Look, I understand that it’s my whole job to tie words together, but sometimes I run out of it. Sometimes I just do not have the words to describe what happened.
Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes the Golden State Warriors do something so magical that I think, “how can I make this happen just with a blog?”
And sometimes they do something so ridiculously awful that I think, ‘Where do I even start? Are there enough words? Are the bars already open? ”
This is one of the last times.
Let’s jump straight to the last minute. The Warriors lost by one point to the Washington Wizards, but the game felt completely in control as they had one of the best games in NBA history: Steph Curry defended by Dāvis Bertans.
It went exactly as you would expect. Curry blows through Bertāns with all the ease with which I imagine he will wave to me and ends up with a handy inverted lineup to put the Dubs on top.
The next series went well. The Warriors forced a hard shot, grabbed the rebound and held the ball while Washington had a foul to give and the shot clock was turned off. They penetrated the ball to Curry, who protected the ball when he picked up another offense, and he both made free throws to give the Dubs a three-point lead.
And then everything goes to hell.
Washington brought the ball off the field, and the Warriors conceded an open try to Russell Westbrook. It was a little more open than they probably hoped, but it was the right person to leave open.
Westbrook missed. Bad. But what happened immediately afterwards was perhaps the most crucial moment of the season, although it would only take a few seconds of playing time.
The Warriors could not achieve the attacking setback because Bradley Beal hit everyone on the ball. Beal grabbed the rock before going out of bounds, turned and shot straight three times as Andrew Wiggins tried to block the shot, but Beal’s head apparently missed for basketball.
Beal made the shot, after a very easy call for the referee marched to the line and made the free throw.
Check here again before looking at what’s in the back of your liquor cabinet.
The Dubs were still in the best position. They had more than six seconds on the clock, trailing by a single point, and advancing the ball into the front field.
Remember how I called Beal’s play the most breakthrough moment of the season, but only temporarily? Time for the new, most breakthrough moment of the season.
Damion Lee comes to Draymond Green, and Steph Curry comes to dash to Green, with Lee looking like he will set up a pin-down screen to open Curry, as the Warriors have done millions of times.
But Lee moves across the screen, Green gets him on the hoop and he looks like he has a wide open lying.
Alas.
Rookie Deni Avdija made a brilliant rotation to meet Lee at the edge, and rather than trying to make up the layout or fail – which Lee probably should have done – he tried to kick it to the corner, just to throw it away.
You can see the vision for Lee, though he just had to go to the edge and not make it too complicated.
And you can see a brilliant play design by Steve Kerr, even though you have six seconds left, you prefer to just put the ball in Curry’s hands and not make it too complicated.
But they made it too complicated and lost 110-107.
It should never have come down to that game, as the Warriors somehow came out of the gates with no energy or aggression, especially not in defense. Despite having two days off and being at home, he called the defense of the first half of the team ‘terrible’, and that is truly a good rating from him.
The Warriors are not a good team. And they seem to be enjoying the opportunity to remind us of that.
At least they do it every time in new ways.