SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors and San Antonio Spurs played for much of Friday night like two teams still waking up from a Thanksgiving nap. The audience in the Chase Center cannot be excluded from this conversation.
It was a struggle at times, but in the end the Warriors prevailed, defeating the Spurs 118-112 in Group C play of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
The Warriors improve to 2-1 during the in-season tournament, and their group play final against the Kings on Tuesday in Sacramento has huge implications for who wins Group C and advances to the quarterfinals.
The Warriors, Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves are each 2-1 in group play with one game remaining. If the Timberwolves lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, the winner of the Warriors-Kings game at Golden 1 Center will win Group C.
Steph Curry was the game’s leading scorer with 11 points in the third quarter, 12 points in the fourth quarter and 23 points in the second half with 35 points on 11 of 20 shooting and was 7 of 13 from behind the 3-point line. Curry now has 200 career games and made at least six 3-pointers in a game.
The next closest player has 97 such games.
Spurs rookie star Victor Wembanyama nearly managed a double-double with 22 points and eight rebounds, but his six turnovers were the most of any player.
Here are three takeaways on how the Warriors improved to 8-9 this season and stayed alive in the in-season tournament.
Change of starting lineup
The Warriors have found little consistency early this season, including in their starting lineup. Steve Kerr made another change in the 17th game of the year, sending Chris Paul to the bench and making Moses Moody the starter. Moody was joined by Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney.
Entering the evening, this group of five had played together for 29 minutes in five games and had posted a net rating of 11.1 with an offensive rating of 109.5 and a defensive rating of 98.4. They stayed together in the first quarter until Chris Paul replaced Moody and Dario Saric subbed in for Looney at 5:48. The Warriors were down 21-17 at the time and Wembanyama had to make two free throws. When Moody first went to the bench, he was the Warriors’ leading scorer with six points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting.
Kerr’s decision didn’t exactly work.
Curry, Moody, Wiggins, Thompson and Looney combined for 11 minutes and 33 seconds on the court and were minus-10 points, a 34-24 loss. They shot 9 of 19 (47.4 percent), but the Spurs shot 14 of 25 (56 percent) against them. Moody played 17 minutes and was a minus-6 overall, but scored nine points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting.
Paul has once again staged the bench perfectly. The 19-year veteran had a game-high 14 points in 29 minutes thanks to 10 assists and one turnover.
GP2’s return
Height and height don’t matter to Gary Payton II. It’s just another challenge for the son of one of basketball’s all-time greatest trash talkers. The second quarter was the most recent example.
Even for someone 14 inches taller than GP2.
As Wembanyama tried to finish off a clever behind-the-back move, Payton had other thoughts and fired his attempt into the stands.
Maybe the instant jolt akin to a Payton blitz is exactly what the Warriors so desperately needed. They trailed 46-41 at that point and held an 18-9 lead the rest of the second quarter, entering halftime with a 59-55 lead. That’s the effect Payton has on games, virtually whenever he’s healthy.
Shortly after Payton entered the game, he threw a 3-pointer into the air. So what. His energy cannot be replicated, and it may have been the key ingredient the Warriors needed to pull off a victory.
Great Dario does it again
There’s a real argument that the Warriors’ second-best offensive player this season, at least so far, is playing under a veteran’s minimum contract. General manager Mike Dunleavy was eager to sign Dario Saric as a free agent. Saric shows again and again why.
Thompson scored just two points in the second half. Both came to the free throw line in the final 13 seconds. Thompson scored a total of 15 points on 3 of 11 shooting and made just three of his seven 3-point attempts. Andrew Wiggins had just 10 points in the win.
Saric scored 20 points in 26 minutes off the bench, making him the Warriors’ second-best scorer. The big man had his chance, going 7 of 11 overall and 4 of 7 from distance. Saric also added eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. His plus 11 was bettered only by Paul.
This is the third game in which Saric has scored 20 or more points this season. Saric averaged 18.3 points on 60 percent shooting (18 of 30) in his last three games, scoring 18 points, 17 points and then 20 in Friday night’s win.
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