Sure, it is Game Three. But it’s hard to find a more potentially significant Game Three than the one the Warriors pulled out.
Being the first slaughtered to ring in the dawn of Kevin Durant’s Nets regime was painful, but excusable from an all-time great. Getting blown away in Milwaukee, kick-starting Giannis Antetokounmpo’s chase for his first NBA title, was not promising but also not disqualifying. It happens.
Losing in Chicago to a previously winless Bulls squad, a day after losing backup center Marquese Chriss for likely the season, would have been alarming and lead to peeks at what next year’s draft will hold.
Which made Damion Lee’s shot that much bigger.
Lee finally put the Warriors ahead with a dramatic, last-second triple to steal the Warriors’ first win of the season, 129-128, in Chicago on Sunday, a late Christmas present to fans whose hopes are a bit reinvigorated with Golden State no longer winless at 1-2.
DAMION LEE GAME WINNER pic.twitter.com/L1NYlQyYc8
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 28, 2020
The Warriors, who outscored the Bulls 17-7 in the last four minutes, used a Kevon Looney put-back with 17 seconds to play to tie up a game that seemed lost the whole second half.
Zach LaVine (33 points) drove on first Kelly Oubre Jr. and then Juan Toscano-Anderson, who watched as he stepped back for a mid-range jumper to lift the Bulls to a lead they could not hold.
“I just loved the way our guys hung in there and fought through the second half,” Steve Kerr said.
The game-winner from Lee is the first step toward the Warriors proving they can play and win without Klay Thompson, which they did not do last season. There is some hope for the Warriors continuing to improve, as there will be more gelling for a team that was not in the bubble and more reinforcements, Draymond Green expected to debut New Years Day.
This is supposed to be a new year for the Warriors after last year’s disaster. They began the campaign as if they were picking up where they left off. Lee then picked up when the Warriors needed him.
Some takeaways:
Kelly Ougly
The Thompson replacement has underscored just how much the Warriors needed Thompson, one of the greatest 3-point shooters ever.
Kelly Oubre Jr., after three games, is 0-for-17 from deep.
The athleticism and wingspan are there, as are the looks, but nothing is falling. He flashes with gravity-defying dunks, his confidence has not lacked, and he has contributed elsewhere, pulling down 11 rebounds Sunday and actually finished a plus-nine.
Oubre will keep shooting and will get better, a 33 percent shooter from beyond the arc in his career. It does not help when the Warriors’ first option is not on top of his game, either.
Good Steph, Bad Steph
Curry shot better as the game wore on, and it’s a testament to his legend that he was struggling and somehow finished with 36 points.
Curry came alive late and finished 11-of-25 from the field, his slashing and cutting and knifing through the defense his primary weapon rather than his range. Because after draining 105 straight 3s in a weekend practice, he couldn’t keep the momentum going into game play.
He shot just 1-of-6 from deep in the first half and finished 5-for-15, adding six assists. If there is rust from last season, when he played five games, it’s showing. He also will be better, but he showed he can carry the team in more ways than one.
New look
Eric Paschall’s struggles on both ends opened the door for Juan Toscano-Anderson to enter the starting lineup and provide plenty of energy and solid defense.
Toscano-Anderson had just five points and five rebounds in 19 minutes, his time cut short because of a blow to the stomach, but he flashed as a nice glue guy.
Looney, too, stepped up, especially in the fourth and was a plus-12 in 14 minutes. Paschall, leading the second unit, also had a bounce-back game in scoring 15 points on eight shots.
The Warriors’ trip to Detroit will be a lot happier than it could have been.