J-Speaks: Wounded Warriors

On Wednesday night, the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors won versus the Los Angeles Lakers (31-37) 117-106 to snap a two-game losing streak. They were led by the 26 points of Kevin Durant, who was 10 for 19 from the field. The major story for the defending champs was who did not play for them that night. 

In a season that has seen the Warriors (52-16), who are right now No. 2 in the rugged Western Conference, behind the Top Seeded Houston Rockets (54-14), they have had to deal with a number of injuries to key personnel of theirs.

Starting All-Star lead guard and two-time league MVP Stephen Curry, who turned 30 on Wednesday missed his third straight game after re-injuring his right ankle in a Mar. 8 110-107 victory versus the No. 8 Seeded San Antonio Spurs (39-30) on TNT. Fellow “Splash Brother” and All-Star Klay Thompson was also out due to a fractured right thumb that he sustained in the team’s 109-103 loss at the No. 5 Seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (40-29) last Sunday afternoon on ABC. He will be on the shelf until Mar. 22, where he will be re-evaluated after the team’s next three games. 

Not only do the Warriors not have the second best three-pointer shooter, in terms of percentage in “The Association” in Thompson, but the Warriors will be without, the fourth best player in the league when it comes to connections from long distance at 206, with Curry right in front of him at 209. Head coach Steve Kerr will also be without his best perimeter defender, and one of the most durable players in the game. 

Since 2011, the year that Thompson was drafted at No. 11 overall by the Warriors in 2011, only DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers has played in more regular season games than the 530 out of 542 by the Washington State University product. The only game he missed this season came on Jan. 10, a 125-106 loss by the Warriors versus the Los Angeles Clippers (37-30). 

“There are things I’m not able to do during the season. Get some well-earned rest,” Thompson said before the game on Wednesday on what being on the shelf means for him right now. “I’ll be mentally fresh most importantly in a week. I’ll be eager to get out there. That’s how I look at it.”

Head coach Steve Kerr echoed those same sentiments by saying, "Klay plays every game. I think he's missed 12 games in his entire career. That's crazy: 530 out of 542 (games). It's not like these are minutes where he's just spotting up. He's running everywhere and chasing every opposing team's best guards. The guy is a machine."

"Even without the thumb (injury), we were considering giving him a game or two off here down the stretch. He's looked a little more spent recently. I look at this like a positive. I think this will be a really productive in the long haul. It's not fun to deal with, but a couple of weeks where he can get away from the game a little bit, heal, recharge the batteries and get rolling. It's probably good thing in the long run." 

Besides being without the “Splash Brothers” on Wednesday night, the Warriors were also missing their definition of a swiss army knife in All-Star Draymond Green with right shoulder soreness, as well as reserves in guard Patrick McCaw and veteran forward David West due to a non-displaced left wrist fracture and a right arm cyst respectably. West is expected to be back as soon as Friday night versus the Sacramento Kings (22-47).  

Durant however will be shelved against the Kings on Friday night and for some games after. The 2014 league MVP, and 2017 Finals MVP according to an MRI on Friday revealed a incomplete rib cartilage fracture. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks. 

Veteran forward/guard Andre Iguodala had missed the three games because of a sprained left wrist but did return on Wednesday night scoring three points and registering two assists in 22 minutes off the bench. 

Rookie center Jordan Bell, who had missed a bunch of games over the past two months because of an ankle injury returned to the lineup after a three-game absence, scoring six points, with three boards and two assists in 18 minutes off the bench. 

Most teams that would be in this situation with their All-Stars and key reserves on the shelf because of injury would cause that particular organization to panic, coach Kerr sees this as a blessing in the skies for some of the second stringers to get some serious playing time. 

That is what took place versus the Lakers, with their starting quintet consisting of Quinn Cook, Durant, Nick Young, Kevon Looney and ZaZa Pachulia.

Starting in place of Curry Cook, a G-League call up had 13 points in 27 minutes on 5 for 11 shooting. Young, who started in Thompson’s place had 18 points, while Looney starting in place of Green had a career-high 11 points with five boards.

Reserve forward Omri Casspi had 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench, on 7 for 8 shooting, while understudy guard Shaun Livingston had 13 points in 20 minutes. 

A bench unit that came in averaging 32.9 points this season, ranking 21st in the NBA had 39 points against the Lakers.

In his first start since the All-Star break, Pachulia, who had been replaced by JaVale McGee at the starting center had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds and five assists. 

“I think our whole team looked at it as an opportunity for us to figure things out,” Durant, who also had five rebounds, six assists and two steals said to ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the win. “You know, guys that don’t play a lot get an opportunity to play late in a game like tonight. Looney, Nick Young, Omri Casspi, ZaZa, Quinn Cook everybody played great tonight. So, we got to try to build on this momentum and see if we can get the next game.”

