San Francisco – The Warriors are back from the All-Star break playing their best basketball. We got a glimpse of the new and improved team before the break when Golden State won nine of their last 11 games overall and three of their last four home contests. Tonight, the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 128-110 without their All-Star LeBron James, whose out nursing a left ankle injury.
“He had a great speech about all of that yesterday (Steve Kerr),” said Stephen Curry. “Sixth seed is the goal because that guarantees you a series and that’s what you want. The way our season’s gone, taking a big goal and breaking it down, this is probably the ultimate test of stay right where you are, win every game that’s in front of you, build up that joy and that energy, momentum.
We’ve what, won nine out of 11. This is a good window that we’ve had but literally every game matters for us to do that. So, I think I’m just trying to enjoy what’s happening each game, what it takes to win that particular game. It’s a lofty goal but we know we can get there.”
Golden State played great team ball tonight, they dished out 30-or-more assists in seven consecutive games, their longest such streak since the 2017-18 season. The Warriors played offensively off the glass all night, scoring 125-or-more points in four-straight games, the team’s longest such streak since January 1989.
Stephen Curry finished with 32 points and eight assists; he caught fire early behind the arc scoring 16 points in the first quarter. He also became the first player in franchise history to record 6,000 assists and the eighth player in league history to tally at least 23,000-career points and 6,000-career assists (LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and John Havlicek).
Curry has now tallied 23 games of 30-plus points on the season, including in four of his last six games. Curry has made six-or-more threes in five of his last six games. Trayce Jackson added 17 points, 5 rebounds and two blocks for the rookie celebrating a birthday today. He posted his 15th game of double figure scoring and Andrew Wiggins added 20 points.
“I think because Trayce is such a good finisher and when Klay comes off pin-downs people are going to – they’re scared, they’re going to put two on the ball,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He just knows that if Trayce, after he sets a screen, he flips and gets to the rim, Trayce is going to finish. They’ve just had a great connection all year on that action.”
Klay Thompson came off the bench again for the second time and was a great role model for Jackson-Davis. Thompson had five rebounds, four assists and one steal, probably the most in his career this season. He played well alongside Jackson-Davis in that second unit making sure the rookie scored in the paint.
“I think Klay likes passing me the ball,” Jackson-Davis said. “Before the game he actually came up to me and said, ‘come get me on pin-downs, ball-screens in transition, you’re either going to get a dunk or I’ll get a shot’. I said ‘alright’ and then he finds me. I feel like we have a great connection and I love playing with him.”
Golden State played their best defense without fouling, typically when the Warriors amass a lead, they lose it in the fourth quarter but not tonight. Golden State turned the ball over nine times, marking the 11th time this season they have recorded 10-or-fewer turnovers.
Up Next: The Warriors host the Hornets tomorrow night at 7 p.m. PST.
WARRIORS HEAD COACH STEVE KERR PREGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
ON HOW CHRIS PAUL’S RETURN WILL IMPACT THE ROTATION:
“It’s something we talk about all the time. I think once we’re fully healthy we’re going to have a numbers crunch really every night. We’re going to have to decide who’s closing each half. It will probably be fluid based on how the game’s going. But I think the only way it can work is if everybody buys in, if everybody accepts the fact that every night can be a little different. We can’t wait to get Chris back, obviously, he’s been one of our best players and he’s been in all of our best lineups. Great player, great point guard, does so many good things for us. So it’s great to have the option to close with him, just like it’s great to have the option to close with several other guys too. It won’t be easy but like I said, as long as everybody’s committed to just winning the game and recognizing that every night could be a little different than I think we’ll be in good shape.”
ON WHEN CHRIS PAUL WILL RETURN:
“I think he’ll come back on the road trip at some point. So hopefully sooner rather than later next week.”
ON SIGNING PAT SPENCER TO A TWO-WAY CONTRACT:
“Pat’s great, we’re really excited. We had him in camp last year. Very interesting story. One of the all-time great lacrosse players in college lacrosse history. Played at Northwestern, played basketball at Northwestern after his lacrosse career finished. We really like him. He plays hard and just understands the game, shooting it really well this year for Santa Cruz. He was injured most of last year so he’s healthy now. So we’re excited to get him on the two-way, also very excited to get Lester (Quinones) on the main roster. He’s really worked hard over the years and put the time in, and he’s played well for us, and he’s really earned this. So we’re excited for him.”
WARRIORS SIGN PAT SPENCER TO TWO-WAY CONTRACT
The Golden State Warriors have signed guard Pat Spencer to a two-way contract, it was announced today.
Spencer, 27, has appeared in 18 games (two starts) with Golden State’s G League affiliate the Santa Cruz Warriors this season, averaging 15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 27.4 minutes per game. Overall, Spencer owns career averages of 11.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 21.5 minutes in 37 games (two starts) over three G League seasons with the Capital City Go-Go and Santa Cruz Warriors. Unselected in the 2020 NBA Draft, Spencer also played internationally with the Hamburg Towers in Germany.
He tallied averages of 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 29.4 minutes over 31 games in his lone season at Northwestern in 2019-20 following a prolific lacrosse career at Loyola University Maryland, where he earned both the prestigious Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the top male and female college lacrosse players in the country, and the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Lt. Raymond J. Enners Most Outstanding Player Award. Spencer was the #1 overall selection in the Premier Lacrosse League’s inaugural draft in 2019 before joining the Wildcats basketball team as a graduate transfer.
WARRIORS CONVERT LESTER QUINONES TO STANDARD NBA CONTRACT
Quiñones Becomes Seventh Warrior To Have Contract Converted
The Golden State Warriors have converted the two-way contract of guard Lester Quiñones to a standard NBA contract, the team announced today.
Quiñones, 23, has appeared in 19 games with Golden State this season, tallying averages of 4.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 12.9 minutes per game. Quiñones originally signed a two-way contract with Golden State on July 24, 2023.
Unselected in the 2022 NBA Draft out of Memphis, Quiñones has played in 33 games (32 starts) over two seasons with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League, averaging 21.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 30.8 minutes per game. He was named the 2022-23 NBA G League Most Improved Player.
Quiñones becomes the seventh player to have his two-way contract converted to a standard NBA contract by Golden State, joining Quinn Cook (2017-18), Marquese Chriss (2019-20), Ky Bowman (2019-20), Damion Lee (2019-20), Juan Toscano-Anderson (2020-21) and Anthony Lamb (2022-23). The NBA introduced two-way contracts prior to the 2017-18 season.
Photo by GSW/Twitter
