Watch Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors visit Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7:30pm Christmas Day, followed by the Brooklyn Nets at the Boston Celtics from 10pm on Sky Sports Mix
Thursday 24 December 2020 13:45, UK
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.
That certainly appeared to be the case as Steph Curry sat on the Warriors bench at the start of the fourth quarter, towel sheepishly draped over his new braids, watching on as the Brooklyn Nets bench clinically dismantled his young team-mates on every trip up the floor.
He had greeted Kevin Durant like an old friend before tip-off and one can only imagine what he was going through watching his former team-mate and Kyrie Irving look every bit their old selves, while all around him Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr behaved in a manner that would see them permanently expelled from most health and safety-conscious building sites, chucking brick after hopeless brick.
In his first game as Nets head coach, Steve Nash, who worked on Golden State's coaching staff under Steve Kerr as a mentor to the likes of Curry and Durant, had them playing with all the verve, unselfishness and dynamism of the infamous 'Death Lineup' that had dominated the NBA to the tune of three championships and five straight finals appearances until Durant's untimely injury last June.
Now on the opposite bench, Kerr could see this better than anyone. "I probably deserve this," he said after the 125-99 blowout. "I was coaching a team [like this] for five years."
The early warning signs were there. Five hundred and fifty-two days after an Achilles injury that would have ended most careers, Durant strolled into a pull-up three over Wiggins just over a minute into the game. The net barely moved. That familiar sound once again. He made his first three shots and had reached double figures in less than five minutes. He ended with 22 points in 25 minutes without teasing third gear.
Irving, who missed all but 20 games himself last season due to a shoulder injury, was even more explosive with 24 points at the half, including a three-point bomb from the logo with time running out in the second quarter and a dizzying showcase of his quicksilver ball-handling that led to the two prettiest points of the game. You know, the kind of nonchalant, exhibitionist scoring that could make even Steph green with envy.
Curry, for his part, struggled manfully against the Nets double teams throughout the game, putting up 20 points and 10 assists on a team that looked distinctly overmatched from the get-go. Without the space afforded to him by the almost planetary gravitational pull of Klay Thompson, or indeed Draymond Green's playmaking, he could do nothing but discover just how the other half really lives, the Sisyphean existence of the All-Star on a bad team, running off screen after screen to still find themselves swamped on the perimeter with only shaky shooters around them, each possession an act of desperation, forever trapped as the be all and end all of the opposing defensive schemes.
The Nets, by comparison, ran deep. Really deep. They even proved as much, becoming the first team in NBA history to put all 15 players on the floor during a regular season or playoff game. Caris LeVert looks an immediate Sixth Man of the Year favourite after 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists from the bench, while Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen were smart and efficient contributors, the kind of unselfish role-players any championship contender would fall over themselves (read: trade way too many first-round picks) to have.
In contrast, Wiggins and Oubre Jr crumbled under the burden of their extra responsibility with the ball in hand and neither looked like any kind of shot-creator off the dribble. There were a couple of individual highlights, including Wiggins' best LeBron impression during a searing chase down block and Oubre's sky-scraping offensive put back over Durant, already a contender for dunk of the year, but these moments matter little given their field goal percentages in the 20s, with matching plus-minus scores of -28 to boot.
It does not get any easier for the Warriors, either, as they head to the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis on Christmas Day, perhaps to see whether the reigning two-time MVP really is in the holiday spirit.
There was, however, at least some hope in the form of rookie big man James Wiseman, the number two overall pick in November's draft.
Wiseman, who appeared in only three collegiate games in his single year at Memphis and hasn't played competitive basketball in 13 months, was tremendous on his NBA debut, recording 19 points and six rebounds. His decision making was ropey at times and defensively he was as raw as they come, but everything else was there. The touch, the size, the shooting stroke. This season might not amount to much beyond a play-in tournament appearance for the Warriors but at least in Wiseman their long-term future looks secure.
Despite his efforts, the night was all about the three former All-NBA players resting through the fourth quarter. One appeared to be shell-shocked, unable to process what he was seeing. The other two were joking and laughing, probably making grand plans for their win column by the season's end.
The Nets head to Boston on Christmas where their title credentials will face a much sterner examination. In the meantime, the most important thing is that Kevin Durant is back playing basketball again, and that makes the world a very scary place indeed. Especially when he's no longer on your team. And even for someone like Steph Curry.
Watch Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors visit Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7:30pm Christmas Day, followed by the Brooklyn Nets at the Boston Celtics from 10pm on Sky Sports Mix.
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