It was very important to Andre Iguodala to find out who’d made the cornbread.
“This (bleep) is amazing,” he said late Thursday night, another opponent vanquished under Stephen Curry’s scythe, the Golden State Warriors still unblemished, looking for new teams to conquer.
A fortnight into the new season, the Warriors look, if not unbeatable, if not (yet) historic, like a team that will have to fall a long way not to be the odds-on favorite to get back to The Finals. Through their first 10 games, they’d won by an average of 17.1 points per game, and they’d trailed in the second halves of those 10 games a total of 10 minutes. They’d beaten Memphis — Memphis!! — one of the best teams in the league, by 50. They’ve handled Houston and New Orleans, Detroit and Denver.
And after rallying from 17 down to beat Brooklyn in overtime Saturday night for their 11th straight win to start the season, they’re within four wins of tying the 1994 Rockets and the ’48-’49 Washington Capitols for the best start in NBA history. The inevitable talk of whether the Warriors can equal or beat the Bulls’ 72-10 mark in 1996 is starting to percolate in those places where such inanities percolate.
And they don’t think they’re anywhere close to maximizing their potential.
“Imagine if we were firing on all cylinders,” Klay Thompson said. “It’s going to be a scary thing to see. We’re getting there. We’re close. It’s still early November, but it’s a very encouraging thing.”
No, they really believe this.
At 11-0, already four and a half games clear of the Clippers in the Pacific Division, leading the league in points per game (114.1) and offensive rating (110.6 per 100 possessions), and top 10 in almost all the relevant defensive statistics, the Warriors think they can improve, greatly, at both ends of the floor.
Blame San Antonio.
For all of the individual brilliance Curry has displayed, looking more like a guy preparing to be the league’s first back-to-back Kia MVP since Steve Nash, and the mass of Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley companies that want to do business with him, it’s the charisma-free, friendly, neighborhood multi-title Spurs that are the template the defending champions are trying to re-create.
The coaching, the sustained excellence, the path to multiple championships through remaining medium, night after night, season after season — that’s what Golden State believes is now possible.
It’s been five years since Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team from Chris Cohan, and established their goal of competing for championships, almost immediately. Lacob’s drive and desire to win is no greater than any of the league’s other billionaire owners, but only he had the foresight to hire former agent Bob Myers as general manager, and risk the remarkable improvement former coach Mark Jackson brought in just three seasons by firing him in 2014 to hire Steve Kerr out of the Turner Sports TV booth.
Now, the Warriors are the standard, on track to move into their new San Francisco arena in 2018. They insist they will do so without losing the majority of the fan base — many who live in Oakland and the nearby neighborhoods — that have made Oracle Arena the loudest building in the league.
“You’ve got organizations out there that are consistently at a high level,” Andre Iguodala said. “They’re known to play the right way at the right time. You know, the Spurs, obviously. You look at an organization like that, and say that’s what you want to be consistent, because they’ve become consistent. That’s what you start striving for night in and night out. And maybe, some years you might say they have a down year because they didn’t get out of the first round. But they’re still a threat every single night. That’s where you want to get to. You don’t want to be comfortable with that on and off switch.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise that a team coached by Kerr wants to emulate the Spurs. Kerr won the last two of his five titles as a player in San Antonio, and put in a lot of the Spurs’ halfcourt sets for the Warriors last season. The ball movement that led Golden State to the title last year was a carbon copy of what San Antonio did in its clinic against the Miami Heat in the 2014 Finals.
So even though Kerr hasn’t been on the bench yet this season as he continues recovering from two back surgeries during the summer, his imprint is as firm on the team as ever. (Kerr has been at a couple of practices in Oakland, but has not yet been cleared back to return to the bench.)
“Coming into camp, the one thing Coach Kerr talked about was ‘everything next level,’ ” forward Draymond Green said. “I think guys have made a concerted effort to do that. There’s a lot we can do better at. We had 23 turnovers (against Memphis), some slippage there. But overall, I think guys are really conscious and focused on taking it to the next level.”
While Kerr recuperates, interim coach Luke Walton is learning a whole new definition of workload.
“I thought I knew everything that Steve did,” Walton said.
But Walton is determined not to try and overcoach. He started the interim job worried about not messing up, but has realized his team can police itself.
