At 10 o'clock this morning, the Warriors adjusted the Trail Blazers back-to-back. Before the game, Warriors coach Cole was interviewed, and Xiaoba compiled part of the content as follows:
Question: Although the sample of the trio of Jimmy, Dream Chasing and Kuminga is small, it seems that their current performance is significantly better than last season. What do you think is the reason?
Cole: I think JK has indeed matured and is better able to understand the game situation and his role around those two people. Remember we had very little opportunity to get them to cooperate last year. At that point he came back with only eight or 10 games left in the regular season and Jimmy had already played 20 games before we found a rhythm. When I brought Kuminga on the bench at the end of last season, it didn't work out well, the rhythm wasn't right. So he has the advantage this year of going through a full training camp with these guys and being more experienced.
He's back in good shape. Emotionally, I have never felt so connected between us. From a coaching perspective, I explained what we needed him to do and he responded well. You saw it in the previous games. For example, the Lakers made midfield adjustments in that game—starting to set screens, cut in, and be more active without the ball—which opened up the game last night. He only took seven or eight shots in the game, but he didn't care. He plays unselfishly and defends well.
The real value of that lineup is on the defensive end, and the team looked completely different after adding Horford last night - length, athleticism, and a full range of defense.
Question: Did you deliberately let these three people practice together during training?
Cole: A little bit, but not much. We played them together for a few minutes in an early preseason game. But that lineup didn't even play together in practice last night, as I mentioned to you. So we are still in the exploratory stage. You're bound to see some new lineups tonight that you haven't seen before.
Our lineup is very deep. After Moody returns, we have more players and combinations to choose from. This is good for the entire long season. We will also be welcoming back Melton at some point. I think the depth of this team is critical and impressive.