I’ve been under the weather the last few nights, so I’ve been quietly watching the NBA, Men’s CBB and the NHL (OK, I snuck in the Colts’ comeback last night against Tennessee. Nobody said I was limited in my sports viewing). One game struck me, however…
Golden State v. Oklahoma City – did the ball ever hit the rim?
This was, as we say back in Indiana, an old-fashioned barnburner. Back and forth, three-pointer after three-pointer, three passes and a bomb. Worked that way for both sides until Andre Iguodala ended it with a fade away two as the clock ran out in Oakland – after the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook drained an area code three to take the lead just before Iguodala’s shot. In my mind, the way the NBA should be; defense be damned.
However, the game wasn’t what really caught my attention. It was the apparent rejuvenation of pro basketball in the Bay Area, and the sheer fun that the Warriors seem to have each time they play. Oracle Arena was rocking last night, and that’s the way it appears to be for each game – a real zoo. Home court advantage reigns supreme in the East Bay.
(An aside – props to the people of Sacramento and the Kings. They honed basketball insanity in Northern California to an edge, and, even though selfishly I would have liked to watch the renamed Anaheim Royals, I’m happy Cowbell Kingdom kept the team. The NBA will eventually find Orange County – too much money, too attractive, and too ready for a franchise, if the Clippers and Lakers will stay up I-5).
Golden State is real, deep, talented and arguably the best long-distance shooting team I’ve ever seen. Between Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, they have the All-Star three-point contest on a nightly basis. I can’t imagine the rain that might come from the ceiling at Oracle when Curry and Thompson are right. Truly a show worthy of Pacer hero and TNT broadcaster Reggie Miller (nice job by TNT last night in game assignment).
The Warriors are more than just home run balls, however. Andrew Bogut and David Lee are a mobile front line. Igoudala chose to join the party after a great run at Denver; the Nuggets hardly a slowdown outfit themselves under George Karl. They have maybe the next great coach in the league in Mark Jackson.
Frankly, Golden State is fun to watch. They’re having a blast out there. Curry and Thompson are almost child-like in their enthusiasm and lack of any real conscience in letting it fly. When the guards are off, Lee and Bogut pick up the slack, and Lee may be as big of an outside threat as Curry and Thompson. Jackson’s game calls impressed me as that of a coach who really knows his team, their collective personality and what motivation (or lack of it) they need daily.
This team has holes – the rebounding has to get better; they have got to find a way to win on nights when they shoot 40% from the field, not to mention they still are really young compared to San Antonio, Oklahoma City and the Clippers with Chris Paul (ignoring for the moment former Pacer great Jermaine O’Neal, now on the Golden State bench – he played with Miller and may have more league experience than half the starters). The Warriors woke up the national consciousness last year with that great playoff run, but they need to get to the Conference finals this year to really be taken seriously. And the Spurs, Clippers, Thunder and Nuggets may have something to say about that progression.
But they’re fun to watch. You can imagine Curry and Thompson taking on their NBA fathers, former Charlotte sharpshooter Dell Curry and former Laker big man Mychal Thompson, in a game of horse and eventually beating them by dropping jumper after jumper. David Lee runs the floor with abandon, and Iguodala is the adult in the room after eight great years in Philadelphia and one in Denver, providing veteran stability and a sense of getting the job done. Bogut looks like he has new lease on life after initially working in obscurity in Milwaukee for years. This season may be memorable in Oakland.
The franchise got new ownership, the team is getting a new arena in downtown San Francisco, and the Warriors are now a player in major free agent negotiations. Everything is shining brightly for the NBA in the Bay Area.
What’s intriguing to me is the possibility that Golden State may be around for a long time in the elite of the league, and that they are as young as the perennial heavyweight of the Pacific Division, the Lakers, are old. I may be run out of Southern California by a Purple and Gold horde, but dare I say that I smell a bit of Showtime in the Warriors. I realize that those Laker teams were incredibly special and Magic, Kareem, and James can’t be duplicated. But no one can take away the joy the Warriors appear to have on the court, and the comparison to those Los Angeles championship teams is not misplaced – that team didn’t really gel until Magic arrived on the scene, and I’m thinking Igoudala may be the last piece the Warriors need to get really special. Don’t get me wrong, Andre is not Earvin: but I’m finding that I’m tuning into Golden State games like I used to watch the Lakers back in the day. Pure entertainment.
The lead to this story paraphrased the Weather Girls’ hit (co-written by Late Night with David Letterman’s veteran band leader Paul Shaffer – who knew?); but another song by a local Oakland trio comes to mind – the Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited.
That sums up basketball today in the Bay Area, and the Warriors are providing the impetus. “The City” is back.
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