Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] Hey, guys, welcome in to another episode of Stacking Dub. This is Chris Chin and I'm happy to report the warriors continue do to stack some dubs. Beat the Indiana Pacers last night, 131 to 109. Stefan Wardell Curry goes absolutely super nova in this one. Nothing is more fun than watching Curry with a flurry, hits us for seven, three pointers out the gate. It just brings back those old familiar feelings of just watching Steph on a heater and we're doing our happy dance or running around the room. Nothing brings fans together and gets more excitement going than seeing Steph on fire.
[00:01:00] Is there anything more exciting in sports than watching Steph on fire? I think back, and maybe Tiger woods when he's at the Masters and just locked in, but it's at best a similar experience. Nothing is just closer together and just building adrenaline increasing difficulty than watching Stefan Curry drain. What a fun game. Warriors go to four and one on the road trip to close it out. One defensive stop away against the Hawks from a perfect five and road trip. We'll get into that a bit more. But a lot of optimism around this warriors team. They are looking like a completely different team than they were a month ago. The return of Draymond Green, the post, we'll call it a bereavement break. Just the attitude, the culture, the connectedness of this team. It's evident and it's showing. We went into this road trip unsure, really, about where our team stood, unsure about where players stood. The trade deadline came and went. No major moves other than Corey Joseph was unloaded to save a little bit of money. I'm glad Corey Joseph was still able to be in the building. He was traded to the Pacers, so we got to witness this explosion by Steph. And thank you, Corey Joseph, for your time. It was fun, but not that fun.
[00:02:31] It was a very big reason for the warriors to be optimistic going forward. Andrew Wiggins has seemed to turn it around. Jonathan Kaminga has emerged. The defense is clicking, firing on all cylinders. We can look at many reasons, but none more important than the return of Draymond Green and what he means to anchor this team on defense and organizing us on the offensive side of the ball.
[00:02:59] Steph Curry. Let's get back to the man of the hour.
[00:03:03] 15 to 22 from the field. That efficiency is insane. Only 30 minutes played, he becomes the number one player in NBA history, passing Michael Jordan for 40 point games on less than ten free throw attempts. He's done it 48 times. And this one is Steph Curry in a microcosm. It's his 13th game with eleven threes or more. The next closest is four by Damien Lillard and Clay Thompson. And as the game's going, you can hold up those stats for eleven threes made, ten threes made, nine, eight. Whatever the case may be, Steph Curry is in a class of his own compared to wherever, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or the combination of every single player in NBA history. And they don't even add up to what Steph's done. The stats are just mind boggling.
[00:03:56] Warriors find a way to get out of this road trip when they needed it most and they return home on Saturday against the Suns, where Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal will come to town and we'll truly get to see how improved this warriors team is and how the momentum is flowing.
[00:04:16] But in light of Steph's most recent just I want to take a moment to just reflect on how fortunate we are as warriors fans and just sports fans in this era to be able to watch something as exciting as Steph just going crazy, hitting difficult shots and just seemingly stringing together six, seven, sometimes eight, just crazy threes from so deep. There's nothing more fun than that. I don't even have anything to compare it to. It remains the greatest show in sports when he has it going and he's 35 years old and there's no signs of this stopping.
[00:04:55] We can look at as Curry ages and I don't want to look too far forward, but if we imagine what he's like when he's 39, 40 years old, there's no reason to think that a night like last night still can't exist. His three point prowess has nothing to do with his physical speed, strength, ability.
[00:05:15] Yes, he needs to be able to separate and find ways to get his shot off. But man, if you looked at the last two or three shots of this quarter, of the first quarter, he's just launching with two guys right on him from 38ft. If you're in that mode, and as a shooter, I don't see why you would lose that three years from now when you have it going. There's just nothing you can do to stop him. And for that reason, I am wholeheartedly sure that this will not be the last eleven three point game that we see out of Steph Curry. And I'm all for it. I love it. Yes, Steph Curry is at some point going to be on the decline of his prime. I don't think that day is here. That day was definitely not yesterday and we'll see how it affects them. Maybe on the defensive end, maybe in terms of attacking the hoop and finishing, but as far as getting hot from three and really just changing the face of a game within twelve to 15 minutes, those are the things that Steph Curry is always going to be able to bring. From the time until he's, gosh, 45 years old, 50 years old, he's still going to be able to shoot the lights out. So thank you, Steph Curry. I appreciate these experiences, these emotions that you bring about as fans of you and as fans of basketball. The moments that you've been able to bring my friends and my family together, just rooting for you. There's just nothing like it. And why I'm so happy to be a Steph Curry and a Warriors fan.
