The historic run of the Golden State Warriors continues, with their latest victims being the Dallas Mavericks. If anyone was worried that a less than sensational shooting day from Stephen Curry could harm their unstoppable form, Klay Thompson yet again proved them wrong.
The Warriors beat the Mavericks 127-107 in something of a revenge win against one of the four teams that have managed to beat them this season. The Warriors are now at 42-4, tied for the best ever start through 46 games. Since losing their fourth game of the season to the Detroit Pistons, they’ve won five in a row. They’ve scored 120 points at least in each win, winning by 12 points or more each time, by 20 points or more four times and 30 points or more in three of the games. Can’t get any more dominant than that.
This was another one of those games when one huge run from the Warriors, this time in the third quarter, killed off the contest. The Mavericks were down by one point with 7:35 left in the third, and it was still a four point game with less than five minutes to go. But Draymond Green scored two easy points, and the Warriors finished the quarter on a 19-5 run that put the game to bed.
Curry had himself a mortal kind of night. He was averaging 34 points per game on the previous four wins, shooting 53.3% from beyond the arc and 57.3% from the field, adding 7.5 assists per game. This time, the Warriors didn’t turn to his circus act, scoring “just” 14 points on 4-of-11 from the field, three of those field goals coming from beyond the arc.
But Curry did have nine assists and three steals as the lockdown defense which enables him to be so efficient when it comes to surprising ball carriers worked. The Warriors were +26 with him on the floor, the best on the team. Yes, Thompson was the one having a special shooting night; the Warriors, despite their MVP player, are that kind of team. But even without going off on a special scoring performance, Curry is so good and influential in other ways.
Thompson scored 45 points, a season-high for him and his second 40-point performance of the season. He was on a stretch of scoring nine games of scoring 24 points or less, including seven games under 20 points. But the potential to explode is always there for Thompson as well, and the same goes for Draymond Green. The Warriors enable others than Curry to have their moments in the spotlight through their intelligent and exciting play, without anyone trying to force his way to the top ofthe box score.
It might be a while before the Warriors lose again. They’re going on a three-game road trip on the East coast after two days of rest, starting with the Philadelphia 76ers, followed by the New York Knicks and Washington Wizards. When they come back to the Bay Area there’s the very intriguing clash with the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team some feel can actually pose a problem for the Warriors. They said the same thing about the Cavaliers and the Spurs, and we all saw what happened.