Nineteen minutes. The Golden State Warriors and their fans got a glimpse of shiny new superstar Kevin Durant for nineteen minutes Saturday night.
Durant’s stat line wasn’t great — 2-of-9 for nine points, four boards, three assists, three turnovers — but the shots and the movement, they were all there.
Fans also got a look at how Klay Thompson would react to this new starting lineup, with all the summertime talk of how there is “only one basketball,” or how he’d be the most likely Warrior to take on the Chris Bosh sacrifice stats role.
That’s probably not going to be an issue, as Thompson led the team in field goal attempts with 13 shots — 11 of them from three-point range — in 19 minutes played.
The overall theme for this first preseason game was potential. The actual score didn’t matter much — Raptors 97, Warriors 93 — Saturday night was all about what we could see from this team later.
Things like Durant potentially shooting wide-open threes for the first time in his NBA career, or the potential of the Curry-Klay-Iguodala-KD-Green lineup closing games on the regular. Especially since they are already producing plays like this.
The potential of second-round pick Patrick McCaw — who had his praises sung by almost everyone coming out of training camp — was also on display.
Though McCaw is of slight stature at 6-foot-7 and just 185 pounds — Shaun Livingston would hulk him — he made his mark on the game, especially towards the end.
The rookie from UNLV finished with 11 points, four assists and five steals, and didn’t look out of place playing with the starters for a stretch in the second quarter. This couldn’t have been a better debut.
Potential is always something mentioned whenever talking about JaVale McGee and tonight was no different.
McGee showed why the Warriors are so intrigued by him, blocking three shots and showing off a shockingly smooth running hook shot.
If the competition ended today McGee would almost assuredly claim the 15th and final roster spot.
This was just a blink of an eye in terms of what we will see, or what’s even possible, with this Warriors team. But we know one thing for sure, it’s potentially awesome.
The Warriors return to the Bay next week with two games, Tuesday vs. the Clippers in what will be the Oracle debut of the 2016-17 team. And then they travel to Shark territory and host the Kings Thursday at SAP Center in San Jose.
Last modified October 4, 2016 12:09 am
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