We get a glimpse of how good the Golden State Warriors are when their big guns roll.
Stephen Curry, Kelly Uber Jr.and Andre Wiggins came together for 70 points as Dubs ended the pre-season with a 113-109 win over the Sacramento Kings. Curry went with a six of 13 behind the arc, finishing with 29 points to lead all the scorers.
Oubre scored 22, while Wiggins scored in the 19th minute to help Golden State complete the pre-season with a 2–1 score.
Dubs only had a 3-point lead in the first half, but Carey and Uber combined to score 12 straight points to start third to put the Golden State 13 ahead, and he never looked back.
Here are four things that emerged from the Warriors’ victory:
You don’t have to worry about Steve
Curry has only seen activity in five matches over the past 18 months, but you won’t be able to tell based on his last two matches. Steve made only two of his first 10 shots, but he continued on seven of his 13 attempts at leading the Warriors. Carrie gets more room to operate in the Offensive End, as the Kerr system opens up more space for him to cut and maneuver outside. He is in great shape and will be among the top five players in the league all season.
Wiggins has his best pre-season match
The # 1 pick came in the 2014 NBA Draft to play. Wiggins scored all five of his goalscoring attempts in the first quarter, with 11 points in the first seven minutes. He was decisive in his outside shot, hitting three of seven shots. The Canadian will play a huge role in how successful the Golden State is this season. If he can be as consistently as active as he’s been on both ends of the floor in this game, he will go a long way in helping Dubs get into post-season.
Steve Kerr: “It was good for Andrew to be aggressive … We want him to score”
– Golden State of Mind (unstoppablebaby) December 18, 2020
We get a glimpse of Coach Steve Kerr’s turn when Curry is resting
The Warriors were once again without Diamond Green and rookie James Wiseman in this match, and we know that both of them will play plenty of minutes this season. But we did catch a glimpse of just how much the Golden State struggled to score when Curry was on the bench for the first game against the Kings.
Kerr played Steve for the entire first quarter, which is nothing new. Steve sat for the first seven minutes of the second quarter, but we saw how he would climb up the squad when the two best player is off the bench.
Oubre knocked out of the game with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter and got back up again around the same time as Curry. I expect that will change once the season starts on Tuesday. Wiggins started the second quarter with the bench men, so it looks like Kerr prefers to put him on the floor when Steve gets a break 12 minutes into the opening.
Paint protection
Despite the victory, the Warriors won by a score of 52-28 in the paintwork. Edge protection will undoubtedly improve while the Green and Wiseman are on the ground, but there are still some concerns. The defenders of the Golden State vicinity have to do a better job in the second round. Sacramento’s senior men got some easy buckets as his leg moves to assist defense to cut Kings’ drive to the basket. De’Aaron Fox was able to find his greatest for easy rehearsals or plays that led to free throws.
The wings of the warriors would have to move down to pull that pass and leave their men open behind the bow. The Denver Nuggets outperformed Dubs 58-36 in season opener as well.
It’s just the pre-season, and Kerr won’t be playing many players once the matches start counting, but that’s something to watch as the season progresses.
To the regular season. Golden State is playing its first real match on Tuesday when it faces Warriors, Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. The good news is that Green and Wiseman should be fine, which means we’ll see what the team looks like with a full roster available.
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