by bill | May 15, 2025 | Golden (State) Years |
You know a game isn’t going well when people text at halftime to ask if you’re OK.
In fact I had recused myself from this one. After suffering through three straight increasingly dispiriting losses, I figured I had earned the right not to witness the ignominious end to this weird rollercoaster season. I was hanging out with family, checking my phone only semi-obsessively, and when Minnesota went up 15 at halftime I was feeling pretty smug about my decision.
But then it got quiet and I realized that one of two things was going to happen: Either the Warriors would go on some crazy run, or the season would be over and all would be sweet relief after that. So I flipped the tube on and watched with resigned exasperation as the Wolves repeatedly left the door open for the Dubs, who repeatedly ran straight into the jamb and stood there rubbing their heads and wondering what had just happened.
Unforced turnovers, defensive lapses, poor shot selection — they were all on display as the clock ticked down toward the offseason. I have a lot of complaints and questions, but why bother? Fate had decreed that Steph Curry’s hamstring should be laid low, yea, even unto the ground, and that was that.
Now I get to watch the six remaining teams battle it out without caring much who wins. I guess I’d like to see the Denver Nuggets do well. Or having the Knicks win the title would be fun. But as far as really giving a damn, basketball season is over.
by bill | May 13, 2025 | Golden (State) Years |
And it was a good day, mostly. A big chunk of it was spent wine tasting in McMinnville, a compact town where you can hit six or seven tasting rooms on a rainy day without overly exerting yourself. On the whole this was quite enjoyable: We paced ourselves well, found some good wines, talked to some nice people.
And, OK, maybe sometimes I wish I had a mute button when people start talking about what elevation their wines are grown at or what cardinal direction the vines face. I don’t care and won’t remember; all that matters to me about a wine is whether I like it or not. I’m not rude/honest enough to ask them to give it a rest; I often try to change the subject, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. They are after all just doing their jobs, may Dionysus bless and keep them.
Dinner was at a place unpretentiously called The Pub, which turned out to make great BBQ and have a stunning whiskey selection. Then it was off to a bar called the Blue Moon to watch the basketball game, about which the less said the better.
This current version of the Stephless Wonders has not been able to find its mojo since that gritty Game 1 win, with the result that they now stand on the brink of elimination. Game 5 is scheduled for tomorrow, which is the same day Steph Curry’s hamstring injury will be re-evaluated. If he’s able to play, that certainly helps our chances. But Minnesota has Momentum now and may be an unstoppable force.
Whatever happens, I’m good with it. There was a lot of talk in the Nation this year about wanting to play “meaningful basketball” — i.e. games that take place in late April, May, or June — with Steph entering the twilight of his career. And we have done that; anything else is gravy.
Sure it seems wrong that the season should end because of some random hammie. Life isn’t fair and neither is sports. Last night Jayson Tatum appeared to rupture his Achilles on a completely innocuous-looking play where no one touched him; that’s it for the Celtics, then. Sometimes stuff happens. Sometimes Steph happens. We shall see, we shall see.
by bill | May 12, 2025 | Whatever Else |
It was 20 years ago yesterday that I first clicked “Publish” on a post to this site (anything dated earlier was actually posted later).
There was a lot of activity here that first year, then gradually less and less, then almost none during the years I focused on the Beatles Blog. But lately it has picked up again and I feel very glad to have this outlet for my thoughts on music, politics, basketball, and Whatever Else.
As of this writing the stats stand at 1384 posts and 1974 comments. I extend my sincerest thanks to all who read and comment, in particular longtime Friends of the Blog like Knox, Xian, Professor Magnanimous, Cecil, Willis, and the redoubtable Merle Baggard, wherever he has gone.
My dad was a faithful reader until that one day in 2019. Both by nature and nurture, he is more responsible than anyone one else for shaping the peculiar instrument that composes these things. His spirit lingers on here.
As I write this it is a rainy early morning in McMinnville, Oregon. It is mostly quiet here in McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon, though this one of those old buildings with lots of ambient creaks, knocks, and buzzes. Now it sounds like someone’s working in the kitchen, which is good as I am starving.
I think it’s going to be a good day.
by bill | May 9, 2025 | Golden (State) Years |
It turns out that what I spent two and a half hours of The Time That Flies watching last night was not a basketball game as we think of it, but a science experiment. Let me spillane:
After Steph Curry’s MRI revealed a hamstring strain that would keep him out at least a week, the Warriors had to face the prospect of several games without him. And the first few minutes of Game 2 showed the worst version of that: the W’s just could not score, going down 13–0 and then 25–7. After that Coach Kerr started emptying the bench, throwing all available bodies into the game to see if anything helped. According to The Athletic, “The Warriors became the first team in playoff history to put 14 different players on the floor in the first half of a playoff game.”
But this was all part of the plan; that same article says:
The 1-0 series lead gave Kerr enough breathing room for experimentation. After he met with his staff at the team hotel Wednesday afternoon, they came up with a tentative strategy: try everything, find something and don’t overtax the stars.
The bad news: Dubs lost by 24 points. The good news is, they showed some signs of life in the second half, pulling to within 7 at one point. And more importantly, they gathered important data about what worked and what didn’t. Today they will hunker down and try to figure out how to use that information in Game 3. Which is, thanks to the pitiless logic of NBA scheduling, tomorrow. I’ll be in Bend, OR, trying to find a good place to watch the game; wish me luck.
by bill | May 7, 2025 | Golden (State) Years |
It was a weird night of basketball. I had just finished watching the Pacers stun the Cavs in Cleveland, after which visiting teams were 4–0 in the second round of the playoffs. This anomaly seemed to bode well for my team, which had to play a road game in Minneapolis.
The first quarter was going moderately well, with neither team doing a very good job of putting the ball in the basket, when Steph Curry pulled up lame and asked to be taken out of the game. Turns out he had strained his hamstring and did not return, and his status for Game 2 is questionable.
This is, how you say, bad. And yet — after he left the Dubs became even stingier, holding the Wolves to 11 points in the second quarter. In these situations it’s always hard to tell how much is good defense and how much bad offense; suffice it to say that at one point late in the 2nd I looked up and they had put 28 points on the board, and I felt kind of sad for them. They missed their first 13 3-point shots and ended up 5-for-29 from deep.
There is often a weird sort of bump that happens when Steph gets injured and the other players remember, hey, we’re professional basketball players too. Last night they occasionally looked a bit lost on offense, but holding an NBA team to 88 points is no small feat.
Can they keep it up if Steph has to miss multiple games? I dunno. A W is a W and I’ll take it.
