As a NBA season progresses, every team has their very own brand of basketball that gets them through the season. Some are more successful, some are not, and some are in a constant struggle to have the same identity night in and night out. As for the Golden State Warriors, their true colors were on display at Oracle Arena over the weekend.
The Warriors love to score, force turnovers, and get out in transition. They don’t have a big three to rely on, they don’t play lock down defense every night, and they sure don’t have a bench stacked with talent that keeps them from getting blown out. After setting a new franchise record with 21 3-pointers on Friday against the Orlando Magic, the Warriors showed one way they win ball games, by shooting the lights out. But another factor is David Lee, who almost single-handedly kept Dwight Howard from getting his shots and forcing him to the free throw line. Last night against the Timberwolves, the Warriors forced 26 turnovers, and were running the floor all night, while once again, Mr. Lee took on the double-double machine Kevin Love and found his off switch. Keeping a team’s main/best player to only six shots for the game is impressive, especially since he’d been putting up the numbers he had.
The W’s are four games out of second place in the Pacific Division (they aren’t catching the Lakers), while they’re 6.5 out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They have 16 games left on the schedule with nine of those against teams who currently reside in a playoff spot. That will prove to be a tough test for any team, especially when you have so much ground to make up. But if the Warriors stay within themselves and don’t let other teams take them out of their game, who knows what could happen.
We Believe! (?)