“We’re capable, but early on in the season, it’s the process of staying disciplined,” guard Shaun Livingston said. “That’s where the Spurs have set themselves apart. All the years of playing the same way, no matter the time, the score. A lot of that’s Popovich, too, having his hand in it. But obviously with Steve being down, we’ve taken more ownership of the responsibility on the court, coaching ourselves. Luke’s done a great job, but also, too, with us, it’s taking ownership, to a man. And staying disciplined, not letting up, paying attention to details, closing out quarters — all the little things.”
For example: Green was angry during the preseason after the Warriors had been lackluster in a couple of exhibition games. He says now he was mad because they’d come into training camp so focused.
“In preseason, I was pissed with the games,” Green said. “But we were having great practices. So it was just like, all right, we’re coming out here in practice, beating up each other, having great practices, and then we’re coming out in the games and laying a complete egg. So that was frustrating, really frustrating. But overall, I think we had a great camp and a terrible preseason.”
That changed on ring night, when Curry had 40 points through three quarters in the regular season opener against New Orleans. He has remained in a zone ever since.
The defending league MVP has gotten off to an historic start. Curry’s current Player Efficiency Rating of 35.44 would obliterate the all-time high of 31.82 set by Wilt Chamerlain in 1962-63, when he was with the San Francisco (irony!) Warriors. His current scoring average of 33.4 points per game would be among the top single-season averages of all time. He also is first in True Shooting Percentage (.687) and Win Shares (3.2), and is third in offensive rating (113.7). (Just for good measure, he’s currently second in the league in steals.)
Curry spent the summer working on being more efficient in the Warriors’ offense, getting from point A to point B quicker with the ball, while maintaining explosiveness. All of the flips, floaters and left-handed runners he makes are not shots he comes up with on the fly during a game. They are all in his repertoire.
“He makes it look so easy, night after night,” Thompson said. “Obviously it’s tough for him to put these numbers up for 82 games, but he surprises us every night.”
I wondered if Curry had ever been this lethal for this long a stretch. He mentioned the four-game run at Davidson in 2006 to the Elite Eight, the burst that put him on the map nationally. And there have been blistering streaks with the Warriors, to be sure. More importantly, he was looking forward to a night of uninterrupted sleep, a blessing on the road when you have an infant and toddler at home.
“It’s funny,” Curry said, “because I still feel like I missed some bunnies out there that could have made it even more special.”
He had just scored 46 points against the Timberwolves.
He’d made 8 of 13 three-pointers. He’d made one basket when Minnesota’s Andre Miller actually swiped at and touched the ball — as Curry was starting to shoot. The result was more of a fling of the ball at the basket than an actual shot. Of course, it hit nothing but net.
“Obviously, the way Steph’s playing, we have a chance against anybody,” Livingston said.
The winning has papered over potential issues. The Warriors couldn’t reach agreement on extensions for Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli before the Nov. 2 deadline for Class of 2012 draftees, making Barnes and Ezeli restricted free agents next summer. Barnes was Kerr’s choice to start at small forward, sending Iguodala to the bench, and Ezeli has been terrific in place of Andrew Bogut, who missed a week with a concussion. (Bogut was stymied when doctors told him the prescription from recovery was … nothing. No pills, potions or tabs would clear the fog that began when he was hit opening night, causing him to miss six games under the league’s concussion protocols before returning against Detroit last week.)
Barnes and Ezeli are both averaging career highs — Barnes 13.5 points per game; Ezeli 8.7 — and Ezeli is adding a block and a half as well. They’ve pushed whatever feelings they have about the future out of public consumption.
“First of all, we’re human beings,” Iguodala said. “I wouldn’t say it’s pushed to the side. But they’re character human beings. They wouldn’t ruin it for everyone else. They’re still going out there, putting in extra effort, trying to get theirs, which is smart. But they’re doing it within the system, within the team. And it works for both parties.”
Ezeli has become adapt at floating to the front of the rim in Golden State’s offense, waiting for the inevitable lob from Green or Curry.
