It was quite a week in the Bay Area with the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA crown for the second time in three years and the San Francisco Giants finally passing those stubborn San Diego Padres to lead the pace for #1 draft choice next year.
The Warriors
In my opinion Game 3 was the key to the Warriors winning the series. Cleveland led almost to the last minute when Durant hit a 3 pointer, one of the most important baskets in Warrior history, to give the Warriors the lead. Those who follow the NBA know that this is not unusual that leads can change hands two or three times during the final minute. But for some unknown reason the Cavs were not ready. They seemed flustered, threw the ball around kicked it and soon the Warriors had control of the game. If the Cavs won this game we would be in a 7 game series.
Cleveland won big in game 4 but the Warriors rallied behind the home crowd to win game 5 and the series. A great accomplishment. Getting all those big egos to work together was an amazing feat. As Curry says "its not easy to win an NBA championship!" This year they were ready for the playoffs being rested and healthy which made a big difference. Durant lost about 5 weeks leading up the playoffs but this probably a blessing in disguise making him well rested for the final push.
The fans in the East Bay came to celebrate. I could not bear to listen to all of the speeches, but I am sure "greatest fans in the world" was said many times just like the fans in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Boston heard at their parades, but in the case of the Warriors it is really true. They supported their heroes win or lose for decades and the team responded playing exciting basketball thanks in part to coach Don Nelson's style of basketball.
How many players really told the truth? We apologize for stabbing you in the back and leaving for San Francisco. But lets face it, that's were the money is even thought San Francisco has never proven it could support a NBA team with prices as low as $3.00 for reserve seats. Corporations can afford the $50,000 for a seat license and we want to appease all of our Marxists friends from China. I know you can take BART across the Bay but its going to cost you plenty to attend our games. Hopefully you don't have to mortgage your home to come see us play. We will welcome you with open arms. If it wasn't for all of you I wouldn't be making $10 million next year. How I can thank you?
Changes can already be felt and seen at Oracle. Greg Papa observed that during the regular season the fans were not as noisy in fact rather quiet. Did they get tired of Curry making 45 foot shots to end a quarter? It was expected and became old hat. At least they didn't boo him if he missed. Or perhaps it was a different audience that is starting to invade the Warriors. Tickets given away by corporations to their clients who know nothing about basketball might also be playing a role.
Gone is Jerry West. Is this the start of the demise of the team which they are trying to hold together with creative financing? Does it mean they think 'they know it all?' They will have many questions to answer such as it is worth signing 33 year old to an expensive three year contract when more then likely like most old players, he would spend more than half the time on the DL?
Most of the 'know it all's' think the Warriors will repeat for the next couple of years. The incentive will be missing and the luck of having only a few injuries like this year would be surprising. It's tough to stay on top in any sport and pro basketball is no exception. The Warriors have big challenges facing them.
The Giants
First question is do you dismantle the entire team or just selected positions? If you could go to a super market and pick up a new team the former would be the correct answer. But that's not the way it works so the Giants will have to study their roster very carefully and think through who they keep or trade.
Its too bad they don't have a Jerry West like the Warriors had that could give opinions without any prejudices. I believe too many recent player decisions have been influenced by friendship or loyalty.
They believed the press and blamed everything on Casilla even though fans were screaming for a left fielder. They were the worst team in the major after the All Star break last year and continued it this year. They completely misread the team even with plenty of warning. Should Evans be fired? Yes. He won't be because the Giants don't have a Jerry West.
My thoughts on various players will follow later when I have more time.
This will be Bruce Bochy's last year. He will 'retire' because health reasons. Who can blame him. Another year like this one would give anyone a heart attack.
I would recommend making AT&T Park more hitter friendly. Its tough enough to hit in the heavy air of San Francisco especially with the addition of marijuana smoke hovering over the stadium. Close out triples valley and move the bull pins to the outfield. They won't do it because of the reputation of the park and the fact they don't have a Jerry West to give them unbiased opinions.
Attendance
I watched the Giants play in Philadelphia before thousands of empty seats. It wasn't too many years ago that the Phillies had something like 400 or more straight sell outs. Players got old and the team sunk and stunk.
Will San Francisco follow Philadelphia? I believe Giant fans come to AT&T to have good time. They would like to see the Giants win but its not the end of the world if they don't which was the not the attitude in Philadelphia. The Giants sell many of their tickets to ticket agency which sell them on Stub Hub and over a season have made a nice little profit because of the demand for tickets. If the demand drops then ticket agencies will back off and attendance will be noticeably smaller.
Baseball Draft
I was asked to comment on recent draft. I don't start following young players until they start playing for the Giants farm teams. I did check the national media about the draft and discovered that the Giants picks were severely criticized. They have a 17 years old outfielder as their first choice and a son of ex major leaguer that could have easily gone in the fourth round in the second. I did not see any comment on the 12 year 5th grader chosen in the 15th round.
I always wonder if these guys are such experts about these player why don't they work for the teams. In most situations, I really don't think they know what they are talking about which is common for the entire communications industry.
Giants Game
I will be having lunch on June 28th on the patio of MoMos across from AT&T starting about 11 am before attending the Rockies game that afternoon. If your in the area stop and say hello
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