How did Golden State do with their keys to victory against San Antonio?
The Golden State Warriors put together one of their most well-rounded games of the season on Tuesday night, beating the San Antonio Spurs 114-91. The starters were great, the bench was great, the offense was great, the defense was great, it all was great.
But were the pregame keys to victory great? Let’s find out.
Protect the rock
The key: Limit the turnovers.
The outcome: One day after having 20 turnovers, the Warriors cut the number in half, and had just 10. That was four fewer than the Spurs, which is doubly impressive when you consider that San Antonio comfortably leads the league in turnover rate.
The Spurs don’t turn the ball over, and the Dubs were a turnover machine on Monday, but on Tuesday the script was flipped.
Grading the key: 9 out of 10.
The Steph show
The key: Make Steph Curry the main attraction, by a long shot.
The outcome: Curry took 20 shots, which was comfortably more than anyone else on the team.
Personally, I’d still love to see him shoot more — if Kelly Oubre Jr. and Juan Toscano-Anderson are both going to find 14 shots (usually good shots, I should note) — then I’d like to see Curry get 25 or 30 shots.
But I can’t complain. Curry was clearly the main attraction on offense, and it felt like all of Golden State’s points came because of Curry’s offensive output or gravity.
Grading the key: 7 out of 10.
Bench mob
The key: Avoid lackluster bench performances.
The outcome: Well, well, well. A day after an extremely disappointing game by the bench, the reserves showed up in a big way.
The Dubs had three bench players score in double figures, with Eric Paschall, Damion Lee, and Kent Bazemore combining for 36 points on 13-for-20 shooting, including 8-for-14 from distance. As a whole, the bench dished out 8 assists to just 2 turnovers, and every reserve had a positive plus-minus.
Grading the key: 9.5 out of 10.
Wiggs
The key: Have a solid game from Andrew Wiggins.
The outcome: Wiggins had a pretty quiet game on offense, but with Golden State having seven players in double figures, that was perfectly fine.
He shot just 5-for-14 en route to 14 points, but he had 3 steals, played tremendous defense on DeMar DeRozan, and finished with a team high plus-minus of +19. It wasn’t a game to remember on offense, but he still contributed to the win.
Grading the key: 5.5 out of 10.
That works for me.
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