No LeBron, no Steph — is that what the NBA needs?

The old Hollywood execs figured it out practically from the day movies first hit the silver screen: The story didn’t matter as much as the people who were in it. Entertainment is not so much a business of plots as of personalities. Stars. Yes, Shakespeare is special, but did you want to see Lady McBeth or Lady Gaga?

The same is true in sports. As the TV people are aware.

A few days ago, before the post-season started, one of the announcers at ESPN said he wanted Steph Curry and LeBron James in the Western Conference playoffs.

Of course, because that’s what the viewing audience wanted to see. The player called one of the greatest of all time, still dominant at age 39, and the best long-distance shooter in history. You didn’t need to care about the Lakers or Warriors, not that being a fan of either team wouldn’t have hurt. All you really needed to be was a fan of basketball.  

Well, Curry — or more correctly his team, the Golden State Warriors — failed to advance to the postseason. And now, after playing only five games, the Lakers and LeBron are done.

Two favorites finished. 

The old guard — and old forward — about to depart. For now. And possibly how LeBron responds to the question on whether he’s played his last game for the Lakers, forever.

Change is inevitable in sports, as everywhere, yet it seems so much more personal and painful when the change is to the athletes we follow.

The NFL just had its player draft, selecting the new who will replace the old. In the summer the NBA will have its own draft. That doesn’t mean we have to replace them in our hearts.

The NBA West once belonged to Kobe Bryant of the Lakers. Then it became the property of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Now it has been usurped by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. 

Hard to believe? Not really. 

Hard to accept? Only if you tend to live in the past, recent or distant.

We miss Kobe. We’ll miss Steph and LeBron. Time moves on as the memorable athletes slow down.

Up in Northern California, where we’ve waited and watched, and if you will, suffered the power and championships that went to the Lakers during the Magic, Kareem and Worthy years, we’re prepared for the worst.

But down in L.A., the future is being approached with particular gloom. 

“For the 13th time in 14 seasons, the Lakers have fallen far short in their bid to pile on another NBA championship, and, man, is this getting old,” wrote columnist Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times. “Scream. Sigh. Get used to it.”

In the continuing world of sport it’s hard to get used to anything except nothing and no one stays the same.

Hollywood reminders of Lakers success

We’ll leave the reasons for the Warriors’ loss, or if you choose the Lakers’ victory — the missed shots, the throttling defense, all those basketball explanations — and for a moment concentrate on the mental aspects of the result and how difficult it will be for the Dubs partisans to live in a sporting world where once again the power and glory belongs to Southern California.

There were more than a few examples during the telecast of the game Friday night, the one that if it didn’t signify the end of what had been labeled the Warriors dynasty, certainly was a jolting reminder that change had occurred.

You know the final score of the deciding Game 6 of the 2023 NBA Western Conference semifinal, alas a rout, Lakers 122 Warriors 101, L.A. wire-to-wire.

At Crypto.com Arena, where we were informed, seats were going for $30,000 — even if the announcer meant the private boxes, that’s not cheap — and the crowd included Elon Musk, Bad Bunny, Kim Kardashian, and from out of the past the serious fan, Jack Nicholson.

Yeah, Hollywood, celebrities as far as you could see and probably more than you can stand. But because the Warriors for the first time in years were unable to do the job, that’s the way it’s going to be.

That’s also the way it was when Magic, Kareem, or Kobe were out there, and the Lakers owned the Warriors and everything else west of the Sierra. Such a refreshing — and rewarding — interlude when Steph and Klay splashed, and Draymond got in an opponent’s face and got a technical or two. Or three.

Nothing is forever. The reminders kept coming. Now they’re here and indelible.

Maybe we were too caught up with history to pay close attention. Didn’t the Sacramento Kings win the first two games of their playoff over the Warriors? Yes, the Dubs pulled out the first round because Steph Curry scored 50. He was amazing. He was great. However, even greatness ages.

The Warriors’ front office, notably general manager Bob Myers, knows the progression and drafted people such as Jordan Poole, who was touted as the next Steph Curry. It is to dream. And miscalculate.  

Darvin Ham of the Lakers is a rookie head coach, a last-minute appointee as it were, but he’s been an assistant long enough to have helped develop Giannis Antetokounmpo into an MVP with Milwaukee. And he — and his staff — figured out how to defend Curry, who with Klay Thompson and Poole lost in the wilderness, and that was enough to stop the Warriors.

When an organization has an aging championship team it is confronted with a difficult decision whether to rely on the athletes which have been so good for so long or slowly remodel, rebuild, adding pieces to the mix.

The Lakers began the season in a hole, losing, but then they reshuffled and made trades. Their core was the always reliable, and obviously remarkable LeBron James and the frequently unpredictable Anthony Davis which was an advantage against the Warriors. Friday, James had 30 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. 

“Our leader,” confirmed Ham.  

Davis had 17 points, 20 rebounds, and two assists. Some non-leader.

Curry, naturally was the high scorer for the Warriors, with 32. 

“He never lets you relax,” LeBron said.

The presumption is the Warriors’ front office, already over budget but needing to upgrade, won’t be relaxing or standing still. But what moves are possible, and if LeBron and Davis hang around, will it make a difference?

In the autumn of 2001, Warriors coach Steve Kerr, teammate of Michael Jordan on those super Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s, pointed out the window doesn’t remain open very long.

