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00:00Let me just ask you this, because there was a conversation that for multiple reasons,
00:07and we don't need to rehash it, but last week things got interesting around here with regard
00:13to Steph Curry and playing basketball.
00:16That was mainly because of the emotional rest day that Steve Kerr felt he needed against
00:22Milwaukee in a game the Warriors then went out and won.
00:25When you decided to go to Vegas, and Mark and I, or Grandy, were left to sort of talk
00:31about is it a blessing in disguise that Steph Curry landed on his damn tailbone against
00:37the Raptors on Thursday night and was at minimum going to miss one game, and both of us were
00:41in full agreement.
00:42We're like, what?
00:43Blessing in disguise?
00:44No.
00:45We're not in rest mode for the playoffs like they were three years ago.
00:49That team had wiggle room.
00:51This team has none.
00:53I don't know about you, I don't want them to make a bad decision, and I don't think
00:58they will, but I desperately want Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler on the court for all games
01:04the rest of the way.
01:05All of them.
01:06If they're healthy, then play.
01:07I mean, and that's what I was asking Steve earlier about Draymond Green, and might there
01:12be some time where you can load manage some guys?
01:16If you still push for the six, can you keep an eye on load management?
01:20You said no.
01:21We got 11 games, and we're going to go out there and try to win them all.
01:23That's not on our mind at all, and for me, there's no blessing in disguise when you have
01:29a player get injured, and I know it's not super bad.
01:32It looks like Steph might play tomorrow.
01:34I hope he does, but when you have a player go down the way Steph did, scary, and if you
01:40remember Chet Holmgren for OKC, that's basically how he missed, what, five months with a much
01:47worse hip injury, much worse, but it was a similar kind of like jump, contact, spin,
01:54and land, so yeah, it's not a blessing in disguise, and I don't know how much rest Steph
02:00actually got.
02:01I'm sure his legs are going to feel a little bit better, but he's got a, and I guess it
02:05was a pelvic contusion.
02:07Pelvic contusion.
02:08You guys had the doc on, and I wish I would have had a chance to be a part of that because
02:12I was going to ask him about the pelvic contusion versus the bruised tailbone.
02:18Is there a difference in terms of the return to play because when you watched it and you
02:23see Steph immediately throw the hand on the lower back right above the tailbone, it's
02:28like, oh, I mean, that could be really bad, scary.
02:31Yeah, well, and especially in the moment that it happened, remember we had been told that
02:36Steph's back wasn't feeling great, and to me, I know people focus on knees.
02:42I don't think there's really anything scarier in sports with the human body than your back.
02:48That's the one that like once it goes bad, that can be it, like just on and off for the
02:54rest of your life.
02:55Larry Bird.
02:56Exactly.
02:57Career cut short.
02:58So when Steph Curry is like talking about a back injury and then laying on the ground
03:02and gets up hobbling and kind of holding the backside, that's where my mind went, even
03:08though we had watched him with the hard fall, but combine the two and I'm like, this is
03:13not good.
03:14Yeah.
03:15This is not good.
03:16So anyway, to summarize what Doc said, I think you'd probably guess based on where we are
03:20now, he did not have a high level of concern based on a, the fact that what they said was
03:27a pelvic contusion and not something worse.
03:30And then B, what he thought was interesting is that they, while they immediately ruled
03:35him out for Miami, they simultaneously said he'll fly to Miami on Monday.
03:40And he's like, the fact that they're already able to schedule a plane trip tells you that
03:46they're probably not too worried about it tightening up.
03:49They want to be cautious, but optimism that this isn't going to take a long time.
03:57That was kind of the summary of Doc.
03:58Good.
03:59And if it's just a contusion, that is a bruise.
04:02It's not a slipped disc or a herniated disc or a fracture in the back itself.
04:10It just kind of is, it's a bruise.
04:12And I don't know if you've ever had a bruised tailbone.
04:16One time I tried to playfully lock my 17 year old out of the house, like, ha ha ha, I'm
04:23going to shut the door and keep you out.
04:25And before I could get it latched, he shoulders into it.
04:28Quest was a big guy.
04:30He shoulders into it.
04:31I go flying back, kabam.
04:33I was down for about 10 days.
04:35That thing hurts.
04:36It hurts now.
04:38Not much you can do.
04:39You can't sit.
04:40You can't, you can't do anything, Mark.
04:43I won't elaborate.
