San Francisco Sports News

Warriors exit interviews: Gary Payton II wants to stay long-term, Chris Paul not done yet

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 15:10

SAN FRANCISCO — Gary Payton II, the oft-injured defensive specialist, expressed an interest in ripping up his current agreement with his employer and starting fresh with a newer, longer deal.

In his preferred posture — sitting on, not at the podium — Payton said he sees himself as a big part of the Warriors’ mix next year at his postmortem exit interview.

“I hope so, yeah,” Payton said. “I would love to come back and run it back. Better yet, just redo my whole deal and stay here for a little bit longer. We’ll figure it out.”

Payton has a $9.1 million player option that anyone in his position would be happy to exercise. But there’s a possibility a longer term deal could give him more financial stability and be a relief for an organization trying to dip under the luxury tax.

Payton played just 44 of 83 possible games this year. He dealt with a pair of calf injuries, a hamstring strain and various other illnesses and ailments. He’s managed to be available for 66 of 124 total games since Golden State re-acquired him at last year’s trade deadline.

“It was a rocky season,” Payton said. “It’s been that way for the last two seasons. Just go back to the drawing board this summer, tighten it, tune it a little bit tighter, and just kind of more bulletproof my body, take some different routes and just try to get it stronger, better, last longer.”

A player on a $9.1 million expiring contract is typically the type that can get moved in a trade. But if he’s amenable to extending, the Warriors might be able to lock him up on a cheaper deal that gives him more security — something along the lines of three-years for $12 million, for example.

Either way, Payton, 31, seems determined to be in the mix with the Warriors next year.

“Yeah, we’re going to figure it out,” Payton said. “If we can redo it and get it done, that would be great. But right now this moment, take some time and let this ease out. But definitely for sure figure it out. For sure.”

There will be a Year 20 for Chris Paul…but probably not with the Warriors

Chris Paul intends to continue his storied, 19-year NBA career. And it’s quite possible his one season with the Warriors sticks out as an outlier mercenary season on his Basketball Reference page.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy his time with the Warriors. He relished the opportunity to grow close with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. He enjoyed being close to his family in Los Angeles and appreciated the Warriors organization allowing him to spend extra time with them.

“It was a unique experience,” Paul said. “I’m glad I got an opportunity to play with the guys that I did, get a chance to meet new people, play for an organization I never would have imagined I’d play for. But I’m grateful for the experience.

For the first time in 14 years, Paul missed the playoffs.

“A little bit of a longer break than usual, but it is what it is,” Paul said.

Golden State Warrior’s Chris Paul speaks at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, April 17, 2024, one day after the team ended their season in a 118-94 loss to Sacramento. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) 

Paul said he’s open to a Warriors return for next year, but even Steve Kerr admitted that the Warriors aren’t the best roster fit for Paul. Paul still believes he’s a starting-caliber point guard. The Warriors can only really use him as Steph Curry’s backup. It’s tough for Golden State to play him, Curry and Klay Thompson together.

After managing Paul’s minutes throughout the season to keep him fresh, the Warriors only played him 18 minutes in their do-or-die game in Sacramento.

Paul turns 39 this May. His $30 million contract for next year is non-guaranteed, meaning the Warriors can either let him walk for luxury tax relief, re-sign him at that number, extend him, trade him. There are lots of avenues for the club to pursue.

Letting Paul become a free agent is probably the most likely scenario. Then Paul’s next season will depend on what he prioritizes. He’ll likely want to be close to his family, a bigger role and a chance to compete for the Larry O’Brien Trophy that has eluded him.

“Any situation I go into, I’m all in,” Paul said. “It was like that in Houston. It was like that in OKC. I think a lot of times people talk about that season in OKC we weren’t going, but I’ve always tried to make an impact wherever I was. We came up short here this year, but I’m excited about the summer and getting back to work and seeing what’s what.”

Kuminga is extension-eligible

Somehow, some way, Jonathan Kuminga didn’t know that this is a summer in which he could ink a nine-figure contract.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Kuminga said. “That’s just something, I think, my agent will be working on. I’m just going to focus on my mental, my body. Everything will handle itself.”

