The Warriors‘ late-game issues came to a head on Thursday after their last-second loss to the Rockets. They led by six points with just over a minute left, but let the lead slip away, culminating in a late-game call that head coach Steve Kerr called “unconscionable.”
For what it’s worth, the NBA said that call — a personal foul on a loose ball scramble that resulted in Houston getting game-winning free throws — was correct, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The NBA said of the foul that Jonathan Kuminga reached “over [Jalen] Green in an attempt to get to the ball and pulls his shoulder down.”
Call or no call, the Warriors know they need to be better in late-game situations, Anthony Slater of the Athletic writes. The Warriors rank 27th in the league in field goal percentage in clutch situations.
“The pattern of scoreless droughts down the stretch has to be addressed or else we’ll be a mediocre team,” Stephen Curry said. “I’ll take responsibility for not being able to get us organized and not being able to finish plays. Ball’s in my hands. I got to make shots.
“But I think we can all address certain sets that can get us into better shot-creation type opportunities knowing how teams are trying to guard us, especially the last five minutes. We’re talking about it. We’re experimenting. That’ll be the defining point of our entire season. If we figure it out or if we don’t. Because we’re playing well enough to win most games. That’s a good sign and a bad sign.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kuminga is getting every opportunity to break out, being heavily featured in Golden State’s five games in December. He’s averaging 21.0 points and 5.6 rebounds this month. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Insider link), owner Joe Lacob still has an affinity for Kuminga, but it’s important to note that the two sides were far off on an extension this summer. There’s hope that clarity on Kuminga’s future will come during this stretch of extended looks amid trade rumors that could see the former No. 7 overall pick change hands in exchange for a star.
- Lakers coach JJ Redick said Friday that he’s not sure when LeBron James will return to the team after a second straight absence, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. James is out with foot soreness but was extended an excused absence due to personal reasons. James hasn’t played since Dec. 6.
- The Clippers are getting Ivica Zubac‘s best night in and night out amid a career season, The Orange County Register’s Janis Carr writes. Zubac is averaging career highs in points (14.7) and rebounds (12.2) while the Clippers are 14-12 during a current three-game losing streak.
- Arvydas Sabonis enjoyed a successful NBA career, becoming a Trail Blazers’ mainstay in the 1990s. In a feature story for ESPN, Baxter Holmes explores the connection the senior Sabonis has with his son Domantas, who is carrying the torch from his father while being a star for the Kings. “I’m very happy the Sabonis blood is there and showing [well],” Arvydas said. “My story, it ended short. Now comes a Sabonis with a long story.” I heavily recommend checking out the story in full.
On radio yesterday Kerr said they are not close to any trades and probably will not be until trade deadline. So please nobody say they are getting Butler or LeBron because they can’t be fit under the warriors cap space.
Wiggins and Melton’s salary alone can net you a $44 million a year player so they could in theory trade for mostly anyone if they want to gut their roster.
Switching Wiggins and Butler means better offense but worse defense. You are still $10 million short in matching cap space. payton and Watters would need to be included to make it work. So now the Warriors trade their best 3 defensive players.
I’m just replying to your statement that they don’t have cap space. They do, it just depends on how much they want to gut their roster for another “star” player
They can pick up anyone but it must make sense from a standpoint you want to win. There is not 1 trade scenario that works to make the warriors better picking up Butler because the Heat will want something to make them better too.
You may get your wish this season. Sign and trade in the off season for Jimmy wouldn’t surprise me though.
arc89, thanks for that info on Kerr saying no trades were imminent.
A reminder of what Lakob and MDJ have said repeatedly over the past 5 months. THEY ARE NOT GIVING AWAY THE FUTURE FOR A SLIGHTLY BETTER SHOT AT WINNING IN 2024-25. As soon as this season ends, GSW can start spending over the cap, and be more aggressive. This season is about “resetting” the luxury tax clock, and saving $300M-$500M going forward. Steph understands, and he extended for another year with that in mind. Steph knows that in the next 2 seasons, we can pay for the additional level of talent required to contend.
