Warriors vs. Rockets Game Thread 2/13

[Zvaart]

I see the 10th seed in the WC just beat the 4 seed on the road. But its probably not enough to keep Kerr from being called a moron.

Also, a Dallas team without Kyrie just beat the Heat. They didn't have Bam but still.

they also didn't have klay

[WarriorGM]

Pat and Steph got to play more minutes together, yay! +5.

The odds are so stacked against that G League team entry for the Rising Stars tournament. 6 guards out of 7 players on the team. The league most definitely does not want them to have a prayer to make it into the all-star game.

[CDM_Stats]

Until someone takes the job forcefully from either: Moody is the starting 4 and Dray is the starting 5. Or if we're calling Butler the 4 and Moody the 3, whatever, doesnt matter. But Moody is entrenching himself as a starting forward.. the defense in the first half was impressive, and he's long enough to be a real pain to shooters

Really fearful Kerr has once again learned the wrong lesson and will apply it incorrectly though. As noted in another thread - Hield, in his 1st offensive set, caused Steph's shadow (Aaron Holiday) to completely abandon Steph at the corner so Hield didnt get an open 3. Meanwhile, Podz scored 14 of his 18 pts between Q1 and Q2 with the backups. Hield did nothing. And I'd be fine with that if we had more alternatives at the guard spot, but currently we dont. So Hield has to be useful, but he wont be with the reserves. Never has been.

Podz w/Curry: +0 (26:43); w/o Curry: +1 (13min)
Hield w/Curry: +10 (6:10); w/o Curry: -7 (8 min)

On its own, data isnt very meaningful. But considering the historical pattern this year, this aligns with it exactly. Podz has slightly more positive impact with Curry than Hield does with Curry, but Podz has massively more positive impact w/o Curry than Hield does w/o Curry. Since they will be fighting over a lot of minutes - presumably Spencer does not have a consistent role - then the way to max them out would be making sure Hield and Curry play a lot together, with Podz/Curry being in the final lineup

[EvanZ]

It's just so obvious the talent tiers on this team. Moody and Podz are well ahead of Gui, Spencer, TJD. Payton and Looney are great for what they are and can sop up some situational minutes.

But this team needs Moody, Podz and Kuminga to do anything meaningful. The rotation should basically be 8-9 deep if we want to win. The others can play when we have big leads or one of the Big 3 need a night off but otherwise Kerr has to shorten the rotation and play his best guys every single night. There's really no other choice now.

[GQ Hot Dog]

It's just so obvious the talent tiers on this team. Moody and Podz are well ahead of Gui, Spencer, TJD. Payton and Looney are great for what they are and can sop up some situational minutes.

But this team needs Moody, Podz and Kuminga to do anything meaningful. The rotation should basically be 8-9 deep if we want to win. The others can play when we have big leads or one of the Big 3 need a night off but otherwise Kerr has to shorten the rotation and play his best guys every single night. There's really no other choice now.

I think Gui has proven he's worthy of getting rotation minutes on an NBA roster. Unfortunately, his position is the only point of depth on the team so given that he's behind Kuminga, Moody, Draymond and Butler, there might not be any minutes available.

[EvanZ]

It's just so obvious the talent tiers on this team. Moody and Podz are well ahead of Gui, Spencer, TJD. Payton and Looney are great for what they are and can sop up some situational minutes.

But this team needs Moody, Podz and Kuminga to do anything meaningful. The rotation should basically be 8-9 deep if we want to win. The others can play when we have big leads or one of the Big 3 need a night off but otherwise Kerr has to shorten the rotation and play his best guys every single night. There's really no other choice now.

I think Gui has proven he's worthy of getting rotation minutes on an NBA roster. Unfortunately, his position is the only point of depth on the team so given that he's behind Kuminga, Moody, Draymond and Butler, there might not be any minutes available.

He could play for Washington.