Asked if staying with the Warriors long-term is a priority, Kuminga said “I love it here.”

The most Golden State can offer Kuminga in an extension is five years for $225 million. Despite taking significant strides this year, Kuminga hasn’t played his way nearly into that ballpark.

Jaden McDaniels got a five-year, $131 million rookie extension. Although McDaniels is a much better defender than Kuminga, that could be a decent comparison in terms of figures.

The Warriors don’t need to extend Kuminga just because he’s eligible. They’ll be able to match any offer sheet when he’s a restricted free agent at the end of the year and could wait to see how he develops in 2024-25.

Rooks hitting Sin City

The Warriors are planning to send both Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski to Las Vegas for the Summer League.

Both players have a good shot to be on an All-Rookie team this year, meaning they’ll be among the most talented and established players in the exhibition games.

“It’s an opportunity for me and him to lead a team, to be the best players out there, to lead other guys who are new coming in or played on our G League squad for us,” Podziemski said.

“And win. I think it’s super critical for Mike (Dunleavy) and Steve (Kerr) to see the leadership that me and him can provide. For me, it’s an opportunity to show them what I can do with the ball in my hands. Obviously, that sample size was minimal because we had Steph and Chris, but I just think it’ll be a huge opportunity for me.”

Jackson-Davis, who starred in the second half as a starter next to Draymond Green, said his offseason goals include stretching out his jump shot, building muscle and improving on guarding smaller opponents on switches.

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Podziemski said his role on the team will naturally increase next year, and the key for him and the other group of young players will be to take the burden off Steph Curry and Green. Podziemski will need to maintain efficiency while increasing his volume of shots.

Could be an uncomfortable summer for Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins described his individual season as “not too good, not great.”

Wiggins picked it up in the second half, after he returned from a brief departure for personal reasons, but still finished with career-lows in points, assists, and steals per game. He was far from the two-way star who helped the Warriors win their fourth title of the decade in 2022.

Wiggins has three years and $85 million remaining on his contract. He’s been traded before, and has dealt with seeing his name in trade rumors many times. Those might resurface for him again this summer.

“I mean, I take care of what I can take care of,” Wiggins said. “What’s out of my control, I don’t worry about it. All I can do is work hard, train hard, and do what I can do.”

More of the same for Moses Moody in Sacramento

The Warriors’ season-ending loss to the Kings in Golden 1 Center felt like a lot of other games this year for Moses Moody.

Moody, he said, started the night out of Steve Kerr’s rotation. Thrust into the game because of Golden State’s struggles, Moody thrived.

In the loss, Moody scored 16 points in 15 minutes. Like he often has, Moody stepped in on a night when he wasn’t expected to play and made an impact.

“That’s kind of been the story line all year, you know, not knowing how much playing time I’m going to get,” Moody said Wednesday. “Like I wasn’t in the rotation going into the (Kings) game, and I get called on to perform. So it’s just more of the same, kind of. Glad to be able to do it on that stage at that time, but yeah, that’s just been part of the journey so far.”

Always a pro, Moody said he doesn’t considers being in and out of the rotation “frustrating.” It’s a journey, rather. He’s been through the adversity of having his minutes tugged one direction and another. Of starting one night and getting DNP’d the next.

What will it take to earn a more regular, stable role next year? Moody said coaches have told him to work on quickening his release on jumpers. Some of it will be situational, based on who returns to the Warriors and who leaves.

Regardless, Moody has a lot to be proud of from this season. He logged career-highs in just about every counting stat, while maintaining his 3-point accuracy with more minutes and volume.

“Yeah, I feel really good about it,” Moody said of his game. “If I get to listening to other people then you can kind of feel like it’s a cycle to where like, oh, you don’t play, you play good, you don’t play, but that’s kind of, that can be frustrating if you looking at it like that, but that’s through other people’s lens. I’ve done something myself that to where I now don’t really look at things through other people’s perspective and understand it for myself and see the growth that I’ve made each year.”

