender, just young. When Danny Green hit that 3, I'll give that one to him because Bazemore ran out at him flying with his long wingspan but Danny Green is just a better 3 point shooter in the league. But he didn't get discouraged by that. Instead he decides to hustle during a fast break and get the go-ahead bucket to put us up by 1. As soon as San Antonio called their timeout after, i immediately saw him celebrating like the game was already over. I feel like that's where he lost his concentration. Because out of the timeout, San Antonio draws a play where Diaw drew two men with him into the lane leaving Manu, Bazemore's man that play, wide open for the game winning 3 pointer. From that point with 1.2 seconds left we didn't have a clear look to tie or win.
     We learned our lesson from this game and like I said, San Antonio stole this one from us just like Denver. So Bogut, stay agressive and keep practicing your free throws, because knowing Coach Pop hw will keep hacking away to get us out of our rythem and his team back into the game. Klay, keep being consistent and quit making bone headed fouls when we got such a big lead. Learn how to take some punches when your up a lot and save your fouls. Harrison keep being the x-factor and making the three ball when you get those open looks. Steph, same thing as my last post, start FASTER. Landry and Draymond keep sticking to your role and I can't see how we can't get game 2 back and take control of home court. We showed tonight that we have what it takes to upset the Spurs. Let's shut the TNT commentator up about it being the "Darlings" against the "Heavyweights" or the "Youth" against the "more experienced." It's time to show the world what the Golden State Warriors are all about.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Keys to Ending the 16 Year Drought

     I don't know about the rest of the fans, but I know I can't wait to witness The Golden State Warriors end their 16 YEAR losing streak at San Antonio. I'm just itching about the fact that I was only FOUR years old the last time we went into San Antonio's house and beat them. I never said it was going to be an easy task, but I fell like it's possible to steal one in this upcoming playoff series. There are just a few keys the Warriors must follow in order to capture one in the Lone Star State. The first key is that we would be lucky if their center, Thiago Splitter, misses game one. He may not be a household name like the big three that they've got. But this guy sure can be crafty. He's almost like a seven foot Ginobili. That's where we could get lucky with Thiago, because sometimes he tries to play too "cute" and that could play to our advantage with our physical centers. The second key to pulling out an upset win is that we need to start "fast." By "fast" I don't mean playing a speedy tempo to the point that we get sloppy. My term "fast" means shooting out the gates right at the tip. Let's not wait until the second half to start playing Warriors basketball as that was the case in some of the games against Denver in the past series. Yes Stephen Curry, I'm calling you out this series. We can't have you all of a sudden catching fire only in the 3rd quarter. We need a consistent effort from you throughout the game if we want to have a chance against this fundamentally sound team. Don't let the return of David Lee effect your play. So let the Warriors fans see the torch get lit in the 1st quarter and sustain it through the whole game. Another key is whether or not David Lee is at 100% because whoever is starting at the Power Forward position will have a tough matchup against Tim Duncan. I can't see Carl Landry or a smaller Harrison Barnes stopping the "Big Fundamental" only because Timmy is too smart for them. He has so many moves in his arsenal that he could beat us with. It's like this guy doesn't age at all. He's only getting better while his age is only getting older. That's part of this key, stopping the Spurs' Big 3. Tony Parker will give Curry fits as will Curry to Parker vice-versa. But I feel like that matchup will be balanced out. As it's two very talented players going against each other will only play out to be a great matchup to watch. The matchup I'm worried about is how we are going to stop Ginobili. At his age, he's still probably one of the best crafty players in the league. From his "euro step" on the fastbreak to his shifty moves while playing him face up. He's proven to still have some legs under him after driving and dunking on Dwight Howard in the Quarterfinals Series. I have very low expectations of Klay having any kind of success guarding the Argentinian. I rather see someone more athletic like Harrison guarding Manu, but Kawhi will just take advantage of Klay and outplay him as well. But, Jarrett Jack may be able to handle Ginobili. But this still leaves Klay as the odd man out and without a man to guard. And this is where it could play out perfectly because remember now, Manu comes off the bench as their sixth man, which is exactly like Jarrett Jack. This means that Klay would be guarding their 3-point specialist, Danny Green. I feel very comfortable with our 5 up against theirs. But there are other variables other than just the players and they are the turnovers. We must limit them in order to be victorious. We need our X-factors to shine and pull through. In this series the X-factor has got to be Harrison Barnes because he showed us a glimpse of what he's really capable of in the series against Denver. We'll be in the same position as we were in the Denver series, trying to steal one in San Antonio. That is very much easier said than done. But I've laid out all the keys that the Warriors must follow in order to get an upset win in San Antonio. Let the chips fall where they may and we are all headed for another amazing playoff series that will top the one against Denver.