Curry's brilliant again, Warriors extend home win streak
Golden State hits .500 for the first time this season!
The Golden State Warriors were once again victorious at home, with yet another electric performance from Stephen Curry. Curry (33, 4 assists and 5 rebounds in 36 minutes) was at the center of it all, but his Golden State teammates offered plenty of assistance putting away the Utah Jazz 129-118.
Unlike earlier in the season, there were a number of Warriors players that put cases in for second-most valuable player in tonight’s game. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins both had 20 points; Jordan Poole had 19 and a whopping six assists. Without their support, this game could easily have gone down as another loss behind a strong Curry output. Over his last four games Thompson is averaging 24.8 points per game on 52.3% shooting from the field and 54.8% from 3-point range. Very Splash Brotherly of him.
Draymond Green was excellent tonight too. His defensive intensity has ramped up and there’s a hunger to how he attacks the offensive sets that was missing earlier. The Warriors need him. And that’s one of the harder parts about watching this team roster at this point in the season: during the games that “don’t matter yet” an unengaged Green was less impactful. But when the switch gets flipped, all of the sudden, it’s the two way terror that blows up the entire offense on the defensive side of the ball, then pushes it downcourt to attack on the other end:
This iteration of the Warriors is messy. They built a couple of huge leads, and thankfully only gave away one. There are still some wrinkles to iron out on both ends, but it feels like the team has begun to form their identity. To accept what they are and what makes them work. There’s one guy at the center of it all, and that’s the sort of stability that you can build around.
Golden State will get one day off before facing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. It’s been a real Jekyll and Hyde thing on the road and at home so far this season, but hopefully the overwhelming importance of the team flat out playing betting in so many ways is enough to change the pattern.
In a case of good timing, Thinking Basketball profiles the T’Wolves: https://youtu.be/Q8FUAMRso6A
Utah up 54-51 at the half at Phoenix.