Chris Mullin knew all about Warrior rookie Paschall

SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Mullin knew all about Eric Paschall. “He used to kick our fanny,” said Mullin. That was when Mullin was coach at St. John’s and Paschall was a starter for rival Villanova.

Now Mullin is working as TV analyst for the his old NBA team, the Warriors, and Paschall is making an impact for his new NBA team, the Warriors, that not many other than Mullin knew was possible.

On Monday night, Paschall, a rookie, the 41st overall pick in this summer’s draft, had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and the Warriors — exhale, please — finally escaped the Curse of the Chase, defeating Portland 127-118, the first win in their new building.

It was going to come some night. After all, nobody goes 0-41 on their home court. But the Dubs had been without a victory in their previous four games at Chase Center, so there was a bit of anxiety.

Without Klay Thompson, injured knee, cheering from the bench, and Steph Curry, watching on TV at home, his broken left hand in a cast, the Warriors are not going to be a playoff team.

Yet with Paschall and another rookie, Kyle Bowman, playing well, the Dubs won. And that was despite Draymond Green missing the game because of a sprained injured finger.

These Warriors are not your father’s Warriors. Or even those of your brother, who would boast of those five straight finals appearances. These Warriors are a lot of guys who won’t get much attention from ESPN but are figuring out what the pro game is all about.

And keeping coach Steve Kerr as satisfied as anyone could be with a 2-5 overall record. He’s looking for hustle, for improvement, for basketball smarts. And slowly, progressively, he’s getting it.

And so are the suddenly alert sellout crowds, the fans Monday night responding vocally when, glorioski, they realized they were about to witness a small slice of history, the first Warriors victory at Chase.

Also a large slice of Paschall, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound forward who started his undergraduate career at Fordham, sat out a year and then transferred to Villanova, where he helped win the 2018 NCAA Championship.

“We really liked Eric because of his strength and his power,” said Kerr. “He was undersized, but these days, at that four position (strong forward), as long as you are really strong with that wingspan — well, we’ve seen it the last few years with Draymond.

“We felt Eric had a chance to have a similar impact, somebody you plug in and play particularly because he played four years (actually three) in a great college program. He didn’t look like a rookie at all from the first day of practice.”

He looked like a star Monday night on his 23rd birthday, scoring 17 points in the first quarter.

Apropos of nothing but pertinent to everything is the observation-joke about Michael Jordan’s career at North Carolina where he was restricted by the system, that the only person who could hold Jordan under 30 points a game was Dean Smith, his coach.

So Monday night Kerr alluded to that, substituting Villanova coach Jay Wright for Smith. Asked if he thought Paschall could hit the 30-point mark, Kerr answered, “Yes. I told Eric the only guy who could hold him under 30 points was Jay Wright. Jay’s my guy. I just wanted to say that.”

What Paschall, a humble sort, said was that confidence is behind his success. He believes in himself. And Kerr and Paschall’s teammates seem very much to share that belief.

“My teammates just find me and allow me to make plays,” said Paschall. “We have a great young group that just wants to play together, and we play hard. I felt like tonight we had fun.”

If getting that first win at home isn’t fun, they’re in the wrong business.

For Curry, a broken hand; for the Warriors, a busted season

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

SAN FRANCISCO — A broken hand. A busted season. The man who was going to carry the team, who was supposed to be a candidate for another MVP award, went crashing to the floor.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019, The Maven 

For Warriors, it’s wait ’til last year

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

SAN FRANCISCO — Wait ’til last year.

The times have changed for the Warriors. So, too, has their place of business, but that move is only about 15 miles.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019, The Maven 

Green takes the floor on Warriors media day

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

SAN FRANCISCO — He’s not afraid to defend LeBron. He’s not afraid to take a shot when the clock is running down. So why should Draymond Green be afraid to speak from the heart, a characteristic that doesn’t make him much different than others in his sport?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019, The Maven 

Warriors splash along on defense

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — This is the way it’s done when Kevin Durant, the man his coach called the best basketball player on earth, can’t play.

There’s a stifling defense that keeps the other team from making even a single 3-pointer in the second quarter.

There’s a couple of guys nicknamed the Splash Brothers who couldn’t be defended — at least the way the Portland Trail Blazers attempted, with big men below the free throw line.

There’s a group of reserves, Kevon Looney, Alfonzo McKinnie, Shaun Livingston, Jordan Bell, Jonas Jerebko, Quinn Cook, that lends truth to the Warriors’ slogan, “Strength in Numbers,” and gives support to a team without the injured Durant and injured DeMarcus Cousins.

The Blazers hung in for a while, showed the style and talent that on Sunday enabled them to beat Denver and advance to the NBA Western Conference final. But the Warriors are the two-time champions, and they were playing at home, Oracle Arena, Tuesday night. and it was no surprise the Dubs won, 116-94.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr told us the Blazers barely had time to get to the Bay Area and get suited up.

“We were able to finish our last series on Friday,” Kerr said of the win over the Houston Rockets, “and they (Portland) had a tough game 7 in Denver, and the quick turnaround, so the schedule favored us.”

Unquestionably, but history also favors the Warriors, who have been to the NBA finals four straight years, winning three of those, and have all-stars such as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and the absent Durant.

In betting, you stick with a winner until he loses. The Warriors so far have shown no tendency to lose.

Curry had 36 points, Thompson 26. The Warriors shot 50 percent (51 on threes) and limited the Blazers to 36 percent. If Portland hadn’t made 27 of 31 free throws, it wouldn’t even have been in the game.

“I thought the key stretch for us,” said Kerr, “was the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.”

The Warriors led 77-71 after three. Quickly enough, it was 97-81.

“They got loose in the fourth quarter and had, what 39,” said Terry Stotts, the Portland coach. “But going into the fourth quarter, down six, finding ways to hang in on a night we were struggling offensively.”

Struggling because when the Warriors are at their best they are brilliant defensively, forcing bad shots, grabbing rebounds and then racing toward their own basket for a score.

“It’s just one game,” reminded Stotts. “I know they gave Damian (Lillard) a lot of attention. They clogged the paint. We didn’t finish the opportunities when we had them. So when you turn the ball over and don’t shoot well and don’t finish around the basket, we’ve got to look for other things.”

Lillard is the Oakland kid — “I could walk home from here,” he said during the post-game inteview. He showed up wearing an Oakland Athletics jersey and with an accurate account of why, averaging 28 a game, he scored just 19.

“They gave a lot of attention to the ball when I was coming off screens,” said Lillard. “Even when I was in isolation situations I was seeing two people. I think it was obvious they were trying to make things hard for me, sending two guys at me. I couldn’t get an attempt up even if I was trying to force it.”

The Warriors didn’t have that problem, not with Andrew Bogut, Looney and Green setting up screens for Steph and Klay. 

“It was a nice flow,” said Curry. “I mean, it’s fun when we’re at our best in terms of everybody feeling like they are a threat ... It puts so much pressure on the defense.”

The other defense. The Warriors defense was able to put on pressure of its own.