By Art Spander
OAKLAND — It’s the Cavaliers next. Thank heavens. Cleveland here at Oracle Arena. A game like the one on Christmas Day that means something and at the same time means very little.
On Monday, Martin Luther King’s birthday celebration, the two best teams in basketball, the Dubs and Cavs, the last two champions, might give us what we get so infrequently when the Warriors are on the court, a game of importance.
That’s not to say Thursday night’s 127-107 home-court win over the Detroit Pistons should be diminished. Hey, the idea is you go out to win every time, isn’t it? And with the league’s best record, 34-6, the Warriors have more than met that standard.
But until the playoffs, which don’t start for another three months — can anybody wait? — for a quality team such as the Dubs, and the Cavs, most nights are repetitive. A slow start, a rally, and with rare exception (you will admit that when you’ve dropped only six games out of 40 that losing is an exception) a victory by a considerable margin.
You check the box score — Kevin Durant had 25 points, Steph Curry 24 and Klay Thompson, healthy again, 23 — and that’s it. Oh yeah, the Warriors also had 39 assists, the 27th time they’ve had at least 30; no other team has done it more than eight. Otherwise, you think ahead. Even if you’re Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
“It’s a great rivalry game,” said Kerr of Cavs-Dubs. “Everybody who follows the NBA looks forward to it. It’s much anticipated, good for us, good for the league and good for basketball.”
For that observation, we’ll say good for Steve Kerr. He worked in TV for a long while. He knows sport is just another form of show business, that every game is not like every other and, as we’ve so delightfully found out with the Warriors, every team is not like every other.
The Warriors and Cavaliers are box office. Once fans came to Warriors games to see the opponents, Magic Johnson or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers, Michael Jordan and the Bulls, the Celtics of Bill Russell and then Larry Bird. But now the draw is the Warriors. An intrasquad scrimmage would fill the seats. A game against the squad that stole the title is can’t-miss stuff.
A guy who did miss Thursday night was Draymond Green, 0-for-4 on his field goal attempts, as if to prove again there is more to the sport than scoring. Green played his usual outstanding defense and recorded 13 assists and nine rebounds.
“He’s got a little Dennis Rodman,” said Kerr, who played with Rodman on the Bulls. “He makes a huge impact, especially with guys on our team. Maybe not as crazy as Dennis, but the competitive desire is similar. He wanted to get under people’s skin. Draymond wants to dominate a game — one of those guys who just wants to win.
“He’s a unique player. He’s about 6-5 and guarding 7-footers. His passing ability is so important for us, but it’s his defensive versatility that makes us go.”
Green said he’s not as interested in winning against the Cavaliers as in the Warriors playing well. “We want to get better,” said Draymond. “If we get better we’ll win. But nobody’s going to hit the panic button whoever wins or loses Monday.”
For Kerr, it’s a quest for victory and improvement.
“I’d like to see both,” said the coach. “We always try to focus on the process and keep getting better. That’s what it’s all about, continuing on with the work in progress. We made a good step (Thursday night), and hopefully against Cleveland we’ll play well.”
They’ll play well. So will Cleveland. That’s what we want and what we need.