Warriors Rewind: 10 Thoughts on Warriors 127, Mavericks 107

1) With Steph struggling to find his shot (1-8) and Draymond hampered by foul trouble (8 minutes) in the first half, Klay grabbed the keys to the offense and reminded everyone that he’s pretty good at basketball too. Thompson’s 26 points through the first two quarters almost single-handedly kept the Mavs and Chandler Parsons (23 points, 8-13 FG) at bay early in the game. He finished the contest with a season-high 45 points on 70% shooting, and as impressive as his 7-of-12 from beyond the arc was, his aggressiveness driving to the rim was just as key to the Warriors’ victory. Too bad Klay didn’t have this performance yesterday; coaches in the NBA turned in their All-Star ballots earlier in the day.

2) The Mavs were actually within striking distance in this game. With 7:13 left in the third quarter, they had whittled a 14-point deficit down to one. But then Klay’s reinforcements finally arrived. Curry drained back-to-back threes, Draymond hit 4 of 4 shots and shifted to center, all of which helped propel the Warriors to a 19-to-3 run to close out the quarter. They entered the fourth with an 18-point advantage, and with the law of the “15-Point Lead” activated, the contest was effectively over and viewers were free to second-screen the game without fear.

3) Despite not having a dominant low-post scorer, the Warriors are fifth in the league in points-in-the-paint at 44.9 a game (per Team Rankings). The Dubs are able to score many of their close-range buckets off lobs and cuts to the baskets that take advantage of defenses overplaying their shooters. Shaun Livingston smartly got a layup on a cut where the defenders were afraid to give Steph even a sliver of daylight at the arc. The Warriors have basically inverted the basketball court — it’s their shooting that sets up their inside scores. In that way, they’re like the Steve Young-era 49ers teams that were first to use the pass to set up the run. Their scheme runs counter to the way the game is traditionally played but the ahead-of-its-time game plan eventually led to a championship.

4) Harrison Barnes still doesn’t seem to have his explosion back. He bungled two finishes at the rim when he didn’t quite get enough lift on his jump, and even on a dunk in the lane he lacked the usual explosiveness we’re accustomed to from HB.

5) Wesley Mathews (9 points, 4-12 FG) got a max contract last summer despite tearing his Achilles heel four months earlier. Wes is a prolific 3-point shooter and solid defender (not so much this season as he works his way back) but at 29 years old and trying to recover from an injury with a grim track record in the NBA, that contract could look bad in a hurry. His deal works as a signal of the kind of money the much younger, healthier and taller HB can look forward to this offseason with the cap set to explode.

6) Defenders are taught to never leave Curry in transition. An unintended consequence of that strategy is that in the mad dash chaos to find Steph, one of his teammates can spring free for an open shot. Klay stuck an uncontested three in the first quarter when two Mavs inadvertently stuck with Steph on the wing.

7) Fans finally got a look at Kevon Looney and were treated to his first basket in the NBA off a herky-jerky pull-up jumper. What’s life like for young Looney? 20 months ago he’s getting buckets for Alexander Hamilton High in Milwaukee and now he’s running the break with Stephen Curry on a team that’s on pace to win 74 games. Life must be really good.

8) He’s coming off hip surgery and was probably tired in his first NBA action, so Looney’s kinda, sorta plodding gait when he runs probably isn’t worth thinking about. (No, I didn’t spend 10 minutes watching old Youtube videos of Greg Oden running.)

9) Since winning a championship in 2011, the Mavs have tried to improve their roster each off-season by chasing marquee free agents like Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Lebron. Unfortunately for Dallas, the team has come up empty each time (with last summer’s Twitter-fueled rejection at the alter by DeAndre Jordan serving as the latest example). The Mavs then have had to settle for second-tier free agents — the Monta Ellis, Chandler Parsons types — and watch as Dirk drags another hodgepodge team towards an 8-seed in the playoffs. This isn’t an ideal way to build a championship contender, obviously, but at least Dallas is trying. And their definition of “trying” doesn’t require losing 60-plus games in the hopes of tilting the lottery odds in their favor. Despite missing out on yet another coveted Free Agent X, Mark Cuban’s willingness to swing and miss on difference-making players deserves to be lauded. The Rondo experiment last season was an unmitigated disaster, but at least the Mavs had the wherewithal to try something unconventional in an attempt to win. I’m not against the “process” in Philly, and it may well bear fruit, but there are other ways to build a contender without subjecting your fan base to awful, awful basketball. Dallas is a prime example of that, even if they haven’t been totally successful.

10) The next time you accidentally send an embarrassing text to the wrong person, remember that even professionals flub it from time to time.