I’m a big Horford fan. He’s making such a huge difference in this series. His great shooting is a big part of how they’re doing. Means Dray can’t roam roam in the paint like he normally does.
He’s shooting out of his mind the entire playoffs…
Al is an interesting case study for the rise of 3p shooting. He took 18 attempts his first six seasons. 11 in his seventh. 36 in his eighth. Has attempted 200+ in every season since except last year when he sat out a lot of the year.
But yes, he has been unconscious these playoffs. I know that he will come back down to earth at some point but man I hope it’s not until October
I teased this earlier. With the season winding down, why not get it started to give us another thing to argue about in here!
I’m gonna post this list as one player per day. Instead of counting down from 25 to 1 like most lists do, I’m gonna go 1 to 25, as the top spots are where there is the least debate. Starting today, that means #10 would be revealed the day of a potential Game 7 and #25 on the 4th of July.
Criteria: combination of stats, career accomplishments, dominance in their era, iconic status, and of course just my personal opinion. Stuff like this is obviously always tough because sure transporting players straight from the 50s/60s into the modern game wouldn’t be a fair way to view the old players, but at the same time we can’t pretend someone like Bob Cousy (hint he isn’t on this list) deserves a spot high on the list.
So to get this started, I’ll post the obvious #1 shortly.
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Easy guy to root for as well, even if I’m not rooting for the Celtics this series.
I’m bored - so I looked up a couple of things:
How does Draymond play after a bad game. I looked at how he did the game after a game where he played 15 minutes or more, and scored 5 or fewer points and had 4 or fewer assists. I removed any inactives, or the games that were the last game in the regular season. I also just looked at the years he was a starter - so 2014 on. He had 26 games like that (none in the playoffs from 2014 on - he had a couple when he was a bench guy early in his career, those did not get counted). The Warriors were 15-11 in the next game, he shot 42.4% from the field, 33% from three and averaged 9ppg, 6.7rpg, 6.5apg, 2.2 turnovers, 1.8 steals, 1 block and just 2.9 fouls. Really not far off from his average line from 2014-now.
So, same dude as he normally is. Only twice in those 26 games did he have a back-to-back stinker (two games in a row with 15+mins, <6 points <5 assists). One game against Orlando in Feb 2019 where he went 5/6/3 and one against Dallas in Jan 2020 where he was 5/3/4.
Before the series I heard some podcast where the host (accurately!) says teams can’t really practice for the Warriors offense and specifically Steph because no one else is like the GSW offense, and obviously there’s no one else like Steph. You can have Payton Pritchard run around, but it’s not the same thing. I was curious if, after playing GSW/Steph for 4 games and having the full Steph Curry Experience, if the following games (5, 6 and 7) they defend him better.
It’s slightly worse, but not much. I would bet most players percentages drop off the further they get in a series. Maybe I’ll look at that at some point.
His best shooting games are G1 (48.2% / 44.8%) and G7 (43.9% / 43.8%), though there have been only 4 game 7s. Game 1 might have been a little bit of what that podcast said - that defenders just can’t know what’s going to hit them.
This doesn’t include the last game against the Celtics. I wasn’t board enough to update it.
Anyway. No big reveals… Draymond’s back to normal after a bad game, and Steph maybe dips from G1 a bit but stays awesome throughout. G4 has been his highest PPG with a decent sample size.
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Adam Morrison?
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George Mikan?
Peach Basket Pete?
I never realized how trash at offense Draymond was until recently. I don’t follow NBA that closely, but I feel like the number of clips I have seen of Draymond doing offense over the years is far out of proportion to his actual ability.
I guess it’s possible he used to be good and now he isn’t.
Another big thing the offense is missing is Jordan Poole. We got hereb2ith him dropping 20 ppg on good efficiency and he’s completely disappeared.
It isn’t just the defense either because he’s getting good looks oft the pnr just like steph but he’s scared to shoot. Which is weird because he’s usually the most confident player I’ve ever seen
He’s not that guy yet. Steph is one of a kind.
I have no idea how much this series is causing minds to shift on a Poole extension.
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Warriors offensive rating when steph is on the floor is 115. 94 when he’s off
I mean he just needs to take his open 3s. He been doing it all playoffs.
Physicality and bright lights probably getting to him
At this rate dray and klay will be on a vet min when poole and wigs contract is up
I’m hopeful that Klay will be better next year.
Looney out, Porter in.
PLAY BALL
will draymond foul out again?
Will Klay get 22 points?
Will the warriors realize their basket is too high again?
I’m kinda cool however this turns out actually. Just hope steph is healthy and continues to play well
I expect a close game. Wouldn’t be surprised with a win by either team
I’m expecting a huge game Steph tonight, don’t get in foul trouble