After playing deep into the month of June for the third straight season, the Warriors returned to the floor in October looking to become the first team to repeat as NBA champions since the Miami Heat took home back-to-back rings in 2012 and 2013.
At the season’s halfway point, Golden State has weathered injuries to Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green to post a 33-8 record, a strong enough mark to push the Warriors 4.0 games ahead of the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference. If Steve Kerr’s squad duplicates its success in the second half, the Warriors will reach 66 wins for the fourth time in four seasons and become the second team in NBA history to win at least 60 games in four consecutive years.
Who carried the team to first half success? What are the biggest moments and games of the season to date? Let’s take a look.
Team MVP: Steph Curry
Curry missed 11 games in the month of December and Kevin Durant lifted Golden State to a 9-2 record in his absence, but there’s no question that when Curry is on the floor, the Warriors are the best team in the NBA. Since his return from injury, he’s been an unstoppable force, averaging more than 33 points per game in 32 minutes and leading Golden State to five straight wins. Counting numbers aside, Curry just makes every player around him better, frees up the offense with opportunities it wouldn’t otherwise have, and pushes the team into an elite gear that only few opponents even have a chance of countering. Though his assists and steals numbers are down, Curry’s 27.9 points per game average would be the second best mark if his career if the season ended today.
Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Durant
Yes, just seven months after Draymond Green won the Defensive Player of the Year Award for the entire league, Green isn’t even the best defensive player on his own team. While there’s an argument to be made that Green is still a better one-on-one defender than Durant, Durant has taken his rim protection skills to an entirely new level this season. The Warriors’ 7-foot forward locked down LeBron James twice in the final 90 seconds on Christmas Day, and still leads the NBA in blocks per game (2.27) and total blocks (75) despite missing eight games.
Second Unit MVP: David West
On Monday evening, West became the 127th player in NBA history to play in 1,000 career games, and as Klay Thompson said afterward, it looks like West just played his 100th game. Aside from being an emotional leader for the entire Warriors’ team, West is the offensive leader of Golden State’s second unit, as the team frequently plays through him in the high post. Any jump shot inside of 17 feet is automatic for West, and he’s able to handle opposing centers and forwards with ease on both ends. While West pondered retirement at the end of last season, the Warriors wanted him to come back for one more year. Now, they’re realizing just how much they needed him to return.
Best newcomer: Jordan Bell
Nick Young and Omri Casspi were the runaway favorites to win this award after signing with Golden State this summer, but the Warriors’ rookie center has added an important element to the roster that has become critical to the team’s success. Though he wasn’t drafted until the 38th pick this summer, Bell has been a revelation for Golden State, offering rim protection skills that no other second unit player can provide. Bell is brash and fearless, and he could work his way into the Warriors’ end-of-half and end-of-game lineups if Andre Iguodala continues to struggle offensively.
Best individual performance: Steph Curry, Dec. 30 vs. Memphis
Curry’s 45-point explosion against the Los Angeles Clippers over the weekend has a serious argument here, but Curry’s 38-point outburst in just 26 minutes on December 30 against the Memphis Grizzlies was one of the NBA’s best individual efforts of the year. After missing more than three weeks with an ankle injury, Curry returned to action on a minutes restriction, and promptly set Oracle Arena on fire with a season-high 10 three-pointers to stun the Grizzlies. The ridiculous scoring clinic Curry put on against Los Angeles was impressive, but unlike the Clippers, the Grizzlies were actually trying to play defense which made Curry’s effort more remarkable.
Best team performance: 125-101 win, Nov. 8 vs. Minnesota
There are probably six or seven different games that could qualify as the Warriors’ best team effort, but their second half demolition of the Timberwolves on November 8 at Oracle Arena was memorable for several reasons. The Warriors had just a one-point halftime advantage before blowing open the game with a 44-point third quarter, and even won the fourth quarter by a five-point margin when their reserves matched up against Minnesota’s starters (Tom Thibodeau is weird). The Warriors did all of this against the fourth best team in the West without Durant’s help, and with a balanced scoring attack in which no player scored more than Thompson’s 28. Six different bench players had at least six points, and three finished in double figures.
Most improved: Kevon Looney
Looney’s numbers aren’t spectacular, but he went from being unable to see the court in meaningful minutes to a valuable contributor who offers the Warriors another intriguing player to work with at the center position. Looney is a respectable defender who has already appeared in 31 games, and he’s no longer a total liability on the offensive side, either. Looney has proven this year that he deserves a place in the NBA, and that was an unexpected development heading into the season.
Best off the court moment: Klay Thompson’s scaffolding interview
Nick Young hasn’t released his diss track yet, so Thompson’s interview on a local New York station during a Warriors’ road trip is the obvious winner here. If there was any Warriors’ player who would go unnoticed on the streets of the Big Apple and still sound eloquent on television, all bets would be on Thompson. The fact that it actually happened is almost too good to be true.
Worst loss: 111-100 loss, Dec 29 vs. Charlotte
It’s hard to imagine the Warriors stringing together a more lackluster effort than the one they turned in on December 23 in a 96-81 loss to the Nuggets, but a flat performance against the fifth-worst team in the Eastern Conference the day before Curry’s return from injury was as bad as it gets. Durant had held the team together during Curry’s absence, but a Warriors’ team that won games in grind-it-out fashion with Curry out allowed Dwight Howard to score 29 points while making just 8-of-22 three-pointers.
Biggest surprise: The rise and fall of JaVale McGee
From a heart-warming story of redemption to living life on the trading block, McGee’s precipitous rise with Golden State last season has been followed by a sudden fall as he’s no longer a regular member of the team’s rotation. Both Bell and Looney provide different elements to the Warriors at the center position, bu McGee’s 7-foot-1 frame isn’t as much of a factor thanks to Bell’s athleticism and Looney’s ability to step out and defend guards. Will McGee still be on the team once the playoffs start? It’s no longer a sure bet.