“When you’re building a wall, you don’t start off by saying ‘well, I’m going to build a big wall,’ ” Ezeli said. “You start off by saying, ‘I’m going to lay this brick down, and I’m going to lay it as best as I can.’ That’s kind of the mindset I’m trying to take — take it one possession at a time, take it one game at a time. So when I come into the game, my focus is on how I can change the game and how I can affect the game, and mostly the way I can do it is on the defensive end. Lately, the offensive end has been coming along, but at the defensive end, I can alter shots, block shots, all these different things. That’s what I try to focus on. There’s no pressure doing that. That’s what I always do.”
So … could they?
It’s such a ludicrous idea to entertain. We’re not even to Thanksgiving yet. You’d have to get through the holidays and deep into January before anyone serious would seriously begin contemplating the idea.
“It’s so far away, you can’t possibly be looking that far ahead, talking about we’re going to get 70,” Green said. “…To even speak about that right now, it’s just unrealistic.”
Until then, they’ll have to be satisfied playing 1.000 basketball, the goal perfection — not winning every game, but becoming the best team they can become. The celiing is as high as their imagination.
“On any given night, we’ve got two or three guys playing really well,” Iguodala said. “Steph’s always in that combination, but the other two guys, it’s always different. If we continue to do that, it’s going to turn into four guys, five guys. That’s where we want to get come playoff time.”
DRIBBLES
Surely, DeMar DeRozan will drop the cliché here about last April’s playoff immolation against the Washington Wizards, the nadir of an awful second half of last season, being behind him and the Toronto Raptors.
“Man, it’s still in my head, honestly,” DeRozan said last week. “Until we get back to that moment, and I feel we have a fair shot at redeeming ourselves. That’s the only thing that matters. You want to get back in that position and do better than what you did last year. That’s the only way you’re going to feel better about that last year.”
The Raptors had to remake their roster and psyche after getting swept by the Wizards in the first round, the abrupt end to what had been the most successful regular season in franchise history. Coach Dwane Casey is a defensive guy, but his team fell apart at that end of the floor last season, leading to changes in personnel and philosophy.
“I don’t think you ever make peace with it,” All-Star guard Kyle Lowry said. “You learn from it. You put in the back of your mind, like, okay, how can I grow from it and not dwell on it too much. Grow from it, and get rid of it. You keep it there, but you get rid of it. We can always go back and watch the film, but if you dwell on it too much, just keep digging on it, it can bother you.”
Out went offensive talents like Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez; in came DeMarre Carroll and Bismack Biyombo, guys who get angry when their team gives up a basket, and guard Cory Joseph, who brought championship experience from San Antonio.
“Last year, we used to outscore everybody,” DeRozan said. “And I think that’s where it kind of caught up to us, late in the season and in the playoffs.”
In addition, the Raptors shook up their coaching staff, hiring assistant coaches Rex Kalamian and Andy Greer from Oklahoma City and Chicago, respectively. It’s no coincidence that they came from teams who were more successful guarding screen and roll action, which was Toronto’s Kryptonite last season. (Schuhmann has the SportVU numbers. Ironically, under new coach Billy Donovan, OKC has modified its screen/roll coverage to limit the number of 3-pointers the Thunder gives up.)
Toronto’s been a little better so far this season on D. They are 11th in defensive rating (99.3) and are seventh (97.1) in points allowed. And, being in the godawful Atlantic Division, the Raptors will have to collapse several more levels before they’re seriously threatened by any of their division opponents. If they remain upright, they should win again.
The Raptors won their first five games, but they’ve split their last four. That includes Sunday night’s loss in Sacramento, when Toronto blew an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead. Carroll missed three games last week with plantar fasciitis, and Terrence Ross, whom Toronto gave a three-year extension a couple of weeks ago, will miss at lest another week after injuring ligaments in his left thumb.
“We have been playing decent defense,” Casey said. “We’ve got to get a balance. It’s early. Once we get healthy again, get our mojo back again, I like where our defense is right now. I’ve always said we’ll find our offense. We’ve got too many good offensive players.”
Casey preached defense throughout training camp and the preseason.
“Scoring is not a problem in this room, as you can see,” said Biyombo, who spent the last two seasons under the tutelage of defense-first coach Steve Clifford in Charlotte.
“It’s playing defense. And I think that’s going to help us get to the level we want to get. The emphasis (in camp) was just defense. We’ve got drills that we do before shootaround, before practices. It’s just defense, defense, defense — shell drills and all that.”
