The Golden State Warriors apparently have a powerful weapon they are only just beginning to utilize, according to sports commentators who’ve observed the team’s playoff performances.
In Game 2 of the NBA playoff season against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors’ Javale McGee played one of the best short performances in playoffs history, earning 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. According to the New York Times, McGee did this faster than anyone else in NBA history, and more than twice as fast as 15 of the 19 other people who accomplished it.
By the third playoff game, McGee had averaged 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game, with 13 minutes of performance per game on average – the basketball equivalent of a lawyer beating everyone to the big compensation claim.
According to Yahoo Sports, McGee’s reputation has been less-than-stellar in the past due to an ongoing and rather public feud between the Warriors player and the basketball legend, Shaquille O’Neal after the latter star made fun of McGee’s on-air bloopers repeatedly.
However, the Golden State Warriors player has demonstrated this season that he has a strong capacity for putting on a good show. Assistant coach Mike Brown described McGee in an interview, saying “We took a flier on him because we didn’t have anybody who was like him. And from the beginning of the season to now, you can see his growth patterns, particularly in understanding what he should be doing out on the floor.”
Brown added that McGee has come out of his shell around his teammates, taking to singing in the locker room. Plus, he said, the player has shown skills none of the coaches expected. “We didn’t teach his hands to be soft, and we didn’t teach the ability to catch some of these bad passes. It’s phenomenal to see him get up and get balls that you think have no chance to get caught by anybody. But that’s just a testament to how skilled he is in that area,” Brown said.
The player’s brief stints on the court have led many to wonder why he’s being limited to so few minutes, according to Mercury News. However, the newspaper quoted McGee as saying “I’m happy with the minutes I’m getting. I’m efficient as I can be and we’re winning. So I can’t be the guy that says ‘Play me more minutes than what you’re doing’ because it’s working on my behalf and the team’s behalf. So I don’t have no problem with it.”
According to Mercury News, McGee’s performance this season included 739 minutes on the court, 121 ducks and the biggest impact as a player in games in the league, making him a basketball standout.
Brown said McGee is best in short spurts. “He expends a lot of energy with how hard he plays. We feel he’s a five- to six-minute type guy. Then you sit him down,” the assistant coach said.
The player currently has a one-year contract with the Golden State Warriors for $1.4 million, but Yahoo Sports posited that he may be worth more once the next round of contract signing takes place. McGee says he wants to stay, for now, with the Golden State Warriors. How that unfolds, however, is up to the higher-ups.