Happy 2026! I am soldiering on with post-game thoughts, partly because the Athletic isn't doing it, but also because I find that I like doing it. I've kept a journal since 8/3/76 and there's a certain feeling of completion when I write about things that happened. Onward!
The first game of 2026 was a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kerr chose to rest Steph, Dray, Jimmy, and DeAnthony when they probably all could have played. But they have a back-to-back with the badly mis-named Jazz tomorrow, so it's a bit of a "Fuck you" to the schedulers. I'm just glad I didn't pick this game as my one guest game in a friend's awesome seats this season. I'd have been pissed!
As expected, it was an OKC rout. But what was less expected was a genuine Warriors run to close the gap from 14 points to 2 featuring some inspired Warriors play from our middle tier players. Sideshow Podz actually blocked Shai on his one-on-one drive to the hoop! And in the next possession, Moody picked him at halfcourt and took it the other way. Gui blocked Chet at the rim. The ball movement looked good.
And then just as quickly as it came, it went. OKC scored 19 straight points as the Warriors forgot how to score. You could see how a good defense freaks players out, as they started rushing shots and missing close ones. It was at least nice to see Al have a good day out there with the second team. He finished with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and two blocks in 15 minutes. That's the guy we thought we were getting.
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I listened to a lot of Warriors podcasts, so I'm thinking for those of you who don't, it's a good idea to share the highlights. Tom Tolbert's been doing a podcast/video podcast since leaving KNBR. I've always liked Tom's take on things... it's always rooted from a professional player's point of view, and as such, his read is often right. Also, he's an old friend of Kerr's since college, so Steve comes on frequently.
In this show on New Year's they talked about the value of moving the ball from side to side. It used to be coaches would emphasize it, but now that there's metrics to show how productive it is, players are buying in. Basically, the more you move the ball (and don't turn it over) the more opportunities there are for the defense to blow something or you get an advantage.
Steve also confirmed what I had mentioned about the Jimmy offense... it's a deliberate rotation to put guys around him that he won't defer to. It makes him take over.
He also talked about what happened with the Draymond dust-up. Apparently Dray was talking to the refs, as he always does, and Steve was trying to get the team to huddle up. He has to yell to get Dray's attention, and Dray assumes it's because of his bad turnover and says something snarky. And then Steve fires back and it goes how it went.
OK, that's it for today. Not sure when I'm going to get to watch the Jazz game, but I will.
2 comments:
It's nice that you brought attention to Tom's podcasts. I've been listening to it on and off since it started but typically make sure to listen to the ones featuring Kerr and Brent Jones. There are some nuggets in Kerr's comments that are illuminating, like the one on how he tries out different starting lineup combinations to balance Steph and Dray's loose passing with more secure ball handlers who can still function productively in the Steph-Dray chaos.
Agreed. Tom really knows the right questions to ask and how to phrase them.
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