Splash Brothers Combine For 46 Points And Propel Warriors Over .500
The Warriors had a quick turnaround after their win Friday against the Jazz, as they played the Timberwolves at 3:30 p.m. eastern on Sunday. In that game, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 46 points in a blowout win to finally surpass .500 at 11-10. Curry scored 25 points and shot 7-17 while tallying 4 made threes, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Klay Thompson had 21 points on 8-13 shooting and five made threes. He also had the game high plus minus at +31.
The standings in the West are a bit tricky, as the Suns are in first place at 13-6 and the Thunder are in twelfth place at 8-12, so the top seeds are anyone’s game at this point. Steph was recently on J.J. Redick’s podcast and recalled how hard winning is in the regular season. As this time in 2016, the Warriors were 24-0 and looking to make history.
Winning consistently in the NBA is no joke, and the Warriors probably feel a sigh of relief to finally have surpassed the .500 mark. With that being said, their next two games are against Dallas and Chicago - two elite teams with superstar scorers. So the real test will be to see if the Warriors can sustain their high level both offensively and defensively throughout the season as they already played around twenty five percent of their games.
Klay has silenced the doubters in the past few games with his play and Curry has been having a MVP season but the Warrior’s record does not represent how they feel as a whole. Not only that, but Wiggins has also been a consistent scorer and has even received more praise for his hard work. He has raised more questions on if he should make the All-Star team again, and when asked, Steph said this:
Whether Steph wins MVP, Wiggins makes the All-Star team, or Klay returns to form, the goal remains the same: To defend their title and go back-to-back as champions of the league. The team knows this and that is why the noise around their record has been even more distracting at times. Their road record has since improved to 2-9 while their home record is 9-1, a drastic difference between the two with the key factors being shot making and defending.
When the Splash Brothers, Wiggins and Poole are making their shots? They are unstoppable. Pair that with everyone playing their part and locking in defensively and you get the championship squad from last year minus Gary Payton II and Otto Porter, of course. Still, Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green have stepped up in their absence, much to the enthusiasm to his teammates; so much so that Curry received a technical foul for celebrating too much on a DiVincenzo three ball.
If the core trio of Steph, Klay and Draymond play the way they have been playing as of recently, then Warriors fans have no reason to worry. Most of these teams in the Western Conference that are seeded higher than the Warriors will most likely fizzle out as the season goes on. We saw it recently with the Jazz who were in first place not too long ago and now are sitting in eighth place after a few losses.
The veterans will keep the Warriors on track and as long as they let go of their record, then they will be fine down the stretch. The key factor being health and rest come playoff time where we will see more of the same from the Splash Brothers.
(Photo credit: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)