- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
From heavy favorites to underdogs, Warriors face questions
- Updated: May 17, 2016
2:19 PM ET
Oakland, Calif. — In two quarters, the Golden State Warriors went from up 14 on the Oklahoma City Thunder to their season being under threat. That’s how long it took the Warriors to go from heavy series favorites to, according to Nate Silver’s projection model at FiveThirtyEight, a 44 percent chance of advancing from the Western Conference finals.
After the game, steady veteran point guard Shaun Livingston reminded attending media, “It’s not supposed to be easy.” It seems a 73-win season does not inoculate a team from the doubt-filled playoff crucible. It only guarantees the home-court advantage, which Russell Westbrook and the Thunder quickly wrenched away in those two quarters.
Perhaps the Warriors are not desperate, but times are certainly urgent. As Steve Kerr dryly put it on Monday evening, “We’d like to win Game 2.” It’s only one game, but it isn’t like being down 1-2 to the plodding Memphis Grizzlies or depleted Cleveland Cavaliers as they were during last season’s playoff run. The Thunder are more dangerous and they just beat the Warriors under suboptimal conditions. Oklahoma City was less rested and won despite Kevin Durant’s and Westbrook’s combined 17-of-51 from the field, and despite Oklahoma City’s shooting 1-of-8 in NBA-defined crunch time.
When the Warriors lose, awful 3-point shooting usually factors into that result. This time, Golden State went an acceptable 11-for-30 from deep, and the final two misses were highly contested desperation shots. Oklahoma City’s length bedeviled the Warriors, and their heavy switching strategy largely worked.
Big trouble
With Andrew Bogut nursing a strained adductor muscle, this was set up to be the series for Festus Ezeli, whose athleticism seemed a good fit. Ezeli started off well, but, amid Draymond Green’s loud scolding, had a terrible third quarter in which he appeared to be in the wrong place on offensive sets. This could have implications going forward, because Golden State coaches tend to give Ezeli a short leash. Bogut wasn’t …
continue reading in source espn.go.com
