Barnes just not giving Warriors enough in Finals
OAKLAND -- There’s not one fall guy for the Golden State Warriors right now.
It’s not Stephen Curry, whose 30-point outing in the 115-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday was good enough to take that target off of his back for the moment – mouth guard toss and subsequent $25,000 fine notwithstanding. It’s not Klay Thompson, their best player throughout these playoffs who could wind up winning MVP if they can find a way to take Game 7 on Sunday at Oracle Arena.
It’s not Andre Iguodala, who is battling through back spasms to try and slow the fiery freight train that is LeBron James. It’s not Draymond Green, who cost them Game 5 because of his crotch shot suspension but who was seen by many as the MVP frontrunner through the first four games.
The list goes on and on.
These “Strength In Numbers” Warriors, on the edge of becoming the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 lead in the Finals, have played just well enough to absolve almost everyone from singular blame. In good times and bad, it seems, the credit and culpability is collective. But after the past two losses, as the Cavs have overwhelmed the Warriors while setting the stage for an epic season finale, Harrison Barnes is officially running the risk of becoming that guy.
It’s not just the woeful production, abysmal though it has been: 2-of-22 shooting combined in Game 5 and Game 6, including 1-of-11 from three-point range, with seven rebounds, two blocks, one assist and an 0-for-2 showing at the free-throw line for good measure. It’s that he missed a golden opportunity in Game 5, misfiring on 12 of 14 shots and playing a part in the disastrous defensive showing at a time when Green’s absence meant the Warriors, ironically, needed Barnes to show shades of what he could be elsewhere.
Through all these months leading up to his forthcoming free agency, the notion of Barnes signing somewhere other than Golden State was anchored by the belief that he’d do more if the Warriors weren’t so damn deep. The Splash Brothers and Green steal almost all of the headlines, with Barnes relegated to a role in which his sound defense and occasional offense are fantastic fit for this team that won an unprecedented 73 games in the regular season.
The Warriors have his rights as a restricted free agent, meaning they can match any offer that comes his way. But because smart teams like theirs always take the pulse on the player’s perspective when considering key roster moves, you always got the sense that they’d let this basketball birdie fly free if he didn’t want to be there. Yet now, with Barnes having missed a rare chance to show the basketball world why he deserves the $20-million plus contract that could come his way, handicapping the Harrison future has never been harder.
On the whole, his underwhelming postseason production hasn’t done much to make the Warriors’ decision easy. After averaging 11.6 points (46.6% shooting overall, 38.3% from three-point range) and 4.9 rebounds during the regular season, he is averaging nine points (38.9% shooting overall, 33.3% from three-point range) and 4.8 rebounds in 23 playoffs games.
And what of the locker room dynamic?
When Barnes rejected the Warriors’ four-year, $64 million extension offer in late October, there were some who believed it was the beginning of the end of their pairing. The specifics of the deal offered had been very deliberate from a political standpoint, with the annual salary – a $16.4 million average – identical to that of Green’s from his free agency contract signed just months before. And if there was internal concern about how Green might feel making less than Barnes before the All-Star season he just had, it’s safe to assume that dynamic has only grown more difficult since.
There are moving parts to this situation that will come into play, too, chief among them Kevin Durant’s free agency future. While most view a return to Oklahoma City as the most likely outcome, that will do nothing to dissuade his suitors. So yes, it should be said, the Warriors still want to land Durant and plan to make that a top priority come July.
Only Barnes knows how he feels about being Plan B, but there’s no better way to show the Warriors that they should take the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach this summer than by helping finish the job against the Cavs.
“There’s nothing really to read too much into (his struggles),” Barnes told Paste BN Sports after Game 6 in Cleveland. “They were wide open shots that I was missing. It’s one of those things where if I go four of eight (shooting in Game 6) instead of 0 of eight, we’re not even having this conversation. And I anticipate being even more wide open in this next game, so it’s just a matter of knocking those shots down.”
For Barnes’ part in this series, he’s well aware that the Cavs are daring him to beat them. But if you aren’t burying the open looks …
“I think you have to take what the game gives you,” he continued. “If there are wide open threes … you have to take those. You can’t try to start thinking, ‘OK, next time I get the ball I’m going to drive.’ The guy is guarding you three feet off the line. You shoot those shots.
“Mentally, we feel good. There have been moments in both (Games) Five and Six where we cut the lead down to nine, seven, and we had an opportunity to go but we let go of the rope. When we look at the tape, and we think about how we played, it’s the mental breakdowns, the wide open dunks, the wide open threes.”
As always, it’s a shared effort with these Warriors. But Barnes, as much as anyone else, needs to be better.