Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

while i prep for xmas brunch, i read this piece, and it summarized my thoughts (and others here) with supporting data.

basically, it just outlines how lebron's declining defense has been a significant problem for the team (it does more than that, and it also ignores the turnover issue, graciously).

not to beat a (nearly) dead horse, but this definitely informs my trade strategy (i.e., i'm going to be VERY conservative).

 

Yeah, I'm more and more in the camp of not caring about this team and just prepare the future. All moves to be made should prepare us to be in contention in '26, '27 and beyond.

Bron doesn't have it anymore to carry us through a whole game and a stretch of games. Which is mandatory to win a championship.

I don't want to go all-in, use all the picks that mean we are not cotending until at least 2030 for a small chance 2y window with Bron and AD.

Just try to be the best possible this year, make the playoffs, try to win a series and wait for Bron to announce retirement. Then we can get serious

I think this team can beat any team in the league in 1 game. But not 4 teams in a max 28 games in 4 series of 7. Regardless of any trade we can do, Bron can't lead us that way, imo

 

not sure bron can be #2 to AD even, but however you want to put it, the empty-the-chamber trade would have to be for a guy who isn't currently listed as available, imo.

i get that the gs is in our position and they're very publicly scrambling, but i don't know if that's wise. and to be fair, they have yet to give up much of anything in the scramble, which makes me wonder if they're really as into it as folks say.

 

Austin!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe we actually won on Christmas!
Donkey continues to show why he’s the dirtiest player in the game with that double take down of Rui and Dalton at the free throw line- what a clown!
I sure hope AD’s ankle can recover quickly.

 

wanna hear from jj about how we let steph curry get a wide open three to tie it, down three. to me, that's on the coach as much as the players.

loved lebron and reaves just picking on schroder in the 4th to manufacture buckets after we went cold. his defensive rep is a mirage, imo.

didn't like that we almost punted another one, but winning on the road against a full-strength warriors team without AD is a nice way to cancel out the home loss to the under .500 pistons (who apparently own us like they're the previous sacramento kings or something).

btw, warriors better make one of those eleventy zillion trades they got brewing, because if a near-perfect performance from curry at home can't get you a win against the AD-less (and almost fully center-less) lakers, you're in trouble.

stray thoughts:

max is such a mixed bag, but i keep forgetting how young he is. he'll figure out how to finish eventually, i think, but right now, he just looks clueless going to the rim against size. on the other hand, he did a GREAT job using his size and finishing strong against gs's smaller backcourt guys. love seeing us press that advantage. dlo should be taking notes. ironically, dlo finishes better against size (around/under them), and max could probably watch him in that regard.

knecht is another guy who needs time to learn the little things. he has so much skill and is a better passer than i expected, but he just doesn't read the game at the pro level like he needs to if he's going to be a 30mpg guy. hoping the reps this year mean he hits the ground running next year. his streakiness from three really vexes me. that stroke is absolutely pure, but he frequently just shanks good, open, rhythm looks.

reddish is literally sf kwame. i even think their personalities are kinda similar. as are their hands. i did think he swallowed up curry better than anyone else today, though.

rui's shooting was great until it looked like his legs went on him (he was short and even flatter late).

reaves's board work throughout was probably as important as the clutch shotmaking in this one.

with the exception of the sloppy close to the first half, i liked how lebron picked his spots in this one, and he competed defensively again.

draymond green gets away with so much s***, and i'm honestly not sure why. when he got the refs to give him the moving screen call, i actually stood up from the couch. give me a break, man. and the wwf takedown on the ft under the guise of the "locked arms" principle was also just a joke. they called him on it, but you could almost feel like they didn't want to.

kerr's a great coach, but he's still having trouble finding the right combinations on that roster. my guess is they'd win more if they played kyle anderson instead of kuminga, but they sort of can't afford to do it for other reasons. i'm definitely laughing at two-time-line lacob, though. there was, is and only ever will be one timeline, joe: the curry timeline. when that timeline ends, it's back to being sacramento southwest for you.

 

How about that free throw shooting today? 100%!

 

I knew that Steph was going ballistic on us after 2 for 13 or whatever vs Indiana and 2 points vs Memphis and Dennis is still winless in GSW uniform 0-4.
But Austin is get like+15 millions today for his contract.

 

if the guy coming back isn't named luka or anthony, i'm hanging up the second you ask for reaves. gtfoh. oh yeah, sure, dejounte murray for multiple unprotected picks AND reaves. would you like to kick me in the crotch as well?