[00:06:43] Shifting gears, let's look at what the other most optimistic take of this game is, and that is our resurgent defense.
[00:06:53] In the nine games since Draymond Green has returned, the warriors are a plus 101 margin and they've looked very good in those nine games. They've gone six and three. You could argue that they could have gone nine and o. They only lost the Kings by one, the Lakers by one in overtime and then the Hawks in overtime. That could very easily be a nine and O record. And it starts with defense. The defense in that time is fourth in the NBA in defensive rating at a 112 rating. The offense on the other side is fifth in the NBA with a 121 offensive rating. Overall net rating of a 9.3 is second in the NBA over that time.
[00:07:36] And if you look at the three weeks before Draymond returned, the warriors were dead last in defensive rating over that time at 127. That's 127 points allowed for 100 possessions. The fact that that's dropped 15 points to 112 is the reason why the warriors are as dangerous as a team as any right now.
[00:08:00] They have momentum, they have confidence, they're getting more players back. Healthy CP, three GP, two, arguably one of our best defenders, should be back within the next couple of weeks at latest. They've already begun practicing. All things are looking up for this warriors team that seems to have turned the corner in tonight's game. The defense really locked in. The Pacers got off to a hot start from three guys like Miles Turner, Pascal Siakam, who both shoot under 33% from three were knocking down shots. Felt like one of those games where a fast paced Indiana team who shoots threes generally very well. I think they're top five in the NBA in three point shooting felt like one of those games where they'd be dropping up in the 125 to 130 range. I think they average 124 a game, but the warriors really dug in. They weathered the storm and most importantly, they held budding superstar Tyrese Halliburton to zero points in the first half and just five for the game. Yes, he's been a little hollowed by a hamstring lately, but you could just see the way the warriors attacked him, the way the defense was layered in behind his on ball defender. They really made life difficult on him, didn't give him anything easy. Really showed that grit that we've been looking for. And I point to our wings, our front court and just to Draymond for the communication, for really kind of getting everyone set and getting everything organized. Defense is not an individual effort as much as it is just a team chemistry and just playing connected issue and the warriors really seem to turn a corner in that aspect.
[00:09:44] Like I said, the Pacers averaged 124 and they only dropped 109 in this game. Pascal Siakam, dropping in the low to mid twenty s all season, only had 16 in this game. Also the warriors rebounding 49 to 30 on the boards and they were beating up the Pacers and points in the paint all game. Long shot a high field goal percentage because of it and really just have to hang our hat on taking good shot quality. Felt like the warriors took great shots on offense and then gave up either contested shots on defense or if it was an open three pointer it was to guys that we'll live with. It's guys shooting under 35% and yeah, they may make some, they may miss some, but you play the ods, you can't take away everything. All you can do is in the aggregate allow the lowest percentage shots to be taken as possible.
[00:10:36] A couple more shout outs to some of the depth players. Gisantos, 13 and eight, had two made three pointers, looked very serviceable. Again, great energy in the game, a lot of hustle. Good defense. Played a lot with our starters in the first half and really showed that he can make things happen in that role. Pajamski, well, I don't even have to speak on Pojemski. You already know he's going to fill up the box score. Nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists in this one, although he had two turnovers, ends his streak that he had of four straight games. He had 27 assists to zero turnovers and all sorts of accolades on not turning the ball over lately, but that's gone. But he still played a great game. A team high plus 23 for the game and Draymond Green, well, Draymond Green the best stat that I heard about Dre is that this season without Dre, the Warriors defense is ranked 20th in the NBA. With Draymond on the floor, we are ranked 9th. That is very on par with where the warriors have needed to be. When they've had their championship runs, when they've had their dynasty, basically their whole dynasty. They've been a top ten defense. If we can get that defense in that top ten consistently, we already know what the offense is capable of.
[00:11:57] Where we find that secondary scoring consistently, we'll see. But you're going to have nights like this where Steph Curry can just basically be a one man show and shoulder the load, or it's going to be just a compilation of Clay, Jonathan Kaminga, Andrew Wiggins, dropping my numbers, 56 points between the three of them. I want them each averaging about 18 points, and that is sufficient scoring.
