© Rick Osentoski | 2020 Dec 29
For the first three quarters it looked like more of the same. In the fourth, it looked like the Warriors finally found something.
That something was Andrew Wiggins’ best stretch of the young season, a 17-point final frame that helped push the Warriors past the Detroit Pistons 116-106, for their most impressive win in four games.
Wiggins’ performance was easily his best of this early stretch, his 27 points coming on 9-of-19 shooting, 5-of-8 from downtown and the Warriors outscoring Detroit by 22 points when he was on the floor. His 38 minutes were the most by any Warriors player.
The 27-point performance is Wiggins’ first time eclipsing the 20-point mark this season, after scoring 19, 12, 13 in the first three games. For this Warriors team to sniff the playoffs, Wiggins will have to be a legitimate second scoring option, and exceeding the 20-point threshold will likely prove as a tipping point for the entire team this season.
It certainly was on Tuesday, with the Warriors as a whole looking the best they have so far, outscoring the Pistons 39-30 in the final frame. Much of that also came with rookie James Wiseman on the floor. Like he did in Chicago, Wiseman looked a lot like a 19-year old rookie for much of the contest, accumulating six fouls by biting on pump fakes and making avoidable contact while trying to protect the rim. He also showed deficiencies as a rebounder, with a handful of the Pistons’ 16 offensive rebounds coming from Wiseman not boxing out.
What’s undeniable, however, is that even with the mistakes, the Warriors are better when he’s on the floor. Wiseman was a game-high plus-23 in his 22 minutes on the floor, his presence in the lane making it difficult for the scoring-challenged Pistons to finish inside. He had the most exciting play of his young career in a key moment, blocking a shot and going coast-to-coast for a slam to extend the lead to six midway through the fourth.
https://twitter.com/KNBR/status/1344107031960068097
Wiggins’ excellent night partially overshadowed maybe Stephen Curry’s best performance of the young season as well, his game-high 31 points on 9-of-17 shooting cancelling out his game-high eight turnovers. Most encouraging was that Curry’s teammates seemed to be looking to get him the ball more often, a huge problem in the Warriors’ first three games.
Things we didn’t see the first three games: Andrew Wiggins setting a perfect off ball screen, setting up a curling Steph Curry 3 pic.twitter.com/aCxq8zdQOh
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 30, 2020
Then there was Kelly Oubre, who finally got off the schind by hitting his first three-pointer of the game after missing the previous 17. His teammates seemed to enjoy it even more than he did.
Warriors bench goes wild after Kelly Oubre hits first three following 0-for-17 start 😂pic.twitter.com/NZ22HWWbLM
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 30, 2020
It was the only three-pointer that Oubre would hit (1-of-4), but he was much more effective as a slasher, finishing 6-for-10 while once again giving excellent defensive effort.
While the win stands as the Warriors’ most impressive, it’s not without its asterisks. Detroit killed Golden State in the first half on the offensive glass, out rebounding them 13-2, and outscoring them 16-3 in second-chance points. Golden State trailed by three points at half to a team that was largely without it’s best player in Blake Griffin, who played just 17 minutes.
Without Griffin, the Pistons are arguably the least talented team in the NBA. A loss to them would’ve been brutal, especially after a one-point victory over the Bulls, also in that least-talented conversation.
Golden State flipped the narrative in the fourth quarter, but if they play like they did in the first three, their doors will be blown off by the majority of the NBA moving forward.
