00:00The Warriors looked awesome.
00:01Yeah, awesome.
00:02We asked for defense.
00:03We got it.
00:04Yeah, you did.
00:05Why do you say it like that?
00:07Because the Clippers were bad.
00:09It's not like the Warriors were good on defense, but the Clippers could not score,
00:13and the Warriors didn't really score much either.
00:15It was kind of an ugly grinder game, and the thing that stuck with me was
00:20it was a classic DubCon 3, like the old days where you come out in the third quarter
00:25and you put the hammer on a team, and then you win.
00:28And, you know, James Harden in the third quarter was mostly bottled up,
00:32and when he wasn't, he wasn't good, and Kawhi missed shots,
00:36and even Zubats was about the only offense they had.
00:39And so, yeah, it's the NBA, and the Warriors, I do think,
00:43this team is going to have to win in a number of different ways.
00:47And last night they won ugly, and they won.
00:50And that game was an Ottoman game.
00:52After about eight minutes of the third quarter, they were up 20,
00:56and that thing was over.
00:58I was really excited about that.
01:02Really, really excited about it.
01:03Yeah, it was fun.
01:04And I don't necessarily think we can automatically do the,
01:08hey, the Clippers missed shots and they were bad.
01:11Like, I don't know sometimes how we get to decide when was a defensive performance good
01:16and when was it the fault of the offense, you know?
01:19It was both.
01:20I mean, sure, they played a really good game,
01:23and that was a game where they were underdogs.
01:25I think that the feeling was there in the first half.
01:30You know, they're on a back-to-back.
01:31The Clippers are not.
01:32And the feeling in the first half was, oh, you played a great first quarter,
01:36but then you kind of let it slip away there at the end of the second quarter,
01:39and how the hell are you trailing at half?
01:41And, right, even Bob Fitzgerald last night was like,
01:43this thing has an ominous feel in that the Warriors are playing great,
01:47but they don't have enough of a lead.
01:49And then by halftime, they had no lead.
01:51And they came out early in the third, and they just kind of played, you know,
01:54a little bit of a boxing match for about four or five minutes,
01:57and it was a little bit of this back and forth.
01:59And then they went on an unbelievable run, and the Clippers could not score.
02:04The Warrior effort, this is where I think this whole strength in numbers thing plays in.
02:09You're seeing guys not have to play Herculean minutes and put in a Herculean effort.
02:15You've got reinforcements who are coming in and doing the job.
02:19And, like, I don't think the Warriors' start could have been any better to this year.
02:25Like, think about what they've achieved with this 4-1 start.
02:28Yeah, 4-1.
02:29But not just 4-1.
02:30Look who they've beaten.
02:31Look at who this team has beaten already.
02:34And I'm sitting here going, damn, like, this is a really, really good basketball team.
02:42They're really easy to root for.
02:44They've got all kinds of pieces that are coming at you,
02:47and we know that they're going to acquire more.
02:50Injury update on DeAnthony Melton today.
02:52They're ramping up activity and should see them hopefully in about three weeks or so.
02:57Seth Curry will be on the team by then, too.
02:59I don't even know how they're going to figure out all the minutes.
03:02Buddy Heald only got 10 last night.
03:03You know, like, there are going to be nights where big-name players don't do a lot.
03:07But, wow, I could not be more impressed with them right now.
03:11That was a fun win last night.
03:12And if you look at the game in totality, even with the Clippers leading at halftime,
03:16and they were up by three, they shot 36%, 18 of 50,
03:22and they had eight free throws, and the Warriors had won.
03:25So, yeah, the Clippers had the lead, but they could not make a shot.
03:29And James Hodden was able to get to the foul line and, you know,
03:33cause you the usual amount of problems.
03:35He was 7 of 7.
03:36And then in the third quarter, you stopped fouling him,
03:39and you made them make shots, and they didn't make shots because they didn't make shots all night.
03:43And then you got your team rolling, and you had a QP 3, 3.
03:48You had Jimmy Butler hit a couple more, and you started to really exert your will at home.
03:53And by the time he got to the end of the third quarter and early fourth, that thing was over.
03:57And so, yeah, it was close early because the Clippers got to the foul line,
04:01and James Harden was doing James Harden things.
