By Art Spander
The Warriors, who aren’t supposed to be very good, win a game by a point. The same night the Clippers, who are supposed to be very good, lose one by 51 points. And you think you understand the NBA?
The league is a compressed lunacy of late-game baskets, late-night charter flights and — other than LeBron James’ greatness — unpredictability.
I mean, whoever thought we’d read an AP story with a paragraph beginning, “The Clippers opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run to get within 40"?
Or that Steph Curry would be having trouble finding his shot?
Curry and the Warriors are back at it again Tuesday night, playing the Pistons in Detroit, their fourth straight road game to begin a season that already is a blend of shock (those routs by the Nets and the Bucks) and elation (that last-second in at Chicago on the 3-pointer by Damion Lee).
Asked if after that first victory there was a sense of relief, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “Relief for sure, but more a sense that finally we can figure this thing out a bit."
What most of us figured out quickly enough is that it will take time for even so accomplished a shooter — he made 105 straight 3-pointers the other day in practice — to work smoothly with teammates other than the ones from the glory years.
“He’s frustrated,” Kerr said of Curry, “but that’s kind of natural. For Steph, this is a brand new team.”
A team without Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson or, until his sore foot heals, Draymond Green; a team with Kelly Oubre, Juan Toscano-Anderson, at times rookie James Wiseman and Damion Lee. A team as much seeking to make progress as to score points.
It’s one thing to know when to pull up for a jumper. It’s another to know who will be to your right if you decide to pass.
Kerr was an earlier version of Steph Curry as a player, if not quite as skilled, a gunner who could hit 3-pointers. He started with the Bulls, as a teammate of Michael Jordan, went to the Spurs and finished with the Blazers.
“Every time I went to a new team in my career,” said Kerr, “it was difficult to find comfort with my shots in the early going. And I think Steph is really going through the same thing because he’s not as comfortable where his shots are coming from because of different personnel.”
No question Thompson and Durant made it easier for Curry and everyone else on the Warriors. Sports are about adapting, or as Curry reminded, about learning and improving.
Not that Curry has far to go. He scored 36 in the 129-128 win at Chicago (and was supposed to take the last shot, but smartly the ball went to Lee), and in the three games Curry is averaging 25.
For Curry and the Warriors, who didn’t qualify for the playoffs, it was six months without basketball, then a week of practice and two exhibition games.
“We’ve never gone through this before as professionals, or at any level,” said Curry. “But no excuses. The shots I take I think I’m going to make. I seldom take one I don’t; maybe one or two bad shots in a game.”
Curry said that, for now, it’s energy that’s important, even more than accuracy. Same thing for Oubre, who’s been having a terrible time of it.
“The win was important,” Curry agreed. “1-2 is better than 0-3. A win in Detroit would make us .500 for the trip, which would be OK. The last thing you can do as a shooter is stop shooting, no matter how frustrating it is.”
And maybe find satisfaction that you didn’t lose a game by 51 points like the Clippers.