The Warriors (15-13) got right on Monday after their disappointing loss in Kevin Durant’s return on Saturday, blowing out the reeling Cavaliers (10-19) at Chase Center, 129-98. Here are three takeaways:
Efficient Curry is Unstoppable Curry
In Saturday’s widely anticipated reunion with Durant, Stephen Curry didn’t quite look like himself against one of the worst defenses in the league. Yes he scored 27 points, but he was 2-of-9 from three-point land and did not attack the basket nearly enough against a team without a true center. It broke a four game streak of Curry dropping at least 30 points.
He got back on track vs. the Cavs on Monday, not just stuffing the box score, but doing so incredibly efficiently, scoring 36 on 13-of-19 and 7-of-11 from downtown. Cleveland point guard Collin Sexton (23 points) did an admirable job checking Curry, but Steph’s consistent movement and his teammates’ creative measures for getting him the ball were just too much for the unseasoned Cavs.
Stephen Curry's movement of the ball is elite.#NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/79exK6ekg2
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 16, 2021
Oh yeah, he also did this to poor Cedi Osman:
Steph puts poor Cedi Osman in the blender
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 16, 2021
Curry’s gravity also led to a number of open back cuts to the rim for other players, notably Kelly Oubre (14 points, game-high plus-25) who is starting to figure out that the best way for him to score in this Warriors offense is as a slasher with or without the ball.
Dray ?
Kelly ?? @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/oIYHCs2FlL
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 16, 2021
When Curry plays like this against bad teams, they have no chance, and it’s a big reason why the Warriors have had so much success against the bottom half of the league. His ability to have nights like this vs. teams like Brooklyn will determine how far they can go.
Draymond Green is the best (only) Point Center in the league
You can’t separate Curry’s night from another exceptional performance by Draymond Green, who once again conducted the Warriors’ offense while anchoring their defense, his 16 assists one from a career high. Green and Curry worked together beautifully on Monday, at times playing the young Cavs defense like a fiddle.
Steph and Draymond couldn’t help cracking up after outsmarting Cleveland on this play ?pic.twitter.com/vIlq9cP2y3
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 16, 2021
Green’s night continues an incredible streak of high assist games since he was thrust into the starting center roll with both James Wiseman and Kevon Looney out. He’s thrown 15, 15, 10, 11, 11, 8, 15 in his last seven games respectively, and is now averaging more than eight per game.
Green also did this while checking the 6-foot-11 Jarrett Allen, one of the better young centers in the league. Allen was able to best the mini-Warriors on the glass (14 rebounds), but Green and others held him to just 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
Second unit stock report: Wanamaker up, Paschall down
Brad Wanamaker has struggled mightily for weeks, and finally had an above-average game on Monday night, his four assists and zero turnovers providing a steady hand for the sometimes volatile second unit.
This was a slick possession from the Warriors slumping second unit. Seven passes in eight seconds, leading to a dunk. pic.twitter.com/tyj6bVqwmP
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 16, 2021
That volatility has infected Eric Paschall, who was a revelation as a small-ball center earlier in the season, but can’t seem to get going since the departures of Wiseman and Looney. With the breakout of Juan Toscano-Anderson (13 points, plus-16 in 28 minutes) almost assuredly guaranteeing him a rotation spot moving forward, Paschall may be the odd man out in the second unit, especially oi Wiseman can thrive in that role surrounded by wings.
Speaking of wings, Oubre again did not feature heavily with that group, the experiment of playing both he and Wiggins together with the reserves largely abandoned. Wiggins himself had a strange game, his five turnovers leading the team, the last of which causing Kerr so much frustration that he called timeout to chew out Wiggins at the start of the fourth quarter.
Wiggins (15 points) is usually secure with the ball, and the performance was probably more flukey than anything, but the Warriors are still waiting for him to show more aggressiveness and take control when he’s not sharing the floor with Curry.
One player who will not be dropped from the rotation anytime soon is Kent Bazemore, who played the entire second quarter, and whose plus-24 was second-best on the team.
The Warriors are now alone in the eighth-seed in the West, but their 15-13 record would be fourth best in the Eastern Conference.