The fourth death of the Warriors Dynasty
The eulogies are getting familiar.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Sorrowing Old Man; Vincent van Gogh; 1890
The Warriors Dynasty died when Klay Thompson tore his ACL, Kevin Durant tore his Achilles and Durant left for Brooklyn in 2019. The next season, the team’s first at their new arena in San Francisco, featured an early Stephen Curry hand injury and a 15-50 record. They were so bad they didn’t make the cut to join the bubble. They were so bad they landed the No. 2 pick.
The Warriors Dynasty died again when, having been re-joined by Steph and a fresh infusion of talent in the form of Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and rookie James Wiseman, the team found itself 24-28 and 10th place in the West with 20 games to go. Golden State would rally to climb above .500 (38-34 — they went 14-6 down the stretch) and finished No. 8 in the conference (salvation?), only to lose two play-in games to the Lakers and Grizzlies, respectively, to miss the playoffs for a second straight season. (Remember those teams.)
The Warriors Dynasty re-established itself with a championship in 2022 that seems even more amazing every day.
The Warriors Dynasty died a third time in 2022-23, when for a spell the team simply could not win on the road. Golden State was below .500 (29-30) and back in 10th place in the West in late February. They rallied (15-8) down the stretch to finish No. 6 in the conference and beat the Kings in one of the best first-round series in a decade (absolution?). Then the Lakers dropkicked them out of the second round. Whatever we thought the Warriors Dynasty still had appeared to actually be just Steph Curry and nostalgia.
The Warriors Dynasty is dying for a fourth time in front of our eyes. Golden State is 18-22 and in 12th place in the conference. Steph has only missed three games. They have the sixth-worst defense in the league. Draymond Green says he had to be talked out of retirement by the commissioner of the league after consecutive suspensions for choking and punching opponents in separate incidents. Steve Kerr seems quite clearly on the verge of leaving, much like front office leader Bob Myers did last offseason. Jonathan Kuminga is launching broadsides on the franchise and coach over playing time … and he’s right.
On Monday, this corpse team lost to an opponent missing four of its five 2022-23 starters. GG Jackson, a kid from South Carolina who just turned 19 a month ago and who was the 45th pick in the NBA Draft last summer, dropped 23 on the Warriors.
Jaren Jackson Jr., the last man standing for Memphis, was 4/20 from the floor and 3/14 from deep. And the Grizzlies still beat the Warriors on national T.V. The lineup featuring Luka Kennard, Vince Williams Jr., Xavier Tillman, Jacob Gilyard and GG put the game away with a 20-7 run in the fourth. THIS WARRIORS TEAM WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP NOT TWO YEARS AGO. Was Jordan Poole that important? Was he?
Will there be another re-animation? Will there be a fifth death of the Warriors Dynasty? Or is this one final?
Scores
Rockets 115, Sixers 124 — Joel Embiid came back and dropped 41 and 10 like clockwork. Of course, he’s getting s—t from analysts because this might mean that he won’t play Tuesday against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
Pelicans 120, Mavericks 125 — So New Orleans beat the Mavericks without four key players over the weekend … and then lost to basically the same Dallas team (no Luka Doncic) on Monday. That’s extremely 2023-24 New Orleans Pelicans. A confounding team. Gulf Coast Kings.
Pistons 129, Wizards 117 — Lots of juice for Jaden Ivey (24-7-6) and Jalen Duren (20-19) as Detroit picks up Win No. 4 in their 40th game. Was it just that they were facing the awful Wizards, or is something finally changing in Motown?
Magic 98, Knicks 94 — Jalen Brunson out a second straight game with a calf injury. It doesn’t seem serious.
Spurs 99, Hawks 109 — The Spurs are going to get a few more good players, and they are going to figure this out. And Big Vic is going to figure out what he needs to figure out, too.
In a recent interview on TNT, [Dejounte Murray] opened up about the rumors regarding his former team, the San Antonio Spurs, showing interest in a possible trade. Murray described Popovich as more than just a coach and expressed his openness to considering any offers that might come his way.
"Pop is like a father to me, I would welcome that. But right now, I’m a Hawk, I’m going to stay professional and play the right way," said Murray.