Categories: California Sports Feed, San Francisco Sports News, San Jose Sport News

Pac-12 finances: Arizona’s budget shortfall last year was substantial but hardly an outlier

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 14:32

The financial mess that engulfed Arizona late last year created angst across the campus, likely contributed to athletic director Dave Heeke’s departure and seemingly played a role in president Robert Robbins’ decision to step down at the end of his contract term.

But after examining Arizona’s financial affairs, the Hotline wondered what all the fuss was about.

Yes, the Wildcats needed a $31.6 million “bridge loan” to make the math work for their 2022-23 fiscal year budget. And that came on top of $12.2 million in direct support from the university.

But we’ve seen worse. This is the Pac-12, the land of deep deficits and bleeding budgets. Arizona was hardly alone in its heavy reliance on help from central campus.

An analysis of financial data by the Hotline revealed that the 10 public schools and Stanford received $150.5 million in direct university support in 2023 — an average of $13.7 million per school. (USC’s data was not available.)

According to NCAA financial reporting regulations, that support is booked as revenue and takes two forms: direct transfers from campus to athletics; and revenue from student fees allocated to athletics.

Last year, the Wildcats received $12.2 million in direct campus support, which accounted for 8.5 percent of their $143.1 million in reported revenue. They logged $142.8 million in expenses, creating a narrow surplus of $300,000.

Remove the $12.2 million in transfers and student fees, and that surplus turns into an operating shortfall of $11.9 million.

Granted, that’s a bright red number. But eight of the other 10 schools that made their financial data available experienced far steeper budget shortfalls when direct campus support was removed from the revenue total.

Washington took an $8.7 million hit without campus support, while Oregon turned a $3.8 million profit without any help.

However, there’s a complicating factor with Arizona: The $31.6 million bridge loan to athletics.

It’s not booked as direct support; it’s not considered a cash transfer from campus or an allocation of student fees. It’s a good, old-fashioned loan that’s included on line 6A in Arizona’s financial report to the NCAA.

Line 6A is intended for “Indirect Institutional Support,” which covers athletic facilities debt service, lease and rental fees.

Specifically, the NCAA defines the category in this manner: “Input debt service payments (principal and interest, including internal loan programs), leases and rental fees for athletics facilities for the reporting year provided by the institution to athletics but not charged to athletics.”

The bridge loan to athletics was not related to facilities but was described by a university spokesperson as “an internal funding tool used to cover the operational deficit.”

Either way, Arizona athletics booked the loan as revenue, just as it booked direct transfers and student fees as revenue.

What happens when we account for the impact of the loan on Arizona’s bottom line? That $11.9 million shortfall turns a much deeper shade of red.

Remove the loan, the direct transfers to athletics and the student fees allocated to athletics, and Arizona booked $99.3 million in organically generated revenue against operating expenses of $142.8 million — for a shortfall of $43.5 million.

That’s approximately $5 million more than the deficits incurred by UCLA, which produces a massive shortfall on an annual basis.

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It’s slightly more than Colorado’s bill, as well. The Buffaloes incurred a $38.5 million shortfall without campus support.

Stanford’s total deficit was a mere $33.3 million.

Cal was $31.1 million in the hole.

(It won’t get demonstrably better this year, either. John Arnold, Arizona’s interim chief financial officer, expects a shortfall of $32 million from athletics in FY2024, according to a presentation he made to campus a few months ago.)

But additional context is required, for Arizona’s $43.5 million deficit in 2023 wasn’t the steepest in the conference when removing university transfers from the calculation.

One school beat the Wildcats in the race to the bottom: Arizona State.

The Sun Devils reported an operating shortfall of $27.1 million, but the amount included $16.6 million in direct campus support.

Remove that figure, and ASU’s athletic department booked $98 million in revenue and $141.7 million in expenses.

That’s a $43.7 million hole — or $200,000 more than Arizona.

