5th Seed Watch (was 6th Seed Watch)

[Onus]

GS was riding with Curry as the scorer late in the game (Butler really didn't really touch the ball much for the last 8 minutes of the 4th quarter), for whatever reason Kuminga thinks he's the top option when on the court even with Curry out there. To me, this is probably Kerr's biggest issue with Kuminga. Too often Kuminga gets the ball and it's Kuminga time, so Curry trying to run around getting himself open is a waste of energy most of the time. Hield also has this issue from time to time but GS needs his spacing.

To me, the #1 way for Kuminga to have gotten court time early in his career would have been finding a way to play with and complement Curry which I think there was ample opportunity to do that vs go with the mindset that I'm the scorer.

JK actually plays with Curry decently. He obviously looks for his shot a lot but we've been desperately looking for scoring all year outside of Steph that he was always looking to score this year (plus the contract extension he was seeking).But there are certain actions that JK has started to see with Steph that he does well to look for Steph. There was about 5 min that JK could've played against the Clippers. The 5 minutes that Jimmy sat.

I don't know, is Kuminga going to do what's best for the team or what's best for Kuminga at this point since he may be trying to showcase his skills to other teams for RFA? I've been going back in games isolating a lot of his possessions and he just doesn't care who else is on the court with him even when he's above the key with the ball. If he'd just quit trying to create his own shots, he'd still score well off the ball filling lanes of just making himself available for passes. Get rid of the tunnel vision and you have a good player, with the tunnel vision I understand why he wouldn't play, it's up to Kuminga.

Kuminga is just a guy who looks like he grew up able to just physically and athletically beat defenders and hasn't really left that mentality, even with 4 years in the NBA.

It is odd that the question of can Butler become a scorer in the playoffs was basically answered in the Clipper's game and instead of talking about that it's all about talking about a rotation player off the bench who got a DNP.

No one knows which JK you're going to get, which is why Kerr doesn't trust him. But he's been trying to run more offense lately with a few times where breaking the offense.

Jimmy looked good, but he disappeared. Was it because of the lineups (GP2 and Dray), did he gas out, did the offense just go away from him? IDK there are still questions. It looks like it's really hard to play 3 non shooters.

[AirP.]

JK actually plays with Curry decently. He obviously looks for his shot a lot but we've been desperately looking for scoring all year outside of Steph that he was always looking to score this year (plus the contract extension he was seeking).But there are certain actions that JK has started to see with Steph that he does well to look for Steph. There was about 5 min that JK could've played against the Clippers. The 5 minutes that Jimmy sat.

I don't know, is Kuminga going to do what's best for the team or what's best for Kuminga at this point since he may be trying to showcase his skills to other teams for RFA? I've been going back in games isolating a lot of his possessions and he just doesn't care who else is on the court with him even when he's above the key with the ball. If he'd just quit trying to create his own shots, he'd still score well off the ball filling lanes of just making himself available for passes. Get rid of the tunnel vision and you have a good player, with the tunnel vision I understand why he wouldn't play, it's up to Kuminga.

Kuminga is just a guy who looks like he grew up able to just physically and athletically beat defenders and hasn't really left that mentality, even with 4 years in the NBA.

It is odd that the question of can Butler become a scorer in the playoffs was basically answered in the Clipper's game and instead of talking about that it's all about talking about a rotation player off the bench who got a DNP.

No one knows which JK you're going to get, which is why Kerr doesn't trust him. But he's been trying to run more offense lately with a few times where breaking the offense.

Jimmy looked good, but he disappeared. Was it because of the lineups (GP2 and Dray), did he gas out, did the offense just go away from him? IDK there are still questions. It looks like it's really hard to play 3 non shooters.

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

[wco81]

They let Harden get downhill too much. Moody didn't do well enough and neither did GP2. Other times they doubled Harden or KL and that led to WIDE OPEN shots for players like Dunn, not only from 3 but like 8 feet away from the paint where he took either uncontested push shots or lobbed to Zubac.

I think Zubac was like a late first round or second round pick that the Lakers stuck with and then traded to Clippers.

Problem with Warriors is they had no FRP before this season and they're not going to get one this season because of the Butler trade.

They just need to keep supplying the cupboard with these picks, because Lacob isn't going to pay for any veteran commanding over the minimum ad sometimes not even that.

[Onus]

I don't know, is Kuminga going to do what's best for the team or what's best for Kuminga at this point since he may be trying to showcase his skills to other teams for RFA? I've been going back in games isolating a lot of his possessions and he just doesn't care who else is on the court with him even when he's above the key with the ball. If he'd just quit trying to create his own shots, he'd still score well off the ball filling lanes of just making himself available for passes. Get rid of the tunnel vision and you have a good player, with the tunnel vision I understand why he wouldn't play, it's up to Kuminga.

Kuminga is just a guy who looks like he grew up able to just physically and athletically beat defenders and hasn't really left that mentality, even with 4 years in the NBA.