Even without three of their four All-Stars, the Warriors out-rebounded the Lakers 50-35; registered 25 assists on 44 baskets, shooting 54.3 percent from the floor. 

There were some areas in which the Warriors top players were missed against the Lakers and in their two prior losses at the T’Wolves, and at the Trail Blazers (42-26), 125-108 on Mar. 9. 

The visitors shot 45.2 percent on the night and committed 21 turnovers, with 11 of them coming on steals. 

“These games are fun when guys who don’t ordinarily get to play much, when they get a chance and really contribute,” Kerr, whose team won their seventh in a row versus the Lakers, and their 11 in succession against them at Oracle Arena said. “It strengthens the team.” "I actually look at this, long-term as a positive." 

What also strengthens a team is to know that everyone can enjoy one another’s company away from the game, which is what the team did as they celebrated Curry’s 30^th Birthday with a big-time party on Monday with rap legend Earl Stevens, who rap name is E-40 providing the vocals.

There was social media video of Curry enjoying a plate of ribs while his teammates were dancing. Even Kerr and assistant coach Mike Brown were tearing it up on the stage. 

The whole team from the players and coaches had such a good time that, dancing up a storm that, practice was cancelled. 

What this moment really puts into perspective with the Warriors under Kerr is that when one of the members of the team celebrates something, the entire team participates, and things of this nature bring a team closer sometimes than watching film and going through a shootaround to prepare for the 68^th game of the season. 

Along with that, what makes the Warriors great are the great players like Curry, who seems to get better year-in and year-out from his ability to make shots from way outside three-point range. Thompson who is as comfortable being a third banana to Curry and Durant on offense, to doing the dirty work of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player. 

The victory also clinched the team’s sixth straight postseason appearance, which tied their six straight postseason appearances from 1946-47 through 1951-52 when the team was in Philadelphia, PA. 

This time also gives Kerr and his coaching staff the opportunity to get the second unit and the rest of the supporting cast that has been up and down this season on track. 

As NBATV’s Sekou Smith points out during Wednesday’s edition of “10 Before Tip,” with Jared Greenberg a lot of the supporting cast has changed since the team’s first title in 2014-15 outside of Livingston and Iguodala, the 2015 Finals MVP. 

Bell has shown flashes of what he could contribute when he has been healthy, but he has not and neither has McCaw, who really came on in the postseason a year ago in the Warriors run to their second title in the last three seasons a year ago. 

“Health as the Warriors know Jared is priority No. 1, because when you go into the postseason with anybody in your core group injured, it takes your chemistry and shakes it up a little bit,” Smith said on Wednesday.

That is something the Warriors found out two years ago, when they lost in the 2016 Finals two years ago to the defending three-time Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers. 

It is because of that the Warriors are not overly concerned about getting the No. 1 Seed in the West, which they essentially lost to the Rockets thanks to losing the season series against them 2-1 this season and that they are two games back on the loss side to the Southwest Division champions. 

That being said, the Warriors have to remain sharp because in the opposite conference the East leading Toronto Raptors (51-17), who if they were to finish with a better record than the defending champions, they would have home court in The Finals if they met. 

Each time the Warriors have reach The Finals the past three seasons, they have home court advantage.

If they finish at No. 2 and if the Raptors reach The Finals this June and have a better record than the Warriors, they would have home court advantage, and that would not be a good thing for the Warriors if they are not healthy and whole.

“When you’re trying to get there, the No. 1 Seed means something to your group,” Smith said. “Your guys are looking at it saying, ‘This is not only a validation for what we’ve done throughout the course of a regular season, this is also the prize that we needed for the playoffs.” 

“To know that every time we start a series for as long as we play, were going to do it with out home fans in the comfort of home.”

No one understands that better than the Warriors, who have one of the best crowds you will ever see. When Oracle arena is rocking, it is one tough place to play and get a win when you are a visitor.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 3/14/18 6:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “10 Before Tip,” with Jared Greenberg; 3/15/18 1 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” with Scott Van Pelt; 3/14/18 www.nba.com article, “Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson Out with Fractured Right Thumb;” 3/16/18 www.nba.com article, “Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant out versus Sacramento Kings;” 3/17/18 6:30 a.m. edition of NBATV's "Gametime," presented by Kia with Rick Kamla, Mike Fratello and David Aldridge; www.nba.com/games/20180314/LALGSW#/recap/matchup/boxscore;

www.nba.com/games/20180316/SACGSW#/preview www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2566745/quinn-cook; www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3064427/jordan-bell; www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.google.com and www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/3-points/sort/threePointFieldGoalsMade.