After four titles in six years, the Warriors have to wonder if theirs has closed.

Dickens should be writing Warriors’ tale

This should be authored by Charles Dickens. He wrote “Bleak House,” didn’t he? Or maybe “The Brothers Grimm, Sigh!” 

No laughter for the Warriors these days. Not much hope either.

Say the Warriors do somehow stop the Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals Wednesday night at Chase Center up there near Oracle Park, another location of sporting depression. 

That would do nothing but delay the ending of a fall-short season which will leave people wondering what happened to Klay Thompson’s once beautiful jump shot and why Jordan Poole decided to retire without telling anyone.

The Warriors, the defending champions, have lost four of their last six games, including the final two against the Sacramento Kings in the series they did win. Meanwhile, the Lakers, given up for dead (the last two letters of that word are Anthony Davis’ initials), haven’t lost a playoff game at home.

L.A. had a losing record in February and needed to win a play-in game even to get to the post-season. If you can make sense of all that maybe you can explain why in the final minute of the Warriors’ 104-101 defeat Monday night, Steph Curry could miss not one but two of those long bombs he invariably makes.

Steph did have a triple-double Monday collecting 31 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. So if he’s not on the court then the Warriors are not in the game. But when you’re up by seven after three quarters, you’re not supposed to lose.    

The fine LA. Times columnist Bill Plaschke was one of the guest scribes Tuesday on ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” as he is not infrequently, and when asked what happened to the Warriors gave a provincial legitimate answer: “Give credit to the Lakers.”

The Warriors appeared to be the better team coming in, as well as the week, leading up to the playoffs they barely made. However, L.A. took charge in game one and despite a Warriors bounce-back in game two, they have outplayed the Rub-a-Dubs most of the way.

You expected LeBron James to play and score as he did and feared the suddenly intense Davis might do the same. But when a guy named Lonnie Walker, who had been benched, gets 17 points, you are likely to have a problem, and the Warriors did. 

Only 13 times in NBA history has a team won a seven-game series after trailing 3-1. In 2016 the Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals and then a few weeks later lost this same way to Cleveland and LeBron in the NBA Finals.

Steve Kerr also coached those Warriors teams.

 “You definitely draw on those experiences,” Kerr said. “Game to game everything changes, so just focus on the next one. The next game and then the momentum shifts in your favor.”

Kerr and the Warriors need a shift now, or the story for the Warriors will be bleak, grim and very unreadable.

Warriors-Lakers: California here they come

This is as good as it gets for the not-so-late great state of California. Who cares if ESPN is fixated on listing events at Eastern Daylight Time?

Let's catch the last train to the Coast where oranges and redwoods grow and where the former Minneapolis Lakers and Philadelphia Warriors relocated with enviable success. 

Who imagined a few months ago when the Lakers were losing and the Warriors couldn’t win on the road that now in the lusty month of May they would be playing each other here in the NBA Western Conference semifinals, a playoff round as enticing as it should be entertaining.

LeBron and Steph, AD and Looney — and Klay, Draymond, and Wigs. Yes, basketball is the ultimate team sport, but it’s the individuals who make the shots and the difference.

To reprise that so-very-accurate Michael Jordan response when told there is no “I” in team, ”Yeah, but there is in win.”

There’s also an old journalistic idea that nothing is as dead as yesterday’s news. OK, but even moving forward past Sunday’s news, the Dubs stunningly overwhelmed the Kings, 120-100 at Sacramento, and Steph Curry set a Game 7 record with 50 points. In this case, yesterday’s news is going to live a long time.  

What we re-learned from both the Warriors and Lakers, who beat the Memphis Grizzlies, is that reputations as winners are well deserved.

LeBron James of the Lakers has scored more points than anyone in NBA history. Steph Curry is arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history. Two offensive stars ​​— yet in the end the results may depend on defense and rebounding. Or lack of it, which seemingly was why the Kings, after taking the first two games, lost four of the last five. They couldn’t stop Curry.

LA vs SF, initials representing the two cities founded by Spanish explorers. A rivalry of geography. And of pride.

For years and decades, NBA basketball out west belonged to the Lakers, to Wilt Chamberlain (although he did come out from Philly with the Warriors), Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and certainly Magic Johnson. Sixteen NBA titles, one fewer than the Celtics, to three for the Warriors, including one in 1975.  

Until Steve Kerr became the head coach of the Warriors, Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and Draymond Green were on the roster. Then the Warriors added four more titles. It’s a quick turn-around for the Dubs, who must shift attention and style to face the Lakers, starting Tuesday night at Chase Center. 

“We’re excited to have the opportunity,” Kerr said about going against the Lakers. “I think the Lakers changed their team dramatically at the trade deadline. They made some brilliant moves and became an entirely different team.”

“Darvin (Lakers coach Darvin Ham) has done an incredible job guiding that team. They’re excellent defensively. They’ve got one of the all-time greats in LeBron. But a lot of talent across the roster. So it’s going to take a big effort to beat them, and we know how good they are.”

Just as the Lakers know how good the Warriors are.

Sporting changes: Clocks and no cuts

Major League Baseball has changed, apparently for the better. No wasting of time. You’re on a clock

At some tournaments, the PGA Tour is going to change. No cuts meaning everyone plays the full 72 holes. Whether that will be for the better is still uncertain.

And who knows what the next moves might be in NFL and NBA rules? 

Still, three strikes and you’re out and first down and ten. Or were those altered by some committee to keep us guessing?

Adaptation, we’re told, is the only way to survive. Baseball adapted, with time restrictions and — unfortunately — a runner on second to start extra innings.

The issue is our impatience. If something doesn’t appear to be happening, we’ll switch channels. Or walk out of the ballpark. Or off the course.

The wonderful part of sports is the unknown.  There’s no script, only possibilities.  You invest your time and hope for the best, like rolling the dice or turning over the cards.

Sometimes you hit the jackpot. A buzzer-beater by Steph Curry, other times the Warriors are down by 15 going into the fourth quarter. And they keep throwing the ball out of bounds instead of into the basket.

We need every game to be exciting, rewarding and quick; need every match to be for a championship, even a contrived one; need the stars on the ice or fairway or floor, or court. 

What we don’t need are all these injuries. Curry’s out, although almost ready to return. LeBron’s out. Rafael Nadal’s out, missing California (Indian Wells) and Florida. The Dodgers’ Gavin Lux is out for the season, and we’re a month away from the season even starting.

Golf’s problem, if you want to call it that, and the players don’t, is that the only injuries are to egos and bank accounts. Or is that not unique to that competition?  

In the early 1960s a few people with a lot of money wanted to get into pro football and, unable to be accepted by the NFL, formed their own group, the American Football League. They waved bankrolls and promises around, stealing (figuratively) NFL vets and draft picks and forcing a merger. Yes, there was this game that came to be known as the Bowl.

This generation’s AFL is the LIV. The difference is it's golf, not football (LIV is the Roman numeral for 54, the length of tournaments, rather than the PGA Tour’s 72.) The similarity is that some individuals are determined through millions and millions of Saudi Arabian dollars to bring about a merger.

What they have brought about is a decision by the PGA Tour to emulate the LIV and not reduce a tournament field through a halfway cut as has been done seemingly forever. 

Maybe not as momentous a switch as bringing a clock to baseball, until now a timeless game, but nevertheless a change.

Did someone say “Good old days”?

Tiger talks about winning and LeBron

PACIFIC PALISADES — He said he is grateful to be here, surrounded by memories, facing possibilities a sporting hero recalling his own heroes and reminding us that his only reason in playing the game is to win.

That so many of us doubt it’s still possible doesn’t deter Tiger Woods. It’s the way he was raised. It’s the way he always will believe.

The way so many people, especially those captivated by his fist-pumping success at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st, believe nobody else in the sport is quite his equal.

Or draws the same attention.

Woods, beginning Thursday will be in the Genesis Open, at Riviera Country Club, where in 1992, an amateur, he first was accepted to play at PGA Tour events.

He was 16, loaded with talent. He would be awed by the number of unstriped balls available on the practice range. We were awed by potential to be realized in 82 Tour wins, record stretches as world No. 1 and in becoming along with Ben Hogan the only man to win three majors in a calendar year.

You are familiar with the subsequent details, the headline grabbing affairs, the back surgery and most significantly the accident two years ago when the car Woods was driving probably too fast, overturned on a hillside road maybe 15 miles from Riviera.

An LA County Sheriff said Tiger was lucky to be alive. A severed foot was reattached. Months of rehab — still ongoing — have enabled him to play. Walking is difficult, however, and to play in a tournament, a golfer must walk.

Still, at age 47, while being asked about LeBron James and Tom Brady, one man who at 37 remains a force in the NBA having just overtaken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time points leader, the other at 45 hanging up the cleats after hanging up the all-time mark of quarterbacking seven Super Bowl victories.

They kept going. Tiger keeps going.

“As far as the LeBron record,” said Woods, “what he accomplished is absolutely incredible of just the durability, the consistency and the longevity.

“I never thought — I grew up watching Kareem here, never saw him play in Milwaukee, but he was the Cat, that's all I remember, the Showtime Lakers and watching Cat run down there with goggles and hit the sky hook That record we never thought it would be surpassed. But what LeBron is doing — but also the amount of minutes he's playing, no one's ever done that at that age, to be able to play all five positions, that's never been done before at this level for this long. As far as our equivalent to that, I don't know, maybe you look at maybe me and Sam (Snead) at 82? It takes a career to get to those numbers. That's how I think probably best how you look at it.”

To look at Tiger Woods, one must put aside any thoughts of being a ceremonial golfer, content to be in the field when he’s no longer in contention.

“I have not come around to the idea of being — if I'm playing, I play to win. I know that players have played and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game. I can't wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I'm playing in the event I'm going to try and beat you. I'm there to get a W, OK?

OK. Who are we to disagree with Tiger Woods?

LeBron stops the boos — and the Warriors

One game, two conclusions: There’s nothing wrong with LeBron James. There’s plenty wrong with the Golden State Warriors.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, the fans stopped booing the home team just long enough to watch James score a season-high 56 points and the Lakers defeat the Warriors, 124-116.

For the Lakers, who Monday night play at San Antonio, the victory ended a four-game losing streak.

For the Warriors, who Monday night play at Denver, the defeat extended a losing streak to four games.

“Right now I don’t give a damn about the 56,” was James’ post-game statement. “I’m just glad we got a win.”

That’s something Warriors coach Steve Kerr understood, because he didn’t get one in a game the Dubs led in the fourth quarter, as if that matters.

Suddenly the Warriors are in third place overall in the NBA. They already were behind Phoenix. Now they’re also in back of Memphis.

“There’s more games coming, so we’ve got to do this ourselves,” said Kerr, emphasizing the obvious. “We’ve got to dig out of the mud, and nobody’s going to help us.”

A tale of two Californians: in southern Cal, the patrons are more demanding — thinking back to the days of Magic and Shaq and Kobe, of showtime and multiple titles.

In Northern Cal, we’re grateful for the seasons of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and, oh-so-briefly, Kevin Durant.

The name missing from the time of Warriors success is that of Draymond Green, who for years — well, it’s just a few weeks, but it seems like years — has been rehabbing, not playing.

His last game was in January. You wonder if his next game won’t be until June.

Just as LeBron showed us he still is LeBron, on Saturday night Steph showed us he’s still Steph, 30 points and some poignant analysis on the post-game show.

“We’re finding different ways to lose,” said Curry. “Self-inflicted wounds.”

You understand what he means, but truth tell, the Dubs are losing only one way. They’re not getting enough points, and the opponent is getting too many.

One reasons is that Klay Thompson, back once more after two seasons recovering from two different serious injuries, has struggled.

Just because you’re finally back on the floor doesn’t mean you’re immediately going to be back in the groove. “I think Klay is pressing,” said Chris Mullin, the former all-star who now does commentary on Warriors telecasts.

Well, of course. He is impatient to be the player he was previously, and Warriors fans are no less impatient. Still, these things can’t be rushed. 

Thompson was out recently with what the injury report listed as  a “general illness.” Whatever, it knocked him off his stride.

“I feel like the sickness affected his conditioning and his timing,” said Kerr.

Timing is such a critical element, not only within the game, the passing, the rebounding, the switching on defense, but also on the scheduling.

If the Warriors played the Lakers on another night, well, LeBron is great but who would imagine he would get all those points?

And, in a way, make a point to anyone who figured he had declined.

“When he has it going like that,” Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, said of James, “there’s nothing nobody on the other team can do about it. He forced his will and was able to direct the game on all levels.

“It was really big, especially in a game where we needed a win.”

The Lakers got their needed win. The Warriors did not. “Obviously we’re going to have to get healthy,” said Kerr. “We desperately need Draymond.”

They need something, no question.

Steph on LeBron’s winner: ‘Great players make great plays’

Maybe it was appropriate. Steph Curry, who so often makes the long shots, being able to take the long view.

He didn’t like the result, getting beat 103-100 by the Lakers in the play-in game Wednesday night — the way he so frequently has won — but he relished the competition.

This was what he remembered, the excitement of the postseason, which he and the Warriors had missed since that fateful NBA final of injuries and defeat two years ago.

So tough this game, so emotional — head coach Steve Kerr used the term “disappointing” — and yet still so reassuring.

A game that reminded him, that reminded us, of the thrill and tension when every basket and every turnover become critical.

Curry, the NBA scoring champion and presumptive third-time MVP, joined the Lakers’ LeBron James to help make the evening nothing short of a Hollywood premier, exactly what league execs could have dreamed.

You had the two biggest stars in the game, Curry, who scored 37, and LeBron James, who as brilliant players are apt to do, hitting the winning basket from maybe 30 feet — a Curry-type-shot — with 58 seconds remaining.

That sent the Lakers into the playoffs at Phoenix and sent the Warriors into another play-in game, against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at Chase Center.

But neither Curry nor Kerr was that interested in what was coming, They preferred to ruminate about what had taken place — how the Warriors, with the defense they developed over the weeks, built a 13-point lead in the first half and then under pressure from L.A.’s fine defense gave it up on turnovers and fouls.

“This is a bitter pill to swallow,” said Kerr. “This was our game, and we couldn’t get it done.”

They couldn’t even though the Warriors’ Draymond Green slowed Anthony Davis. Even though Andrew Wiggins shoved and battled LeBron.

But as Curry, who knows all about excellence — five trips to the NBA finals — said when asked about LeBron’s game-winner, “Great players make great plays.”

And make the opposing team hurt.

“He proved why he’s the best player in the world,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of James. 

LeBron was hit in the eye under the rim as he grabbed a rebound and made the decisive basket.

“After the finger in the eye, I was seeing three rims,” said James, sounding like an actor in a an old cowboy film, “and shot at the one in the middle. By grace I was able to knock it down.”

It wasn’t grace, it was talent..

According to ESPN statistics, that was the longest go-ahead shot in the final three minutes of his career.
Said Curry, “It’s a great shot. Broken play . . . thinking he was out of the play. They found him. He got his balance back in time and knocked it down.

“That was a tough one because you really don’t expect it to go in. But everything changed when it goes in.”

Kerr was both distressed and magnanimous. A few months back, when the Warriors had lost Klay Thompson with the torn Achilles and they were trying to build a team, he probably would have been satisfied with taking the Lakers to the final minute.

But with Wiggins playing like the No. 1 overall draft pick he was and with Juan Toscano-Anderson the surprise he has been, a loss, even to the defending NBA champs, was a downer.

“I’m very proud of the way the way we played,” Kerr said.

He ought to be. Proud and disappointed.

Curry on rout by Lakers: ‘We just laid an egg’

By Art Spander

OAKLAND, Calif. — The head coach said this is the normal NBA, good teams playing bad games, coming out on the home floor when the opponent is a huge rival — in a contest that had been advertised every 10 minutes by ESPN — and for the most part performing so poorly it bordered on embarrassment.

In fact, embarrassing is the term Steph Curry used after the Warriors, his team, coach Steve Kerr’s team, had been crushed 127-101 on Christmas night by the Lakers, who for most of the second half were without an injured LeBron James, supposedly their only star. Ha!

“It was just one of those nights we just got outplayed from the jump,” said Curry. “Pretty embarrassing. Tough night obviously in front of a national stage. Christmas Day. A lot of hype, playing the Lakers. We were looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and play a lot better.

“And we just laid an egg.”

Not for the first time this season at Oracle Arena, where in the three months the NBA has been going this 2018-19 season, the one Golden State again was going to dominate, the Warriors have been overwhelmed by Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, Toronto and now the Lakers.

It can be shrugged off as just another game, one of 80 on the schedule, a game that in the great scheme of NBA things means little. Hey, the playoffs don’t begin until April. And in effect, that’s how Kerr judged it.

“We got off to a great start,” said Kerr, alluding to the year — the Dubs started out 6-0 — and not specifically to this game.

“But it’s a long year and a long haul. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. What we did a few years was the exception. This is the rule. We are second place in the Western Conference. You lose some games. You lose some home games. The bar has been set exceptionally high by our players ... as a team, we have to fight through the adversity that hits, like a game like tonight, and keep moving forward.”

The Warriors played a few minutes of what has been known as Warriors basketball, rallying in the third quarter — yes, after James left with a groin injury — trimming a 12-point deficit to two points. But, wham, moments later they were behind by 18.

They shot terribly. There had to be at least five air balls, maybe six. On three-pointers they were 25 percent. The defense was worse than the offense. The Lakers shot 55 percent. Disgraceful.

James had 17 points in the 21 minutes he played, Kyle Kuzma 19, Ivica Zubec 18. The Lakers played the game the Warriors usually play, shooting and making threes, 13 of 33.

“We’ve definitely been inconsistent in our play,” said Kevin Durant. He scored 21 — two fewer than Andre Iguodala, who had his biggest point total since March 2017. You’d think any night Iguodala gets 23 points, the Warriors would be easy winners. Sure. And you’d think any time LeBron gets hurt, the Lakers would be finished.

Curry, who never does well in these Christmas games, made 5 of 17 and had 15 points. Klay Thompson, who hasn’t been scoring well since getting 52 against Chicago on Oct. 29, scored 5 points, taking only seven shots, making two.

“We can all play better,” said Curry. “Be more decisive.”

Luke Walton, the Lakers' coach, was once Kerr’s assistant. He knows what the Warriors can do. And can’t do. “I thought (the Lakers) had a great game plan tonight,” said Durant. “They used two players to guard Steph and Klay the majority of the night. I thought we made the right play and had some great shots. We just didn’t knock them down, and things snowballed from there.”

An apt description of a winter holiday game.

“We’ve definitely been inconsistent with our play,” agreed Durant, “and our record is 23-12. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. We can definitely be better communicating on defense, moving without the basketball, just being aggressive to score a little more than we are.”

Curry sounded unworried but at the same time concerned.

“You can feel terrible about it leaving the arena,” Curry commented about the loss, “but you got to understand it’s December. And we are in a decent spot. We got to get better though, and we know that. We are not going to win a championship playing like we did tonight.”

LeBron? At Wimbledon, don’t ask Venus Williams

By Art Spander

WIMBLEDON, England — LeBron? Of course we’re at Wimbledon, and he’s some 5,000 miles away. But the world of sport is international, and what else was there to ask Venus Williams, a lady of many shots — especially serves — and few words.

Venus on Monday, opening day of this 132^nd Wimbledon, defeated Johanna Larsen, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1, which could be considered a big deal since Williams was down a set and had been eliminated in the first round of the last two Slams, the Australian and French.

Or could be considered nothing special because this grass court tennis at the All England Club is where Venus won women’s singles five times and was a finalist four other times.

Oh yes, younger sister Serena Williams, her daughter of eight months, Olympia, back at the room, also won on this day, beating Arantxa Rus, 7-5, 6-3, when, gasp, the temperature in Greater London climbed to 86 degrees.

Yet Serena, with her 23 Grand Slam titles and younger sibling boldness, will say about anything. Venus, however, gives brief answers, forcing the media to probe for any item that could be interesting, it not particularly newsworthy.

So right after Venus was questioned about the weather — “I live in Florida,“ she reminded — she was asked her thoughts about LeBron James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, which must have bored the scribes from Britain, virtually the only country on this side of the Atlantic not a bit interested in basketball.

“I’m sure he’s happy, I guess,” was Venus’ one-size-fits-all sort of contradictory response about LeBron. “I don’t know. I actually don’t have any thoughts.”

So careful, so cautious, so unflagging. Venus is the grand dame of tennis. She’s 38. Broke in as a pro in 1994 at what is now Oracle Arena but then was the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Won her first Wimbledon in 2000.

Throw her a trick question and she whacks it away like an opponent’s poor lob, as when a journalist said, “I see something on a ring finger. Something new that we don’t know?”

“No, no,” said Venus. “I’ve been wearing this all year. You’ve got to be a little faster.”

At least nobody asked when she might retire. Tennis is her life. You think after overcoming that autoimmune malady, first diagnosed in 2011, she’s going pack it in now? To do what? Travel the world? That’s all tennis players do.

Larsson, of Sweden, is 58^th in the WTA rankings, while Venus is ninth. “I honestly hadn’t played her before,” said Venus, who honestly had played her before, in 2013 in the Fed Cup. But you get old, the memory declines.

“She played well,” Williams said of Larsson, who’s a mere 29. “There were moments I could have played better and was just playing better in those moments in the last two sets.”

If Venus Williams needs tennis, then tennis, American tennis, needs Venus Williams. Sloan Stephens did win last year’s U.S. Open, making us believe she would be the next star and attraction. But Monday, Stephens, who holds the No. 4 ranking, was upset by Donna Vekic of Croatia. So much for the next generation.

We’ll go with the reliable, Venus, and Serena, who’s 36. Familiarity sells in individual sports, tennis and golf. Maybe it doesn’t matter who’s in centerfield for the A’s or Giants, or Yankees or Red Sox. But it matters who's on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

And so the tennis people, those in the United States, must be pleased when Venus makes one of those brief comments that, while telling us very little, in a way tells us a lot.

“I just hang in there,” Venus said when asked how she remains consistent tournament after tournament, although until Monday her consistency in this year’s majors was to lose quickly.

“I’m not sure why any other people go up or down. Every day is not your best match, but you try to win that match anyway.”

The men’s tour, the ATP, added a new event for January, a variation of team tennis.

“I don’t read any news,” said Venus, quickly cutting off any chance of a debate. “I don’t know what’s happening on the (men’s) tour.”

At least she knew what was happening to LeBron James, apparently. Next question.

Warriors-Cavs: ‘Robbery,’ replay and brilliance by LeBron

By Art Spander

OAKLAND, Calif. — J.R. Smith had the ball but didn’t know what to do with it. The officials had the call and, according to the Cavaliers, did too much with it.

Oh, those NBA finals, a place where individual brilliance (the virtually unstoppable LeBron James had 51), collective disappointment (“To come up robbed, it’s just not right,” sighed Cavs coach Tyronn Lue) and an extended conclusion (those final seconds seemed to last forever) merged to create a game that, depending on one’s viewpoint, either was memorable or forgettable.

For sure, it was exciting.

The Warriors won, 124-114, but since it was in overtime, and with Cleveland in control most of the game, the scenario defied that of forecasters who had Golden State easily winning both this opener of the best-of-seven matchup and the title.

In summary, it was a bit of lunacy ensnared in a lot of confusion.

“The finals, man,” said the Warriors' Steph Curry. “Anything is liable to happen.”

Especially when it’s the same two teams for a fourth straight year; especially when, as underdogs, they both won their conference championships in seven games, the seventh one on the road — only a few days before the Thursday night start of the Finals.

You could say the game had everything: athleticism, harsh words, a key instant replay with 36 seconds left in regulation and not least that perplexing move — or non-move — by Smith when he grabbed a rebound with 4.5 seconds to play.

George Hill had hit a free throw to tie the game, 107-107. He missed the second, however, and when Smith grabbed the offensive rebound — all game, Cleveland dominated the boards with 53 rebounds to 38 for the Dubs — Smith dribbled toward halfcourt instead of shooting.

It was an awful miscalculation. “He thought it was over,” said Lue. “He thought we were one up.”

Instead they were on their way to overtime, where they would be outscored 17-7, James unable to get more than two free throws in the period.

“I knew it was tied,” Smith insisted. “I thought were going to take a timeout because I got the rebound. I’m pretty sure everybody didn’t think I was going to shoot over KD (Kevin Durant) right there. I tried to get out and get enough space. I looked over at LeBron, and he looked like he was trying to get a timeout.”

Minutes after play ended, what James was trying to do was get away from the media’s questions, which finally he did by cutting off the interview and walking away.

He perhaps was still irritated by the officials’ decision late in regulation when he planted himself inside near the Cleveland basket and — he thought — was run into by Durant. But replays did appear to show James had moved his feet as Durant approached. The call originally was charging, which would have given Cleveland the ball. Then it became a defensive foul.

“I thought I read that play just as well as any in my career, defensively,” said LeBron. “I saw the drive. I was outside the charge line. I stepped in and took the contact. It’s a huge play.”

The Warriors' inevitable threesome all were in the 20s: Curry with 29 points, Durant 26 and Klay Thompson 24. Despite going out for a while in the first half after a collision. Draymond Green had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Told that his coach, Steve Kerr, said the J.R. Smith bungle was lucky for the Warriors, Draymond said, “Sometimes you need a little bit of luck. So I’ll take it. I think when (Smith) got the rebound he probably could have laid it in. But nonetheless that’s part of the game. You got to know if you’re winning or losing or tied.”

Which Smith claimed he did know. He simply didn’t turn the knowledge into points. Or attempted points.

“Who knows if J.R. would have made the layup anyway?” said Lue. “We had a chance to win. We had to regroup. But they came out and played well in overtime.”

And won the game — the hard, lucky way.

Draymond Green on KD: ‘His defense is spectacular’

By Art Spander

OAKLAND, Calif. — For the opponent, it’s the old question against the young but experienced Warriors. Which poison do you pick: Triple Double (Draymond Green, of course) or Double Trouble (Kevin Durant)?

It’s a numbers game you’re destined to lose.

Green got his threesome on Christmas day at the Oracle (12 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists), Durant his double (25 points, five blocked shots). What the Warriors got on the holiday was less a gift than a well-earned victory over the only other team the fans seem to care about, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-92.

The NBA wants to put on a show every December 25, five games from morning to night, and the prime attraction, a noon start Pacific time, 3 p.m. on the East Coast, is the matchup between the franchises that faced each other in the last three NBA finals, the Cavs and Dubs. As Hollywood knows, sequels sell.

So does the Big D, defense, particularly by KD, Durant.

The chant? It’s not “offense, offense.” Hardly anyone needs encouragement to let fly a 15-footer or roar in for a dunk. Scoring points is fun. Keeping the other team from scoring them is work. And the Warriors have been working. Especially Durant.

Nobody doubts what he can do with the ball. He’s averaging 28.4 points a game. With Steph Curry missing, Durant was the guy who kept throwing in the winners, against the Lakers, against everyone, as the streak went to 11 in a row. Whoever dreamed that someone 6-foot-10 had the touch of someone 5-10? Swish.

Or who sensed Durant would use his wingspan (something around seven feet) to stymie and swat? Not Green, who a couple years back, when Durant was at Oklahoma City, went against him in the playoffs.

“He always made some defensive moves,” Green said of Durant, a teammate now for a second year, “but he never really seemed to care. When he was guarding me, I knew how good he was, his length, how hard it was to get a shot off. When he came here, we talked about him getting better. From that point last year, he’s become a great defender.”

Durant almost agrees. But hold off on the word "great."

“I’m getting close to where I want to be,” said Durant. “But I’m not quite there.”

Durant on Monday defended the NBA’s best player, LeBron James, because that’s what Kevin wanted to do. James had 20 points (Kevin Love led the Cavs with 31 and 18 rebounds) but also a game-high seven turnovers.

“He’s one of the leaders in blocked shots per game,” James said of Durant. “He’s been doing a heck of a job first of all taking (the) individual matchup and then protecting the rim, too. They have a good, maybe great …They kicked our butts in transition.

“(Durant’s) right up there, if not the best, with Kawhi (Leonard), Russ (Westbrook), James (Harden). There’s a pretty long list. To play the same position, with me and KD being small forwards and with Kawhi, we do a great job of going at it.”

Durant’s only problem, if it can be considered as such, is that from afar, the fans, the press, he’s known as a shooter and scorer, no matter how many shots he blocks.

“If he just played defense,” said Draymond of Durant, “he’d be spectacular. But it will never overshadow his offense, which is spectacular.”

Durant was involved in yet another “call it the way you want it” play in the final seconds when the Warriors were ahead, blocking a LeBron shot and also it appeared getting a bit of LeBron’s hand. The officials studied replay after replay, then determined there was no foul.

“I just like guarding my position,” Durant said of taking on James. “A small forward is supposed to defend a small forward.”

Even if both small forwards, at 6-8, are taller than the big forward and occasional center, the 6-7 Green.

“You just can’t stop those guys like LeBron,” said Durant. ”They make good plays. They make shots at the rim. You can’t get discouraged.”

As one of the stars on a day of basketball stardom, Durant was anything but discouraged.

“It’s Christmas,” he reminded. ”There are so many people here happy. The spirit moves us.”

Fortunately, the spirit didn’t try to go inside against Durant or Draymond. He would have stopped moving.

S.F. Examiner: Forget the naysayers, the Warriors and Cavs deserve this

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

OAKLAND — It’s all yours, America: Warriors-Cavaliers III, The Trilogy, the inevitability. You don’t like it? Tough beans. Too late.

You should have kept Kawhi Leonard healthy (although that wouldn’t have made a difference), Kept Isaiah Thomas healthy (although that wouldn’t have made a difference, either).Or kept Kevin Durant in Oklahoma and LeBron James out of Cleveland.

Read the full story here.

©2017 The San Francisco Examiner

Draymond: “We wanted to beat them”

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — Sure, it’s January and not June, as if that matters. And to Draymond Green and the other Warriors, it doesn’t. Will this one, this unmitigated stomping of the defending champion, the team that stole the crown, if you will, have an effect on the NBA finals six months down the long and winding road? Well ...

The basic rhetoric is that it won’t. Then again, it might. Look, the Dubs grabbed this one by the throat, did everything — and I mean everything, played defense, played offense, rebound aggressively — about as well as imaginable Monday night and overwhelmed the Cavs, 126-91, at the Oracle.

And after four straight losses to Cleveland, the last on Christmas Day as the Warriors fell apart in the final quarter, the other three in the playoffs, any win counted — wherever or whenever.

“I don’t think it’s about losing the last four,” said Draymond Green. “They want to beat us, and we want to beat them. That’s enough.”