“But right now, I’m a Hawk” is an incredible sentence.
Warriors 107, Grizzlies 116 — A beautiful moment for GG Jackson, who was born in December 2004 (!), when “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Another factoid: Shaq was already on the Heat when GG was born. GG was not alive for Shaq on the Magic or the Lakers. We have players in the NBA who were born post-Kobe & Shaq.
Bulls 91, Cavaliers 109 — Good effort to take a brief lead in the fourth for Chicago, but Cleveland put their foot down. One of the hottest teams in the league. They have a home-road split that’s about to come due, though.
Celtics 105, Raptors 96 — This Boston team is pretty darn professional. It just beats teams that it’s supposed to beat. I’m seeing 65 wins possible here. The vibes are strong, too: Oshae Brissett’s Jamaican grandma caters the Celtics’ locker room meals when the team visits Toronto. I have never wanted to be a Celtic more in my life.
Heat 96, Nets 95 (OT) — This game went to overtime tied 88-88. Dear Pat Riley: NO. We’re not doing this again.
Pacers 105, Jazz 132 — OK, so did Will Hardy just accidentally happen upon magic for the second straight year? Is he giving us peaks of latent genius before letting his team tank out again? Is Lauri Markkanen in the state of Utah just so powerful that even strategic losing cannot overcome his power? COLLIN SEXTON? IN THIS ECONOMY?
Thunder 105, Lakers 112 — Very good and important win for the Lakers. Some analysts have been grouping the Suns, Lakers and Warriors together of late, largely to collectively make fun of them all. Fair. But I think the three teams are on different layers of the doom cycle. Los Angeles’ margin between reality and being pretty good is quite small. Not the case for, say, the Warriors.
Anthony Davis is feeling it.
The Lakers have booped ahead of the Rockets for the final play-in spot.
Since there’s really nowhere else to put this, here’s Podcast P, Ivica Zubac and friends breaking down LeBron dunking on Paul’s head. Language, obvs. A beautiful breakdown. PG is the best active player-podcaster and I’m not sure it’s close. What a joy to hear him processing with friends in real-time.
Schedule
This 3-game slate could be incredible, or could end up a dud. Only one way to find out! All times Eastern.
Nuggets at Sixers, 7:30, TNT
Kings at Suns, 9
Thunder at Clippers, 10, TNT
Be excellent to each other.
this is so good. the Warriors "death" that spoke loudest to me was Draymond assaulting Poole. and the team's response. and the League's response. ugly work, all of it.
My contrarian Warriors GM suggestion:
Trade Steph.
Crazy, obviously, could never do it for a million reasons it seems right? Face of the franchise, got to treat him right, sells tix etc etc.
Every warriors fans trying to fix this end of dynasty and maximize the end of Steph's prime says trade Klay or Wiggs or Dray or all the youngins or whatever. But every veteran asset on the team is at their lowest value, you probably have to include an asset (JK, Podz etc) just to unload them. There is no way you are trading Klay or Wiggs for some asset that puts you over the top, turns out other GMs are not all morons.
So it seems like you are in box, we don't have the assets to improve to contention, and all us fans are miserable watching Steph struggle and Wiggs/Klay/Dray/Loon all performing well below their old standard.
The asset is Steph! He could take a team to a championship. In a couple years he will have no value left, you have no chance to rebuild around him enough to win again, and you are just going to burn his last good miles losing and being frustrated for everybody. Maybe Kerr leaves, then what? Maybe Kerr stays, then what? It's all sad.
Now, imagine: with Steph's permission, you agree that he's THE warrior for life but you will trade him to finish his career with Shai and Chet at OKC winning a couple more rings, and in return take all those draft picks OKC can't really use anyway because there are only so many roster spots. Steph, after some reflection happily accepts this because he knows he will just lose here, and everyone will just be sad. And while we all thought he would only wear one uniform... in this actual reality, he will be happier winning a couple more rings with OKC. And we will be happier, in the long run, rooting for him as he wins at OKC, and having a cupboard full of young talent rather than grinding out some sad half-rebuild years.