The Dennis Schröder period — for those who can name it an period — can solely get higher from right here.
That’s as a result of Schröder’s first recreation with the Warriors went as poorly as any recreation the Warriors have performed in recent times.
Golden State misplaced by 51 to the Grizzlies in Memphis on Thursday evening, and that closing margin may be extra flattering than the Dubs deserved. With just below 4 minutes to play within the third quarter, the Warriors have been shedding 102-50. They have been down by as many as 57 on the evening.
This wasn’t an NBA recreation — it was just like the Warriors have been North Carolina Central taking part in Duke.
The 51-point loss was the Warriors worst for the reason that Celtics beat them by 52 in March.
Was it solely Schröder’s fault the Warriors had the brakes crushed off them in Memphis? After all not.
However this inauspicious begin hardly conjures up confidence on this daring (but insufficient) experiment.
The Warriors will attempt to “flush” this recreation. There might be no tape examine and no dialogue—transfer on to the subsequent one.
And maybe, after Saturday evening’s recreation in Minneapolis, this contest will look like a waste of everybody’s time.
Each crew is entitled to a dud, once in a while, in spite of everything.
However it could be silly to easily name Thursday’s annihilation a one-off, particularly when you think about that it was the primary recreation for a participant whose match with this crew has been so roundly and justly questioned.
As a result of it’s so uncommon for Steph Curry to play as poorly as he did Thursday — he didn’t make a shot from the sector — or for Draymond Inexperienced to be as ineffective on either side of the ground that he set an NBA file for worst plus-minus (minus-42) in a recreation for any participant who performed 20 minutes or fewer.
It may well’t merely be the Grizzlies having a recreation for the ages.
That accounts for, what, a 30-point Memphis win?
How can we account for a further 20 factors? Absolutely, we will’t credit score Jake LaRavia for that.
I’m on the file saying I like the thought of Schröder on the Warriors. He may be a dribble-drive participant on a crew that finds such play antithetical, however the Warriors want extra of what Schröder affords — ball-handling and offensive aggression. His defensive upside is much-needed, too.
However simply as a not too long ago acquired participant is required to acquiesce to the way in which his new crew goes about its enterprise, so too should the brand new crew adapt to the way in which the brand new participant performs.
I’m uncertain what we noticed on Thursday, but it surely definitely wasn’t that. As a substitute, it was clunky at greatest and mutually unique play — Schröder taking a possession, the Warriors taking the subsequent — at worst. Both this crew had an excessive amount of enjoyable in Memphis on Wednesday (is that even attainable?), or this assimilation would possibly take a while.
And let’s be clear: the Warriors can’t afford a protracted stretch of rising pains.
However what else are we to imagine is coming down the pipe after Thursday?
The thought of touchdown Schröder was that he was the participant the Warriors wanted proper now. What if “right now” seems to be a number of weeks or a month from now?
I heard the NBC Sports activities Bay Space propagandists counsel that the Warriors are simply nice — they’re merely on the improper facet of a hellacious stretch of schedule.
Positive, the Dubs have performed some severely robust opponents as of late — Memphis included — however you let me know when there’s a straightforward week within the NBA. I’ll wait.
Opposite to what you would possibly assume following Thursday’s recreation, that is the period of parity within the NBA, and there aren’t many groups markedly worse than the Dubs, who, simply weeks after being No. 1 within the Western Convention, at the moment are at No. 10 within the standings.
For example, the subsequent time the Warriors play the tanking Utah Jazz, it’s the primary a part of a back-to-back the place the second recreation is in opposition to the West’s greatest, Oklahoma Metropolis. Your upcoming residence recreation in opposition to the hapless Wizards? That’s adopted by a recreation in opposition to the defending champion Celtics.
The Warriors want to start out taking part in good basketball as quickly as attainable. That’s why Schröder was acquired in spite of everything.
One recreation isn’t a viable referendum. Two or three video games aren’t, both.
However the Warriors merely can’t wait lengthy to mesh Schröder into the fold of this crew and return it to its early-season type. If the win-now transfer doesn’t win… now, the Dubs might be attempting to make one other transfer with a commerce asset that isn’t almost as priceless as he was a number of weeks again.
Sure, the Warriors have made it identified that they nonetheless have the power to make trades earlier than February’s deadline, and if that features Schröder, so be it.
I’m skeptical about that.
But when one recreation can change that opinion, Thursday’s catastrophe of a recreation was it.
