1) Against the Spurs’ historically great defense, the reigning MVP dropped a cool 37 points on 20 shots without even playing the fourth quarter. The Spurs tried Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Patty Mills, Jonathan Simmons, Tony Parker, and I think Sean Elliot might’ve even stopped homering for a second and jumped out of the announcing booth to D up on Steph … but none of it worked. It was Curry’s night and he kept making one highlight after the other. Some games he just has that MVP look and this was one of them. I guess Steph got tired of losing to the Spurs.
2) Curry is averaging 34.8 points in 33 minutes over the last five games (which includes the 30+ point beat downs of the Spurs, Bulls and Cavs). During that stretch, he’s shooting 55% from the field and 51.7% from distance. Safe to say that little “slump” Curry was going through while he was dealing with the shin injury might be over. It’s probably time to pump the breaks on that “Kawhi Leonard has gotten himself into the MVP race” talk.
3) Draymond Green had a dominant defensive effort on LaMarcus Aldridge. He was able to muscle LA out of his preferred spots in the paint and helped hold the $80-million man to 2-of-9 shooting, 5 points, and a game-low minus-20. Green was so tired from playing D that he had to ask for a breather at the end of the first quarter, the first time he’s ever done so with Kerr. Dray took only eight shots in the game, electing to save his energy for defense.
4) The Warriors went at Tony Parker, especially early. Steph had his way against Parker, but he does that against everyone. When Shaun Livingston got loose on Parker that’s when it became evident that they were treating TP as if he were Kevin Love. Livingston had 11 of his 13 points in the first half and even threw down three dunks in the second quarter.
5) The bench again had a nice game, especially Livingston and Rush who combined for 26 points on 11-of-12 shooting. The reserves as a whole had 53 points in extended minutes, and were able to extend the starter’s lead while Curry and Green sat.
6) At age 39, Duncan has the highest defensive RPM in the league, and by a significant margin. How is that possible? The dude was drafted when I was in high school (back when people used beepers) and plays on only one non-mummified leg. He and Nowitzki playing at this level in 2016 is astounding.
7) Watch Steph pregame versus the Spurs. You know what my favorite part about his 35-foot launches are? He’s standing so far from the basket that it seems to take the ball a full minute to reach the rim.
8) Where do the Spurs keep finding these guys? Boban Marjonavic is an immovable behemoth with surprisingly deft moves and touch. Kyle Anderson has that prototypical play-making ability bigs in San Antonio always have. And they picked Jonathan Simmons off the street and the guy is so athletic he can body up on Steph well on one end and go in for a monster jam in traffic on the other. Can’t you just see those guys becoming the new Danny Green, Boris Diaw, Patty Mills rotation-cog types in a few years when Kawhi is the focal point of the team?
9) If these Mo Buckets 3-point victory cigars are going to become a regular thing (he had two in the final minutes) we should probably find a better name for them. (By the way, I think Mo really wanted to go at Boban, especially on that disastrous Euro-step drive.)
10) It really is Steph’s world. The MVP gets to mess around for 35+ against the Cavs and Spurs one week and the next he gets to watch his favorite football team play in the Super Bowl an hour down the road on an off-day. Maybe he can bring Kevin Durant (OKC plays in Oakland the day before the SB) with him on a recruiting trip.
That game was fun as hell to watch. What a time to be a dubs fan.