04:44No, I don't like a lot of things that hurt.
04:46Yes, yes.
04:47Yeah.
04:48With the old tailbone.
04:49Anything in that middle of the body there.
04:50It's kind of the backside of the core.
04:52Right.
04:53Right.
04:54Of which I have no core.
04:55So that's probably why it happened in the first place.
04:57Right.
04:58So I wonder about Steph flying all the way to Miami because it hurts to sit down.
05:02Does he, I know he's got the money to do it, but does he just get a plane where he can
05:06like lie on his, on his belly for six hours and just take a nap, stay off that thing?
05:12Probably can.
05:13Probably.
05:14Whatever the hell he needs.
05:15Right.
05:16That's what he's doing.
05:17Exactly.
05:18You know what I mean?
05:19All right.
05:20Let's go to the manly man in the city.
05:21Hi manly.
05:22What's what's what's cooking tonight?
05:23Hey, Will.
05:25I don't know a lot, but I wanted to give you some numbers and three points that could help
05:29coming get over his little funk.
05:31Oh, first of all, the warriors out of the four of the last five games, they've taken
05:36between 45 and 57% of their total shots were three pointers.
05:41That number is way, way too high for taking that many threes, even though that's the T how
05:46the team was built.
05:47We don't have enough great shooters to justify it.
05:51Tim's over the total number of shots taken in the game and that's at four out of the
05:56last five games.
05:57Secondly, to get, uh, I'm a behavior.
06:01I used to be a behavior specialist to look at behaviors for players, uh, we're not players,
06:07but people and what I've seen in the past and this holds really true to a curry and
06:14a buddy heel to a degree to if they don't go all the way down to their soul, the heels
06:20of their feet.
06:21But if they stay on their tippy toes, they make more threes than they do when they get
06:25flat footed and you have to be square to the basket and stay on your tippy toes.
06:30The odds of you making them are much higher because you're using your legs and, and your
06:34whole body versus just shooting from a flat footed situation and you watch a game, you'll
06:40see what I'm talking about and to get, to get coming to get coming out of his funk,
06:49that's going to be his strength because he's very athletic, like you said, and he'll get
06:53a few slams and layups and that will get his confidence back.
06:57And they also get them out of his funk, attack the basket and then kick it out to him, which
07:01you've always said, that's a great move for any shooter, but that's, what's going to help
07:06coming in those situations.
07:08What do you think?
07:09Well, manly, I'm interested in your, uh, sort of behavioral therapist eyes when you're watching
07:13a game.
07:14Do you read mainly based on the physical side or do you read like the, the, the emotional
07:19body language out there too?
07:20Oh, you've got to use both, but mentally you can overcome a lot of things mentally.
07:28If you stay, keep your mind in the game or your mind on focus on whatever the task is
07:33at hand.
07:34Uh, but you have to kind of customize it for each person.
07:37I mean, uh, you know, commander may be soft hearted and you have to watch how you say
07:42things to him.
07:43Whereas Jimmy, you could tell him, uh, be very harsh with them and he can deal with
07:48it cause he's a veteran and he's not, he's more of a rock than a mama's boy.
07:53And that's saying that community is a mama's boy, but just using that as a, uh, a point.
07:58And so you have to customize how you talk to people on how you get them out the funk
08:02and so forth.
08:04And you know, another observation I've seen is when a loony goes to a free throw line,
08:11if you hesitate, you won't make it.
08:13You have to go way down.
08:14Once you start, you can't stop when you're shooting a free throw because if you do, you'll
08:19mess it up.
08:20And I've watched, I've watched Jason kid when he was in Alameda all the way to where he
08:26finished his career.
08:27And there is a secret there that all the free throws players can use if they watch what
08:33Jason kid did, his horrible free throw shooting to where he was when he finished his career.
08:39You know, it's, you're reminding me of manly man.
08:41Thank you very much.
08:42He's talking about pausing in the middle of the year, a free throw process.
08:45It's kind of like a Charles Barkley's golf swing.
08:47I remember when it had that big, like you go to the, you go to the top and then you
08:50just stop.
08:52And then, uh, you know, and then there was like a, another half pause kind of on the
08:55way down.
08:56Even Giannis, you watch him shoot free throws and that is painful.
08:59And you know, once they started calling him for 10 second violation for too long at the
09:03line, now you watch him and it's like, there is a amount of dread from him having to be
09:09there and trying to shoot the free throw and he brings it up and he kind of holds it and
09:12then lets it fly.
