If the Warriors were lost a couple weeks ago, it appears they have well and truly found themselves. Saturday night provided a stunning performance on both sides of the ball as they ran the Milwaukee Bucks out of the gym in a game dominated by their wings. Golden State secured a 122-109 win.
Klay Thompson goes supernova
Watching Stephen Curry at his best might be the NBA at its most entertaining, but that’s a slight distinction over Klay Thompson at his best. Thompson’s peak has to be the most joy-inspiring.
Thompson’s hot streaks provide a level of contagious happiness that you can’t find elsewhere. He’s always played with a playground-like freedom, but seeing it again in earnest, after everything he’s been through to get back to this point, is infectious.
He was outstanding, and it was borne out of judicious shot selection early on. Steve Kerr has talked in recent days about how the most important thing for him is to take smart, open shots.
Thompson did that and rapidly found his groove, going for 14 points in the second quarter alone. It propelled him to an electrifying 38 points on 15-of-23 shooting and 8-of-14 from three.
It looked like the old Klay. He was stepping into shots in rhthym, not coming up short like he had been recently.
He took ridiculous, long-range heat checks over long defenders that you felt like, “hell, that might go in.” There were even those post fadeaways — his last bucket came on one — that wouldn’t have been possible unless he felt comfortable elevating.
You could hear the energy translate to the fans even on the broadcast. The old “Warrioooors” chants rang out late in a way that appreciated the result as a whole, but were especially appreciative of Thompson’s vintage performance.
“He just let the game come to him early,” Kerr said after the game. “He didn’t hunt shots.”
Thompson, who looked elated in a postgame, on-court interview after the game, gave a similar assessment. He credited his patience and listening to Kerr for finding better looks early to get himself in a rhythm.
Defensive approach slaps Bucks in the face, sparks Warriors’ wings
Part of what opened up Thompson early helped open up the Warriors’ other wings. Milwaukee opted to face-guard Stephen Curry for the entirety of Saturday night, attempting to shut him out of the game.
And if that was the plan, well, it worked, technically. Curry was out of a rhythm, turning the ball over four times, in some particularly sloppy ways, and had just 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting, his lowest output and only second single-digit scoring performance of the season.
But because Curry was guaranteed to be drawing someone with him, it opened up the other options. He had 8 assists and freed up the likes of Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. Steve Kerr described Curry as “perfectly patient.”
Poole remained scorching, with his sixth-straight 20-plus-point game, this time finishing with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists on 9-of-16 and 5-of-10 from three. With Curry getting all the attention, Poole continued thriving.
And perhaps more importantly, Andrew Wiggins thrived, too.
Part of the Warriors woes came out of Wiggins falling off in the second half, coupled with Thompson’s inconsistencies.
But Wiggins, with all that space and fluid, gorgeous ball movement, got in a rhythm.
Like Thompson, he got going by taking smart shots, finishing with 21 points, 6 boards, 4 assists and a couple of blocks on 8-of-16 shooting and 3-of-8 from three. He even made both of his free throws!
In sum, it was a combined 89 points between Thompson, Poole and Wiggins. That allows you to win easily when you get 8 from Curry.
Relentless effort with reinforcements inbound
On Monday, Draymond Green will return to the Warriors’ lineup, as will Otto Porter Jr.. James Wiseman will make his second G League start on Sunday as his frustrating recovery from a meniscus tear starts to bare fruit. Andre Iguodala is due back soon, too.
There are more troops on the way.
But the Warriors weren’t waiting around. There was the ball movement on offense, but it was the effort defensively and on the glass that paid dividends.
Kevon Looney was astoundingly good and consistently caused issues for Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite his 31 points. He and Jonathan Kuminga were electric, especially on the boards.
Kuminga continues to astound, and fearlessly went at Antetokounmpo multiple times down the lane. This comically good two-handed dunk was the cherry on top for him.
It seemed like even when the Warriors missed, which wasn’t often (they shot 48.4 percent as a team), Kuminga or Looney were there to recover the ball.
Golden state out-rebounded the Bucks 55-to-39 and 12-to-8 on the offensive glass which showed up in the 11-0 lead they had in second chance points in the first half.
Kuminga had 14 points and 11 rebounds while Looney added a couple points, plus 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of blocks.
It was that effort that allowed the Warriors to stretch their lead from 10 to 20, and it happened almost instantly to open the second half.
Jordan Poole opened with a three, and after a steal on defense and a Poole miss, Wiggins followed up with an offensive rebound and score. Poole hit another three after an ensuing Bucks miss, and hit yet another after Antentokounmpo missed an ill-advised one. It was an immediate 11-0 run that gave Golden State a cushion they never relinquised.
