Everything felt so familiar, yet like a hunch. It's so casual and confusing, but it's also so confusing.
During the Warriors' bizarre and heavy loss in Phoenix on Tuesday, I was struck by the fact that when the end of this dynasty's run comes, it will look a lot like everything we've witnessed in this game. When the end is official and finally comes, we will remember this game as a sign of decline and a moment when the dynastic cycle became impossible to ignore.
The end will be exactly like this. It's that messy. It's that painful. It's that tedious. And so it was over and over again, until this incredible era really came to an end.
I don't think there will be a major trade this season because the Warriors don't have enough bench depth to build something of value. I don't think there's much the Warriors can do other than make some rotation changes and hope everything goes well. I don't think they should ruin everything on impulse – they owe it to Stephen Curry to push it all as hard as he can, even if it seems the bleakest. I think if there's a major change, it's probably going to happen next offseason. This may or may not reignite the dynasty. But what we are seeing now is the accumulation of many inevitable things.
This is how the Warriors dynasty ended: Draymond Green was ejected for yet another unnecessary and overly drastic incident and may be heading towards another suspension;Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Rooney were on the bench for poor playing time;Curry runs around, trying to make up for everything and everyone's shortcomings.
In the first half of the Warriors' season, there have been similar lazy moments, and on several occasions we sat up and wondered if time had run out of the dynasty. But on Tuesday, it was all conveniently presented on national television in a two-and-a-half-hour game. Veterans can't do it. The young players tried to get struggling, but they didn't succeed. Draymond could get in trouble with the league again.
The loss dropped the Warriors' record to 10-13 and dropped them out of the Western Conference play-in tournament. But at least for now, the numbers and rankings don't matter. Now it's all about whether the Warriors' young players can get more playing time and play well enough at the end of the game. Not even Steve Cole and Mike Dunleavy (Mike Dunle**y Jr.).What can be done to adjust the lineup and rotation.
Perhaps Kerr will decide to give Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Branding Podzemski and Tres Jackson-Davis more time, and perhaps that will propel the Warriors back into the ranks of the powerhouses this season. Or Draymond, Klay, Wiggins and Looney will be back to their old ways in a few weeks' time.
I'm not saying that the dynasty is over. You never know what a seasoned champion can inspire in the darkest of moments, and I've always kept myself from underestimating the amazing and magical possibilities that Curry, Klay and Draymond showed less than two years ago.
They are too proud and have achieved so much that they won't let go easily. Honestly, exiting gracefully is not for a team that has won so much and fought so fiercely over the last decade. Warriors will grit their teeth to get through it all. They will fight until the end, and then they will continue to fight. In many ways, that's commendable, and that's what you'd expect from a four-time victory.
But on Tuesday, there was nothing poetic about it, only a deep depression and a noticeable recession. There was also the disappointment that Draymond was ejected for a foul that tried to pass a sharp turn and slammed his hand into the Suns' Nurkic in the face. Draymond has been involved in these kinds of incidents throughout his career, but if he is suspended for this, it will be his second suspension of the season, having also been suspended in the playoffs last season.
As Kerr and Curry stressed after the game, they need him now more than ever. They didn't say it, but I will say: If the Warriors can no longer rely on Klay, Wiggins and Looney, then the last thing Draymond should do is continue to keep himself out of the game. But he has been doing it.
Poole was traded and Draymond got $100 million, proving how important Draymond is on this team. But in order to succeed this season and beyond, Draymond must continue to play well and stay on the field. But he has been doing it. This season, Draymond has played in 15 games. Of these, he was expelled three times. He has been suspended for five more games, and he could face more suspensions after this incident. In addition, the Grade 2 foul count brings his tally to four this season. For the remainder of the season, if he accumulates two more points, he will be suspended for one game. This does not include any penalties imposed by the league as a result of the incident, and there will be additional suspensions for every two points accumulated.
What can Draymond say to stop this behavior?
Well, we'll keep trying,"Cole said.
The Warriors have always been infinitely patient with Draymond. They will continue to be patient with him. Over the years, he has rewarded them with enough patience. But if he misses more games this season, the Warriors will be worse off as a result. The Warriors' best lineup would probably be Draymond at center, Kuminga at power forward, Wiggins, Klay or Moody at small forward, with Curry partnering Chris Paul or Podzemski at guard. As always, Draymond's versatility was key to creating this innovative lineup. But if he is suspended or expelled, it will be meaningless.
The Warriors had a chance to hit the reset button last offseason when Draymond became a free agent. They could have kept Poole and let Draymond go. But the Warriors will never choose Poole and give up on Draymond. If they let him go within a year of Draymond helping them win the fourth championship of this era, they would have lost too much.
The victory in the seventh game against Sacramento in the first round proved this concept. As a result, they traded Poole for Paul and a non-guaranteed contract for Paul for next season. As a result, they have financial options, including the possibility of making Klay a free agent. But this season, they really don't have any other personnel options unless they reduce the playing time of Klay, Wiggins and Looney and put Kuminga, Podemski and Moody in more important roles.
Tuesday also felt like a watershed moment as Kerr had been patient with Klay, Wiggins and Looney, but after another poor performance by the veteran starting line-up in the first few minutes of the game, he finally threw his hands up and opted for the younger players for most of the game. Who knows if Kerr will make a major permanent roster change, but in this game, he crossed a significant threshold admitting he had to try something different.
I feel like I've got to play the guys who played the best tonight," Kerr said when asked why he benched Wiggins at the start of the third quarter (Looney was also on the bench at that time). 'I've been patient and trying to get everybody in the team and give the players freedom and space. But tonight is not a night that requires a lot of patience. We needed some sense of urgency, and that's why I made this decision. ”
The Warriors need a sense of urgency, but they're also a little trapped. They made adjustments last offseason. That's not a bad thing. I mean, if it weren't for Chris Paul, Podemsky, and Dario Sharic, if they traded Kuminga or Moody, what would they be in ** right now?They have done everything they can to keep this going. They just want to give their core players one last chance. But there will be an end to it all, and Tuesday was a resounding rehearsal.
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