It wasn’t quite Thanksgiving yet, but that didn’t stop the Golden State Warriors from feasting on a short-handed LA Lakers team to the tune of an NBA season-high 149 points. The trio of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson combined for 85 points in only 81 minutes of game action as Luke Walton and his young Lakers squad were treated to front row seats to the Warriors’ offensive fireworks.
With the 43-point victory, Golden State moves to 13-2 on the season, second only to LA’s other team, the Clippers.
Here are 10 thoughts on the game:
1. It came against a fatigued Lakers team that was on the back-end of a back-to-back and, yes, LA was playing without D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. But still. One-hundred-forty-freakin’-nine points in a non-overtime game is a monolithic accomplishment. The Warriors hadn’t scored that many points in a contest since the 1991-1992 season, back when Tim Hardaway was passing the rock to Chris Mullin and Mitch Rich– I mean, Billy Owens. To watch Steph, Klay, KD and Draymond Green methodically carve the Lakers defense apart was equal parts gratuitous and vindicating (lest we forget, it was only three weeks ago that Los Angeles bludgeoned Golden State by 20). We are witnessing live this Dubs squad rapidly coalesce into the never-before-seen offense we all imagined it could be when KD signed his name to a Warriors contract. To see this all come together is not a surprise, but the speed with which all the characters are finding their roles is mind boggling.
2. We’re 15 games into the season and the Warriors are scoring 119 points per game, averaging a historically great 115.7 points per 100 possessions, and are head and shoulders above the rest of the league in effective field goal efficiency and true shooting percentage. That’s a lot of fancy stats to ask a simple question: How much more lethal can this team become when all the new parts really start to get used to one another, say, 60 games from now?
3. After that disastrous game in LA where they combined for a lousy 23 points on 9-of-35 shooting, the Splash Brothers came out aggressive looking to make amends. Steph was on a mission, quickly hitting step-back threes with a guy in his face, and Klay more than kept pace with 11 first-quarter points. The duo was good for 57 points, including 11-of-19 from long range, making you wonder how in the world those two could ever shoot 2-of-20 from behind the arc as they did three weeks ago in LA.
4. The Warriors improved their streak of 30-plus assists in a game to nine straight with a franchise-record 47 assists — none prettier than this left-handed dime by Curry to Shaun Livingston. (That’s 47 assists against only ten turnovers, by the way.)
5. Actually, this Steph pass to set up a Draymond slam wasn’t bad either.
6. Zaza Pachulia has his shortcomings, but one skill the ground-bound center does possess is an ability to pass the ball to the open man in motion. Seems like once a game he drops a perfect dime, this time to KD.
7. Everyone loves Ian Clark (21 points, 7-8 shooting). He has a bowling/football/soccer routine that he orchestrates with Steph before every game, and now he and KD have a “come hither” finger contest going.
8. Even in a mega blowout, I’d be remiss not to mention that Brandon Ingram (16 points, 3 rebounds) is going to be a stud. He’s got length and athleticism. His shooting is better than I expected, and Walton is already taking advantage of his advanced playmaking by running him out there as a point-forward during crunch time. The Lakers have a coach on the rise, two young blue chippers (maybe a third depending on how sustainable you think Randle’s season is) and they’re finally out of the shadow of Kobe Bryant. Shouldn’t be too long now before we finally get a real Warriors-Lakers rivalry going.
9. If Steve Kerr is going to play Anderson Varejao (6 points, 3 boards), make it only in 43-point blowouts. Save my poor heart.
10. I’m thankful to have Javale McGee in my fan-life. Happy Thanksgiving, all.