Demar Derozan’s 39 Points Not Enough To Overcome Vintage Splash Brothers Performance
The Golden State Warriors kicked off their four game road trip with a big win last night over the Chicago Bulls, 140-131. After falling behind at halftime, the Warriors played their best quarter of the season in the third, scoring 48 points and holding Chicago to 20. Curry took over in the fourth scoring 15 of his 27 points, and the Dubs put an end to their losing streak. Kerr continued to swap players in and out of the starting lineup, this time rolling with Curry, Klay, Wiggins, Saric and Looney. CP3 and GP2 are still out for at least a week or two with injuries, though Draymond should make his return by the end of the road trip.
The Bulls won the tip and Looney committed a bad foul on a Coby White three pointer sending him to the line for three free throws. He went 2-3 and on the Warriors next possession Wiggins nailed a three ball, which was a sight for sore eyes as he’s been struggling with his shot this year. Over the next couple minutes Wiggins got to the rack for a dunk but Derozan, White, Caruso, and Lavine all drained long balls to put the Bulls up 18-10 halfway through the first. Two minutes later, Saric poured in two threes and Wiggins got two more buckets to give the Dubs a one point advantage, 21-20. The rest of the period was back and forth before Kuminga cashed in on a three and got one to go near the rim to make it a 33-30 game at the end of one. The Warriors defense was nowhere to be found in the second quarter as they gave up a whopping 45 points. Still, their offense showed up to keep the game respectable. Kuminga hit two jumpers to start the second giving the Warriors a 38-30 lead. Then with eight minutes on the clock, Podz converted on an and-1 floater and Steph hit a three from the parking lot. From that point forward, it was all Chicago and everyone was getting involved. Patrick Williams hit a three to knot it up at 51 all, then Derozan nailed his vintage mid range jumper to give the Bulls their first lead since the first quarter. After a few more buckets from Derozan and Vucevic, Coby White caught fire to close out the half, striping three treys and giving Chicago a 75-62 lead at the break.
Whatever was said during halftime in the Warrior’s locker room, it worked like magic. Klay came out and started flamethrowing, hitting four threes in the first couple minutes to cut the deficit to two, 84-82. Wiggins soared for a putback off a miss, before Curry drained a three and just like that the Dubs were up 87-84. In the back half of the third when Warrior’s reserves came in, Kuminga led the charge scoring nine points and extending Golden State’s lead to 8. In the final minute, Klay hit another three and then dropped a dime to TJD for the and-1, giving the Warriors a nice 15 point cushion with one quarter to play. Chicago immediately splashed a three to start the fourth, trimming the lead to 110-98, but Kuminga came back with a long ball of his own. With seven and change to play, the Bulls made a little run capped off by a Patrick Williams jumper making it a 116-110 game. Feeling a little pressure, Curry took over pouring in three treys along with two mid range jays to ice the game. Chicago kept it close, not allowing the Dubs to run away with it, but in the end Curry’s burst was too much to overcome, and Golden State escaped with a 140-131 victory thanks to a classic splash brothers performance.
Derozan paced all scorers with 39 points on an excellent 15-21 clip. Lavine and White chipped in 25 apiece, while Vucevic snuck into double figures with 14. Nobody for Chicago was great off the bench, as Patrick Williams led the way with just 9 points. For the Warriors, Klay led the team with 30 points including 7 threes, 6 boards and 6 assists. Curry was right behind him with 27 and 6 threes himself. He did shoot a below average 33% from the field but made up for it with 9 assists. Wiggins had a great game, going 8-13 with 17 points, while was solid all around with 12 points, 6 boards and 6 dimes. Off the bench, Kuminga excelled, recording 24 points on 9-12 from the field. And finally TJD continued his efficient production with 13 points and 7 boards.
The offense was certainly there for Golden State last night, and I don’t want to take that away, but the defensive performance was brutal. They allowed Chicago to shoot 58% from the field and 45% from distance. While this could just be a hot game from the Bull’s shooters, the Dubs aren’t contesting enough shots, nor playing hard enough defense. With arguably the two best defenders sidelined in Draymond and GP2, other guys need to step up and give 110% effort on defense. Looking at the box score, the absolute best part of the game on the Warrior’s behalf was the turnover margin. They only gave it up 3 times the entire game, which I believe is a season low. They also racked up 39 assists and won the rebounding battle 44-36. These are huge areas of success and I believe the Dubs can build on them moving forward.
With the win, the Warriors move to 18-20. It will be a quick turnaround as they play the Bucks tonight in Milwaukee. The Bucks come into the game with a record of 26-12 and second in the East after an ass-kicking of the Boston Celtics. The Bucks are susceptible on defense, but pose so many problems on offense that I just don’t think the Warriors have answers for. Without Draymond or a true big man, Giannis will have his way in the paint all game. Combine that with the fact that the Dubs will be tired on the second night of a back to back, and this one figures to be all Milwaukee. I predict the Bucks win 134-116.