THE WARRIORS WAY

PART-I-FOUNDATION

Gary Norris Gray-BASN Newsroom Staff Reporter

On May 23, 2017, the Golden State Warriors continued to make basketball history by becoming the first team to win 12 playoff games without a loss in the new format. They were the first to have two players shoot over 50% and score over 25 points per game at the same time and the first to have a team shoot 58% for the series. This team is headed for the NBA Finals for the third year in a row; The Warriors did this without their head coach Steve Kerr.

This team just continues to break records every time they step on the court. The Warriors are the first team to win 65 games three seasons straight and they have also broken the three point shooting total in one season. In addition, they have broken the game margin of victory for a team ( 21.3) regular season and continued the beat down in the playoffs with 15.7 margin and twelve game victories.

The Warriors laid the foundation for this event five years ago with a stable coaching staff and front office. The owners wanted to move the team in a different direction and defensive-minded Mark Jackson elevated the defensive’s team posture but something was missing.

In 2014 they hired Steve Kerr former managing partner for the Phoenix Suns and TNT color commentator, to replace Jackson. Kerr added that offense the Warriors had been searching for many years. The system Kerr used was that of his former boss-Gregg Popovich and the two former teams Kerr played for, the Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs.

The nucleus had been forming with their draft choices and trades. Each man knew what his job was and what was expected of him. The Warriors Way began to unfold. No player was more important than the other. They would fight the fight together. Kerr had created such a perfectly crafted machine and added a compatible coaching staff that anybody with the like game philosophy can operate.

Popovich put it this way “This is maybe the best defensive team in the league, on top of everything. So they don’t just play with talent. They execute at the defensive end of the floor.  On offense, no team is more unselfish. Finding the open man and that sort of thing.  And they get credit for that. Coaches are always trying to get their team to do that, but they have a multitude of people who are unselfish in that regard and play a beautiful game.

It’s not that the Warriors win that makes them so compelling to watch, which has been true for most of the dynastic teams we’ve seen in sports history; it’s how they win: by playing a brand of basketball that even the most purist of fans can appreciate.”

This was proven at the start of the 2015 season when interim head coach Luke Walton led the Golden State Warriors to a 39-4 record. Walton had never been a head coach but with the Kerr system, it made it easy to guide the Warriors to a record-breaking start in the 2015-16 season.

This is also the case with current interim head coach Mike Brown and his ability to take over the team and win playoff games, remaining undefeated. The Warriors found this man as an insurance policy if Coach Kerr could not finish this season, it worked. Mike Brown was the former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers, Brown had to coach two basketball stars LeBron James (twice) and Kobe Bryant. Mr. Brown also coached in the NBA Finals and two Eastern Conference Finals with Cleveland and has won over 340 games.

Kerr, Popovich, and Brown all use offenses that stretch the court with the adoption of The Zen Master’s (Phil Jackson) Triangle Offense. The Warriors use this to perfection because they have three pure shooters Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant. They make it almost impossible to defend.

END OF PART I

Thanks

usatoday.com

blackathlete.com

The Washington Post.com

Gary Norris Gray – Writer, Author, Historian, Gibbs Magazine-Oakland, California and New England Informer- Boston, Mass. THE GRAYLINE: – The Analects of A Black Disabled Man, The Gray Leopard Cove, Soul Tree Radio In The Raw, and The Batchelor Pad Network, Disabled Community Activist. Email at garyngray@blackathlete.com

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