On Tuesday night, the Golden State Warriors earned a much-needed win when they stormed into South Beach and crushed the Miami Heat, who were struggling, 113-92 thanks to an outstanding second half performance. It was vitally important for the Dubs to win this game given how precarious their position is in the West right now.
Let’s now assign grades to the players who completed it. As usual, grades are determined by my standards for every player; a player receiving a “B” signifies an average performance from me.
Draymond put on a whole defensive master class. The Heat were obviously vulnerable, but at times it seemed as though Green was the only one preventing them from developing an attacking rhythm. He spent the entire night making Bam Adebayo’s life tough and conducting the Warriors’ offense and defense both operate with ease.
He didn’t provide much in the way of scoring and committed too many fouls. But a really strong evening.
Despite the absence of Trayce Jackson-Davis for the Warriors in this game, Kuminga made sure that no one was playing above the rim. JK was really playing at a different level than everyone else in the arena, whether it was lobs or put-back dunks.
It is so important to the Warriors. And for the future star, it was such a full game.
Let’s begin with this: eight days a week, the Warriors will defeat Wiggins 17 and 7. Every day for eight days a week! It’s everything Wiggs could possibly want.
More importantly, though, is that the Warriors will expect Wiggins to play hard eight days a week. Possibly nine times a week.
The best way to characterize Wiggins’ performance on Tuesday is urgency. It was the way he looked for buckets, rebounded, and guarded the ball.And what a change it brought about.
Stephen Curry
31 minutes, 7 for 15 shooting, 3 for 10 threes, 56.7% TS, +19, 17 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul
Curry simply played a cool, collected, and calculated game. When his colleagues took over, he was in charge and would only intervene when necessary with a dagger. In this one, he assumed the job of an old-fashioned point guard, setting up the offense, allocating shot opportunities, and handling the ball.
