What's going on with the Warriors lately? After encountering a wave of five consecutive losses, the record fell to the third position in the West after losing to the Nuggets. Perhaps because of this, the team's core Curry dropped out of the top five in the latest official MVP list, ceding the position to the young and energetic Morant. You should know that at the beginning of the season, the Warriors' record was at the top of the list for a long time, and Curry was lonely at the top of the MVP list. At that time, the team had not yet welcomed back the second boss Klay, relying on the core of Curry + Green to lead a group of role players to fight, Poole, Anderson, and Payton Jr. all played a stunning performance on the field.
In fact, we all understand what Green's existence means to the Warriors, the famous writer Jing Yimo once talked about this matter, Green's significance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is greater than Clay, which can also be seen from the record. Klay's comeback disrupted the Warriors' chemistry, coupled with his eagerness to prove his strength, too many singles in the game led to a decline in offensive efficiency, and his defensive ability may be afraid of the injury of the past and can not play the strength it deserves. Coupled with the fact that role players such as Poole restrained their offensive desires because of Clay's presence and gave him more offensive opportunities, this made the team lose its earlier vitality and vitality.
Perhaps coach Kerr also saw the hint, suffering from the consideration of Clay's feelings, it is impossible to press it on the bench to play the role of a substitute, but also simply take turns off the core players in order to release the ability of role players. Such an arrangement is good, after all, the current Warriors have the courage not to consider the gains and losses of one city and one pool, such an arrangement can allow the main players to get a full rest, and may allow the role players to return to their former state. Although he lost the game against the Nuggets, after all, Jokic, who was in hot form, was able to play a single 124-point attack, and also received unexpected surprises.
You may say that you really stand and talk without waist pain, obviously you have lost the ball and you have to say that there is a surprise. But what Xian Ji wants to say is that losing also has the meaning of losing, and the Warriors' current bad competitive state and too much use of the main force is that the more they play, the more they have no state, and it is better to give up strategically. We also found that Clay's return will more or less take part of the shots, so it is understandable that the role players have lost their competitive state, and the significance of this game is to regain their offensive and defensive strength.
Isn't that? The team did not have the splash brothers' three-point containment, and Green's "cannonball delivery", or shot 17 three-pointers, the remnant Warriors can play with the Nuggets until the final quarter of the game to determine the winner, or show that the substitute players are extraordinary. The data will reflect the nature of things more objectively, and we can see everything by looking at the performance of the role players in this game.
Poole played 34 minutes, shooting 11 of 19, including 8 of 12 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 32 points, 3 boards and 7 assists. After a long period of silence, Poole has finally regained that momentum; according to statistics, in the past three games, Poole has averaged 26 points and 4.7 assists per game, shooting 61% from the field and 65% from three-point range (17 of 26). As the sixth man on the team, all Poole needs to do is maintain his current form and return his attack to the state he was in at the beginning of the season without being affected by Clay.
In addition, the two rookies of the 2021 NBA Draft also played excellent offense: in this game, Warriors rookie Moody started 36 minutes and 28 seconds, shot 10 of 23, 5 of 12 from three-point range, 5 of 6 from the free throw line, scored a career-high 30 points, and scored 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. According to statistics, 30 points also set a new record for single-game scoring for young players in Warriors history (under the age of 20, Moody's is currently 19 years old and 281 days). Cuminga of the No. 7 show also had a good performance: 16 points and 4 rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting, as well as a three-pointer and 3 free throws, and even more valuable was the 0 turnovers in the whole game.
That's the surprise for the Warriors, the rookies are playing the expected offensive form and not being a burden on the team. In this way, Wiggins's maximum salary contract will be lost: according to US media reports, in this offseason, Wiggins is eligible to renew the Warriors' contract for 5 years and 207 million, and if he joins another team, he can only sign a 4-year maximum salary. However, if we look at Wiggins's current performance, if you want to fight for the top salary contract with such immediate combat strength, then its difficulty is tantamount to ascending to the sky. After all, in less than twenty minutes of offensive performance, Cuminga and Moody can also provide support, and what is even more rare is that the two of them are younger and more aggressive.