In basketball terms, the Sun Devils lost on a buzzer-beater.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on Twitter/X: @WilnerHotline

*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.

Categories: California Sports Feed, San Francisco Sports News, San Jose Sport News

NCAA women’s gymnastics championships: Cal, Stanford seek spots in Four on the Floor

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 13:44

Third-ranked Cal and No. 19 Stanford are on a collision course at the women’s gymnastics NCAA championships, making up half of the Semifinal I field on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Bears and Cardinal, along with No 2 LSU and No. 12 Arkansas, are vying for two spots in Saturday’s championship final. Top-seeded Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama will claim two championship spots from Semifinal II, which also is Thursday in Fort Worth.

Oklahoma is the two-time defending champion and has won five of the past seven national titles, but the Bay Area teams enter the championships posting some of their best scores of the season.

Cal returns to the national semifinals after finishing seventh last season and is seeking its first Four on the Floor appearance. The Bears spent much of this season ranked No. 2 behind the Sooners and won the final Pac-12 title – the program’s first outright regular season crown.

The Bears capped their home regional victory last weekend with a team score of 198.275, the highest postseason mark in school history. It was the fifth time this season Cal scored at least 198 points.

Junior Mya Lauzon led the way in the regional final, becoming Cal’s first regional all-around winner and recording the team’s first postseason 10 with a perfect vault.  All six Bears had a 9.8 or better in the floor routine, led by sophomore All-American eMjae Frazier’s 9.975.

Stanford is competing at the NCAA championships for the first time since 2016 and 17th time overall. The Cardinal was inconsistent early in the season and unseeded entering regionals, but defeated No. 14 Auburn and No. 6 Denver to finish second to Cal in the regional to become the first unseeded team to reach the championship meet since 2011.

The Cardinal punched its ticket to Fort Worth in dramatic fashion. Stanford was down .100 going into the final rotation, the floor routine, and fifth-year Chloe Widner completed the rotation with her first career 10.

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Categories: California Sports Feed, San Francisco Sports News, San Jose Sport News

Carl Erskine dies at 97; Brooklyn Dodgers star was the last surviving member of ‘Boys of Summer’

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 13:00

By Beth Harris | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Carl Erskine, who pitched two no-hitters as a mainstay on the Brooklyn Dodgers and was a 20-game winner in 1953 when he struck out a then-record 14 in the World Series, died Tuesday. He was 97.

Erksine died at Community Hospital Anderson in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana, according to Michele Hockwalt, the hospital’s marketing and communication manager.

Among the last survivors from the celebrated Brooklyn teams of the 1950s, Erskine spent his entire major league career with the Dodgers from 1948-59, helping them win five National League pennants.

The right-hander had a career record of 122-78 and an ERA of 4.00, with 981 strikeouts.

Erskine had his best season in 1953, when he went 20-6 to lead the National League. He won Game 3 of the World Series, beating the Yankees 3-2 at Ebbets Field. He struck out 14, retiring the side in the ninth, for a record that stood until Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax got 15 in 1963. The Dodgers went on to lose in six games as the Yankees won their fifth consecutive championship.

Erskine was an All-Star in 1954, when he won 18 games.

He appeared in five World Series, with the Dodgers finally beating the Yankees in 1955 for their only championship in Brooklyn. He gave up a home run to Gil McDougald in the first inning of Game 4 and left after 3 2/3 innings. The Dodgers went on to win 8-5.

Erskine, center, celebrates with teammate Duke Snider, left, and manager Charley Dressen after the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees Game 5 of the 1952 World Series. Erskine, Snider, Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson were Dodgers teammates known as “the Boys of Summer.” (Associated Press Archives)

Erskine’s death leaves the 88-year-old Koufax as the lone surviving Dodgers player from the 1955 World Series team.

“I’ve often thought Carl deserved more credit than he received for his contributions to the success of the Brooklyn Dodgers,” said Peter O’Malley, whose father, Walter, owned the Dodgers from 1950-1979. “He was a calming influence on a team with many superstars and personalities. But getting credit was not Carl and that is what made him beloved.”

