5 Things: Solid Warts Win

I don’t mind when the team wins ugly. This was another fairly ugly 1st half. A stellar 3rd quarter propelled us to a back-to-back home win and we need to grind out 3 more before the All Star break.

1) Welcome Luke Kennard. 6-7, 2-4 from three with the first shot being a nifty quick flick release on a close out. More impressive was how he adapted to the defense quickly with drives to the rim. He got blown by a few times on D but it’s his first game. We’ll chalk it up to that.

2) LBJ and sloppy excellence. Back to back double-doubles for the this season. Far too many unforced turnovers in some of the worst passes I’ve seen him throw: the ASB is coming soon, though. We’ll chalk it up to that.

3) That 3 man defensive unit of Smart, Vando, and Kleber has been getting after it. Add in Rui and Reaves and you wonder if there’s a world where Reaves can see his way to playing off the bench. I think he would have to ask for it to happen and it would have to be very personally organic because Reaves off the bench truly does solve a lot of problems. It’s a contract year and I’m not sure Coach has that level in him, yet. Wish he did or would figure out how.

4) Speaking of Maxi, release the Kraken! Dude is all over the place and moving as smoothly as I’ve ever seen him. Back to back solid outings where the box score doesn’t show you the true level of his impact.

5) Three games to go, close it out solid. No SGA? Don’t show any mercy. If Luka is out until after the break (my personal hope) come hard at the Spurs with this grind then down energy we’ve been showing of late. Smart and Vando have been a big impact on D. This team needs to get the TO’s under control and continue to embrace this level of defense. There’s enough scoring to win if they can.