They’re officially on fire.
Sunday was a day worth circling on the calendar for every Golden State Warriors fan. After five road games bookending the All-Star break, Jimmy Butler III was set to make his home debut for the Dubs, two-and-a-half weeks after the Warriors traded for him. They were facing the team directly ahead of them in the standings, the Dallas Mavericks, with Klay Thompson returning to the Chase Center. And a franchise legend, Andre Iguodala, was having his jersey retired.
The stage was set, but the team still needed to deliver for 48 minutes to ensure that it was a great day, and not just a memorable, bittersweet day.
And my goodness did they ever deliver. It took them about two-and-a-half minutes to find their footing, and then the Warriors proceeded to absolutely destroy the Mavericks over the next 45.5 minutes, winning 126-102 in a game that was, frankly, not as close as the score would suggest.
The Mavericks jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and, thanks to some fairly awful perimeter defense by Golden State, held a 9-4 lead early, forcing Steve Kerr to call a quick timeout. The team that emerged from that timeout looked nothing like the one that took the court for the first few minutes.
All of a sudden there was an extreme amount of energy and effort in the starting five. Blink and you missed a 5-0 run to tie the game. Behind a blistering pace — the Warriors have moved to a small ball lineup and the Mavericks are missing all of their centers — the 5-0 run stretched to a 10-run and and a 14-9 lead halfway through the frame. With Steph Curry dancing and dominating, the 10-run turned to a 16-0 run, and a double-digit lead.
Dallas responded, as everyone expected, with a 7-2 run. But that short burst did nothing to calm the Warriors’ energy and defensive intensity. After Curry went to the bench, the closing unit played as scrappily and as hard as you could ever ask for, led by Butler, Brandin Podziemski, and Gui Santos, who all played like they started their morning with three drinks from one of Butler’s BigFace Coffee shops.
Remarkably, the Warriors had a second double-digit run in the first quarter alone, with that group exploding for an 11-0 burst. Behind that energy and stellar defense, they held Dallas to a season-low point total for the first quarter, and led 33-18. They’d outscored the Mavericks 15-2 in transition points, and 11-2 in points off of turnovers.
Somehow the defense seemed to get better to start the second quarter. It felt like easily the best defense they’ve played this year, and it led to endless energy … or perhaps the other way around. About three minutes in, the Dubs had a remarkable sequence: Quinten Post drained a three, which lead to a defensive stop; on the other end, Moses Moody nearly lost the ball, but then ripped it away from Kyrie Irving; after Moody missed a layup, Butler grabbed an offensive rebound, and found Post for a driving dunk in traffic to push the lead to 41-20, forcing a Jason Kidd timeout.
But a few minutes later, the Warriors started to get a little too big for their britches, and some sloppiness followed. They had a few bad turnovers, and a few times where they didn’t get back in transition or box out. The Mavs built some energy and momentum from that, and cut the deficit to 13 points at the halfway mark.
From there, the teams went tit-for-tat, with the margin sticking in the 13-15 range for many possessions. The Warriors finally broke through with another memorable sequence: Butler bully-balled his way to the hoop on an isolation for an easy layup; on the other end, Podziemski flew out of bounds trying to save a loose ball, tossing a fly ball high in the air towards center court; Curry won the battle for that loose ball, and Buddy Hield sprung free for a wide open three; after another stop, Butler again bully-balled his defender, this time for an and-one that he converted. Suddenly it was a 23-point lead.
But they again got sloppy, and the Mavericks ended the quarter on an 8-2 run. Even with that, the Warriors led 61-44 at halftime, despite shooting just 26.3% on threes. Curry and Butler had both scored 14 points, while Irving (who torched the Dubs a few games ago) was held to just five, and Thompson went scoreless.
One thing that has defined the short Butler era has been an unflinching resilience. When teams punch the Warriors in the mouth, they seem completely unfazed, and cockily return fire. That was on full display as the third quarter got started. Klay opened the second half with a three, pushing the Dallas run to 11-2, and pulling the Mavs within 14 points. It only seemed to entertain the Warriors, who immediately fired off an 8-0 run, pushing the lead back to 22 points.
It stayed in the 20-point range for the bulk of the quarter. Dallas finally started to find some buckets, but they were no match for Curry, who put on an absolute show. Steph continues to look rejuvenated, and he was seemingly playing with his food in the third quarter on Sunday. He danced, he faked, he grooved, he shook, and he dominated. Back-to-back highlight threes made it a 24-point lead with less than three minutes remaining, giving him an electric 16-point quarter. And then, to cap it off, Butler forced his way to the rim with 5.4 seconds left, drawing a foul. He made both free throws to give the Warriors what was, at the time, their biggest lead of the game, as they headed to the fourth quarter leading 100-75.
There would be no meltdown. There would not even be a hint of a meltdown. Curry wouldn’t even see the court in the final frame, as the Warriors more than handled business. Within a few possessions it was a 29-point lead, and before the halfway mark of the quarter, both Kerr and Kidd had emptied their benches. All that was left was the details, with the subs going back-and-forth until the final buzzer, signaling a statement 126-102 win.
Curry finished the day with 30 points and seven assists on 12-for-20 shooting, and only had to play 28:34. Butler added 18 points, while Moody (14), Draymond Green (13), and Post (10) also had double figures.
But the star might have been Podziemski. Recently inserted into the starting lineup — with Kerr saying that he’ll stay there — Podziemski has looked like a brand new player lately, and he was nothing short of spectacular on Sunday. The second-year guard finished with 17 points and a whopping 13 rebounds, while finishing a game-high +30. He drew the opening assignment on Irving and, well … if one game can negate all the pre-draft scouting reports questioning his defense, then this was that game. He pestered Irving all night long, with the nine-time All-Star needing 19 shots (and two free throws) to net 17 points.
The Warriors only shot 12-for-40 from three-point range but, in a break from their old identity, dominated the interior and the turnover battle. They outscored a small Dallas team 60-46 in the paint, while dominating the rebounding battle and shooting four more free throws. They had just 10 turnovers to the Mavericks’ 18, and converted those turnovers into 30 points, while Dallas netted just 10. And despite winning in the paint, the Warriors out-ran the Mavs all day, scoring 30 fastbreak points while ceding just 11.
They’re now 5-1 since acquiring Butler; the loss (which came against the Mavs) was by four points, while the five wins have been by a combined 90. They also secured their first three-game winning streak since November 15.
With the win, the Dubs are now just a half-game behind the Mavs for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings. That might not be for long: both teams have Monday off, but on Tuesday the Mavericks visit the playoff-bound Los Angeles Lakers, while the Warriors host the 14-win Charlotte Hornets.