Though Andre Iguodala on Wednesday night produced numbers the Warriors would be happy to take in most any game, it was his presence at both ends that the team will need to maximize its vast potential.
They surely needed Iguodala’s impact to launch them to a 127-121 win over the Raptors at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
As his stat line – 10 points, six assists, three rebounds, two steals and a fabulous block of a DeMar DeRozan shot – indicates, Iguodala's shot was falling, and his court awareness and his defense savage.
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SIGN UP HERE Moreover, Iguodala appeared refreshed, bouncy, looking for the first time this season like one of the most valuable wings in the league. He even submitted his first two-dunk game.
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Iguodala, in a postgame interview with CSN reporter Ros Gold-Onwude, passively referenced his relative low-impact first three weeks of the season.
“This is my first time being interviewed,” he said. “I just figured out you’ve got to make shots to get interviewed. So I’m going to work on it at night, so I can be interviewed more often, I guess.”
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Iguodala took only four shots, but he made all four, including a pair of 3-pointers, the first time this season he has made two triples in a game. He played 25 minutes and finished plus-15.
Iguodala was crucial to a second-quarter spurt that was anchored by defense and put the Warriors in the lead for good.
So it wasn’t the shots that warranted the TV interview. It was the impact.