SAN FRANCISCO — As the final buzzer sounded, Steph Curry walked off the Chase Center floor, his arms raised triumphantly — and perhaps semi-sarcastically.
“We hadn’t had good energy walking off this floor in a while,” Curry said after the game. “We needed this one for sure.”
A late-November win over a .500 team hasn’t traditionally been much cause for celebration for the Golden State Warriors over the past decade, but this one — a 121-116 victory against the Houston Rockets — deodorized a losing “stink” that Curry warned could infiltrate the locker room if things weren’t rectified quickly.
Warriors Ground has long been a safe space for Golden State. Even last season, when they couldn’t win a game on the road to save their lives, the Warriors only lost eight home games all year. All the more reason why their recent skid — six straight losses, five of which came at Chase Center — seemed even more perplexing, and led to a sense of urgency on Monday unmatched so far this season.
Head coach Steve Kerr played Curry for the entire fourth quarter. He played 38-year-old Chris Paul for 34 minutes, just two nights after he had logged 37 in a loss to the Thunder. Curry was his normal, brilliant self, scoring 32 points on 14 shots. Paul, meanwhile, rewarded Kerr and the team with 15 points and 12 assists, committing only one turnover and finishing as a game-best plus-12.
“You lose that many games in a row, you forget what it feels like to win,” Paul said. “So, we just tried to play with a sense of urgency tonight and see if we could come out on top.”
The motto of the current Warriors dynasty, starting with the first title team back in 2014-15, is “Strength in Numbers.” Well, for most of the 2023-24 season, it’s been more like “Strength in Number” — and that number is 30.
30, as in the number on the back of Curry’s jersey.
30, as in the number of points No. 30 turns in on a nightly basis. Well, 30.4 to be exact.
Golden State has been desperate to get offensive production from anyone outside of Curry for the entire season, with…
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Author : Colin Ward-Henninger
Publish date : 2023-11-21 07:30:14
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