Golden State Warriors Blog – Page 19 – NBA Blog

Another injury for Jordan Bell

Things are pretty awesome for the Warriors. They’re behind the Rockets in league standings, but only by a little. That aside, things can always be even more awesome. One such way is if injuries would stop striking supporting cast member Jordan Bell. Here’s the latest from the San Jose Mercury News:

Jordan Bell stood on his knees and pounded his fist on the floor. A certain four-letter word that can’t be written here ran through his mind over and over again.

“That’s all I was thinking,” Bell said. “I was just mad.”

Bell had just sustained a sprained right ankle after blocking a shot by Brooklyn Nets’ forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson with 13.7 seconds left in the third quarter. He landed awkwardly on Hollis-Jefferson’s foot, then collapsed to the ground in pain. He eventually limped off of the court and did not return in the Warriors’ 114-101 win over the Nets on Tuesday.

The X-Rays were negative and the Warriors called the injury a “mild sprain.”

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Durant, Warriors beat Thunder 112-80

Here’s the SF Chronicle reporting the results of a matchup we’ll always pay attention to, Kevin Durant and the Warriors against Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. The latest:

Warriors forward Kevin Durant wants his fans and critics to believe that there is nothing special about his games against his former team. More than a year and a half after he last called Oklahoma City home, the nine-time All-Star is trying to silence chatter about his past.

Anyone who saw him revel in the Warriors’ 112-80 rout of the Thunder Saturday night at Oracle Arena, however, knows that the Thunder aren’t just another opponent to him. In helping exorcize the memory of Golden State’s two lopsided losses to Oklahoma City this season, Durant feasted on emotion, pouring in a game-high 28 points.

It was in stark contrast to the night of Russell Westbrook, who paired with sidekick Paul George to shoot a combined 5-for-29 from the field. Oklahoma City, for all its star power, ultimately had no answer for another one of the Warriors’ signature third-quarter blitzes.

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Klay Thompson wants to stick with Warriors

Klay Thompson’s desires have not changed.

The four-time All-Star does not want to leave the Warriors when he becomes a free agent.

“Playing for one team your whole career is definitely special,” Klay recently told Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group (read the full story here). “Only so many guys have done it in professional sports, so it’ll be a goal of mine. Hopefully it all works out.

“Anything I can do to stay with the Warriors is first and foremost. God willing, it happens. If not, I don’t even think about that.”

— NBC Sports Bay Area

Steve Kerr brushes off criticism after turning coaching huddles over to players

Steve Kerr trusts his players. Especially when the Warriors are going against a team they should definitely be able to beat. He recently allowed players to essentially act as coaches during timeouts/huddles. There’s no reason to think he did so to disrespect the opponent. Still, it drew reactions in all directions. Here’s the SF Chronicle reporting:

After turning his team huddles over to players in Monday night’s rout of the Suns, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr drew plenty of criticism. Some viewed Kerr’s approach as disrespectful to Phoenix. Others saw it as demeaning to the coaching profession.

“I heard some things,” Kerr said of such backlash after shoot-around Wednesday. “I don’t care.”

During each huddle Monday, Kerr handed his clipboard to a player and turned away as the team discussed the game plan. It was Kerr’s way of empowering a group that has struggled to focus in recent weeks. Sensing that his players had tuned him out, Kerr figured it was time to let someone else give orders.

The change in approach helped pave the way for Golden State’s most lopsided win ever over the Suns. However, many weren’t so pleased with Kerr’s tactic.

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Warriors CMO Chip Bowers leaving organization

Here’s an update on the Warriors that sports business-minded people would be interested in, from the San Jose Mercury News:

After stockpiling their staff in recent years, the Warriors have lost one of their top executives to another team. Warriors chief marketing offer Chip Bowers plans to take a job with the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball, Bay Area News Group confirmed. Bowers will serve as the Marlins’ president of business operations and report to part-owner and Chief Executive Officer Derek Jeter. Bloomberg first reported the news.

It is not immediately clear when Bowers will make the transition. Bowers was currently in his sixth season with the Warriors, where he has overseen broadcasting, marketing and corporate partnership sales for the organization.