Erskine received the Buck O’Neil lifetime achievement award in July 2023 by the Baseball Hall of Fame’s board of directors to honor an individual whose efforts enhance baseball’s positive impact on society.

“For millions of fans, he was a baseball hero,” Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. “For his family and thousands of Special Olympians, Carl was someone who always believed everything was possible. His legacy is one of deep compassion and encouragement of the human spirit.”

Carl Daniel Erskine was born Dec. 13, 1926, in Anderson, Indiana. He began playing baseball at age 9 in a local parks program.

After graduating high school in 1945, he was drafted into the Navy with World War II underway. A year later, Erskine asked the Navy recreation officer where he was stationed if he could play baseball. He was turned away, but a few weeks later, he was scouted by the Dodgers and discharged from military service.

He spent the next 1½ years in the minors before making his major league debut on July 25, 1948. Erskine began as a reliever, going 21-10 during his first two seasons.

In 1951, he transitioned to the starting rotation and joined teammates Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider as one of the revered “Boys of Summer.”

In 1952, Erskine had a career-best 2.70 ERA and won 14 games. The following year, he led the NL with a .769 winning percentage, along with 187 strikeouts and 16 complete games, all career highs.

When teammate Don Newcombe was pitching in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1951 NL pennant with the New York Giants, Erskine and Ralph Branca were warming up in the bullpen.

Erskine, left, and former Dodgers teammate Tommy Lasorda visit before a spring training game in Vero Beach, Florida, in 2008. (Doug Benc/Getty Images Archives)

On the recommendation of pitching coach Clyde Sukeforth, Newcombe was relieved by Branca, who then gave up the game-winning home run to Bobby Thomson in the famed “Shot Heard ’Round the World.”

Whenever Erskine was asked what his best pitch was, he replied, “The curveball I bounced in the Polo Grounds bullpen in 1951.”

Nicknamed “Oisk” by fans with their Brooklyn accents, Erskine pitched no-hitters against the Chicago Cubs in 1952 and the New York Giants in 1956.

Bobby Morgan preserved Erskine’s no-hitter against the Cubs with two brilliant fielding plays at third base.

“I made two super plays on swinging bunts where they just dribbled down the line and I fielded them one-handed and threw to Gil Hodges at first,” Morgan told The Oklahoman newspaper in April 2020.

Morgan, who died last year, said Erskine still thanked him years later whenever they spoke.

The Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1957. Erskine started the first home game in Los Angeles on April 18, 1958, when the Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in front of more than 78,000 fans.

However, Erskine didn’t enjoy being away from his family and he lasted just 1½ years in Los Angeles. He pitched his final game in June 1959 and retired at 32.

Erskine plays the national anthem on his harmonica before a college basketball game in Anderson, Indiana, in 2017. (Don Knight/The Herald-Bulletin via Associated Press Archives)

Erskine returned to his hometown about 45 miles northeast of Indianapolis and opened an insurance business. He coached baseball at Anderson College for 12 years, and his 1965 team went 20-5 and won the NAIA World Series.

He also became active in the community and served as president and director at Star Financial Bank from 1982-93.

A 6-foot bronze statue of Erskine was erected in front of the Carl D. Erskine Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Center to honor his accomplishments in baseball and as an Anderson resident. An elementary school built on land he donated is named for him. He was inducted into the Indiana National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

In 2002, Erskine Street in Brooklyn was named for him.

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His youngest son, Jimmy, was born with Down syndrome, which led Erskine to champion the cause of people with developmental disabilities. He wrote a book called “The Parallel,” about the similarities Jimmy and Erskine’s teammate Robinson shared in breaking down social perceptions. He was long involved with Special Olympics in Indiana and the Carl and Betty Erskine Society raises money for the organization.

“Carl Erskine was an exemplary Dodger,” Stan Kasten, Dodgers president and CEO, said in a statement. “He was as much a hero off the field as he was on the field, which given the brilliance of his pitching is saying quite a lot. His support of the Special Olympics and related causes, inspired by his son Jimmy, who led a life beyond all expectations when he was born with Down syndrome, cemented his legacy.”