09:13Similarly.
09:14It's uncomfortable.
09:15It's ugly.
09:16It's uncomfortable.
09:17And, uh, and he misses a handful of them too.
09:19Yeah.
09:20Not a, not a great shooter.
09:21Um, look, I, I would say this, you could certainly weigh in on it.
09:24It at eight, nine, five, seven, nine, five 70 with regard to the urgency versus the rest,
09:32which is kind of what we're talking about with both Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry.
09:37I actually enjoyed this, that Steve shared about Butler in that Philadelphia game that
09:43he missed and the Warriors went out and lost.
09:46And like that kind of got a discussion going because they had won almost all their games
09:50with Jimmy.
09:51And then he missed one game and they lost that one too.
09:53And Quentin Grimes went for 44 points and everyone's like, I've never even heard of
09:57that guy.
09:58By the way, go look at Quentin Grimes stats.
10:00He kind of scores like between 25 and 40 points every night now because all of the other Sixers
10:04are out.
10:05I don't know who's out tonight for the Sixers, Quentin Grimes.
10:07So who the hell is going to score from them tonight?
10:09I have no idea.
10:10Somebody, somebody hashtag underdog.
10:12But anyway, other, uh, back to the issue at hand, he said, Jimmy came to him right after
10:18the game and said, coach, I'm not missing any more games.
10:23We can't.
10:24I didn't hear him say, coach, I feel healthy.
10:28Let's I'll be ready for the next game.
10:31He said, coach, I can't miss any more games.
10:33We can't be losing like this.
10:35And so I love hearing that from Jimmy.
10:38I do think that Steph largely feels the same way.
10:41Remember, he fought Steve on sitting out the Milwaukee game.
10:45So that's kind of where I sit.
10:48I don't think there's any room for the Warriors and rest for the rest of the year.
10:56Hurt?
10:57Sure.
10:58Unhealthy?
10:59Sit.
11:00But on the other side of that, it's pedal to the metal.
11:03It is.
11:04But if you have players who are playing poorly and guys who are playing exhausted, it might
11:09do you some good to sit them out.
11:10And so that's what happened with Steph against Milwaukee.
11:13He had a pretty bad game the day before.
11:15And so, yeah, you can go ahead and sit this one out and you're going to rest him.
11:18And then he got hurt.
11:19And so he sat again.
11:21But once he's healthy, hopefully tomorrow, I don't know if he'll need any more rest.
11:24I just was wondering about Draymond Green, because I'm seeing the toll that this is all
11:29taking on him.
11:31And you do have a little bit of a break in the schedule.
11:33You play tomorrow and then Friday, Sunday and then Tuesday and Thursday.
11:37Your next back to back is not until next Thursday and Friday, which it's a road and home.
11:43So that'll be the Lakers and Nuggets, right?
11:45Yeah.
11:46And that's a tough one.
11:47So you'll want to have everybody available to play those games.
11:50But you're right, Mark, you're getting down to the end of the season.
11:53You've got 20 more days of regular season basketball and you got 11 games.
11:58So that's not a lot of off days in there.
12:00Um, no, it's not.
12:03It's not crazy either.
12:04Not crazy.
12:05Well, especially after you play tomorrow.
12:08When you get to Friday, you're going to have 16 days, 10 games in 16 days.
12:14That is a little bit more aggressive.
12:16It's aggressive.
12:17Yeah.
12:18But, you know, or 17 days actually is what it would be.
12:21Off you go.
12:22No.
12:23And that's the key.
12:24Yeah.
12:25So what's your uniform on?
12:26Well, like I said, you know, we're exhausted.
12:28You know, Steph was sitting and Draymond says we're exhausted and I get it.
12:32Everybody's exhausted.
12:33Oh my.
12:34Yeah.
12:35Yeah.
12:36There's kids everywhere.
12:37So am I.
12:38So.
12:39But.
12:40Right.
12:41Put your shoes on and off you go to work.
12:42Sure.
12:43I mean, it's easy to say.
12:44I know.
12:45I know.
12:46I don't mean to say it like that, but I like, I think I'm just.
12:47I do think you're right about the urgency because everybody wants to succeed.
12:49And until that is either a certainty or an impossibility, you got to push for it.
12:54And you might get into a spot where, all right, you're stuck.
