By: Ben Leonard
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The Warriors wanted to send a message after falling to the Atlanta Hawks (53-15) in February, only due to Atlanta’s unsustainably hot shooting. They sent a powerful one to the entire NBA on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena, trouncing the NBA’s second-best team 114-95 and moving to an NBA-best 54-13.

Even without star guard Klay Thompson, the Warriors still thrived. As Andre Iguodala put it in a post-game interview on CSN-Bay Area, with Thompson “out…we knew we had to make three or four passes….[something that was] just working for us tonight.” Even though the Hawks sold out to double team Curry, the Warriors succeeded in “rel[ying] on one another to make tough shots.” The Warriors had five players in double figures, including two bench players, Leandro Barbosa and Iguodala, the latter scoring 21 in a winning effort.

Even without Thompson and Curry being played tight, held to *just* 16 points, the Warriors managed to play patient basketball and take good shots, making 52.4% of their field goal attempts. They did not have to rely on their stars to take the victory, all the more impressive for Golden State.

For Igoudala, this game was no different than any other, unlike many who were looking forward to this marquee matchup: as he described it, “every team is the same.” After the “Lakers…almost got us [Golden State],” Igoudala and the Warriors had to treat every game the same. Iguodala certainly put a good effort in on Wednesday, throwing down an impressive dunk on a fast break midway through the second quarter.

Small forward Harrison Barnes was also key in the Warriors’ victory, scoring 25 points while making 11 of his 13 field goal attempts. He took advantage of the easier matchups the Hawks handed him, passing the ball when needed and showing good shot selection.

The Warriors set the tone early, with center Andrew Bogut containing the dangerous Al Horford, holding him to just 8 points. Bogut might not have scored any points, but his presence down low, grabbing 14 rebounds, was instrumental in the victory. Bogut altered the dynamic of Atlanta’s offense, and keyed the victory for Golden State. The result was never in doubt for Golden State, who controlled the game throughout.The Warriors rose to the moment on Wednesday, trailing only in the early stages of the game.

Watch out, NBA. The Warriors are hungry for more. 

by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors at some point in the season were going to attempt to rest some of the core of their players and they did on Friday night in Denver benching Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala. They rested Bogut on the last big road trip they had in February when they went back east.

Bogut was going to sit in the game against Brooklyn on March 2 but in a game prior to that in Boston the Warriors Festus Ezeli got a technical foul and a one game suspension for pushing and shoving. Since Ezeli was out and he’s the back up center he would have started in Bogut’s place with him suspended the W’s had to put Bogut back in the line up.

The Warriors were definitely looking for a spot to get Bogut some rest as we already knew prior to this season the Warriors are very concerned about Bogut’s minutes he has that injury history. Anybody whose seven feet tall and as big as he is there is just a lot of wear and tear that would limit his time on the floor as much as possible.

In general everybody fresh in their memory from last season remembers Bogut was healthy for most of the season but he got an injury right at the end of the year and because he was out of that series in the first round you could argue that was the difference between winning and losing. That series went seven games and the Warriors didn’t have Bogut and if they have him they have a presence in the middle and their able to defend the Clippers Blake Griffin and Andre Jordan in last season’s post season and they don’t let anybody get by on the Clippers drive and that could have been the difference maker.

They want Bogut healthy and want him rested and their giving him rest whenever they can. This won’t be the last time Bogut sits once the Warriors wrap up their playoff position Bogut is barely going to see the floor until the playoffs. As for the other guys Curry and Thompson, now remember with them their obviously important to the team and they have played a lot in the last year.

Not only did they play all of last season the also played in the World Basketball Championships they logged extra minutes in the summer where a lot of guys normally wouldn’t. The Warriors have been doing their best to keep those guys from playing too much during the season. With Curry and Thompson they average around 32 or 33 minutes a night which is on the low side.

David Zizmor does commentary each week on the Warriors at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

Given the circumstances, Golden State Warriors fans couldn’t have been faulted if they chose other ways to spend their Friday nights than watching the Dubs face the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City. After all, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to give a handful of his regulars the night off.

Absent from the line-up were Most Valuable Player candidate Stephen Curry, his All-star running mate Klay Thompson as well as starting center Andrew Bogut and reserves Andre Iguodala and Marreese Speights, the latter of which was serving a one-game suspension for reckless driving. Still, lacking 67 percent of their offensive output, Golden State (51-13) managed to keep things interesting, ultimately falling to the Nuggets 114-103.

Justin Holiday, averaging 3.6 points per game this season, topped the Warriors with 23 points while Denver’s Kenneth Faried and Danilo Gallinari each put up 24 points on the punchless Dubs. Faried also pulled down game-high 17 rebounds to complete the eye-popping double-double.

