Warriors Return to Oracle: The Good and the Bad
By Ryan Hurlow
The NBA regular season may not begin until next week, but there was certainly a regular season-like atmosphere at Oracle Arena when the Warriors returned to Oakland to play their first preseason home game against the Clippers Tuesday night.
After a long summer, the Bay Area crowd was eager to see their beloved team play against their SoCal rivals. The game also marked the long awaited return of Festus Ezeli, who was sidelined by a knee surgery and inflammation for 17 months. This is a great sign for the Warriors, who were desperately seeking a backup center. While it’s hard to fully evaluate a team’s performance during a preseason game (especially one where Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Andrew Bogut did not play), there were some great signs from the Warriors…and some bad ones as well.
The Good
- Festus Ezeli is finally back, folks. After a sudden knee surgery during the summer of 2013 and subsequent knee inflammation kept Ezeli on the bench, Warriors fans were starting to wonder if he’d ever come back. His presence was greatly needed to halt the onslaught of Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin during last season’s first round matchup against the Clippers. Ezeli’s comeback, however, couldn’t have been better scripted as he put on a solid performance on his birthday, putting up 10 points on five field goal attempts to go along with three boards and a monstrous block. Ezeli didn’t miss a beat on offense, as he caught alley-oops with relative ease and seemed fairly mobile for a seven-footer who hadn’t played a game since May of last year. Warriors fans can probably breathe a sigh of relief, as the search for a backup center most likely ends here.
- The new and improved ball movement passes the eye test so far. The Warriors looked much more comfortable running sets as no one player held on to the ball for an extended period of time. There were some instances of the triangle being run, but we didn’t get to witness a big man bring the ball up at the top of the arc since Bogut was inactive. The day of post-ups and isolation plays have seemingly come to an end as no one was caught standing around and watching the ball. There were some great pindown screens leading into open threes. Stephen Curry and David Lee also displayed their longtime chemistry as they played a brilliant two-man game.
- Steve Kerr is for real. He doesn’t seem opposed to treating preseason games with a regular season attitude. He called Popovich-esque timeouts and voiced his displeasure with his team’s performance even after a handy win. Yes, it is still the preseason, but it’s good to see Kerr experimenting with different lineups, especially different primary ball-handlers.
The Bad
27 turnovers — it’s the preseason, but there’s no excuse to be this sloppy with the ball.
However, the turnovers are also a sign of a pass-heavy offense. During the first half, there were probably a few unnecessary extra passes that led to turnovers, as well as some brain farts from Draymond Green.
It’s going to take a while before the Warriors fully adjust to Kerr’s system. They have some leftover flaws from Mark Jackson‘s tenure, such as passes that aren’t fundamentally sound (Curry’s one-handers). As the season progresses, we can expect to see the Warriors tighten their passing game under Kerr’s discipline.
But sloppiness occurred amongst both teams last night. See below for example (along with highlights of Curry’s 27-point outing):
Overall
I must reiterate that this was a preseason game against a team missing two of its superstars, but there were signs of good things to come.
Ognjen Kuzmic performed decently for a third-string center who will probably come in only if injuries occur. Harrison Barnes still looks hesitant with the ball in his hands, but hopefully he can develop into a serviceable forward and prove that he was worth a seventh overall pick. Curry maintained his hot shooting, while Klay Thompson and Draymond had off shooting nights but played great defense. Warriors fans can look forward to the new offense as Curry and Klay will probably “get buckets” with superb ball movement.
One thing everyone can agree on is: the season can’t come soon enough.