Jimmy died in November at age 63, outliving his prognosis by decades.

Erskine also authored the books “Tales from the Dodger Dugout” and “What I Learned From Jackie Robinson.”

He is survived by Betty, his wife of 76 years, and sons Danny and Gary and daughter Susan.

Categories: California Sports Feed, San Francisco Sports News, San Jose Sport News

How the Warriors lost their way this season

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 12:55

SACRAMENTO — Any season can be defined by its moments, the everlasting split-seconds burned into memories.

For the Warriors — the historically expensive club desperate to lay more tracks for its dynastic train — too many of those moments were self-inflicted damage.

Draymond Green saw red too many times — a headlock here, a flail there — costing him a quarter of the season. Game-winning prayers from Nikola Jokic and Malik Monk rattled in instead of out, putting the Warriors on the wrong side of the blown-lead ledger. They stuck with their starting lineup from last year too long, and didn’t add or subtract at the deadline.

And so, their season ended on April 16 in Sacramento. The next morning, they cleaned out their lockers at the Chase Center. Viewed through the prism of wringing out the most of every last great Steph Curry season, this year was squandered. Too many dark moments eclipsed those of promise.

“At the end of the day, I just want to win,” Curry said in Sacramento. “I know that’s fully possible. I know this summer’s going to be a lot of conversations, trying to set up ourselves to win — whatever that means. I hope that’s the outcome.”

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry reacts while speaking to the media after their 118-94 NBA play-in tournament loss against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden One Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

The Warriors went 10-11 in games Green missed due to suspension. At the podium after the Warriors’ season ended in Sacramento, Green said he could count off the top of his head at least six losses off the top of his head the Warriors “gave away.”

Collapsing and letting winnable games slip away was an issue with or without Green. They blew a 24-point lead in the in-season tournament to Sacramento. They choked away an 18-point lead late against Denver. They failed to close out the Thunder twice in overtime.

Steve Kerr constantly tinkered with his starting lineup and rotation, seeking combinations that work. Not enough shooting with this frontcourt, too light on the boards with that one, can’t hold up defensively with the three guards. The Warriors’ roster had depth, but it was flawed. They never had a reliable secondary scorer next to Curry.

A common denominator: The Warriors consistently lost to contending teams. Against the six Western Conference teams to clinch playoff berths before the play-in, Golden State won just four of 23 games.

There were positive signs, of course. Despite finishing 10th in the loaded Western Conference, the Warriors won more games than they did last year. They won 10 of their last 12 games, tearing through a difficult road schedule, and never wavered from their belief that they could beat anyone in any high-leverage situation. With Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, Mike Dunleavy Jr. aced his first draft.

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry #30 heads to the locker room after their NBA 118-94 play-in tournament loss to the Sacramento Kings at the Golden One Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

It just wasn’t enough to avoid a premature, unceremonious end to the season. Curry, Green and Klay Thompson were mostly healthy all year, and the Warriors still missed the playoffs.

Ahead of the trade deadline, the Warriors were floundering at 23-25. Curry, in a rare personnel-related admission, said that changes were necessary. “That’s the definition of insanity, right? Keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result.”

To their credit, Golden State made adjustments. The Warriors went small, with Draymond Green starting at center. They brought Thompson off the bench for the first time in his career. Jackson-Davis joined Green in the starting frontcourt, fortifying their defense and solidifying their rotation.

Kerr let Jonathan Kuminga play through more mistakes and trusted the rookies to contribute. Golden State went 22-11 to finish the year and, by virtue of a strong West, became the winningest team to ever finish 10th in a conference.

