Suns swingman Torrey Craig unpacked how his team has been approaching its defense of his former Nuggets teammate Jamal Murray in the two teams’ ongoing playoff series, Dana Scott of The Arizona Republic writes.
“Jamal’s a skilled player, man,” Craig remarked. “He’s really crafty with different finishes, and his jumpshot and his ability to get to the rim and mid-range and 3s… Just be physical with him. Crowd him. Don’t let him get to his spots easy because he’s one of those guys if let him get in the groove, he can get it going.”
Thus far in the series, Murray is averaging 25.3 PPG on .426/.280/.917 shooting splits, along with 7.3 APG, 5.0 RPG, and 1.0 SPG. Denver leads 2-1.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Versatile Lakers power forward Jarred Vanderbilt has thus far seemed up for the challenge of defending Warriors All-Star point guard Stephen Curry in their playoff series matchup, writes Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “He’s a tough cover,” Vanderbilt said of Curry. “We have a lot of bodies to throw at him. Starting with me, Dennis (Schröder), I think everyone did a great job of chasing him around kind of wearing him down and making it hard for him… That is my calling on the team. I like those matchups. Those challenges. That is what I’m here to do,”
- The Warriors, trailing the lower-seeded Lakers 2-1 in their second-round playoff series, are striving to figure out how to improve, writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “You got to be more poised than we were,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s easier in a regular season to respond to a tough stretch. Everything is magnified in the playoffs. So a tough stretch can turn into a longer stretch … we let our foot off the gas and the Lakers took advantage of that.”
- Following a 127-97 blowout loss to Los Angeles on Saturday, Tim Kawakami of The Athletic wonders if the Warriors‘ inconsistency this season could be coming back to haunt them in these playoffs for good. Kawakami believes that Golden State is still capable of greatness, but points the team’s lackluster 11-30 road record as an indicator that it has had its struggles this year.
Does anyone on the warriors like Poole?
Seems like he finds the end of the bench (quickly and voluntarily) in huddles, is aloof in warm-ups and doesn’t find many congrat claps on the court from team-mates
I loved him when he hit multiple buzzer beaters in the NBA Finals last year. Young players are allowed to have rough stretches, as they always go away, but this “what have you done for me lately” type crud never goes away on the fan side, as fans refuse to understand all players have different development cycles. Sigh.
Poole is a champion player on a champion team. He’s not playing well in these playoffs thus far due mostly to Kerr’s poor matchups, but this desperate, corny “lets break up GSW no matter whats happening even if a player has a single bad game” crud can be flung into the sun along with Kerr’s useless 4 small guard + 1 big (whos under 6’10”) lineups, thanks.
He’s had a bad year and an even worse playoffs
My question pertains to the body language between other GSW players and him. They don’t look copasetic at the moment
* Fans aren’t capable of breaking up dynasty’s, 30+ mill sunken contracts {can be} ….. I respect fully everything GSW has done this last decade
You seem really confused. 10 seconds doesn’t make you a great player. Jordan Poole has had every chance to prove he could lead the Warriors after Steph Curry. But, the Warriors have consistently lost.
Poole is reportedly tight off the court with his fellow Milwaukee native Kevon Looney and with Andrew Wiggins. He and DiVincenzo seem good. It is the big 3 that he clearly does not have much of a relationship with.
@cap&crunch Steve Kerr said before Poole signed his contract, he was no Steph Curry. People keep focusing on 2 shots that Poole took. That doesn’t make you a great player.
warriors always self destruct when they play against bad Refs. they should expect Refs will give Lakers all the home town calls. They just need to flop and over drama every foul like the Lakers do.
The Lakers lead the league this season in fouls drawn and the Warriors were last. It is not just the refs at work it is the style of play. And if you are going to count on the refs calling charges instead of blocking fouls when the other team’s star players drive to the basket on their home court, then you are asking for trouble.
How about game 2, lakers fans felt the same way that the warriors fans were feeling about game 3 right now.
that is weird Lakers shot 1 more free throw in game 2 than the warriors. Right now in 3 games the Lakers are +44 in FTA. laker fans sure doesn’t know NBA.
Going off full season stats game 2 would be the outlier to the series for the refs
You don’t get fouled much taking jumpers/3’s
But not 40 FTA a game. Most around 20. None of them on purpose in a close game. make all the excuses you want but FTA are the difference in the 2 games won by Lakers.
Horrible NBA product today. 50s players played better defense and can dribble better
How old are you? Most players in the 50s couldn’t dribble at all. Have you ever watched videos of 50s basketball? It is comical how bad the shooting and dribbling was. The dominant player of that era, George Mikan, shot just 40%. It is easy to play defense when guys can’t shoot.
One note, you couldn’t carry and Palm the ball back in the day like they allow now
I said this time and again. Let Jordan Poole experience restricted free agency. Hit a couple of buzz beaters in one season. If you ever watched any sports, 1,000s have had one great season. Most have been cut a season later. The tell tale signs that Poole wasn’t that good were there. Because of you guys getting overly excited about Jordan Poole buzzer beaters, the Warriors can’t sign players they really need.