The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Warriors send a message
Dominant win in Denver shows team’s ability.
The Warriors have certainly beaten good teams this season. They’ve even posted some blowout wins, too.
But on Tuesday, Golden State did something that they had not done the entire 201819 season: They blew out a top contender to their crown.
The Warriors’ 142-111 win over the Nuggets was a complete evisceration, highlighted by a near-perfect (and NBA record) 51-point first quarter. It was the kind of lopsided victory that was once commonplace for the “light years ahead” Dubs, but it came as a bit of a surprise on Tuesday.
But it was no accident. It was a message — sent consciously or not — to the rest of the NBA:
Don’t look at the worse than-expected record and disjointed play and think that the Warriors are vulnerable. No sir, this team is still in a class of its own.
They just don’t feel the need to rub it in everyone’s face all the time.
It’s said that faith is the belief in something you can’t see. Believers in the Warriors’ dominance have been operating on faith the past few months.
That’s no longer the case. The Warriors showed you true dominance Tuesday. In fact, they’ve been showing it off, bit by bit, over the past five games.
It’s easy enough to embarrass the Knicks and Bulls — as the Warriors did last week — but the Warriors’ come-frombehind win against Dallas on Sunday — which was highlighted by a dominant 11-1 run in the final three minutes — and Tuesday’s beatdown of the Nuggets stand out as the most cohesive basketball the Warriors have played all season.
It’s certainly the best they’ve played since they started the season 10-1.
No one can say if it’s the right time or not — and it’s anyone’s guess how long this will last — but things seem to be clicking for Golden State.
Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry have found a tremendous understanding on the court (and are playing together again, after an illfated staggering attempt by Warriors coach Steve Kerr), Klay Thompson has re-discovered his 3-point shot, and Draymond Green — who was having his worst season since he became a starter in 2014-15 — has worked his way into shape and subsequently re-established himself as the NBA’s preeminent defender and most underrated playmaker.
The Warriors are making more 3-pointers than anyone in the NBA in January — six more than their average from the first three months of the season — and averaging two fewer turnovers per game since the calendar flipped. Combine those two things and you have an offense that’s averaging a stupefying 130 points per 100 possessions in January — a mark nearly 10 points higher than the second-place team over the same period.
But while the Warriors’ offensive dominance, as of late, is more than good enough to ride on, the Warriors have also upped their defensive play in January. It’s not apparent in the box scores, but for the first time this season, the Warriors’ championship-level defense is making cameos. These moments are, of course, led by Green, but Andre Iguodala has been stellar as of late, and Kevon Looney and Thompson both deserve more credit for their defensive contributions to this team.
Together, those four are operating on a string and it’s creating a “force” (to steal Kerr’s term) for the defense.
The offense is humming, the defense is coming to life, and — oh yeah — the Warriors added a fifth All-Star to the mix this week when DeMarcus Cousins joined the Golden State lineup.
It’s high time to ruin the league.
The long-awaited introduction of Boogie to the lineup should create some tactical intrigue — the Warriors have never had a center with Cousins’ skill set, and I know that has perked up his teammates. If Cousins is fully healthy and finds the Warriors’ system easy enough to jump into — and the rest of the Warriors remain motivated to give their best, particularly on the defensive end — Golden State could continue this run for a long, long time.
Or perhaps, after the initial allure of Cousins’ entry wears off, the Warriors will go back into energy-saver mode.
Seeing as they’ve spent most of the season sandbagging, it would stand to reason that the Dubs are content with the reestablished knowledge that, when they feel so inclined, they can play peerless ball (regardless of Cousins’ involvement). They’ll flip the switch once the playoffs near (or perhaps they’ll wait until the second round of the playoffs, like last year).
But if that’s the case — and all signs point to that coming to pass again before the end of the month — it’s important to remember how they played Tuesday against the team that had become a trendy pick to dethrone the Dubs and held the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference standings before the contest.
Remember that they went to one of the toughest road venues in the sport and totally demoralized a team that was supposed to be their rival — and it barely seemed to register with them that they were playing well.
Remember that when the Warriors deem the moment worthy, they can dominate it in a way that no other team can.
Remember that — no matter how much of an urge you have to doubt them or even bet against them — that the Warriors are still, far and away, the best team in this league.