Lakob and MDJ have repeatedly said:
1. We are not 1 player away from contention – especially because no superstar can be acquired without also trading away a lot. Trading multiple players for Jimmy Butler simply doesn’t raise the team to the level of OKC or Boston.
2. We didn’t give up Podz and/or Kuminga to get Markkanen and/or George because our young core is key to GSW’s future . Listen when Lakob and MDJ say that championship organizations develop young players, not trade them away. (As a generality, that’s provably true.)
3. When it comes to including players in trades, sell high, not low. Player valuation uses their entire history and expected future trajectory – not the most recent 20 games. Podz’ trade value didn’t plummet because he’s sucked for the first 20 games of this season. Nor does Moody’s slow start diminish the 4 years of familiarity that led to a multi-year, $40M contract. These guys are not “throw-ins”.
CONCLUSION: If you believe Lakob and MDJ, at this point any major deal must bring value for many years. And it must bring back substantially more value than we send out. This is about the way good organizations do business, which is not, simply, “let’s roll the dice”.
Every trade works
Example
Draymond to Kings
DeRozan to Heat
Butler to Warriors
Warriors send salary filler to Heat
It’s been over a year I want to trade away Money
Then Warriors acquire a good big man
Why would the Warriors trade their best defender and rebounder? Butler leaves them with to many holes.
SMH Not one of those teams improve just shuffling of players.
Draymond will be with Curry till the end.
If Kuminga wants Jayson Tatum money, he needs to consistently shoot the 3, and FT. Players don’t have to defend him on the perimeter. He is not big enough to play the 4 or 5.
I like JK but he definitely needs to work on his free throws and 3’s! He can address that and the conversation can be had for the big payday.
He is not close to tatum level as a player. Kuminga still has holes in his game like FT.
We seem to forget he’s still only 22.
Kuminga is the exact same height and around the same weight as Jayson Tatum. Tatum seems to do ok playing the 4.
Long read analysis:
Late game losses are always 100% the coaches fault. In Kerr’s case its running poor rotations that get destroyed earlier in the game for way too long, and pulling the ones that are cooking while they are in the middle of extending the lead.
Since the 2019 Finals, Steve Kerr has not been interested in winning basketball games and has been completely out of touch and uninterested in his job, from in-game horrible choices to never developing anyone, Kerr has had 10 years and has been worthless for the last 5, a net negative to the team. Kerr has, his entire career, rode an all-timer to a ring and the only time he didn’t do that was with the Suns, and they won…nothing.
Kerr gotta go, its long been time for Draymond the player-coach. We all know Dray is going to be a HOF coach, so lets get him started now. This also will allow GSW to pay him the league minimum as a player, and then they can make him the highest paid HC, which expands the roster by allowing more money elsewhere. It’s the smartest move for Lacob here.
So much out there about how Kuminga is the Warriors “future” but its actually locking Draymond into a player-coach role, to which he could play indefinitely in smaller doses. It’s the best move for the Warriors, Curry’s legacy and the NBA. We cant keep letting Steve play his worst players in Podz, GP2, Lindy and Spencer in crunch time vs contenders while a 22 year old uninjured Kuminga sits for no reason aside from Kerr’s personal rule that no other team has, “no one is allowed to play under 35 mins”. Idiotic. Steve stinks and doesn’t deserve this job anymore. It’s time for GSW to turn the page on him.
Player-Coach roles have been banned under the CBA for a long time. For exactly the reason you’re trying to propose it – circumventing the salary cap.
If you’re going to go around calling people idiots, at least don’t look like one yourself.
*Over 35 minutes* I meant, damn!!
Davey. Maybe Golden State are just a play in team, first round beat down at best. Kinda like everybody outside the warriors fan base were saying. The shedule was extremely kind first 20 games and you couldn’t stop talking rubbish. Sometimes when you get beat, it’s because you just weren’t good enough and the other team was better. Doesn’t Kerr have like ten nba titles as player and coach? A gold medal winning coach?
In the west the only team yo can say will most likely a 1 to 6 team is OKC. Every other team can go from 1 to 6 to play in team this year. Not a lot of seperation and 1 injury can take a team down.