The Golden State Warriors, on their first season minus one of the club’s most celebrated gunslingers in Klay Thompson, ambushed the reigning champs Boston Celtics 118-112 to send a strong message to the rest of the league. The big upset, in front of a rabid Celtic hometown crowd, demonstrates how competitive the Warriors still are despite Klay’s departure. Klay was Steph Curry’s partner in arguably the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history, fondly named as the Splash Brothers tag team.
The Warriors got off to a clumsy start, falling behind in the early going, but woke up in the second quarter to eventually lead by 14 early in the 2nd half. With new acquisition Buddy Hield taking over Klay’s spot as the 2-guard, the Warriors exhibited a balanced scoring with Steph leading the charge. Hield, along with a rejuvenated Andrew Wiggins, a more mature Jonathan Kuminga and new transferee Kyle Anderson, provided the firepower support to befuddle the supposed elite Celtic defensive line.
The Warriors had taken a big tumble in the ratings last year, after tasting the champagne bubbly reserved only for NBA champs in 2022. Their 4 NBA titles in a span of 8 years had made them the third most successful team in the NBA with 7 crowns, next only to the Boston Celtics’ 18, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ 17.
And it seems that they have not skipped a beat, even with the departure of the great Klay Thompson for the Dallas Mavericks. Multi-titled Coach Steve Kerr, after a successful stint as coach of the US Men’s Olympic Basketball team in last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, has been able to make the team very cohesive this early in the season.
With Steph Curry leading the offense, and a seemingly-tamer, less volatile Draymond Green anchoring the defense, the Warriors are threading the waters more steadily. The Warriors tote a 7-1 win-loss card, tied for first in the highly-competitive Western Conference. Looming in the horizon is another blockbuster match-up, this time against the Cleveland Cavaliers, currently the league’s top team with a clean 9-0 slate. (Note: The streaking Cleveland Cavs would later send the Warriors crashing to their 2nd loss of the year via a lopsided 136-117 spanking.)
The visiting Warriors are the underdogs in this match to be played in Cleveland, but they have successfully sent a message across that, as proud former champs, they will be competitive. What they need right now is a stronger presence in the middle, as the 6’7” Green has been manning the center slot more often against the legit big men in the league. Expect the Warriors to shop for a steady center to ease the pressure off Kevon Looney and Green before the trade season ends.
There have certainly been many pleasant surprises in the roster this early. Buddy Hield has taken off a lot of the scoring load on Steph Curry, effectively taking on the role of Klay Thompson in the glory years prior. Andrew Wiggins seems to have recovered from the year-long slump he had last season. Jonathan Kuminga is showing more maturity, picking his spots in the court much better. And the hot-tempered Draymond Green has been at his best behaviour lately. All this has pointed the team’s trajectory northward.
But the competition in the west is a big free-for-all fight. At present, it is a 3-cornered fight for first, with the Phoenix Suns and the Oklahoma Thunder both exhibiting a 7-1 slate along with the Warriors. Five other teams are toting similar 5-3 cards, with last year’s losing NBA finalist Dallas Mavs among them. Plus, there are 3 more teams toting a card equal or better than .500. This tells us to expect a huge riot-of-a-campaign in the wild, wild west come the homestretch.
Folks, it’s NBA time once more. Watch and enjoy as your favorite stars exchange spectacular shots. There’s Lebron with his son, Bronny, the first ever father-son tandem in the league. There’s Ja Morant back in the Grizzlies’ line-up. We have all-star transferees in Klay Thompson, Paul George, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook. We have transcendent bigs in Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. We have a slew of stars in Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Jason Tatum and more. And we have exciting newbies raring to show their wares. All these and more. We are definitely gonna have a great time in the NBA this season!
Cover pic courtesy of Basketball Forever.
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