© Neville E. Guard | 2021 Jan 4
Stephen Curry dropping 62 points on Sunday was crazy, but something even crazier happened on Monday night.
Kelly Oubre hit four three-pointers.
Oubre’s slump-breaker — he entered Monday’s game an outrageous 2-of-30 from deep — coincided with the best overall Warriors’ performance in seven games, and complete beatdown of the Sacramento Kings, 137-106, at Chase Center. It’s their fourth win in the last five games, and just days after looking like one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Warriors (4-3) are rolling.
It came one night after what had been their best performance of the young season on Sunday, also a blowout win over a Pacific Division foe. That game was largely the Stephen Curry and Draymond Green show. Monday night was too, but everyone else also got into the mix.
Golden State shot 52 percent from the field, over 53 percent from deep (23-of-43). Seven players — Curry (30), Oubre Jr. (18), Wiggins (16), Paschall (14), Mulder (12), Looney (11) and Wiseman (10) — scored in double figures.
They did this while holding the Kings to just over 38 percent from the floor. The Warriors demoralized the Kings early, outscoring them 37-20 in the first quarter, leaving Sacramento and old friend Luke Walton looking shellshocked for the remainder of the evening.
It was the type of performance that defined the perennial title-winning Warriors, with consistent ball-movement that was so sorely lacking to start the season. Golden State had 41 assists, to just 21 for the Kings. Eight players had three or more. Andrew Wiggins, known for his ineptness as a passer in Minnesota, tied for second on the team with five.
Curry was spectacular again, and carried over his aggressiveness scoring the ball from Sunday night. Steph finished with 30 points (9-of-18) and again was relentless attacking the basket, earning seven free throws, all of which he made. While not his most explosive, it was arguably his best overall game of the young season, finishing with a near triple-double (30-9-8) in just three quarters.
On his first back-to-back since coming back from injury, Draymond looked just as energized has he was on Sunday. Green again was a menace on the defensive end, directing traffic, grabbing two steals and taking multiple charges. He finished with a classic Draymond line of 5-5-5 in just 21 minutes. He talked trash like a madman throughout. The Warriors are a completely different team with him on the floor.
Vintage start for Draymond Green. Hits the 3 on one end, takes the charge on the other ? pic.twitter.com/Ep8ZxbOh4e
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 5, 2021
Draymond Green sharing his thoughts with the Kings bench ? pic.twitter.com/u8VjE99Wa7
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 5, 2021
And then there was Oubre Jr., who finally woke up from his three-point shooting nightmare, nailing four of his six attempts on a night where he scored 18 and played fantastic defense. How good did Oubre feel? He blew a kiss to the Kings bench after nailing his third triple in the third quarter.
Kelly Oubre blows a kiss to the Kings bench after hitting his 3rd three of the night ? pic.twitter.com/MNQskhqP8w
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 5, 2021
Relegated to just 17 minutes due to the blowout, Wiseman again showed incredible flashes while dropping 10 points, five rebounds and blocking two shots. None was more impressive than this give-and-go alley-oop with Oubre.
James Wiseman seems pretty good ✈️ pic.twitter.com/dmNQvrIbzM
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 5, 2021
After looking so bad, the Warriors look great again, and optimism about what they could do this season is climbing. The next stretch will be a true test, however. Golden State’s next seven games look like this: Clippers, Clippers, Raptors, Pacers, at Nuggets, at Suns, at Lakers. That’s likely six playoff teams, and a handful of championship contenders.
Golden State has showed they can hang with the middle-tier of the Western Conference over the last two games. These next seven will give us a better idea of what their ceiling is.