0.2 is a number that has defined the Warriors’ season so far.
Last game, Klay Thompson’s jumper with 0.2 seconds left lifted the Warriors over the Kings. Friday night, on a fluorescent blue court, Stephen Curry hit a twinning game-winner with 0.2 seconds remaining, banking a floater off the glass and in.
Curry’s game-winner survived a challenge for basket interference because Josh Giddey grabbed the net before Draymond Green tapped the rim.
Once again, the Warriors came up with the biggest plays of the game when they mattered most, showing their veteran poise and closing-group firepower. Their fifth straight win came in their first game of group play in the inaugural in-season tournament.
The Warriors (5-1) overcame mammoth efforts from Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort, who led the Thunder to 60.2% field goal shooting. Curry’s game-winner gave the Warriors a 141-139 victory over the Thunder, who were without star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Here are three takeaways from Golden Straight’s win.
The in-season tournament…should you care?
The incentive structure for the in-season tournament seems off — at least in its inaugural version. The only reward players get if they win is cash bonuses — not draft picks, a guaranteed playoff spot, salary cap advantages.
The only real incentive for fans to tune into in-season tournament games above any other regular season game is if the players compete harder than normal and thus create more engaging, intense games.
So, was this game more intense? It’s very difficult to quantify something so intangible. But neither team was particularly responsible with the ball.
The Warriors and Thunder combined for 22 first half turnovers and 34 total. Some of that was due to hard defense, but not all.
At one point, the Warriors gave up a wide open dunk in transition and then Gary Payton II lazily threw away the inbounds pass, giving OKC another bucket. Late in the first half, Josh Giddey had a similar turnover in the backcourt.
Both teams shot extremely well from the field; the score after three was 104-103, with both squads shooting over 50%. Then the fourth quarter went back-and-forth, with the two teams in lock step for the final eight minutes.
It felt…like a regular season game. An incredibly entertaining one at that.
Chet Holmgren is for real
A night after Victor Wembanyama sent shockwaves through the NBA with his 38-point explosion, Holmgren submitted his own entry into the Rookie of the Year competition.
The other long-limbed center posted 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists. On one play, the 7-footer picked up a dime as the ball-handler in a pick-and-pop.
At one point, Holmgren had 22 points in 18 minutes. He scored with pivot moves and nifty drop steps inside, and also hit both of his two 3-point attempts. (Since the Gonzaga product missed all of last season with a back injury, he’s still technically a rookie at 21 years old)/
One play, though, showed Holmgren’s potential more than any of his buckets. In a 15-second span in the first quarter, Holmgren was everywhere defensively. He shut down Curry in close quarters, closed out to Andrew Wiggins in the corner, shut off Draymond Green inside and then challenged Wiggins at the basket to force a miss.
It was a wildly impressive sequence to force a rare Thunder stop.
Late in the game, Holmgren got clocked in the face by a Draymond Green elbow. It didn’t seem like his head injury was serious, which is great for the league. Holmgren is legit.
Right after the win, Curry and Holmgren swapped jerseys. Just moments earlier, Holmgren’s long arms were just an inch too short.
What do these wins say about the Warriors?
The Warriors have now won five straight games and appear to be clicking as well as anyone could have hoped early on.
Yet their last two wins have now come against the Kings without their best player — De’Aaron Fox — and the Thunder without their All-NBA point guard in Gilgeous-Alexander. And they’ve both come down to the last seconds.
Those omissions certainly matter. Who knows if the Warriors would’ve kept winning if their opponents were at full strength?
But wins are wins, and any night in the NBA can be a toss-up. On Friday, even while the Thunder were missing their top scorer, the Warriors absorbed a huge night from Lu Dort (28 points) and Holmgren’s outstanding performance.
Golden State looks terrific. The Chris Paul introduction has been seamless, and the bench is much deeper than it was last year. Curry is playing as well as ever and Green is still a force. They played who was in front of them, and they won.
