The younger guys understand the veterans will get more of those opportunities, a source told ESPN. But, at 10-11 at the quarter mark of the season, everything is on the table for Golden State.
“You factor in the human being, you factor in injuries, you factor in rhythm,” Kerr said. “We have not found any clarity. I’m trying to keep my guys going, keep them calm and give everybody a chance.”
As I noted in my extended game recap, the free throw disparity was a deciding factor in the outcome of the game. It wasn’t the only factor, but it was there. And yes, I found it somewhat annoying. It was, as they say, one of those nights.
Veteran, and championship, privilege was certainly part of the equation. When you see Draymond Green match up against Toumani “How Do You Spell That?” Camara, you’re going to assume that Green has precedent on any calls that are in doubt. Due to injuries, Camara was near the top of the recognizable name list last night. Duop Reath and Jabari Walker aren’t well known. Scoot Henderson is a rookie, Shaedon Sharpe a sophomore, and Anfernee Simons isn’t known as a defender. That’s just not going to work out well in the NBA culture.
Gary Payton II will be out at least one more week as he recovers from a strained right calf, the Warriors announced.
Payton, 31, injured his right calf coming off of a screen and exited early from the Warriors’ loss to the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 28. An MRI revealed a strain with a tentative week-to-week timeline for recovery.
Payton will, at least, miss the Warriors’ next road trip against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers. At the time of his injury, Payton was playing his second game since returning from an ankle sprain that sidelined him for three games prior.
Portis, who scored four points on just five shots against Indiana in a near-season-low 18 minutes, quickly interjected and stressed how essential it is for Griffin to structure the offense down the stretch of games, sources said.
As one of the leaders of the team, Portis continued on voicing his concerns. Griffin welcomed the criticism and acknowledged he could do a better job being more aggressive with his play-calling, sources say. The nine-year veteran explained that it’s a two-way street: direction is needed and then it’s up to the players to execute, sources say.
This game is an excellent example of what Williamson and Ingram should strive to do as stars if they want to bring their games to the next level. To be great, you have to be selfless enough to do whatever it takes to win big games whether that’s scoring 30 points, grabbing 15 rebounds or taking two charges with a 285-pound bowling ball coming in your direction.
Too often, Williamson and Ingram allow their confidence and impact on a game to be dictated by what they’re doing on the offensive end. The true definition of a superstar is being selfless enough to volunteer whatever the team needs on any given night to win a big game. It’s not always going to be perfect, but the effort alone is enough to galvanize a team — or to crumble everyone else’s confidence when they see their star’s unwillingness to fulfill that role.
But instead of clicking, we might instead get an alteration. With Wiggins sidelined for two games last week, Moody got a chance to enter the starting lineup, and played quite well. Even with Moody returning to the bench during Wednesday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers, you could see the impact of Moody’s push towards a larger role: he played 26 minutes; Wiggins and Thompson played 27. Kuminga, temporarily pushed out of the rotation due to a severe case of Too Many Good Players, didn’t enter until there were 17 minutes left in the game. He played all 17 of those minutes, at the expense of both Wiggins and Thompson.
Look, Chris Paul complains all the time. He can be very annoying as an opponent and even as a teammate. But there is no reason that we should know this much about his beef with a particular referee. Silver isn’t wrong to ask both men to show professionalism, but Chris Paul is a future Hall of Famer. Scott Foster is just a ref.
No one is buying a ticket to see Scott Foster. No one is collecting Scott Foster trading cards. No one wants to hear about referees!
A tweet to end the week:
