Golden State Warriors
Your shoulders are missing, Golden State Warriors.
Underscored, perhaps, by their World Series-winning and Super Bowl runner-up counterparts, the Warriors have been in the business of making statements in the NBA this season after undergoing a lull of mediocrity in recent years.
Their recent statement was both with an exclamation point and, well, something else entirely. In breaking a 16-game losing streak against the perennially successful San Antonio Spurs, the likely playoff-bound Warriors both showed the NBA that they’re not messing around and that they’re fine with bucking modern basketball fashion trends.
Sleeves, you guys.
The ‘Dubs became the first NBA team in the modern era to wear sleeved jerseys on a nationally televised ESPN game on Friday night. Reactions were, well, mixed.
USA Todaycalled them, “something else.” Longtime NBA guard Allan Houston was quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle, saying: “It’s going to be all or nothing. People are going to really embrace it or be like, ‘Man, I don’t want any part of it.’” Bleacher Report quipped, “Alright, guys, you can take your warmups off.”
If you asked any patrons at Danny Coyle’s in Lower Haight about the Warriors’ new threads, the word “embarrassing” was a common one.
Oh, and they played a game, too. It was good.
Of course, as with any sports fashion trend–as polarizing as a few extra inches can be–if a team performs well in said fashion, the fans will embrace it. The Warriors dumped San Antonio 107-101 in an overtime thriller in the second victory of their current three-game winning streak (they toppled Minnesota 100-99 on Sunday).
Inevitably, #WeBeSleeve–a knock on the “We Believe” motto during the Warriors’ surprise playoff run in 2007–was an instant hit on Twitter. Jarrett Jack, in particular, should be welcoming the sleeves after his 30-point, 10-assist effort on Friday.
It’s worth noting that the Warriors did not wear their sleeved getups during Sunday’s win.
Golden State is 33-23, and currently in sixth place in the Western Conference...
Cal Basketball
In the college end of things, Cal surged to its fifth consecutive win on the hardwood, after the Bears displaced Oregon State 60-59 on Saturday night in Corvalis.
Unfortunately for the Bears (18-9, 10-5 Pac-12), they were in the spotlight this week for less-than-ideal reasons, as coach Mike Montgomerywas caught on camera shoving star player Allen Crabbe during their win over USC.
The Bears, who trail Arizona and Oregon in the Pac-12 standings, are currently projectected by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi to be a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament...
The Giants
The San Francisco Giants won their spring training opener, 4-1, over the Los Angeles Angels as a smorgasbord of Giants players are preparing to depart Arizona to compete in the World Baseball Classic international tournament.
Pablo Sandoval, Marco Scutaro and Jose Mijares (Venezuela), Angel Pagan and Andres Torres (Puerto Rico), Sergio Romo (Mexico), Santiago Casilla (Dominican Republic) and Ryan Vogelsong and Jeremy Affeldt (USA) will all participate in the WBC.
The championship round of the World Baseball Classic will be held at AT&T Park on March 17-19...
Put me on Team Anti-Sleeve: @seanswaby
