Helluva week for your Golden State Warriors.
As this Jock Blog gets scribbled on Friday, May 5, 2023, I invite you to ponder the last seven days for Steve Kerr’s defending champs, who wobbled, teetered, motivated, rallied, elevated, surged, survived, wobbled again, doubted, then roared.
Or, as San Mateo’s own Tom Brady might say: “We’re still here! We’re still here!”
One week ago, Paulie Mac and I signed off from the ‘Murph and Mac’ show certain that the Dubs would sew up the Kings series that night at Chase in six games and await the winner of Lakers/Grizzlies.
And then the Kings played the role of Mack truck, smacking us as we jaywalked, head down, looking at our phones. Kersplat. Mike Brown, Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox made the Warriors look like tired and ancient. As Steph Curry later said, “it made for a dicey 36 hours.”
Ya think?
It was almost certain that the young, vibrant Kings would lay waste to the Warriors amid a frenzied Golden 1 Center last Sunday, right?
Naw, champ.
You know the rest, as I was just saying to the Michelangelo historians who were busy composing essays comparing Steph Curry’s Game 7 to “David”.
(And don’t forget that Saturday morning “Don’t get on that bus unless you are committed to win” speech, which is on its way to the National Archives.)
On Tuesday in the Week That Defined The Warriors (TWTDTW), the Lakers came to town for Game 1, and we brimmed with confidence, post-Curry masterpiece.
And then Anthony Davis woke up.
And who invited Dennis Schroder?
It appeared by Wednesday morning’s M&M show that the Warriors had an AD-sized problem, and the matchup was no bueno.
We all know what happened Thursday night at Chase.
Kerr tinkered. Curry distributed. Draymond defended. JaMychal appeared, out of nowhere. And Klay had a spiritual night against the team of his Dad, and the team of his youth.
And we showed up Friday morning, thinking: Will these gosh darn 2022-23 Golden State Warriors, aged, tired, lackadaisical for 82 regular season games, careless with the basketball, absent on the road . . . will this gosh darn team win it all?
Whew!
That’s a helluva thought, after a helluva week.
I’m at the point where I can *easily* see this crew win a stunning 5th championship together.
Yes, of course, two games in L.A. await. And Davis could appear again, at some point. But A.D.’s glaring absence in Game 2 had to give the Warriors belief that all the heckles this great player receives — “Street Clothes”, “A.D. stands for Alternate Days”, “He’s like the McDonald’s ice cream machine; works one day, broken the next” — have some merit.
Kerr has caught some crazy unnecessary shrapnel from short-tempered social media fans. I shouldn’t even give those takes oxygen, but it bears repeating how special a fit Kerr is with Curry and the squad. Kerr’s deep championship reservoir —cited almost poignantly by Draymond in his Thursday night podcast — and ability to adjust (JaMychal Green!) and play that chess is something you will miss when it’s gone, sports fans.
I’ve noted in previous Jock Blogs that old saw that “every journey is different”. Now are you all starting to buy it? This is not the fresh-faced 2015 gang. This is not the KD Super Villains. This is not the Steph & Klay & Dray Renaissance (with a Poole Party) of 2022.
This is a new journey, and based on the past week, it’s gonna knock our socks off.
