Instead of the 50/40/90 they shot in Game 3, the Raptors shot 41/31/95. They lost, at home, even though the Raptors as a team did not shoot the lights out - indeed, the Raptors did not even have an average shooting night. They lost, at home, even though Looney came back and played well - 10 points on 5 of 8 from the floor, with 6 boards in 20 minutes. The Warriors lost, at home, even though Klay came back and played well - 28 points, 6 of 10 from three, in 42 minutes. Even without three of our top eight players, we could have won if the Raptors had a normal shooting night.” “The Raptors only won because they shot as well as any team has ever shot in a Finals game. The Warriors could say after Game 3 that the Raptors had a shooting night for the ages, and that absent that incredible shooting, the Warriors still could have won. ”If we had Looney, we could have defended the Raptors much better, and we would not have needed to play Andrew Bogut 22 minutes.” The Warriors could say after Game 3 that Kevon Looney’s absence meant that his 20 minutes had to go to someone else without his mobility, offensively and defensively. ”If we had Klay, Stephen Curry would not have had to do everything, and the Raptors would not have been able to focus all their defense on Steph.” They could say after Game 3 that they made the right decision to hold Klay Thompson out to let him heal. The Warriors could explain away losing Game 3. How many All-Stars can the Warriors lose before they’re not really THE Warriors anymore?Ĭool, huh? Anyway, this is all a long lead-in to my latest post, discussing Game Four, the Raptors North jersey, and Kyle Lowry’s mother. They don’t want any asterisk next to their win if they do win the whole thing.
#Oracle arena in game mudic series#
Will this series carry questions of whether they really beat THE Warriors? Neil: Well, I definitely wanted to talk about that, Nate. I was very surprised, and perhaps honored, to see this as part of the most recent 538 chat about the NBA Finals: The very smart people at must be fans - or maybe it is just that great minds think alike. You’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.” ”Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify, because the players are always changing the team could move to another city. He, too, is now on “my team/”Īll this makes me think of Jerry Seinfeld’s line: Probably a perfectly nice guy, certainly a competent if uninteresting basketball player – and now is he another guy wearing the uniform of “my team.” Finally, a guy named Nick Young, who shot every time he touched it, just as he did for the 76ers last year, and USC, when he played there. This guy named Johnson was also out there wearing a Laker jersey. And he is now starting for “my team.” And there is another guy named Johnson who I wouldn’t recognize if he was sitting in my office.
The answer, as far as I can figure out: Nowhere in the NBA. Where did Shawnee play last year? Good question.
We later figured out he was a fine fellow named Xavier Henry, Kansas U grad, who was on the Pelicans last year (formerly the Hornets).Īnd Xavier (number 7 for your future reference) was three times as famous and familiar as another guy in a Laker jersey named Shawnee Williams – who started at power forward. Who was the guy who dunked? For the first time in decades (if ever), a Laker guy scored in a game and I had no idea who he was. While there was much celebration in Staples Center, there was probably as much confusion. During the first quarter, one Laker guy in a Laker jersey passed to another Laker guy in a Laker jersey, who dunked. Music Attorney to the Stars Peter Paterno invited super-son Pablo and me to the Laker – Clipper game last night. I had the same blank look last night at the Laker game. That Paradox asked whether the slow replacement of all the component parts of a great ship meant that it was not the same ship that had won a great battle.Ī related piece, from five years earlier, asked whether rooting for a Lakers team with no players that I cared about meant that I was just rooting for laundry. One was a Pounding the Rock piece comparing the replacement of all my favorite Spurs players with new ones to the Theseus Paradox. Long-time readers of my stuff may remember two of my prior pieces.