It is odd that the question of can Butler become a scorer in the playoffs was basically answered in the Clipper's game and instead of talking about that it's all about talking about a rotation player off the bench who got a DNP.

No one knows which JK you're going to get, which is why Kerr doesn't trust him. But he's been trying to run more offense lately with a few times where breaking the offense.

Jimmy looked good, but he disappeared. Was it because of the lineups (GP2 and Dray), did he gas out, did the offense just go away from him? IDK there are still questions. It looks like it's really hard to play 3 non shooters.

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

It's not like Jimmy didn't touch the ball, he wanted to pass the ball and get off of it. But when the clippers clog the paint his outlets are gp and dray. Maybe he forces a midrange shot but those haven't been good shots for him here.

[Onus]

They let Harden get downhill too much. Moody didn't do well enough and neither did GP2. Other times they doubled Harden or KL and that led to WIDE OPEN shots for players like Dunn, not only from 3 but like 8 feet away from the paint where he took either uncontested push shots or lobbed to Zubac.

I think Zubac was like a late first round or second round pick that the Lakers stuck with and then traded to Clippers.

Problem with Warriors is they had no FRP before this season and they're not going to get one this season because of the Butler trade.

They just need to keep supplying the cupboard with these picks, because Lacob isn't going to pay for any veteran commanding over the minimum ad sometimes not even that.

Yea I think they were doubling at the half court line to get the ball out of Harden's hands and that just killed our defense. Like if we can't play regular defense then why is GP2 in the game?

[Onus]

No one knows which JK you're going to get, which is why Kerr doesn't trust him. But he's been trying to run more offense lately with a few times where breaking the offense.

Jimmy looked good, but he disappeared. Was it because of the lineups (GP2 and Dray), did he gas out, did the offense just go away from him? IDK there are still questions. It looks like it's really hard to play 3 non shooters.

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

It's not like Jimmy didn't touch the ball, he wanted to pass the ball and get off of it. But when the clippers clog the paint his outlets are gp and dray. Maybe he forces a midrange shot but those haven't been good shots for him here.

Just watched the OT again and they tried to run offense through Jimmy twice and both times he had to bail out to GP2. One ended up in a 3 for Steph after the initial action was stopped and they reset for an off ball screen. The other ended with a step back long 2 from jimmy that missed. Then the next out of bounds we got a back cut for Jimmy.

Steph should've called a timeout in the corner when he got trapped and didn't have the energy to dribble out of it.

Really GP2 played way too many minutes. He couldn't stop Harden and was giving blow bys or fouling Harden. He wasn't being guarded and didn't want to shoot.

[AirP.]

No one knows which JK you're going to get, which is why Kerr doesn't trust him. But he's been trying to run more offense lately with a few times where breaking the offense.

Jimmy looked good, but he disappeared. Was it because of the lineups (GP2 and Dray), did he gas out, did the offense just go away from him? IDK there are still questions. It looks like it's really hard to play 3 non shooters.

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

It's not like Jimmy didn't touch the ball, he wanted to pass the ball and get off of it. But when the clippers clog the paint his outlets are gp and dray. Maybe he forces a midrange shot but those haven't been good shots for him here.

I just went back to look since you made me 2nd guess myself, after Butler hit his 2 FTs with over 8 minutes left in the 4th, Butler touched the ball on offense 3 times out of 13 possessions and each time he touched the ball was to give the ball Curry so yes... Kerr went completely away from Butler in just over the last 8 minutes of the 4th.

[vvoland]

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

It's not like Jimmy didn't touch the ball, he wanted to pass the ball and get off of it. But when the clippers clog the paint his outlets are gp and dray. Maybe he forces a midrange shot but those haven't been good shots for him here.

Just watched the OT again and they tried to run offense through Jimmy twice and both times he had to bail out to GP2. One ended up in a 3 for Steph after the initial action was stopped and they reset for an off ball screen. The other ended with a step back long 2 from jimmy that missed. Then the next out of bounds we got a back cut for Jimmy.

Steph should've called a timeout in the corner when he got trapped and didn't have the energy to dribble out of it.

Really GP2 played way too many minutes. He couldn't stop Harden and was giving blow bys or fouling Harden. He wasn't being guarded and didn't want to shoot.

While I understand going away from JK, going to 0 minutes is wild. The 2nd quarter stretch when Steph was in and Jimmy sat, where the clippers went on a run, really could have used some downhill rim attacks. Anytime Zubac wasn't in the game, JK could have been useful. All while GP2 was atrocious yesterday. Fouling 3pt shooters, matador defense, passing up wide open shots inside the paint. and HE closed? I get the things that JK doesn't do well/does against Steve's wishes but to just DNP-CD a guy is crazy IF ONLY because the person you're giving his minutes to is a very, very, VERY flawed player (be it moody, buddy, GP2, or gui).

