San Francisco – The Warriors completed their five-game road trip winning four out of five games and staying two games ahead of the Houston Rockets who had their 11-game winning streak end, by losing to the Dallas Mavericks today. Thanks to the Mavericks, the Warriors have a little breathing room with 8 games remaining in the regular season.
Stephen Curry led all scorers with 33 points, his 27th 30-point performance of the season. Curry hit 7-of-15 from 3-point range to extend his league-leading 3-point total to 329, surpassing his 2016-17 total (324) for the fifth-most made threes in a single season (Curry has five of the top six single-season 3-point totals in NBA history).
Draymond Green tallied 21 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and a season-high six steals, recording his eighth double-double of the season (sixth of the point/assist variety) and third 20-point game. Green tied Chris Mullin for second-most games played in Warrior’s franchise history with his 807th career regular season appearance. Green crossed the 7,000-point threshold for his career, becoming the 19th player in franchise history to score 7,000 career regular season points.
Injuries have taken a toll on this recent road trip but did not thwart the goal record wins. Jonathan Kuminga (bilateral knee tendinitis) missed his third game of the season while Dario Saric (right knee lateral joint line pain) missed his fourth game of the season. Klay Thompson, who missed Friday’s game with right knee tendinitis, tallied 13 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers, tying Kyle Korver (2,450 career threes) for sixth-most career 3-point field goals in NBA history.
The most surprising absence on the road was Green when he was ejected in less than 4 minutes in the win over the Orlando Magic. The team rallied together and won which is unusual without Green because he runs the floor. An emotional Curry was frustrated with Green’s. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spoke about Green’s early ejection.
“Every game being so important and us fighting for everything, for Draymond to get kicked out three minutes in, it was really unforgivable,” Kerr said. “I think Steph may have even been a little upset with himself for not pulling Draymond out of there, but I think mostly it was just, ‘Come on, man. We need this.’ Steph is such a fighter, such a competitor, he wants it so badly and I think all of that combined led to that reaction.”
Green’s ejection was a gift and a curse, the team depends on Green’s leadership, and experience on the floor because he creates space and shots for Curry. But when he’s off the floor, it can be quite a pretty mess.
The win over the Magic proved they can win without him. Green apologized for his actions on the floor that led to his ejection on his podcast and explained he knows the importance of him being on that floor.
The Warriors return home for one game then they’re back on the road to face a make-up game with the Mavericks and then to Houston to face the Rockets. It’s a tight race with the play-in tournament (with 4 teams) and the last two spots (5th and 6th) in the Western Conference standings. Every game counts!
Up Next: The Warriors return home to face the Mavericks on Tuesday, April 2 (7 p.m. PDT).
Photo by GSW/Twitter
