NBA Jazz 80 Warriors 83

W.R. Inge once described worry as “interest paid on trouble before it comes due.” When Stephen Curry disappeared into the locker room 12 minutes into his 2012-13 season, Warriors fans had good reason to worry. Speculation over the point guard’s ankles overshadowed the Warriors 83-80 win over the Jazz, and will continue to be the dominant story of the season until Curry proves he can stay on the court. While the post-game reports of ankle soreness aren’t cause for panic — lots of NBA players manage soreness in their surgically repaired joints — Warriors fans may just be cringing in anticipation of trouble not yet come due. The Warriors’ caution with Stephen Curry is understandable on one level — they watched him go down repeatedly last season as he tried to tough his way through ankle and foot problems. But on the other hand, without a clear diagnosis for what exactly went wrong with Curry’s ankles and feet last year, it’s not clear that keeping him off the court for his first preseason game and three-fourths of his second is protecting him from anything. The soreness Curry felt might be a sign of future problems — or it could just be a natural side effect of playing competitive basketball for the first time in nearly nine months. Hopefully the soreness was from the latter cause and Curry will regain faith in his body the more he plays and survives. The preseason should give him an opportunity to play himself back into shape, both physically and mentally. The worst scenario for the Warriors — short of another Curry injury — would be entering the season not knowing on any given night or even quarter whether Curry will be able to go. He needs to use preseason to play his way through this uncertainty. But apart from the Curry drama, the Warriors fans in attendance for the team’s first home preseason game were treated to some encouraging performances. While the minutes were high for starters, this game was as much a sales pitch to fans (many in the building on free tickets) as it was a chance to test out bubble players. I expect their minutes to be lower on Thursday and for the remaining preseason road games. Additionally, with Kent Bazemore looking good in his Sunday debut, the roster of 15 may already be set. That lack of training camp roster-juggling should allow the Warriors to focus more on building chemistry and settling rotations than figuring out who makes the final cuts. The Warriors went 12 deep into the rotation. I’ll do the same for my first in-person recap of the year: Stephen Curry — While the ink spilled over Curry on Tuesday will concern what happened on the bench and locker room, his minutes on the court were encouraging. He did a great job getting others involved in the offense on a series of well-executed plays resulting in easy buckets. He commanded the offense instead of simply waiting for things to develop. On defense, he looked a little slow laterally — potentially a conditioning issue and hopefully not an ankle-trust or soreness issue — but generally worked hard to stay in front of his man. Festus Ezeli — Andrew Bogut might have taught the Warriors rookie a few tricks. When the Warriors secured Ezeli with the last pick in the first round, this is precisely the type of physical, defensively-focused game they hoped to get from him. He banged all night against the Jazz’s strong and large front line. He swatted away a few shots with perfectly timed blocks and changed quite a few other shots. It felt like he got more than 7 rebounds — probably because David Lee and others benefitted from some of Ezeli’s space clearing box outs. He even showed nice hands on the offensive end, scoring off a couple of pinpoint passes. If Ezeli can keep this up, Biedrins may not be looking at just a demotion in the depth chart, but a trip to the inactive list. Harrison Barnes — I didn’t see enough of Barnes in college or the summer league to be able to pick out whether he’s added new elements to his game, but one change is obvious. Barnes has added some serious muscle since June, and was willing to use it Monday night against Utah. He exploded to the basket and threw down two dunks in traffic. He bounced off a few bodies on other interior attempts, getting good looks on all of them. We haven’t seen evidence of a consistent mid-range shot yet over the first two games, but Barnes has demonstrated that he won’t need to depend on jumpers to make a difference on offense. His aggressiveness is tremendously encouraging. On defense, Barnes didn’t command attention and respect like Ezeli, but he also didn’t make any boneheaded rookie errors. He carries himself with maturity when he’s on the court. Jackson may have a hard choice to make on the small forward starter in a few weeks if Barnes keeps up this level of play. Brandon Rush — Not to be outdone by the rookie, Rush had a characteristically efficient game. His points weren’t particularly flashy, but they game on a variety of busted plays and scrambling situations where he functioned as the final safety valve, a steady hand ready to knock down a shot. I think Rush’s best spot ultimately will be coming off the bench — not because he couldn’t start, but because his consistency is particularly important with the second unit. Rush is going to have some big nights this season at the expense of second-string forwards and guards who lose track of him. Charles Jenkins — The forgotten man of the Warriors’ camp put up a performance to remember during the second half of Monday’s game. With Curry’s (hopeful) return and Jack’s addition, it’s unclear what role the Warriors will find for Jenkins. But rather