12:56You're going to be the eight seed.
12:58And then you can kind of trick off the last couple of games.
13:00If if you're in that spot, it'd be great to go on a run and get to a spot where you are
13:05locked into the six.
13:07But it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
13:08Well, Minnesota and the Clippers.
13:09I agree with you.
13:10But at the same time, I like here's kind of what I mean.
13:14This feels like a locks week, right?
13:17Because you said after Friday, then the frequency of games starts to ramp up and the difficulty
13:25of opponent starts to ramp up.
13:27Let me tell you why this is actually a vital week.
13:30You saw the Clippers, I hope, last night lose to Oklahoma City.
13:37On Wednesday, the Clippers start a road trip in New York at Madison Square Garden.
13:43That's a losable basketball game.
13:45Then they have a night off and then they go to Brooklyn.
13:47Then they have a night off and then a day game in Cleveland.
13:51Here's my point.
13:52The Clippers might be losing some games this week.
13:55You have to win these games.
13:59You have to win these games.
14:01Miami, New Orleans, San Antonio, Dibbs.
14:05It's possible that if the Warriors take care of business and go 3-0 in these games against
14:12weak and tanking, let's be honest, tanking opponents.
14:17If you take care of business against those teams this week, you could find yourself three
14:22or four games up on the Clippers.
14:24I don't know about Minnesota.
14:25We'll see what they're doing tonight.
14:26Their schedule is easier, but they're starting a road trip also and they have shown the propensity
14:34to lose weird games.
14:37If the Warriors can go 3-0 this week against these three beatable opponents, they actually
14:43could find themselves with some breathing room for the moment and maybe more.
14:49It's possible.
14:50You also might be looking at Memphis continuing to slide back toward you so the fives could
14:54be possible.
14:55Memphis has dropped three in a row and you're two back of Memphis.
14:58I don't know if I would characterize Miami as tanking just yet.
15:03They're in the 10th seed.
15:04They're probably wanting to be in the play.
15:07I don't think that they necessarily want to just automatically go to the lottery.
15:10They're not tanking.
15:11They just fell apart.
15:13A little bit.
15:14A little bit.
15:15When Jimmy left.
15:16They still have some good players and it's been a tough spot for many teams to go.
15:20The Warriors are 18-16 on the road, which is pretty good.
15:24Miami not great at home or on the road.
15:26They have kind of fallen apart a little bit, but there are six games clear in Toronto.
15:32They're going to be in the play-in game.
15:34You can go get Memphis.
15:35You can go get them right now.
15:36I think so.
15:37Yeah.
15:38Don't just look at those numbers.
15:39You want to hear what they've got coming up.
15:40Tough schedule.
15:42They're at Utah tomorrow night.
15:43Boy.
15:44Okay.
15:45Fine.
15:46How many?
15:47What are they clear?
15:48Are the Warriors two?
15:49Yep.
15:50Okay.
15:51And the Warriors are at Miami.
15:52Memphis is at Utah.
15:53Thursday, Memphis will be in Oklahoma City.
15:54Okay.
15:55That's a tough game.
15:56Saturday, they will host the Lakers.
15:57Monday, they will host the Celtics.
16:00Tuesday, they will host the Warriors.
16:03Okay?
16:05And then they hit a road trip that will take them to Miami, Detroit, and Charlotte.
16:11The Detroit one is tough.
16:12So if you look at their next one, two, three, four, five, six, seven opponents, I'd argue
16:18five of them are A-plus opponents.
16:21Very, very difficult.
16:23You can go get Memphis.
16:24You can go get them right now.
16:25You can get them.
16:26You can get them.
16:27Well, you got to beat them.
16:28Yes.
16:29If you beat them, then you have a chance to really get them.
16:30Absolutely.
16:31And OKC is an interesting one because they're starting to get into cruise control mode.
16:35A little bit.
16:36Where you're up by 13 and a half with 11 to go.
16:39You will be the one seed, hard to stay motivated when you know that real basketball is three
16:43weeks away.
16:44Well, I think that they would also like home court advantage for the NBA Finals.
16:49I think that that is, I mean, they've now got the lead.
16:52They've got a two-game lead on Cleveland for best record in the NBA.
16:56They were still playing hard last night, grinded one out in L.A. against the Clippers.
17:02But I hear you.
17:03Going there is always tough.
17:05And Memphis is a little bit weakened right now.