Warriors Still Steph Curry’s Team … With a Little More ‘Freshness’

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Warriors star Stephen Curry

Clearing a few notes off the table to make room for Thanksgiving…

Even some around the Warriors have been caught a little by (pleasant) surprise. After all, this is a team that finished 10th in the Western Conference before Sacramento blew it by 24 in the play-in game.

“I think there was a sense of trying to hold on to what we had rather than turning a corner,” a source close to the situation told Heavy Sports. “With Buddy (Hield) playing a deeper rotation now, there is a freshness.

“It’s always going to be Steph (Curry)’s team as long as he’s here, but more people are contributing.”

Things got tough in a hurry for Golden State just months after winning the 2022 championship. Jordan Poole chirped at Draymond Green at practice and Green punched him in the facee. Poole was traded to Washington the following offseason, but a Warrior source told us, “There were trust issues after the incident. Guys mostly said the right things, but you wondered what some people were thinking when it got quiet. It felt just uncomfortable at times and it bled over.”

After winning 44 games that year, the Dubs won two more in 2023-24, but the season was a nightmare. Assistant coach Dejan Milojevic’s collapse and death at a team dinner cast a cloud over the club. On the pitch, things were just out of whack.

“You had Klay (Thompson) still coming back from injury and it was tough,” the source said. “He was trying to do things to get himself going and show he could still be what he was, and that seemed to get in the way.

“You could understand a lot of that. Klay was such a big part of the success and everybody wanted him to get it all back. It had to be tough on him mentally. He tried so hard, but when things go like that, it’s hard to play with the easy flow.”

The Warriors have been more even this year, securing a very nice win in Boston and hanging on to second place in the West as the holidays approached.

“The key,” said a rival assistant coach, “is if they can play that many people and play the same style when the playoffs get here and every minute is magnified. Will Steve (Kerr) keep spreading the minutes around or will he lean heavily to, say, a top eight?

Payton Pritchard has earned his spot

Payton Pritchard was pleased to hear that some high school and even college coaches have checked in to say they’ve used the latest story about him here to point out the work ethic necessary for their players to grow .

But it was an NBA coach who said, “I wish you had talked to me for that story. I would have given you a damn comment.”

And?

“You’re playing the Celtics, and nobody has that much time to prepare for a regular-season game,” he said. “So obviously at shootaround and before the game you focus on (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum.

“So,” he added with a laugh, “this little (expletive) comes into play and starts lighting us up. It’s (expletive) not fair.”

Speaking of Pritchard’s preparation, we joked with his trainer, Celtic assistant Craig Luschenat, that scoring so much in training must be hard on his self-esteem. But he said he gets all the therapy he needs for his “wounds” when he watches Pritchard bury shots during games.

Larry Bird, Still Hate the Lakers

Good story from eight years NBA veteran Jim Petersenwho was in Boston Sunday as a Timberwolves broadcaster.

The former Rocket, King and Warrior was at the recent Hall of Fame festivities in Springfield and recalled a scene from the hotel lobby.

“There were a lot of Lakers there because Michael Cooper came in and a bunch of them were standing around,” Petersen said. “Then (Larry) Bird comes walking through and he didn’t even look at them. These players today are all friends, but Larry wanted nothing to do with those guys. It was beautiful.”

Steve Bulpett has covered the NBA since 1985, the first 35 of those years as a beat writer/columnist for the Boston Herald. In that time, he has earned National Top 10 honors from APSE as a columnist, beat reporter and feature writer. Since 2014, he has served as vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association. More about Steve Bulpett