The Warriors improved to 5-0 and have picked up right where they left off last season. And by dominating, I mean slaughtering their competition. Will Barton scored 15 straight points for the Nuggets, who forced the starters to re-enter the game midway through the fourth with the lead cut to 107-94.
Advertisement
Golden State is in the midst of a demanding stretch to start the season, with five games against West teams that reached the playoffs last season. More amazingly, Curry has launched roughly four more threes per game so far than he did on average last season, when he led the league in that category, yet his 3-point shooting percentage has still somehow gone up by roughly four percentage points. That was the plan when the reserves were in to open the fourth, Iguodala, Barnes and Leandro Barbosa led the Warriors back into the game. There’s also that National Basketball Association championship thing.
Curry and the Warriors showed no mercy. Golden State had nine of its 13 blocked shots by halftime, and the Grizzlies could only watch in horror as the deficit grew.
When Curry checked back into the game at the start of the second, he found breathing room to play his game.
The Warriors defense was fantastic as the Grizzlies were held to 12 second-quarter points and 34 in the first half.
“We had a lot of game-plan mistakes throughout the game”, Rivers said.
Meanwhile, the entire Pelican team scored 26 points that quarter.
At the Warriors’ home opener, Curry destroyed the Pelicans, scoring 40 points.
The reigning league MVP was phenomenal in the final quarter, living up to his moniker “babyface assassin”.
Any thought of a letdown following Wednesday’s emotional win over a division rival was quickly dismissed, as the Warriors got off to a quick start in Friday night’s 119-104 win over the Nuggets at Oracle Arena. Harden, Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook will all be in contention after finishing in the top five of voting past year. Curry has played at a high level all season, averaging 35.8 points and shooting a ridiculous 57.4 percent from the field.
What does this mean for the Golden State? Klay Thompson and Draymond Green seemed to be following in Curry’s footsteps over the weekend, but they didn’t need to do much because of Curry’s monstrous performance.
Advertisement
After falling behind by 17 in the 2nd quarter, the Clippers fought back with a vengeance and took a 10-point lead in the fourth, but even that wasn’t enough to quell the surge the Warriors responded with late.
