The Weekly Dish

For the week of Monday, Nov. 10 – Sunday, Nov. 16

It was a good, but not quite great week for the Dubs. Coming off their first loss of the season in Phoenix on November 9th (which fell on the back end of a back-to-back), the Warriors had an opportunity to make a loud statement to the rest of the league against the Spurs at home on November 11th, but the wily champs played their best game of the season and gave the Warriors their first set of back-to-back losses of the 2014-15 campaign. The game itself was proof that although Golden State has gotten off to a strong start to the season, they still have a long way to go before reaching their full potential. It appears as though the Warriors heard that message loud and clear as they closed out the week with three strong performances (all wins), including a home-away back-to-back over the weekend. In all three of the Dubs’ consecutive victories over the Nets, Hornets and Lakers, the Warriors outshot, out-assisted and out-rebounded their opponent, a theme consistent with all but two of Golden State’s eight victories thus far. Most encouraging, however, was the Warriors’ improved ball control, resulting in 11, 15 and 16 total turnovers, their three lowest turnover outputs of the season. When you shoot, pass and rebound the ball better than the opponent, and don’t do them too many favors in the process, chances are you’re going to be very successful.

“He’s my new favorite player, Mo Speights. He’s amazing.” Those were the sentiments of Steve Kerr following the Warriors blowout win over the Lakers on Sunday night, and after the game Speights had, it was hard to blame him. Speights capped off a very strong week with a 24-point, nine-rebound effort in Los Angeles in just 20 minutes of action, the highest scoring output by a Warriors’ reserve this season. It marked the first occurrence in which Speights had scored in double digits in back-to-back games this season after scoring 13 points in 14 minutes in the Dubs’ 112-87 win over the Hornets the night before. For the week, Speights averaged 14.0 points on 70 percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds and 1.0 block in just 15.5 minutes per game. After getting a bit lost in the shuffle amongst the Warriors’ diverse group of big men, it appears Speights has solidified himself in the role of primary back-up to Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut. Matchups will likely dictate whether the Warriors go with Speights or the more traditional center Festus Ezeli, but if he continues to produce like this, Kerr has no choice but to give him significant minutes.

After a span in which the Warriors played six games in nine nights, they get a bit of a break this week, with four days in between the game this past Sunday and their next on Friday at home against the Utah Jazz. They’ll close out the week with a matchup in Oklahoma City on Sunday, the first and only game against a Western Conference opponent during the Warriors’ ensuing five-game road trip. While Golden State would be remiss to take any matchup lightly, they have an opportunity here to build on their best start in nearly 30 years and create a little breathing room between themselves and the rest of the pack in the West.