![]() ![]() In fact, as of publication we’re in the midst of a projected 10-game absence for Stephen Curry due to a hamstring issue. It’s been clear for some time that Stephen Curry - not Durant, or Draymond Green, or Klay Thompson, or Andre Iguodala - is the fundamental building block of this team. He needed them, not the other way around. They looked unstoppable before Durant, and the former Oklahoma City Thunder star joined Golden State because that’s how he could win a championship. ![]() Golden State won 73 games before the arrival of Durant, and won the 2014-15 NBA championship without him. If you’re a fan of the NBA, or, or, I don’t know, Googling things, this is patently crazy. Without Durant, Barkley thinks the Warriors won’t be one of the teams angling for the Finals in the seasons to come. Not just “worse” or “not as good” according to ol’ Chuck. ![]() “Those young guys really are going to have to step up or this team is not going to win the championship if those young guys don’t start carrying the team.If you’re unable to watch the video above, the idea that Barkley put forth was that if Durant decides to leave the Golden State Warriors, the team will no longer be contenders. “Steph got a lot more work to do now,” Barkley said. While Barkley said he didn’t believe Thompson was “done”, he did say that the Warriors will need more from players outside of Thompson and Green to reach the mountaintop again, pointing to the next-generation core Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman. The criticism has continued, even into last year’s playoffs, when he prodded Warriors fans with a “Let’s go Mavs” chant and said he hates the Bay Area. It’s gonna come.”īarkley’s doubts about the Warriors are nothing new: He was skeptical of the team - like a lot of pundits were - before the meteoric rise to five straight NBA Finals appearances. And I’m sure he’s comparing himself to that. He has a body of work that has demonstrated who he is. “He had elevated expectations of what he could do individually,” Curry said postgame. The two younger members of the trio are arguably showing their age more than Curry - and with good reason, as Green faces the physical toll of playing as an undersized center, and Thompson’s athleticism has taken a hit thanks to his back-to-back ACL and Achilles injuries.īarkley doubled back on Thompson’s ejection, citing the Warriors guard’s inability to slow down Booker (34 points on 10-of-19 shooting) and his own scoring trouble (2 points on 1-of-8 shooting) as likely reasons for his agitation.Īs WNBA expansion push grows louder, Bay Area bidders keep quiet Thompson, also 32, looked to be forcing shots at times over the playoff run, but came through when it mattered. Green, 32, picked up his play midway through the series to help finish off the Celtics after looking sluggish early. Steph Curry largely carried the Warriors through the NBA Finals in June at age 34, topping 30 points per game, including 43 in a pivotal Game 4. So when I watch the Warriors play, I say ‘Oh man, Father Time is knocking on the door of a couple of those guys.'” In the Finals, you can see they’re not the same guys they were two or three years ago. “… As much as I love Klay, he’s slipping. That’s what’s really happening to them,” Charles Barkley said. It was also the talk of Inside the NBA on Tuesday night after the Warriors’ 134-105 loss to the Suns - aside from the first ejection of Thompson’s career, which stemmed from an argument with Phoenix star Devin Booker. It’s been the talk of the Western Conference since before Klay Thompson made his return to the team last season following two years spent rehabbing leg injuries. The Warriors know their star players are aging. ![]()
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