Give the kid 6 minutes in the 2nd when Jimmy sits. He doesn't defend/rebound + takes long middies? sure, cut that 6 minute stretch by half and bench him for the rest of the game. To give him the pat spencer treatment is wild.

[vvoland]

The offense went away from Butler because of Curry. It's understandable in Kerr's situation but maybe with a few more big games from Butler, maybe he'll earn enough of Kerr's trust to go through Butler at the end of games with Curry just trying to get open, especially now with Curry's injured thumb.

The way I think of it with Curry, Butler and Draymond out there, when Curry has the ball at best there's only 2 real spacers shrinking the floor, but with playing through Butler, there's a potential 3 spacers with one of them being Curry to help open up the court plus... Butler doesn't turn over the ball much, you're getting a shot up through him and usually a decent shot at worst. Then again, Curry is an all-time great, but it would be interesting to see Kerr play through Butler and still get Curry's shooting playing offball.

It's not like Jimmy didn't touch the ball, he wanted to pass the ball and get off of it. But when the clippers clog the paint his outlets are gp and dray. Maybe he forces a midrange shot but those haven't been good shots for him here.

I just went back to look since you made me 2nd guess myself, after Butler hit his 2 FTs with over 8 minutes left in the 4th, Butler touched the ball on offense 3 times out of 13 possessions and each time he touched the ball was to give the ball Curry so yes... Kerr went completely away from Butler in just over the last 8 minutes of the 4th.

Yes, they went Steph-centric late and, to be fair, it almost worked. Jimmy looked a bit gassed and it would make sense considering how much he had played up to that point. I agree that they needed to feature jimmy more, if only as the screen-setter with Steph as the ball-handler, but I don't think that was the real issue. Once again, late turnovers, and weird decision making cost us a game.

Anyone get a clear explanation post-game as to why Dray fouled Kawhi at the end of regulation and gave up the chance to take the last shot?

[AirP.]

Read on Twitter

[whatisacenter]

I'll be there tomorrow night...taking my sister to the game for her first time seeing Curry live.

[AirP.]

Read on Twitter

[whatisacenter]

Read on Twitter

Was Draymond?

That knock to the head really wrenched his neck.

[whatisacenter]

I'll be there tomorrow night...taking my sister to the game for her first time seeing Curry live.

tix are pretty "reasonable" right now for anybody interested.

[xdrta+]

Read on Twitter

Was Draymond?

That knock to the head really wrenched his neck.

Nope, just the two g-leaguers.

[SpreeS]

Last game with LAC was like Play-In game, so

Curry tovs

2021 LAL 6tovs
2021 MEM 7tovs
2024 SAC 6tovs
2025 LAC 8tovs

Two of them we lost in OT and one by 3pts...This is almost 7 tovs per game. Curry made 7 bad passes from 8 tovs in game with LAC.

[SpreeS]

This is 2021 vibes for me

RS 72th game with MEM Curry 46pts and win
PI lost

RS 75th game with MEM Curry 52pts and win
PI ????

MEM will adjust to last our matchup and Kerr inability to respond or adapt on the way, will hurt us again.

[Onus]

Last game with LAC was like Play-In game, so

Curry tovs

2021 LAL 6tovs
2021 MEM 7tovs
2024 SAC 6tovs
2025 LAC 8tovs

Two of them we lost in OT and one by 3pts...This is almost 7 tovs per game. Curry made 7 bad passes from 8 tovs in game with LAC.

Basically teams just double Steph in high leverage games and the he tries to do too much because the team can't win 4v3.

[SpreeS]

Last game with LAC was like Play-In game, so

Curry tovs

2021 LAL 6tovs
2021 MEM 7tovs
2024 SAC 6tovs
2025 LAC 8tovs

Two of them we lost in OT and one by 3pts...This is almost 7 tovs per game. Curry made 7 bad passes from 8 tovs in game with LAC.

Basically teams just double Steph in high leverage games and the he tries to do too much because the team can't win 4v3.

So where is a problem? Maybe Green, b/c opponents can leave him wide open?

[Onus]

Last game with LAC was like Play-In game, so

Curry tovs

2021 LAL 6tovs
2021 MEM 7tovs
2024 SAC 6tovs
2025 LAC 8tovs

Two of them we lost in OT and one by 3pts...This is almost 7 tovs per game. Curry made 7 bad passes from 8 tovs in game with LAC.

Basically teams just double Steph in high leverage games and the he tries to do too much because the team can't win 4v3.

So where is a problem? Maybe Green, b/c opponents can leave him wide open?

There's not enough shooting around Green that will allow him to attack the 4v3. Then if he's not the one setting the pick which is happening more and more frequently he's in the dunker spot but can't dunk or finish over length. So Steph ends up trying to split doubles more frequently and pressing to find shots which leads to more turnovers. Which makes it even harder when you're playing 3 non shooters in Dray, Jimmy, GP2.