The Warriors played their annual game in San Jose at the Shark Tank Thursday night, which couldn’t be more appropriate, since Golden State is now the apex predator of the NBA.
The rest of the league could be reduced to the role of cold, dead feeding fish that get thrown in the tank to induce oohs and aahs from the crowd.
The Kings kept the game close for most of the game before a barrage of 3-pointers gave the Warriors a 105-96 win, though that had more to do with what the Warriors weren’t doing — namely taking care of the ball, as they had 23 turnovers — than what the Kings were doing.
Head coach Steve Kerr was less than pleased with that aspect, especially because it was a pregame point of emphasis he said:
“Sloppy, that’s all we talked about before the game was execution. We expended a lot of energy against the Clippers the other night and this was a natural let down game. I was really trying to implore our guys before the game to take care of the ball and execute and unfortunately we didn’t do it.”
DeMarcus Cousins did cause problems, mainly for Zaza Pachulia, as Cousins poured in 20 points in 20 minutes and routinely abused the Warriors starting center. But with one negative, came a definite positive.
Kevin Durant is starting to look very comfortable in a Warriors’ uniform as he poured in 25 points on just 11 shots to lead Golden State — his second 20 point game in a row — after scoring 21 on only 10 shots Tuesday.
Draymond Green said it’s evident how much more comfortable Durant is but there is still progress to be made:
“He’s definitely getting more and more comfortable, I still think he needs to get more aggressive but, that will all come with time.”
Durant said that he thought he was pretty aggressive, but there’s still so much to learn about this offense:
“We are still just figuring out the offense, the lineups, what guys do and their tendencies. It’s all new and it’s all going to take some time, we just have to be patient.”
Thursday’s game saw Klay Thompson look almost human with 11 points on 4-8 shooting, and Stephen Curry look more like a distributor than ever.
It has to be exhausting for the rest of the NBA to try to come up with ways to stop this team. The Warriors offense truly is like a shark, a swirling mess of teeth and blood and guts that’s impossible to counter or comprehend where they are going to attack from next.
Durant playing point with Curry and Klay coming off screens on opposite sides or the court? There goes your arm.
Curry screening for Durant off the ball? Where’d my foot go?
And even if you deny those three and let the Warriors least-threatening guys beat you — an All-NBA power forward and a center that averaged a double-double at the All-Star break last year — the screen-and-roll with Green and Pachulia may be the most deadly weapon of all.
The defenders either have to stay glued to Curry, Thompson and Durant, which gives a wide open lane to the screen-and-roll, or help off one of the three best 3-point shooters in the game to stop what may be the best passing four in the NBA.
Either option leads to massive amounts of blood in the water.
But here’s the most frightening part: That’s just the offense. Put Golden State’s defense in the mix, and it’s like wandering aimlessly from one attack to the next, like Sideshow Bob stepping on 100 rakes one after the other.
And just like that gag, all you will be able to do when you watch them is just laugh.
Kevon Looney returned to game action after missing last game with a strained groin.
The Warriors get the next eight days off before traveling to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Friday, Oct. 14.
Last modified October 8, 2016 5:39 pm
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