04:04And I know you don't love him and watching him.
04:07He's not my favorite player to watch, but he is an unbelievable, modern-day basketball player.
04:13He knows how to play.
04:15He knows how to get you into the spot where you're going to foul him.
04:19He's going to throw the beard back.
04:21And you're going to lean.
04:22He's going to get you.
04:23If you want to talk about foul merchants all time, he is one of the top five easily all-time of foul merchants.
04:31And, yeah, good for you.
04:33It's like that guy at the farmer's market who is selling whatever he's selling,
04:37and there's a long line at his booth, and somebody across the way might be selling the same thing,
04:42but there's a long line at his booth because he's a foul merchant.
04:45100%.
04:46He's elite.
04:47Every fan in the NBA thinks that all the guys on the other teams are foul merchants,
04:51and you sort of blow it off when it's your team.
04:54Jimmy Butler's a foul merchant.
04:56There's no question about it.
04:57He searches that stuff out.
04:59Brandon Pajemski's a flopper.
05:01Like, I get it.
05:02I get it.
05:03I hate it every time he hits the floor because he's trying to, again, you know my rule.
05:08I don't like basketball where you have players who overdo.
05:14I know everybody does this to a certain degree, but you overdo the whole idea of all I'm trying to do is get the official
05:20to think that something that didn't happen happened.
05:23I can't stand that stuff.
05:24Like, if it happens, sure, you can embellish to try to get a foul call, but, dude, your option A should be to put the ball in the hole.
05:34You know what I mean?
05:35Like, I don't ever look at Steph Curry and believe, like, he's not trying to put the ball in the hole.
05:42Put the ball in the hole.
05:43And then if you can embellish a little bit and get a foul call, too, fine.
05:46But there are players in this league that literally look like they're not even interested in making a basket.
05:51They just want to get underneath your elbows.
05:54The one metric I would love to have somebody track is FGAFD, field goal attempt, falling down.
06:02Like, how many field goal attempts do you attempt where you actually wind up on the ground?
06:07Because Jordan Poole is a guy.
06:09Jordan Poole did it a lot.
06:10Steph Curry does it a lot when he goes to the basket, or even when he shoots a three.
06:14If he shoots a three, he'll kick out, and he might fall down.
06:17James Harden falls down.
06:19LeBron James, who's 6'8", 250, he falls down.
06:23Like, I wonder how many of these people who are foul merchants, how many of your shot attempts result in you falling down?
06:31Real quick, let's go to Chris in Sonoma.
06:33And then I want to make a point, or at least ask a question about Jonathan Kaminga.
06:37Chris, welcome to the show.
06:39What's going on, man?
06:41Hi, fellas.
06:41Thanks for taking my call.
06:43How are you doing today?
06:43What's up?
06:44So, what's up is, let's look at the Warriors' defense last night.
06:50Totally different from the first four games of the year, in my opinion.
06:55One of the big differences was Quentin Post was actually doing a pretty good job of battling inside,
07:03and if he couldn't secure a rebound, he was hitting some bodies to allow a teammate to get it.
07:10I think the main thing I want to say about the defense is the Warriors appeared to be in gaps really good when Harden wanted to get the hoop.
07:20I don't remember Zubac scoring on any pick and roll.
07:24I could be wrong.
07:25Mostly on those pick and rolls, he went short roll, one dribble, and passed to somebody in the corner.
07:33So, they kind of prevented him from doing much damage there.
07:37His damage was all done on putbacks.
07:39He's just a huge guy.
07:40But, I saw today, when reading an article post, and I'm not a big plus-minus guy, but it does mean something, plus 34, he looks like he's tougher, he looks like he's stronger,
07:54and I'd like to see him get a little more run in there, because I think he's anchoring their defense a little bit.
08:01Chris, thanks.
08:02I would say to a degree, we can almost say this, about all of the young players.
08:09They all look different, don't you think?
08:13I think the young players with the Warriors all look like you can see what they were working on in the offseason, which I think is wonderful.
08:21Quentin Post, on the defensive side, was a different player last night.
08:24Yeah, he's bigger, and he's definitely much more able to be up sturdy against people like Zubac and the rest of them.