Denver (25-41) took the early lead, outscoring the Warriors 34-26 but a 28-28 second quarter kept Denver from adding to the lead. Golden State outscored the Nuggets in only one quarter, the third, with a 29-20 run to pull ahead 83-82. The reserve brigade couldn’t close out the game though, allowing 32 Denver points to 20 in the final quarter to give Denver its fourth win in its last ten games.

The Warriors head home to Oracle Arena for a Saturday night showdown with the New York Knicks. More likely than not, Thompson and Curry will be on the court for the inter-conference tilt.

By Robert Steward

OAKLAND–

The Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to five games, defeating a feisty Detroit Pistons squad, 105-98. With the win, the Warriors maintained their league-best record, improving to 51-12. The 51 wins matches their win total from last season, with 19 games remaining in the regular season. Barring a total collapse, Golden State should be a lock to set the team record for most wins in a season. The 1975-76 team finished 59-23 in the regular season, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals, one year after defeating the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep in the NBA Finals, the last year the franchise won the NBA Championship.

This year’s team has shown no signs of letting up. Tonight was no different. The Warriors took their first lead, 9-8, on a jumper by Draymond Green with 8:15 left in the first quarter. They eventually built the lead to 10, at 26-16 with two minutes left in the quarter before the Pistons made a 9-2 run to trim the lead to 28-25. Andre Iguodala grabbed an offensive rebound following a Harrison Barnes miss and made a 13-foot jumper as the horn sounded and the Warriors led 30-25 after one quarter.

In the second quarter Golden State once again built a double-digit lead, going up as much as 44-31 following a shot by Marreese Speights with 7:43 left in the half. But, as they did in the first, the scrappy Pistons fought back, cutting the lead to five, 56-51, at halftime.

As the third quarter unfolded Detroit continued chipping away at the Warriors’ lead, eventually tying it at 65, then going ahead, 67-65, on a Tayshaun Prince jumper at the 5:26 mark. Both teams then took turns holding the lead until Golden State scored 7 unanswered points to go up 79-73 before Detroit’s Spencer Dinwiddie hit a three pointer as the quarter ended to draw back to within three, at 79-76, entering the 4th.

The Warriors opened the 4th by missing their first 5 shots, allowing Detroit to regain the lead, 81-79, before Shaun Livington’s jumper at 9:07 broke the scoring drought and tied the game at 81. It was at this point in the game that Golden State finally put the pesky Pistons away, going on an 18-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 97-83. During the scoring run Klay Thompson scored 9 of the 18 points. For the game Thompson finished with a game-high 27 points, leading the way for Golden State, who had 6 players reach double figures in scoring. Green and Iguodala both had 13 points each. Speights and Andrew Bogut each scored 12 points, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in 10. Detroit’s Andre Drummond was an absolute beast on the boards, hauling down a career-best 27 rebounds, 17 on the offensive side, to go with a team-high 22 points. Greg Monroe scored 20 points, Reggie Jackson added 14, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 13.

Golden State improved to 28-2 at home. Detroit fell to 23-41, overall, on the season. The Warriors will travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Friday at 6pm.

by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors had the Dallas Mavericks number all season and for that matter several seasons going back to the playoffs. The “We Believe” team that beat them although the Warriors were an eighth seeded team and the Mavericks were number one that season. The W’s have been doing well this season against the Mavs and have had a traditional great game.

The Mavs are kind of a centralist team with center Tyson Chandler this season but they don’t play the half court game, they don’t run a half court offense. The Mavs are kind of a moving target just like the Warriors are and the Warriors excel at that. The W’s really have taken it to the Mavs and if you look at the standings there’s a shot that the Warriors could end up playing the Mavs in the first round of the playoffs.

It could take a little bit of shuffling at the back end of that playoff rotation in the west and the Mavs are a team that the Warriors could face. If Golden State played Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs it would be heaven for the W’s because they match up really well against them.

Dallas got out to a very quick six point lead but after that it was all W’s they were up as much as some 20 points. They were up by double digits at the half and it wasn’t even close in the fourth quarter. The Warriors really had that really rough February where they have two home games spaced out by two weeks with the All-Star break in the middle.

The W’s spent almost the entire month of February on the road and it was one of the worst stretches for any team in the NBA, what that means the Warriors through those crazy road games in February the rest of the season between now and the end of April it’s almost all home games. They have a few road games here and there and a legitimate road trip with a three game set with all the Texas teams.

Aside from the three game trip to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas your talking about a road trip to Portland, L.A., Utah, your talking about road trips and one long flight maybe two games at most. The Warriors are looking mostly at home games as we all know the Warriors are really tough to beat at home. The Warriors have only lost two games all season and their 27-2 at Oracle Arena that’s huge.

David Zizmor does commentary on Warriors basketball each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below