But the Warriors — winners of four championships in the past decade — don’t hang banners for play-in seasons. And even when they were rolling, there were hints the Warriors were never really in the NBA’s upper class. They went 22-31 against teams with winning records and 24-5 against everyone else. They beat up on the bottom-feeders and got outclassed by the true contenders.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr cheers on his team the second quarter of their NBA play-in tournament game against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden One Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

Optimizing every season as long as the 36-year-old Curry remains one of the best players in the games should be the annual goal. This season, despite progress, they failed to squeeze out another postseason run.

“This is life,” Kerr said after his team was eliminated. “This is how it works. You don’t get to stay on top forever.”

They lost in the moments, and the moments became the aggregate. Now they face another crossroads in Klay Thompson’s free agency. Kerr, Curry and Green are under contract through 2026, but could they drop the other pillar of the dynasty? They need to get more athletic, better, and cheaper. Thompson might not check enough of those boxes.

“I could never see myself not with those two guys,” Curry said of Thompson and Green.

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But despite a better record than last year, they slipped from sixth to 10th place, and it won’t get easier. Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will only improve. Memphis will get a healthy Ja Morant next year. The Nuggets, Timberwolves and Mavericks aren’t going anywhere.

As Green said, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.

Everything should be on the table for the Warriors. Curry’s contract and age give them a three-year window to assemble a championship-caliber roster around him — with every succeeding year becoming more difficult than the past. He’s still elite, and the Warriors will never have another player like him.

They can’t afford to waste another of his last great seasons – and that pursuit of another title might cost them their dynastic core.

“I understand this league changes and there’s so many things that go into it, and we’re not going to play forever,” Curry said. “But we’ve experienced so much together. At the end of the day, again, I know they want to win, I want to win — that’s all I’m worried about.”

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) lowers his head as the final minutes wind down in the fourth quarter of their NBA play-in tournament game at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Golden State Warriors 118-94. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 
Categories: California Sports Feed, San Francisco Sports News, San Jose Sport News

SF Giants finally clinch a road series. Now, can they start a winning streak?

Bay Area Mercury News Sports - Wed, 04/17/2024 - 12:35

MIAMI — Keaton Winn was in tip-top form, the Giants provided him just enough run support, and they beat the Marlins, 3-1, to clinch their first series win of the season away from Oracle Park.

Now comes the hard part.

“Have we won two games in a row yet?” manager Bob Melvin pondered before first pitch Wednesday morning.

Yes, but just once, and not since their first series of the season, stringing together wins in the second and third games in San Diego.

“To get out of these little funks that we’re in, it usually takes a little bit of a winning streak,” Melvin said. “Confidence rises and you’re able to gain some momentum. We just haven’t had a ton of traction as far as that’s gone yet, so it’s been a little frustrating for everybody.”

No better time than now to start a winning streak.

When the Giants return home Thursday to host the Diamondbacks, they’ll have the top two finishers in last year’s Cy Young voting on the hill the first two games. They should have plenty of motivation to top Winn’s stellar showing that shut down Miami’s lineup on Wednesday.

The lone damage against Winn over six innings came on a sinker down and away that Bryan De La Cruz snuck over the right field wall for a solo shot in his final frame. That was one of only four hits the Marlins mustered against him, and the first and only time a runner advanced past first base.

“Down and away, but he’s been hot the last couple games in that area. Later in the count, it’s something I was trying to go in on and missed down and away,” Winn said of the home run offering to De La Cruz. But overall, “I finally felt great out there. Mechanically, I was more lined up, so it was easier to command the baseball.”

Winn was cruising, using only 63 pitches to complete five scoreless, before the first batter of the sixth, Luis Arraez, lined a ball right back at him. It glanced off the bottom of his cleat, and Thairo Estrada recovered to record an impressive out, but Winn wasn’t quite the same after.

The next batter was De La Cruz, and after him, Winn threw five straight pitches outside the strike zone — one was erroneously called a strike — to put on Jazz Chisolm Jr., only to be erased by Patrick Bailey to end the inning.

Despite a strong pitching line and a low pitch count — 81 after six — Melvin turned to his bullpen to finish the final three frames. Camilo Doval — after a full complement of warm-up pitches — pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his third save of the season, his second of the road trip.

