The Warriors emerged from their most trying stretch of the season in great shape, and are now set up to capitalize on their success.
For the week of Monday, Feb. 23 – Sunday, Mar. 1
Record: 3-1
Just when you think you’ve seen everything from this Warriors team, they go ahead and do something like this. Sunday’s huge 26-point comeback road victory became the latest example in what has become a long resume of impressive Warriors performances this season, yet the amazing thing about that great victory was that it honestly didn’t seem all that surprising. Sure, it tied the largest deficit by any team in a comeback win this season, but even when things looked bleakest, it never felt as if the game was out of reach. There’s something about this Dubs team. Whether it’s the playoff experience they’ve gained over the last couple seasons or simply the fact that they clearly know how talented and capable they are, this year’s Warriors squad possesses something we haven’t seen from them in recent memory: utter poise in the face of chaos. They don’t get rattled. They don’t get flustered. No, they just stay the course, trusting that the same processes that have gotten them this far will indeed get them where they want to go. And they very well may be correct.
Just as the Warriors are about to return home after what’s seemed like ages on the road, they may just be returning to their early season form of dominance as well. Excluding the fourth quarter of Friday’s blowout win and the first quarter of Sunday’s comeback victory, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 179-120 over the last two games. Granted, that’s a small sample size, but that’s essentially six quarters of outscoring their opponent by nearly 0.82 points per minute. To put that in context, the Warriors are outscoring their opponents by an average of 0.21 points per minute on the season, far and away the best differential in the NBA. The Warriors are the only team in the entire league with a stretch of 11 of 13 games on the road this season, and with a victory over the Nets on Monday, the Dubs would return home with a record of 10-3 over that brutal slate. That’s a great record, regardless of the caliber of team or its opponents, and it sets the Warriors up for a chance to really capitalize on that success. Upon their return from their season-long six-game road trip, the Dubs will play 10 of their next 12 games at home (where they possess an NBA-best home record of 24-2), against opponents with a cumulative record of 348-362 (.490) on the season. If you exclude games against the Mavericks, Clippers and Hawks (all of which are at home), that cumulative opponent winning percentage drops to .421, meaning the table is set for the Warriors to clean up at home over the next three weeks. They’ll need to win at least 14 of their final 25 games to finish with the best record in franchise history, but at this point, they should be aiming higher (and you can bet they are). The most important thing is that they’re firing on all cylinders heading into the postseason, but it doesn’t hurt that the schedule lends itself to that possibility.
Standout Spotlight: Stephen Curry
When it comes to individual recognition on a league-wide scale, it seems more and more like the Warriors are victims of their own success. They’ve been so good for so long now, they’re no longer the new flavor of the month, and so the focus naturally shifts elsewhere. Well, not in this space, specifically when it comes to Stephen Curry’s contributions. Over the course of the four games last week, Curry averaged 27.3 points, 6.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals in just under 34 minutes per contest. Numbers like that are nothing new for Curry, but it’s the efficiency with which he attains them that separates him from the rest of the pack. In those games, he shot 54.3 percent from the field (38-of-70), 53.3 percent from three-point land (16-of-30), and a perfect 17-of-17 from the free throw line. Oh, and he did that while committing only 2.8 turnovers per game. The most eye-catching of those statistics is probably the fact that a star of Curry’s caliber was only awarded 17 free throws over a four-game span (James Harden, for instance, took 52 trips to the line over his last four games), but that also highlights just how impressive Curry’s totals are. Since January 1, Curry is averaging 25.1 points, 8.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2.7 turnovers in 33.0 minutes per game, while shooting 52.8 percent on two-pointers and 43.3 percent on treys. Over that same span, he possesses a true shooting percentage (what a player’s shooting percentage would be if accounting for free throws and three-pointers) of 63.2 percent, which is the highest in the league of any player averaging at least 14.0 points per game. The new flavors of the month are no doubt worthy of our attention, but me? I’m keeping both eyes on Chef Curry and what he has in store for the final quarter of the season.
The Week Ahead:
As I mentioned, the path ahead looks much brighter now that the Warriors have just about emerged from their most trying road stretch of the season, which concludes later today in Brooklyn. The Nets have been one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league since the return from the All-Star break so they’ll be no pushover, but the Dubs have proven they can finish off the job, having compiled a 10-2 record this season in the second game of a back-to-back. Once the Warriors return to the Bay Area, they’ll finish off the week with home games against three playoff teams in the Bucks, Mavericks and Clippers. Only Golden State ranks higher than Milwaukee in defensive efficiency, while the Warriors are #2 in offensive efficiency, sandwiched between Los Angeles (1st) and Dallas (3rd). So, the Dubs will clearly be tested on both ends of the floor this week, and they’ll need to bring their A-game in order to maintain their stellar record at Oracle Arena. The boys are (just about) back in town. Let’s see if they can take advantage of it.
The Dish has been served.