More than midway by the season, the Golden State Warriors are nonetheless in search of some traction.
“We’ve been teetering on either side of .500 for a very long time. I’m kind of sick of it at this point,” Warriors star Stephen Curry mentioned. “(We’ve) got to figure out how to keep moving in the right direction and stack wins, no matter how we can get them.”
Golden State heads into Monday’s recreation in opposition to the host Oklahoma City Thunder having gained consecutive video games for the primary time in practically a month.
A victory over the Thunder would put the Warriors two video games above .500, matching their excessive level of the season.
For Golden State to search out consistency, Curry figures to play a significant function.
Curry is coming off his most full recreation since returning in early January from lacking 11 video games with {a partially} dislocated left shoulder.
In Friday’s win over Toronto, he had 35 factors with 11 assists whereas trying simply eight 3-pointers. It was the primary time since 2019 that Curry had 35 or extra factors with eight or fewer 3-point makes an attempt.
“It looked like he had his pop back, getting by people, getting into the paint and getting by from there,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr mentioned. “Steph is always the key for us and when he’s playing at a high level like that, it makes the game a lot easier for everyone.”
Facing Curry, Oklahoma City could possibly be with out its prime defender. Luguentz Dort missed Friday’s win over Cleveland with a hamstring harm.
Monday’s recreation is the primary of 4 between the groups this season. Golden State has gained the final six conferences, sweeping the sequence every of the earlier two seasons.
The Thunder head into the sport having gained eight of their final 11.
Like a lot of Oklahoma City’s success this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been on the middle of the Thunder’s current scorching run. Over these 11 video games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.9 factors with 5.4 assists and 1.8 turnovers.
In Friday’s win, Gilgeous-Alexander was a plus-14 in 35 minutes as he piled up 35 factors and eight assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line, the twenty first time this season he’s made at the least 10 free throws. In his first 4 seasons, he had simply 17 such video games.
“It’s a luxury,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned of Gilgeous-Alexander. “You can get stuck and he can just go make a play.”
The Thunder continues to be making an attempt to work rookie Ousmane Dieng into the rotation. Dieng returned two video games in the past after lacking seven weeks with a wrist harm. He has performed about 10 minutes in every of his two video games again, scoring 5 complete factors.
“He was on such a good track prior to getting hurt, and now we’ve gotta work with him and he’s gotta work to get his rhythm back and kinda get himself back to zero,” Daigneault mentioned. “Not gonna be overly judgmental of his play until he gets to that point.”