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Steve Kerr says NBA schedule spacing has been helpful

The NBA continues to do more for teams in regard to scheduling fewer back-to-back games than in the past. Warriors coach Steve Kerr, for one, says the effect has been clear, and positive. Here’s the the San Jose Mercury News reporting:

After playing in 17 sets of back-to-back games this year, the Warriors will play in 14. After playing as many as eight games in 13 days last season, the Warriors’ toughest stretch will entail playing five games in nine days. The NBA also spread out its schedule so there are more days in between games.

“The players are much more prepared to play in every game,” Kerr said. “I’ve only rested guys who are older and banged up. I haven’t felt a need to rest our guys who are in our prime. The league has done a great job with the schedule.”

Granted, the Warriors have still nursed long-term absences this season to Stephen Curry (combined 15 games), Kevin Durant (eight), Draymond Green (six) and Zaza Pachulia (right) for various injuries. But only Klay Thompson represents the Warriors’ lone core player to sit out for rest purposes. That happened only once.

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Warriors hope to upgrade bench

The defending champion Warriors still look like the best team in the league, but they’d be even more potent with a better bench. Here’s the San Jose Mercury News reporting:

The Warriors’ goal ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline is clear: They want to upgrade their bench, which has underwhelmed in recent weeks.

Specifically, they’re looking for someone who can provide consistent offense off the bench, and if that player can make a 3-pointer, it’d be a godsend…

Since Christmas, the Warriors’ bench has been a negative unit, allowing six more points than they’ve scored. The culprit behind this turnaround — the Warriors had the second-best plus-minus rating in the league last year (plus-185) — is obvious: they can’t shoot 3-pointers.

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Quinn Cook rejoins Warriors

Golden State Warriors two-way guard Quinn Cook has re-joined the team prior to its game in Sacramento, the team announced today.

Cook has appeared in 24 games with the Santa Cruz Warriors this season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 35.9 minutes. In 10 games with Golden State this season Cook is averaging 3.2 points, 1.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 10.3 minutes.

Warriors rookie Jordan Bell injured

The Warriors are an NBA-best 32-9, and outscoring opponents by an NBA-best 9.1 points per game. While the team’s success does revolve around their multiple big-name stars, talented rookie big-man Jordan Bell has contributed very solid play in 14.4 minutes per games. But they’ll be without his services for a while. Here’s the San Jose Mercury News reporting:

The Warriors ruled out rookie forward Jordan Bell for at least two weeks, after an MRI taken on Thursday confirmed he had inflammation in his sprained left ankle.

According to that timetable, Bell will miss at least the next five games beginning when the Warriors (37-9) play the Houston Rockets (31-12) on Saturday. Bell will also sit out for the Warriors’ three-game homestand against New York (Jan. 23), Minnesota (Jan. 25) and Boston (Jan. 27) followed by a game in Utah (Jan. 30). Bell could return as early as Feb. 2 in Sacramento, though the Warriors will not have clarity on Bell’s progress until then. Though the Warriors’ medical staff plans to further analyze Bell’s MRI, they had enough information to offer the initial timetable.

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Draymond Green now all-time Warriors triple-double leader

A post shared by Draymond Green (@money23green) on Nov 21, 2017 at 5:03pm PST

The Warriors are 31-8, leading the NBA in winning percentage as well as in multiple important stat categories, and as good as expected. Draymond Green continues to be one of their key contributors. He’s described as a role player, but if a “superstar role player” is a real thing, Green is that. And he just crossed an amazing milestone, becoming the all-time Warriors franchise leader in triple-doubles, despite only being in his mid 20’s. For more, here’s NBC Sports Bay Area reporting:

Few guys in the NBA are as good as Green is at sensing what his team needs and finding a way to deliver it. Which is why he is, at [age 27], already the Warriors all-time leader in triple-doubles.

His 21st came Thursday night in a 124-114 win over the Rockets. The Warriors were without Kevin Durant, so Green provided 17 points and 14 rebounds. With Stephen Curry spending a fair amount of time at shooting guard, the Warriors needed another playmaker. So Green dropped 10 assists.

Add it all up, and he’s the franchise leader in a category that illustrates versatility. The Warriors are 21-0 when Green posts a triple-double.

“It’s not something I ever thought about or thought would happen, especially not playing much my first two years,” Green said. “It’s kind of crazy. But it’s definitely something to be proud of.”

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