Thursday was not exactly a banner performance by the Warriors. They sleepwalked into a game they seemed to believe — logically — that they’d already won. Then they did.
While the youth-oriented, season-capitulated Lakers brought energy that the Warriors didn’t seem to have the desire to for approximately three quarters, it was still the Lakers’ bench. The Warriors did enough late to secure a fairly relaxed 128-112 win.
Klay Thompson back to back
It’s looking an awful lot like Klay Thompson is back to his old self, or fairly close to that standard.
He has shown plenty of moments this season where it’s looked like the old Klay. There have been those microwave hot streaks, but there has also been an overwhelming, frustrating level of inconsistency.
Those shaky moments and erratic games have made it difficult to tell whether Thompson would find some consistency. Two-straight great shooting games is not quite enough to say that he’s become consistent, especially when they were spread out over five days and a day off in Sacramento.
But it’s extremely encouraging that two of Thompson’s best games have come down the stretch, heading into the playoffs.
He had 36 points on 14-of-28 shooting and 8-of-17 from three against the Jazz on Saturday. On Thursday, he tallied 33 points on 12-of-22 with 6-of-10 from 3 plus four rebounds and four assists.
It is evident that he’s regained a level of confidence and has been more proactive in finding the ball. He looks more like himself on jumpers and is taking smart shots much more regularly.
Will that continue into the playoffs? We don’t know for sure, but this is clearly the best version of Thompson we’ve seen so far this season.
Can we just simulate these games?
There is a glaring, chasmic gap in quality between a good NBA game and a bad one. This one fell into the latter category, even with substantial playoff seeding stakes on the line.
Is there a way to avoid games where good teams play halfhearted against bad teams? Probably not.
It’s like procrastinating on a school paper until the night before it’s due because you know you can get it done when it matters.
That’s basically how the Warriors approached this game, and while it’s not exactly an admirable process, it’s a reflection of human nature that netted the required result. There’s no real impetus for them to expend full effort — and it’s probably smart not to with three games in four days — given the opponent, who had LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbroook on the bench.
Draymond Green and Jordan Poole looked disinterested until the latter stages of the third quarter, as Poole rounded into form for a 19-point, 11-assist, 4-rebound performance that snapped his 17-game streak of 20-plus points. Green woke up when he had to for 10 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, a pair of steals and a block.
It took a long while for them to snap out of their stupor, as Thompson looked like the only interested player on the court.
The point of this, if there is one, is that this, hopefully, was the last sleepwalking game of the year.
This should be the last time we have to watch YMCA-level basketball from the Warriors and their opponents this season.
There is of course a chance it could get boring on the final day.
Their final two opponents are the Spurs and Pelicans, who sit at 10 and 9, respectively.
If the Warriors beat the Spurs and the Pelicans win their next game, that would guarantee the Pelicans the ninth seed and render the final game of the season moot to them.
Unless the Mavericks were to lose, though, the Warriors would have incentive to win the next two games to make sure they clinch the third seed.
Still, the final two teams are at the edge of the playoff scrap heap and should provide more cause for sustained effort than what we saw on Thursday.
Invigorated young Lakers highlight defensive flaws
For a fairly concerning stretch of the game, the Warriors were playing the ole swiss cheese, olé defense.
They had few to no answers for the likes of Talen Horton-Tucker and Malik Monk, who drove down the lane, seemingly with impunity. Those two combined for 64 points, with Horton-Tucker racking up 40 on 15-of-28 shooting.
Now, there’s a fair case to be made that the Warriors were taking it easy in a game they thought (rightfully) they could get away with it.
But, aside from the argument that playing halfheartedly builds bad habits, there were some real issues when speedy, athletic ball-handlers drove at them.
Against some of the league’s more direct scorers like Donovan Mitchell (maybe some of his late-game decision-making will outweigh the positives), Luka Doncic and especially Ja Morant, that could be an issue.
The Warriors have shown that they are at their best when they work hard defensively, but even when the effort is there — which it mostly was not on Thursday — they may have to find a better remedy for penetrating ball handlers.