© Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Sometimes it pays to skip the first half. Or the first three quarters. Or the whole game. The pro play on Saturday, for you crafty sports consumers, was to watch March Madness, and then, as the day wound down, flip over to the Warriors (ideally with, uh, the other team’s broadcast).
The first half of Saturday’s game featured just brutal shooting. It was deja vu-like after watching two days of college basketball wondering when, if ever, someone would make a shot. And even as the pace quickened in the second half, it was all for naught, as the Warriors lost 111-103.
Smailagic was a little too excited for his first start
With Kevon Looney out due to NBA health and safety protocols, and both James Wiseman and Eric Paschall already in protocols, that left the Warriors to tap Alen Smailagic for his first NBA start. It was, like most things Smailagic does, entertaining, hilarious and head-scratching.
He opened with a three for the Warriors first points of the game. Nice!
Then he nearly fouled out in a ridiculously brief amount of time. It took eight minutes for Smailagic to notch five personal fouls, with his exasperated face after his fifth indicative of the bizarre, disjointed style of this game. He proceeded to go 1-for-5 and 1-of-4 from three, with 3 points, and zero other stats except for his five fouls. Incredible stuff.
Nico Mannion and Jordan Poole are fun!
It’s way too early to say this is the backcourt of the future. And by backcourt of the future, I mean the backup backcourt of the future. But what you can already see is why the Warriors, who have been harshly (and probably fairly) criticized for their late first-round picks, is why they swung on these two players.
Mannion is every bit the honey badger he appeared in college, working relentlessly on defense, being proactive and confident on offense, looking like a very promising backup point guard for a guy who turned 20 earlier this month.
He only played 13 minutes, but finished with 9 points (3-of-6, 1-of-2 from three) and a couple rebounds. The coaching up he received from a sidelined Stephen Curry was a point of note.
Coach Steph pic.twitter.com/KpU2l0W5me
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 21, 2021
Meanwhile, Poole came out firing yet a gain. He dropped 26 points on 10-of-21 shooting (3-of-9 from three) with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. His shooting stroke looks as effortless as ever, and he’s starting to appear more and more like a very viable sparkplug, scoring option off the bench.
Brief worry for Draymond
It seemed like the Warriors’ injury/absence nightmare was about to get much worse. Draymond Green went down clutching his left ankle after having rolled it up against a Grizzlies player. For a moment, it seemed like it could be a significant injury, and it still may turn out to sideline Green for awhile.
But he returned to the game after being briefly checked, before later heading to the locker room in the fourth quarter for a longer evaluation. With Stephen Curry sidelined, and Wiseman, Paschall and Looney in the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, it’s increasingly apparent how thin the Warriors are spread.