Wisconsin Herd taught a G League lesson by talented Santa Cruz Warriors
By Adam McGee
The Wisconsin Herd’s winning start to G League basketball came to a crashing halt as they were picked apart by the Santa Cruz Warriors on Friday night.
The Wisconsin Herd have had an incredibly positive start to life in the G League, but on Friday night they were given a masterclass in what can be achieved by a franchise playing at this level.
The Herd made their first ever trip to Santa Cruz and were greeted by a raucous atmosphere at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. As Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry watched on from courtside, Santa Cruz gave a pitch perfect impersonation of their NBA big brothers, tearing the Herd apart in transition, forcing countless turnovers and scoring in relentless bursts that blew the game wide open.
With no disrespect to the Stars, this didn’t feel the same as watching the Herd play in front of a near-empty gym in Salt Lake City. Everything about the Warriors screamed out professionalism, from the outstanding abilities of Quinn Cook on the court, to the packed out arena and outstanding broadcast coverage of Kevin Danna, Drew Shiller and Adam Johnson.
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If the Bucks want to build a championship culture, there’s no better example to follow than Golden State, and that extends to the G League and looking at what they’ve done in Santa Cruz. Did someone say light years?
Likely starting to feel the toll of a pretty grueling road trip to start the season, the Herd had the odds stacked against them as they arrived in Santa Cruz missing a number of key plays.
Joel Bolomboy was with the Bucks in San Antonio, James Young was inactive following an injury that saw him leave Wednesday’s win over the Stars early, while Cliff Alexander continues to serve a suspension for a violation of the league’s anti-drug policy.
The Herd were certainly boosted by the season debut of Gary Payton II in Wisconsin colors, but that still was nowhere near enough to hold off the surges of the Warriors. Almost like clockwork, around the midway point of both the first and second quarters saw Santa Cruz charge and create the kind of big lead that they were never likely to relinquish.
Unsurprisingly, Quinn Cook was the star of the show. Watched on by his close friend, Durant, Cook posted 24 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals while shooting 9-of-15 from the field. Michael Gbinije also offered strong support with 21 points on 8-of-12 from the field, with Damian Jones and Cleanthony Early chipping in with meaningful contributions too.
In truth, the Herd would likely have been perfectly happy if the referees had called this one early when they were down by 23 points at half time, but they played it out to a 111-82 defeat and will be happy to just move on to the next one.