[00:12:23] Might even be able to be less given how well the defense has played lately. But that's what I want to see out of the warriors. That's what we've been displaying. That's why I have hope and optimism that the warriors are back. I'm not going to jump the gun here, but I do think the warriors are starting to turn it around and make some noise. Just looking at the ratings, looking at the balance between offense and defense, and really that starting and closing lineup, which had been killing us for the whole season, that's turning into one of the best lineups in the league. Ever since Dre returned him, Wiggins and Kaminga have been able to share the floor together and be highly effective, whether it's with Pajemski or Clay Thompson, along with Steph Curry with that lineup, it has been effective for the last nine games, and there's plenty of reasons to believe that it's going to continue to get it done, continue to stack some dubs for the warriors.
[00:13:22] Well, heading home, we play against Kevin Durant and the Suns. Let's see how we hang there. I'm really interested defensively how we hold up. We haven't really been playing against one of these high elite top end all stars on the road trip with Joel Embiid being out, and we didn't quite honestly face any of the teams with a superstar all NBA talent. We'll see how it is, but at least we're going to be at home and the defensive intensity should be there. Let's really see the improvements we've made, let's see how we can ride this momentum and let's see what we've really got and find out what this team has.
[00:13:58] I support the fact that we stood pad at the trade deadline. We believe that we have the pieces needed to make a run and it's just time to show up and show them what we've got.
[00:14:10] All that being said, warriors on Saturday, we got a game on Sunday. And I'm not talking about the warriors. I'm talking about our Niners, baby. Super Bowl Sunday against the Chiefs. I'm going to do just a quick best bets for the Niners that I'm looking at heading into Sunday's game. No, I don't advocate betting, but in case you want a chance to make some decent money and you're betting anyways, here's the props that I like best for you. I like the first half under 23.5 points because I think both teams are going to run the heck out of the ball on this game. I think both teams are going to come out and want to establish that we're the more physical team. We already know that the Niners are going to want to run the ball with McCaffrey. We know that the Chiefs run defense has not been great this year despite a very elite secondary. We're going to try to exploit that strength in the run game. Likewise, I also believe the Chiefs, who have had arguably the worst receivers in the league all season, they're going to want to see what they can do on the ground, open things up, soften up that defense.
[00:15:20] That, coupled with the fact that Kyle Shanahan likes to be conservative heading into halftime, doesn't like to give the ball back to, especially a Patrick Mahomes with any time on the clock to end the half, he'll be conservative and he'll go into the half with the ball. And for those reasons, I think that the first half under 23.5 is a good bet.
[00:15:43] MVP bets well, for the reasons I already said with running the ball. CMC, I like him. MVP four and a half to one odds. I also like Debo. Debo is my guy for this game. Debo for MVP, you can get 20 to one ods. He's the guy that the warriors get the ball to in huge games. They got the ball to him. His rookie season when we played in the Super bowl against the Chiefs, had a monster game. Too fast, too strong for the Chiefs. And that was before he really grew and matured into the Debo we know now. I think the Niners and Brock Purdy had said they're planning to feature Debo against the packers before he got hurt. Well, a few weeks later. Now that he's healthy again, I see them going right back to it and getting the ball in arguably their best playmaker's hands as much as possible, including on the ground. So I like Debo to have the longest run of the game, 20 to one ods. Longest run for any player. I also then this is my best bet of the day. Debo combined rushing and receiving yards over 77 and a half yards. You'll get even money on that one. And then if all that's coming together, I also like the Niners over 131 rushing yards as a team.
[00:17:02] One little sprinkle you can make. Just because we got to get our boy purdy on there. You can get 33 to one ods on this. You have to hit all three, though. Purdy needs 25 rushing yards. He needs a rushing TD, and the Niners have to win. Well, I can already guarantee you one of those will happen. Can we see Purdy get in the end zone and get those legs going and stretched out a bit? Well, I wish you guys all the luck as we put an end to football season. I hope to see y'all dancing at the parade. And until then, we'll revisit the warriors. Let's get a win against the Suns, let's get a Super bowl victory, and let's just be some champs, get things going, and have a great weekend.
[00:17:45] Until next time, Chris Chin here. Peace, love, and stacking doves.