And Monday, Martin Luther King Day, it was plenty. If that wasn’t the best game of the year, all things considered, including the opponent, it was a reasonable facsimile.

It was one that had fans begging for more — hey, the Dubs were up 39 and people were booing the officials’ calls — and had Warriors coach Steve Kerr using words like “phenomenal” to describe the performance. It even had the players allowing that they were satisfied, it not elated.

As for the Cavs coach, Tyronn Lue? He was defensive because of the way the Warriors played defense and Cleveland did not (the Dubs shot 50 percent, the Cavs 35 — “They missed 57 shots,” said a gleeful Kerr).

“What do you want us to do?” Lue asked rhetorically. “I mean they beat us. We lost one game ... I didn’t expect it like this.”

Now that Kevin Durant is a member of the Warriors, maybe he and we should expect it like that. The Big Three, Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, is now the Big Four. And center Zaza Pachulia, who had 13 rebounds (as did Draymond) is not to be dismissed.

“When you try to take Klay and Steph out of the game,” said Lue, ”you’ve got someone who can go get a basket for himself, and at a high level, too.”

He also can keep someone, such as LeBron James, from getting a basket, Durant blocking James at the rim, a move that sent shockwaves through the Cavs and generated an explosion of noise from the crowd.

Green also had his hand in this one, because on a LeBron fast break he put his hand, and arm, on James. Boom. James went down, the fans went crazy, and there was a question whether Green might be whistled for a flagrant foul as had happened in the finals, when he had kicked one of the Cavs.

Play stopped while the refs viewed videos, and Green was given a technical, but that was about it. Other than message, if indeed there was one.

“I fouled to stop the break,” said Green “and he went down. Yeah, I think it’s a rivalry.”

What James, who was 6-of-18 for 20 points, thought was that the Warriors are “a dangerous team.” 

He didn’t mean physically dangerous, although for a moment there that appeared to be the situation. ”They’ve got so many different options,” said James.

The options Monday resulted in Klay scoring 26, Durant 21 and Curry 20. Along with his 13 boards, Green had 11 assists, as did Curry. This is the way coaches draw things up.

“I thought Steph was great,” said Kerr, “a phenomenal first half (when he had 14 points and 10 assists). His energy was great and he set the tone. He put a lot of pressure on the defense. Defensively, to put that kind of pressure on and to rebound as well as we did, we were finishing possessions.

“We wanted to win. We weren’t happy with our Cleveland game on Christmas Day. Any time you’re facing a team you know is one of the best in the league, you’re going to be up for it. We definitely were up for it.”

That‘s important any month of the year.

S.F. Examiner: Fans’ faith not enough against rejuvenated Cavs

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

The crowd had come for a coronation, a celebration, an evening of noise and joy on which their basketball team, the Warriors, the record setters, the defending champions, would make it two titles in row, would start an NBA dynasty. But something was missing — maybe because someone was missing, Draymond Green.

And so the noise ebbed, the joy diminished. The coronation was put on hold.

Read the full story here.

©2016 The San Francisco Examiner

Newsday (N.Y.): Warriors’ Jerry West talks Muhammad Ali, Splash Brothers, LeBron

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

OAKLAND, Calif. — Around him, on the floor of Oracle Arena, men from the team for which Jerry West now works as a consultant were shooting basketballs. And you knew West, who a few days ago turned 78, so wished he was one of them.

West, whose graceful dribble became the model for the NBA’s logo, is knowledgeable, opinionated, supportive, appreciative. In a way, he’s responsible for the success of the Warriors, who on Sunday night will attempt to build a 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

S.F. Examiner: Warriors vs. LeBron: Rematch in ’16?

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

This one was for Purvis Short and Sonny Parker, and even for Todd Fuller, who unintentionally became the scapegoat of previous failings.

This one was for Baron Davis, who eight years ago showed us what was possible.

This one was for the Golden State Warriors and their relentless followers — past, present and future, and yes, with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes still babes, the future would seem every bit as exciting as these most recent 11 days in June.

Read the full story here.

©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: Iguodala joined by Barbosa in veterans’ support group

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

Sure, Stephen Curry splashed it up. But this Warriors victory, the one that made an NBA championship seem not just possible but probable, belonged as much to two players whose combined points couldn’t match what Curry had on his own.

Andre Iguodala, starting once again in Steve Kerr’s smallball scheme, had 14 points, and Leandro Barbosa had 13 off the bench. By his own self, Curry picked up 37. Yet Iguodala, again with the unachievable task of defending LeBron James, and Barbosa, a.k.a. “The Brazilian Blur,” reminded there is so much to basketball beyond putting the ball in the basket.

Read the full story here.

©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

RealClearSports: Finals Are LeBron's Morality Play

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It has gone from a sporting event to a morality play. Or maybe since last summer it always has been one.

We're not thinking of basketball in June, which is what should be the focus. We're trapped in a time warp. We're still caught up in that announcement last July. We'll never forgive LeBron James.

He did what was right, joining a team ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: NBA's All About Glamour Teams

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

So, Denver, the city and the team, symbolically lies bleeding and battered. It was overmatched and under-financed. The NBA is a league for the Big Guys, figuratively as well as literally.

In the so-called ultimate team game, everything is under the control of the individual.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011