“He took that ball off the foot (and) it bothered him enough to come out of the game,” Melvin said. “His warm-up pitches were a little high and he ended up giving up a run, but we needed some innings today — we were down several guys (in the bullpen) — and he gave us six innings. Really efficient in how he did it, too.”

Winn held two of his first three opponents to three runs or fewer, but the Giants had lost all of his first three starts. They had scored two total runs while he was on the mound, the least run support for any starter in the National League (min. 16 IP), a title Logan Webb held last season.

The two runs they gave him Wednesday — plus an insurance run on a two-out double from Matt Chapman in the eighth — was all Winn needed.

Estrada doubled home Jorge Soler to open a 1-0 lead in the second inning and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh after beating out an infield single to lead off the inning. It was his third multi-hit effort of the six-game road trip, raising his batting average to .239 and OPS to .680.

Estrada heating up is good news for a lineup that is still struggling to produce consistent results.

“There’s, what, 142? 143 games left?” Estrada said in Spanish. “We can’t think about getting streaks going. We’ve just got to continue playing and competing. That’s baseball. We won today; it’s over. We wake up tomorrow, play again, and try to win. If we lose, then we wake up the next day and play again.”

The Giants managed only three runs in the win and scored more than four only once in six games on this road trip. They seemed to snap out of their offensive funk in the final game of the previous homestand — a 7-1 win — but mustered just one run in their first game in Tampa. Five homers and 11 runs the next game were followed by 14 total runs over the final four games of the trip, including 35 strikeouts over the three-game series in Miami.

In one game, Blake Snell got shelled. In another, their bullpen coughed up four runs in a tied game. At other times, such as Wednesday, both components of the pitching staff have looked as dominant as ever.

Called on to relieve Winn in the seventh inning, rookie Erik Miller filled up the strike zone with 98-99 mph fastballs from his left arm and retired the side in order, the first of three scoreless innings from Giants relievers.

“I think across the board, we need to play better,” Melvin said. “Whether it’s on the pitching end, whether it’s on the offensive end, we just really haven’t hit our stride yet. We have certain games that look good, but we haven’t sustained it.”

The most-telling metric to Melvin, at least at this juncture, is the Giants’ run differential.

They have been outscored by their opponents 91-79, 12 runs in the hole through their first 19 games.

“Run differential kind of tells you where you are,” he said. “We’re a little down in that.”

Notable

The Giants should get a better sense of when their players on the mend could return when they get back to San Francisco on Thursday.

There, they will consult with Alex Cobb (hip/elbow), Sean Hjelle (elbow) and Luke Jackson (back) about their next steps.

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Jackson is “itching to get back,” Melvin said. He threw 20 pitches to hitters in Arizona on Monday and a rehab assignment could be next. He shouldn’t require more than one, unlike Hjelle, who has made three already as the team attempts to stretch him out to cover multiple innings out of the bullpen.

Melvin’s tone changed when asked about Cobb, who threw a bullpen session Monday in Arizona. “He felt OK,” Melvin said. “He’s coming back to San Francisco tomorrow, so we’ll take stock of him tomorrow as well.”

Up next

The Giants’ charter flight is scheduled to land back in San Francisco sometime around 9 p.m. Wednesday — midnight in the time zone where they spent the past week — and they’ll be right back at it following the cross-country trek. Set to host the Diamondbacks for four games, followed by a weekend set against the Mets, the team doesn’t have another off day until next Thursday.

Webb gets the ball in the series opener, though he did not fly back ahead of the team. In fact, he exchanged lineup cards at home plate before first pitch Wednesday. Blake Snell is scheduled to follow him Friday, still seeking his first win in a Giants uniform.

“I like to do that with starting pitchers,” Melvin said of Webb’s pregame duties. “It’s the first day that the lights came on when I asked him. Before, he’s been a little hesitant. He’s 1-0 and he gets to take it out on the day that he pitches, too. Nah, I’m just kidding. He thinks right now that he’s going to. Let’s not tell him that.”

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