than worrying about that, the sophomore point guard is simply making himself difficult to keep off the court. He’s done an excellent job running the offense two nights in a row. Against the Jazz, he also picked up with his mid-range jumper where he left off last season — draining them at an eye-popping rate. He still needs to find a way to use his strength to get to the rim or the line, and he’ll have a hard time against taller opponents, but so far in this young season Jenkins looks like the quintessential all-around utility guard. David Lee — He logged 36 minutes and dropped some impressive numbers, but it was a typical David Lee game where the numbers didn’t tell the whole story. He played his best on offense facing the basket, but made some bad decisions when pulling up from the perimeter. He was active in scrapping for possessions, but also sloppy with the ball himself several times. His defense against the Jazz front line was good enough, but it wasn’t until Ezeli asserted himself that the Jazz fully retreated out of the paint. It’s nearly a cliche at this point that Lee will benefit from having better players around him, but he also needs to adapt his game to compliment those better players. Lee’s 2012-13 season needs to be about having a positive impact on the game, not just loading up the box score with big numbers. Carl Landry — The Warriors’ back-up power forward gave, in 25 minutes, a perfect summation of the best and worst parts of his game. He scored four out of four times from the paint, including on a couple of high-degree-of-difficulty moves. He missed all five of his shots outside of the paint, and three of his four second half shots were from the perimeter. He did a nice job rebounding, but struggled to get to the glass and on defense when the Jazz rolled out their biggest and toughest front line (Favors and Kanter). With discipline and the right match-ups, Landry should be a revelation for the Warriors. He just needs to stay focused on what he does best, and Jackson needs to put him in a position to succeed when it gomes to match-ups. Klay Thompson — Like Landry, Thompson possesses tremendous potential, but needs to show some focus to maximize it. Thompson’s 5-14 shooting was almost entirely from the perimeter. He didn’t show the same aggressiveness getting to the basket that he used in the first half of the Lakers game to establish himself in the flow of the game. He also didn’t show the same aggressiveness running around screens that he did last season. On the few times he did curl around a pick, he nailed the shot. But far too often Thompson seemed content to float on the perimeter and step into a long-range bomb. He’ll hit many of them, but he’s a better player than that. The coaching staff needs to make sure that Thompson doesn’t settle for having a game that’s “good enough” instead of “great.” Richard Jefferson — A quiet, passive night from the veteran forward. I get the sense Jackson may be experimenting with Jefferson in different situations and mixes of players to see if one set clicks. So far it hasn’t, and Jefferson should start the season as the number three option at small forward. There will be stumbles along the way for Barnes, so Jefferson should still log some minutes this season, but I expect his most important role to be as a mentor in the locker room rather than as a difference-maker on the court. Jarrett Jack — It was another disconnected, disappointing performance for the Warriors’ back-up point guard and primary Curry insurance policy. Over the first two games, he hasn’t shown either the savvy point-guard play or consistent shooting-guard scoring he’s delivered the past few years. He may just be playing himself into shape or struggling to get used to new teammates, but so far things haven’t quite clicked. I’ll be curious to see if he has a breakout game over the next few preseason outings or if he starts the regular season in this mini-funk. Given the way Jenkins has been playing, Jack could start losing minutes to him if he’s not more productive. Jeremy Tyler — He outplayed Andris Biedrins. That’s about the best thing you can say for Tyler. He still looks soft and passive at both ends of the court. He will benefit from some time in Santa Cruz, but I worry the issues holding Tyler back aren’t the kind the D-League can fix. He’s still young enough to turn the corner and earn a place in the NBA, but he won’t be given an indefinite chance to prove himself. Andris Biedrins — In the world of impressive sports statistics, Andris Biedrins exists at the polar opposite end from the San Francisco 49ers of the past two weekends. When will Biedrins score his first basket of the season? Will he hit a free throw his year? How about securing a rebound before Halloween? His box scores are jokes that are getting old fast. His performance is best summed up with a DNP, regardless of whether he sets foot on the court. The Warriors 2-0 preseason record means nothing, no matter how much Mark Jackson tries to imbue it with meaning (or how often we’re reminded of it in the Warriors’ next televised game). What does matter is the way the Warriors are playing in the first 96 minutes of their season. They’re unselfishly moving the ball on offense and scoring in a newfound variety of ways. They’re playing honest, even physical, defense that doesn’t rest on gimmicks or gambles. There’s plenty of work to be done and uncertainty swirling around the injured players, but the big picture is uncharacteristically reassuring. With the Warriors looking like a well-rounded and deep team for the first time in ages, there’s a lot less to worry about.