That was exactly why Toronto wanted Carroll, who brought his 3-and-D from Atlanta, where he was the Hawks’ emotional leader and one of the team’s biggest shotmakers. He’s only shooting 32 percent on 3-pointers so far, but the plantar fasciitis surely has something to do with that. At any rate, the Raptors need his attitude as much as his skills.
Joseph said the Raptors got “complacent” after their first five wins, which included back-to-back road victories in Dallas and Oklahoma City.
“The thing about the NBA is that good and bad things keep you level headed,” he said. “It humbles you for sure. It humbled us the last three (losses). We’ve got to be able to lock in and play a full 48 minutes.”
It’s not normal for guys in the prime of their careers, like the 24-year-old Joseph, to leave the Spurs. But Joseph knew San Antonio was putting every dollar it could into going after LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency, and that Kawhi Leonard was going to get a max deal. That didn’t leave anything on the table for him. The chance to return to the Toronto area — he grew up in nearby Pickering — for $30 millon over four years carried the day.
“It’s always hard, leaving somewhere that you’re comfortable in,” Joseph said. “You’re comfortable with the system, comfortable in the city, comfortable with the people there. So it’s always tough. It obviously made it a lot more easier ’cause I was coming home. I knew it was a good situation for me basketball wise as well. That’s how it goes business-wise. I couldn’t complain. They were getting a great basketball player in LaMarcus.”
With Joseph around, the Raptors can occasionally get Lowry off the ball and play three-guard sets with DeRozan. They can stay small, playing Carroll at the four (veteran Luis Scola is currently the incumbent at that position), and surround center Jonas Valanciunas with four shooters. The hope is that the defensive adjustments will help Valanciunas deal better with his screen and roll responsibilities, and not leave Toronto exposed.
General Manager Masai Ujiri still believes in Valanciunas, as former GM Bryan Colangelo did before him, giving the former first-round pick a $64 million extension in August.
But the biggest catalysts for a Raptors revival remain Lowry and DeRozan. Lowry remade his body in the offseason after finishing last season overweight and sluggish. DeRozan rededicated himself to setting the tone for his team. Lowry is second in the league in steals while DeRozan is second to James Harden in free throw attempts and makes.
“Just trying to figure out the best way we can make this team better, and not let the same thing, what happened last year, happen again,” DeRozan said. “Not let guys get too comfortable if we see a little success. If we have a little win streak, that don’t mean nothing. The bigger picture is the postseason, and getting ready for that, and taking advantage of the 82 games (to) make corrections of what we need to make. And, really, being more of a leader. That’s the thing we stressed.”
Lowry came to camp shredded after killing himself with cardio and other workouts all summer. There wasn’t any one food Lowry gave up, he said. He just changed his habits.
“In the summertime, you stay up late,” he said. “You have kids, you want to hang out with your wife, you stay up late. The thing I gave up was staying up late and having those 1 a.m., let’s go grab the little thing out of the fridge. It’s not hard to really give up anything if you take pride in your profession. My body is my money maker, and I’ve got to be in the best shape to be able to maintain the whole season, and play against these high-level players, and compete to where I can say I’m an All-Star.”
The stakes are high for everyone who’s made We The North a great branding slogan. The Eastern Conference, after Cleveland and Atlanta and Chicago, looks open. There’s one more likely spot for a team that wants home-court advantage in the first round. Lowry doesn’t want this chance to go up in smoke the way it did last season.
“It was more making sure that I was prepared to be able to maintain a high level in, and be able to push my teammates to play at a high level,” Lowry said. “And the way you do that is making sure that yourself, you’re ready. And for me, it was just coming in and being in shape and that I go out there and always be positive. At the end of the day, our team looks at me and DeMar to go. We make this team go. We take a lot of pride in that. DeMar’s been here longer than me, but when I first got here, my first year, we only won 35 games. So we take pride in winning 48, 49 games, making the playoffs. We’re trying to get better and grow.”
TEAM OF THE WEEK
San Antonio (3-0): Four straight wins after Saturday’s dispatch of the 76ers, done without Kawhi Leonard, and five of the next six games at their redone AT&T Center.
TEAM OF THE WEAK
Houston (0-3): Gave Brooklyn its first win of the season, got handled by Denver in the Lawson Revenge Game and was smoked Saturday by the Mavericks. Another odd seven days for the Rockets.
