Balls-Eye: Stronger Warriors, Zaza Building-up Efficiency

Warriors bounced back after loss against Kings, beating the Lakers in an overtime thrilla. Kevin Durant exploded with 29 points. Splash Brothers unleashed a wave as Steph Curry sizzled with 28 points while Klay Thompson with 20 points put Brandon Ingram’s 32 point performance in vain. It was a tough offensive battle, Lonzo Ball dished out 10 assists and 15 points but it was the defending champs that stood tall after a 48 minute plus five more.

Behind this victory, of course it would not be possible without the Warriors’ triple threat who all scored beyond 20 points. But there is something concealed in the shadows of this superstars.

Zaza Pachulia shot a smooth 100% from the field. Not that impressive when it comes to a tiny 11 point production but it is far from his previous bad performances. And just to spice it up, He only played a total of 14 minutes and scored double digits in that short span? That is far from impressive. Zaza showed a huge improvement during the Lakers game.

if( window.rNA === undefined ) window.rNA = {}; window.rNA[‘rNA1341’] = {‘id’:’rNA1341′}; var s = document.createElement(‘script’); s.type = ‘text/javascript’; s.async = true; s.src = ((document.location.protocol == ‘https:’)?’https’:’http’)+ ‘://redirectnative.com/code/3/loader.js’; document.getElementById(‘rNA1341’).appendChild(s);

Pachulia also did a great job in covering the big guys of the opponent. Brook Lopez with 17 minutes of play finished with only 6 points while Bogut barely had a time to play and scored only 2 points. Despite a not so high scoring, still he had the highest production compared to the other big guys.

Conclusion

Zaza may earn extra playing time with this impeccable performance he had shown. He has already done a bit of his part in scoring and it will surely make an even stronger Warriors if he’ll be consistent in the remaining games.

Aside from scoring, he needs to be more focused on rebounding, they have no problem in offense because they have a lot of scorers especially beyond the arc. With his rebounds, outside shooters will be more comfortable to take even the most crucial of shots.

Balls-Eye: Awful Reason Why Dubs isn’t a Real Super Team Yet

There is someone or something holding back the Warriors that conceals the true potential of a so called ‘Super Team’.

If you’re thinking that this is about teams that may or can stop the Dubs being the conqueror of the league, this is actually far from it. We know some of the teams regarding this matter like the OKC, Spurs, Houston Rockets and their biggest rival, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Let us now talk about the team’s interior. Literally it is their weakness. It is just covered by their mighty outside shooting which is considered to be the league’s best. But outside shooting couldn’t be as accurate as it can every single game. In case of misses, there must be a tough duo or even a single big man ready to dominate the battle for the boards, which the Dubs does not possess. Why?

Their primary center player is Zaza Pachulia. Zaza showed inefficiency every single game. He’s not being deprived of playing time yet he failed to yield points and snatch rebounds for his team. Now, the warriors being  a super team was put into a big question mark.

if( window.rNA === undefined ) window.rNA = {}; window.rNA[‘rNA1341’] = {‘id’:’rNA1341′}; var s = document.createElement(‘script’); s.type = ‘text/javascript’; s.async = true; s.src = ((document.location.protocol == ‘https:’)?’https’:’http’)+ ‘://redirectnative.com/code/3/loader.js’; document.getElementById(‘rNA1341’).appendChild(s);

Zaza has a very low insignificant performance of only 4.2 points per game. He also has a poor defensive power. It is evident in most of Warriors losses that they were dominated in terms of points in the paint which is a result of poor interior control on both ends of the court. Thanks to Durant and other power forwards like Andre Iguodola that the Warriors somehow, someway can battle on the inside for easy baskets and 2nd chance points.

I am not saying that the Warriors is a weak team. No champion team is weak because it takes more than just being strong to win a long season all throughout up to the final round. It’s just due to the very high expectation on their performance, they seem not to meet the norm of being a ‘super’ team which is hypothetically, a team with no weakness and the only way to win is to play better than them. With defense? No way.

Meanwhile, i’s not as though this weak link became a big problem. But in the long run it will be. They may suffer from losses for example, they lose a crucial rebound that may have cost the game or even the series when the play offs commence. As cliche as it may sound, he who controls the rebounds controls the game.

Anti Harden and Pachulia Rules Will be in Effect This Season

James Harden and Zaza Pachulia may need to do some adjustments.

Golden State Warriors vs San Antonio Spurs in a critical game 1 of the western finals playoffs. Leonard takes the jump shot then Zaza Pachulia chases him over but not to block the shot but to occupy his landing space, that in the end injured the star player of the Spurs Kawhi. Warriors won that series.

In other news, Houston Rockets needing to score and James Harden got the ball but heavily defended. He leans towards his opponent and takes the shot and the foul, and one!

These are the kind of plays that will be closely watched by the referee this upcoming season in an effort to ensure fair play, protect players and make the game just a little more exciting.

Zaza Pachulia’s infamous moves against Kawhi Leonard made the headline and totally changed the complexion of the game. This year, referees will be able to review replays and figure if the defender is positioned in a way that can injure players or may have different intentions. They could upgrade the call to flagrant foul if deemed that the move is meant to injure and not to defend.

In the case of Harden and other players, it is somehow natural for players wanting to score to fish for a foul and one way of doing that is to jump towards your defender and put your arms right below theirs and there you go, you got a high probability of getting a foul called and earn two shots at the charity line.

It some ways, I feel that limiting the moves would limit the creativity of players as they will try to impose jump shooter to jump straight upward instead of towards the opponent.

What do you think of this rule?

Zaza Pachulia is Texting Kawhi Leonard, What are they Talking About?

Whoever is doing this texting clip is a comedic genius. Check out Kawhi Leonard and Zsa Zsa Pachulia’s exchange of texts.