It’s a long established truism that SOMEONE has to score points for an NBA team, no matter how bad their lineup is. Even the worst, scrubbiest, and all-around terrible teams (usually found in late March and early April) manage to put up decent amounts of points. And it’s not like the fans or the coaches are putting up those points. Real players have to really put the ball in the basket, and it turns out, if you just give them enough chances most players can do a decent enough job at it.
The Warriors trotted out a rotation tonight that had no business even being in the game against one of the worst teams (at least according to pre-season expectations) in the league. It was, top-to-bottom, a whole bunch of nothing, with the vets being Marquese Chriss and Willie Cauley-Stein. That’s not good. I’d even go so far as to say that’s bad. Those are not the vets you want leading your insanely raw and unproven team.
Eric Paschall doesn’t care. He’s seeing his chance open up miraculously before his eyes, and he’s taking it, dunking on it, and then flexing over it. 25 points scored from all over the court, I’m not even going to look at how many shots he took because I don’t care. He’s really reminding me of a mini DeMarcus Cousins out there, minus the emotional drama and a certain amount of skill. I know I’ve been critical of Cousins in the past, but I mean this comparison in the best possible way.
Those bandwagon Warriors fans who hopped off the second Stephen Curry got sat on by Aron Baynes are really missing out. Watching a dynasty team win chips over multiple seasons is fun, but you know what’s even more fun? Watching a bunch of role-players and sub-role-players sometimes do good things but mostly do bad things. I’m not even joking right now. This is the most fun I’ve had with a Warriors team in ages.