Warriors’ ascent to top of NBA reveals new championship DNA
In the aftermath of a game that tested the limits of the Warriors’ roster and their resolve against a top Western Conference foe, Stephen Curry declared a 116-107 victory over the Phoenix Suns his team’s best win of the season.
“Nice win on Christmas, nice win on the road against the best team in the league, short-handed,” Curry said Saturday. “In that context, it’s definitely a huge win. Everyone stepped up.”
Considering the success the Warriors have enjoyed in the face of daunting challenges over the last week, Golden State has firmly reestablished itself as a juggernaut and once again has a target on its back.
In the span of seven days, five Warriors players including three starters — Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green — have entered health and safety protocols. Four of Steve Kerr’s top assistant coaches have joined them.
With high-profile matchups against Memphis and Phoenix on the horizon last week, it would have been easy for the Warriors to blame sluggish play or underwhelming performances on a depleted roster. Instead, Curry and Co. earned a pair of their most impressive victories of the season, overtaking the Suns atop the Western Conference while proving they have all the pieces in place to make another special run.
The familiar pillars of Warriors’ success — Kerr, Curry and Green — have all thrived this season.
As Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr. and several others have now proven in expanded opportunities, the role players surrounding the Warriors’ core have helped push this team’s ceiling to championship heights.
No one would have raised an eyebrow had the Suns emerged with a double-digit victory, but
Saturday's result instead served as the latest reminder that Golden State's title aspirations are legitimate.
Six Warriors wing players including Wiggins, Poole and Klay Thompson were unavailable on Christmas Day while the Suns had hardly been impacted by the recent surge in coronavirus cases and entered the game with a Nba-best 26-5 record fueled by a 15game home win streak.
Saturday's win pushed Golden State (27-6) past Phoenix (26-6) for the top spot in the conference standings and followed another statement victory for the Warriors, a 113104 defeat of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday at the Chase Center that featured a 46-point performance from Curry. In both wins, the Warriors relied on Curry to assert his dominance against a top Western Conference foe, but in each instance, Golden State also received production from complementary players that showed Kerr's team has the rare combination of star power and depth to eventually hoist a Larry O'brien trophy.
The Warriors obviously need Curry to play at an elite level to reach their lofty goals, and with Poole and Wiggins sidelined this week, he hit 13 three-pointers and scored a combined 79 points against two of the toughest defenses in the league.
“For (Curry) to see that type of defense and find his way to 33 points, he was a plus-24 so even when he was not making shots, he was still impacting the game just by pulling the defense over toward him,” Kerr said in Phoenix. “Steph was brilliant.”
The most encouraging sign for the Warriors may have been the performances of players who were thrust into the spotlight at a moment's notice.
Payton II, who started backto-back games for the first time this season, scored a season-high 22 points against Memphis while playing suffocating defense against star point guard Ja Morant before adding 14 points and eight rebounds while helping the Warriors limit Suns star Devin Booker to 13 points on 5-of-19 from the floor.
Porter, the other stand-in in the Warriors' starting lineup, set a season-high with 19 points against the Suns as he scored eight in the final two and a half minutes to put the game out of reach.
“He can shoot the ball,” Curry said of Porter. “He just looked confident and composed with what he was trying to do, getting to his spots and just knocking them down.”
The Warriors hope rookie lottery pick Jonathan Kuminga, 19, can be a consistent factor in their rotation by the postseason and on Saturday, he showed a willingness to attack the rim as he finished with 12 points and made 5-of-6 free throw attempts.
The contributions didn't stop there, either, as Quinndary Weatherspoon, who joined Golden State on a 10-day contract after four players entered health and safety protocols, also chipped in with three made field goals on three attempts.
Kerr said postgame he'd been impressed with the way Weatherspoon defended Thompson in recent G League scrimmages and that defensive intensity showed up in Phoenix as he had productive stints defending Booker and veteran point guard Chris Paul.
Even without several top players, the Warriors refused to let a well-rounded Phoenix team dictate the tempo as Golden State surged at the beginning of the first quarter and again in the fourth to take a two-to-one lead in the season series against Phoenix. Saturday's performance left a strong impression on Curry, who praised the work of general manager Bob Myers and Golden State's front office for building a roster that could withstand such significant losses and still compete with one of the league's best teams.
“Those decisions are highlighted when it doesn't go right,” Curry said postgame. “So it should be highlighted when it does.”
If the Warriors continue to play like this, those decisions will be highlighted deep into June.