 

Be careful, Draymond the nutcracker might show up at your house.

 

I hate this guy and forget the you'll love him if he was on your team talk. Just like Beverly I don't want to root for clown like this

 

abeer:
>draymond green gets away with so much s***, and i'm honestly not sure why. when he got the refs to give him the moving screen call, i actually stood up from the couch. give me a break, man. and the wwf takedown on the ft under the guise of the "locked arms" principle was also just a joke. they called him on it, but you could almost feel like they didn't want to.<

It's unreal how he gets away with stuff. Re-watch that play where Steph hits the deep 3 to tie it with 7.1 left: I mean, there's the "you don't call certain fouls in these situations" dealio, but how is that not a moving screen on Dray? If you only watch his mins for an entire game you'll see 4-5 things like that he gets away with, and a lot of it, hate to say it, is because he's smart. That idiotic FT where he tries a Hulk Hogan on DK and Rui: glad Scott Foster had the nads to call him on it. If Draymond gets away with that, and we lose this game, it's just sickening. But he didn't get away with it. The GSW glory days are over, and I couldn't be happier.

Anyway: sweet win, very dramatic, in SF, on national TV, Xmas no less, AD out with an ankle, Koloko getting mins. I expected us to come out and lose the 3rd - maybe get blown out in the 3rd - after playing over our heads in the first half. But they maintained focus.

We had 9 turnovers for the game. Nine! Any one of us would take that any day.

115-113. Lakers win. Clutch late FTs by AR and Max.

AR says, Eff It! and wins the game on a ballsy drive off Wiggins. Mamba Mentality. Hillbilly Kobe. Trip-Dub 26/10/10 on 8 for 20 shooting, 4 for 10 from deep.

Rui 18/4 and 5 for 7 from deep.

Max and Cam played solid defense. We had 6 steals; GSW only 2.

What went wrong: DK and Gabe 2 for 11 from deep. Steph was really good, but his 4th Q against us was some sick-a** jit. His knees are going, but he's still badass AF. Last time a guy torched us with that level of...style?: Probably Ja, last year. But we won this thing.

There were some lousy defensive breakdowns. I'm afraid any one of us can write that sentence after every game, win or lose. And it bugs me, but at least we're focusing on D lately. If we kept up the intensity against Detroit, we have a 5 game winning streak.

Next up: SAC in Crypto on Fri. Let's SWEEP the season with these mugs!

 

The Warriors are just a good matchup for us, even without AD apparently.

 

This team in a nutshell. We can get our a** kicked at home against Detroit to then win without AD in GS with Curry doing Curry things.
This while executing to perfection. Low TOs (we had 2 at the half!), perfect from the line and such a professional performance throughout.

It's what I said the other day, this team is just polarizing. We are not consistent but we can beat anyone in any given night. Especially when Lebron plays with such energy and demeaning.

Still short to be successful in 4 straight playoff series and that's a harsh reality we gotta start to accept


Edit: oh and in that last play, Max switches with Reaves, which was probably the strategy but AR had Green screening him so it was bad call by Max. No way AR could have gotten free. But I think it should have been Rui going to Curry, actually. It's easier to say it in hindsight, but GS were obviously going to Curry, Rui could have let Wiggins, that was inbounding, free and go straight to Curry regardless if AR or Max were going there too.
Even if Curry passed it again to Wiggins a) it's a second pass, so 2 more seconds would pass b) it's Wiggins taking a 3pt shot so we could leave with that

But in the end, it's just a masterpiece by Curry regardless of how cover and I just take my hat to him

 

We actually won on Christmas.

can’t believe we let Curry get that three. Almost turned off the tv in frustration.

Glad I didn’t as seeing Reaves win it for us was a great moment.

 

did you mean "demeanor"? if so, yes, lebron was mixing it up on defense out there. i lol'd when kuminga sheepishly tried to do the shrug after his own big play. you could tell he immediately thought better of it and was like..."oh no...i hope big bro didn't see that..."

 

Yeah, I still don’t believe that JJ didn’t have them foul so Curry wouldn’t be able to sink the inevitable game tying long bomb.
I get it if you are playing a team that doesn’t have a Splash Brother on it, but Come On!
Anyway, the rest of his calls and substitutions worked out great.

 

Yeah I did ahah

There was no possibility to foul. I think we would have, JJ preached it in his podcast. But Curry lost his defender and caught and shot instantly, we weren't close enough to foul