The Weekly Dish

For the week of Monday, Dec. 1 – Sunday, Dec. 7

A buzzer-beater, a blowout, and a fourth-quarter comeback victory over a championship contender…now that’s what you call an entertaining week of Warriors basketball. With wins over Orlando, New Orleans and Chicago, the Warriors accomplished their third consecutive undefeated week, earning themselves a whole game-and-a-half lead atop the Western Conference standings. Forgive the sarcasm, but that really is just how tight and competitive the West is. The Dubs have won 12-straight games and yet are only 2.5 games ahead of seventh place. As tremendous as Golden State has been through the first 19 games, they’re clearly not the only ones enjoying some early success.

Still, you can’t help but appreciate what’s occurring nearly every time the Warriors step out on the floor. As Tuesday’s buzzer-beating victory over the Magic showed, they’re not dominating every single night, and yet they’re still finding different ways to come out on top when all is said and done. A little star power? Stephen Curry’s game-winning three-pointer checks that box. Dominant team effort? New Orleans couldn’t hang with the Dubs for a full 48 minutes. Surprise contributions? Forgive the Bulls for not being enlightened as to Draymond Green’s status as an unstoppable three-point force. It seems no matter what is thrown at these Warriors, they’ve got the solution somewhere in their bountiful bag of tricks. They’ll reach the bottom of it at some point, but the way they’re playing right now, there’s no end in sight.

This was a tough choice this week, given the breadth of viable candidates. Curry’s game-winner was his signature moment of the season thus far, while Green’s three-point barrage was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Still, this is the Weekly Dish, so the totality of games is taken into consideration, and this week the standout spotlight belongs to Klay Thompson. He averaged 22.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steal over the course of their three victories, and was the only member of the team to score at least 20 points in each of the three games. That’s the second such three-game streak for him already this season after accomplishing the feat just three times all of last year, which speaks to his now-undeniable evolution into a consistent scoring weapon on a nightly basis. He currently ranks second in the NBA behind fellow Splash Brother Curry (7.42) with a Real Plus-Minus (RPM) of 7.36, which measures the net point differential per 100 offensive and defensive possessions for which the player is on the court. Furthermore, he and Anthony Davis are the only players in the league to be ranked in the top 25 in both offensive and defensive RPM, placing him in some elite company. He’s transformed into one of the supreme two-way players in the league in front of our very own eyes, and at only 24 years of age, it’s scary to think he’s yet to even enter his prime.

There really are very few easy stretches in the West, and the upcoming week is definitely not one of them. Following a game against the depleted Timberwolves in Minnesota on Monday night, the Warriors round out the week against three fellow Western Conference foes with playoff aspirations. A date with the always-troublesome Houston Rockets at Oracle is set for Wednesday night, where the Dubs might catch a break if Dwight Howard is still out with a knee injury. If victorious in those first two games, the Warriors will have gone at least a full month straight without losing a game, dating back to the home defeat at the hands of the Spurs on November 11. The Dubs theoretical win streak would stand at 14 games at that point, which they would then bring with them on a brutal three-game road trip beginning with a back-to-back over the weekend. Golden State will travel to Dallas to take on the Mavs on Saturday afternoon, followed by their second game in 10 days against the Pelicans on Sunday, this time in New Orleans. It’s a tough ask, but that’s life in the Western Conference for you. At the same time, you can bet their opponents aren’t too excited to see them coming into town with the way they’re playing right now, all setting up for what should be yet another fascinating week of Warriors basketball.