NBA: The champion finds his way

No more doubts, here is the champion. The Golden State Warriors are no longer that team without cohesion, extremely dependent on Stephen Curry and his genius, and with disasters every time they left the San Francisco Bay. The 120-101 loss to the Houston Rockets is the seventh in nine games, leading to a 13-11 record and sixth place in the West. They are going up and only three victories separate them from the first position in the West, belonging to the Phoenix Suns.

What has changed in the Warriors? That is the big question to deal with, because in the first weeks of competition it was a team whose identity dissolved between disasters. The always radical decision-making management led by Bob Myers relied on a template with two ‘time lines’ -as they were called-. The one of the champion veteran group and the young ones to give freshness. It did not work, and the Moody, Kuminga or the reviled Wiseman have not performed as expected. They have not come close. That shortened the rotation, and if the best ones weren’t 100% either, problems came.

That caused a change of attitude. It was not enough to be there and the name, lack of commitment. And the key pieces of him assume it. Against the Rockets, in the last victory and the eleventh playing at home, the team did not lose any balls in the first quarter, the three-pointers entered and in the second quarter they opened a gap of 25 points. Stephen Curry scored 30 points, with 8 triples. He repeated the exhibition in the last quarter, when the Rockets were placed within four points, thanks to three triples. The player in the league with the most scoring in the last quarter… And the 104th in minutes in that period!

His eight 3-pointers were added to the eight also made by Andrew Wiggins. A fundamental one in the last period and a total of 36 points and 5 rebounds for the Canadian, which led to something that only Curry and Klay Thompson in the Bay combined: eight a head. Or what is the same, if the pieces that surround the ’30’ work, everything flows…

The Warriors won and the champion resumed course in a match with a Spanish note. Garuba had four points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes of play. Established as a great rim protector while looking to be more effective in attack in a complicated team given the amount of ball that Jalen Green or Kevin Porter Jr.