Golden State Warriors: Week 13 Recap

It was an eventful week for the Warriors faithful. Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry, and Marquese Chriss made headlines this week-- and there was some basketball too.

To start with Marquese Chriss, the fanbase was heartbroken last week when news broke of the Warriors waiving Quese to free up a roster spot for Damion Lee. The choice had little to do with his play, and more to do with Golden State's salary-cap situation. 

Well, that didn’t last long. Bob Myers, doing Myers things, resigned Quese to a two-way contract-- basically swapping Lee and Quese’s contracts. This allows for lee to stay with the team for the remainder of the season while maintaining Quese on the roster for the rest of the season with the ability to play in the G-League if he needs reps at any point. Bob Myers is a genie.

The phrase that needs to become an everyday thing, “Klay Thompson for President” was born Saturday, after Thompson gave an emotional speech at the halftime of Washington State Cougars conference game.  The speech included heartfelt thank you’s to friends, teammates, and the Coug fateful-- and then after handing back the mic Thompson had to take the mic back to thank his parents and siblings. 

Again, Klay for prez.

Thompson’s No. 1 will remain untouched and in in the rafters at Washington State forever.

In his three seasons as a Cougar, Thompson set the school record for three-pointers — 242 — and set the school’s single-season record for points scored (733), became the school’s third all-time leading scorer (1,756) and averaged 17.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals a game.

And, well, we all know what happened next.

He was drafted as the 11th pick by the Warriors and went on to an NBA career that includes three NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors, twice being named All-NBA and five times an All-Star, he holds the NBA record for most made threes in a game (14), and he has a gold medal from the Rio Olympics. And he’s still adding to that legacy.

Thompson shared his moment with his teammates (former and present) Zaza Pachulia and Stephen Curry.

After supporting Thompson in Washington, Curry took what social media calls the “Magic Myers” jet back to the Bay to make his debut as a sideline reporter. The Curry antics aren’t limited to the three-point celebrations and sideline toe touches to distract opposing players on the free-throw line, Curry’s animations made their way to the mic and no one was complaining.

Between waling the NBC Bay Area crew through some of the 73-9 magical moments to pointing out his anchor plus/minus Curry’s debut did not disappoint. At this point, the only thing left to do is to have Curry and Thompson host the pregame and postgame shows together.

Just trying to speak it into existence.

That show would have to happen soon although, because Curry won’t be sidelined much longer.

The plan was for Curry, who broke his left hand in his fourth game of the season, to be re-evaluated in February with a plan on when he'll return to the court. 

Well, February is almost here, and after having his brace removed and doing some personal on-court work after practices, his return date could be on the horizon. The target date for Curry's return is March 1, against the Washington Wizards, per Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. Thompson notes the date is not set in stone, but I think it might be a bright idea to cancel any plans on March 1.

While a playoff push is out of the question when Curry returns, an early March return will at least give Myers and crew a chance for the front office to see which of these young players will fit next to Curry going forward, as the Warriors try to reshape the roster and make a return to being a championship contender when Thompson returns next season.

If the Warriors plan to keep D'Angelo Russell instead of trading him, seeing how he meshes with Curry would be beneficial. Golden State is already committed to paying Russell a combined $88.9 million over the next three years. His chemistry with Curry could have an impact on if Golden State wants to move him or not in the offseason.

So in short, this past week was pretty eventful. Oh, and there was basketball too.

The Dubs opened the week against the Mavs, who have managed to have the type of performances against the Warriors that makes me not want to write about it… and that shall continue. 

Thursday the Warriors took on the second-best team in the West the Denver Nuggets and had the game all but won until the season theme of poor late-game execution, and the odd substitution of D’Angelo Russell in the final seconds (Golden Tank anyone ?) took the game into overtime-- a foe of this young Warriors squad. And that foe took the Dubs down once again, as the Warriors fell 134-131, pushing the Warriors losing streak to ten straight.

Thankfully Steve Kerr and his squad had Orlando on the schedule-- an Orlando team coming off of their LA tour. 

During the Dubs’ ten-game losing streak, most of their issues in the late third and fourth quarters pertained to lackadaisical defense and an inability to score on offense. When the Magic went on a run early in the fourth to take a 90-91 lead, the Warriors ratcheted up the pressure on defense. That defensive pressure was the catalyst for easy buckets in transition. In addition to transition opportunities, D’Angelo Russell hit a dagger 3 that gave the Dubs an 11 point lead with a little over a minute remaining.

Moving forward, the feeling of a recent win and the news of Curry’s upcoming return should give the Warriors the momentum they need to continue to compete and pull out games. The Dubs have a three-game week that includes the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers.

Before then, the Warriors have a date with Damien Lillard and Carmelo Anthony in Portland on MLK Day. The Dubs are all too familiar with Lillard and crew and will have to limit the Trailblazers’ transition and perimeter points in order to stay in the game.

If not, well, LaMelo Ball is waiting.

You can catch the Warriors Trailblazers Monday night with Shaq, Kenny, Chuck, and EJ on TNT at 7 PST.