I had to do it, because it may be the only time the Warriors can be put on the Stiff List this season. After setting the record for most wins in a single season in 2015-16, and then acquiring Kevin Durant in the offseason (Like, really? Is this even fair?), fans all over the world were tuned in to see the new-look Warriors take on the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night. What they would see, however, was probably not at all what they were expecting. The Warriors got trounced by the Spurs, losing 129-100. Kawhi Leonard, on a night he was going against the defending MVP, showed that he is going to make a strong run for that title this season. Meanwhile, the Warriors showed that they may need some time to figure all of this out. Last season, the Warriors didn’t lose a game until December 12th, and here they were losing on opening night. But hey, I’m not going to read too much into it. We will just have to see how they bounce back against the New Orleans Pelicans. Just some advise for them: Watch out for that Anthony Davis guy.
The New Orleans Pelicans (Minus Anthony Davis)
Anthony Davis, against our Denver Nuggets, had one of the best stat lines in NBA history. He put up a ridiculous 50 points on 17/34 shooting, had 16 rebounds, AND had 7 steals, 4 blocks and 5 assists. Absolutely absurd. But…his team still lost. The Pelicans were trailing most of the game, and even though they made a run at the end that almost overtook the Nuggets, they still could not climb over the hump despite their best player’s attempts. The rest of the team only had 52 points on 21/58 shooting (36.21%), 17 rebounds, 9 steals, and 1 block (They did have 26 assists, though). With a player on your team scoring 50 points and putting up numbers like Davis did, you better hope that’s enough to lead your team to a win. The Pelicans just did not have anybody to help out Davis, though, and until they do, they may struggle to make serious noise this season.
The Denver Nuggets-25 turnovers!
Although the Nuggets got the win last night and survived Davis' monstrous performance, they still earn a place on the Stiff List for their abysmal 25 turnovers. These turnovers happened in a multitude of ways. A lot of them were lazy passes, some were lost balls, and some were plays that went out-of-bounds. Regardless, most of these were pretty frustrating to watch, especially in crunch time when the Pelicans were really threatening to take over the game. If the Nuggets want to win a lot of games this season and make my prediction of 46 wins come true, they definitely have to tighten up on their ball handling and just take better care of the basketball.
That angry 76ers fan
I’m not a Russell Westbrook fan by any means, but this fan definitely let his emotions get the best out of him. On Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers took on the Oklahoma City Thunder and after Westbrook made an and-one basket, a fan stood up and showed his displeasure at Westbrook by emphatically flipping him off…with both fingers. However, I will say that we do not know what really happened (the fan is claiming that Westbrook started the confrontation by drawing attention to his weight…if that’s true, Westbrook deserves to be on this list as well). Still, this moment was definitely one of the most entertaining ones from the night, as Westbrook’s reaction was pretty priceless and perfect in meme-form.
JaVale McGee might be on Shaqtin’ a Fool for a play that happened on opening night. If that doesn’t deserve an appearance on the Stiff List, I don’t know what does. As the Spurs vs. Warriors game was winding down on Tuesday night, Jonathon Simmons put a cherry on top of the Spurs’ win with a powerful dunk right over McGee. McGee earned a spot on the Warriors’ roster this season but despite playing for one of the best teams in NBA history, it seems he will still not be able to avoid being in the spotlight for embarrassing plays. Oh well, at least he tried to contest the shot.
