Draymond Green’s season debut Sunday at the Toyota Center once again came down to Steph Curry saving the Warriors.
Curry’s four straight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter gave Golden State just enough cushion to come away with a 106-95 road win against the Houston Rockets.
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What looked like a cold night for Curry turned into a flurry at the exact right time. Curry scored 14 fourth-quarter points and 21 of his 24 points came in the second half. All of his points were 3-pointers, finishing 6-of-14 from deep.
Green struggled in his first game back, but Chris Paul was exactly what the second unit needed in his first NBA game off the bench. Klay Thompson also made history, passing Jamal Crawford and moving into 10th place on the all-time 3-point list.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ 11th straight win against the Rockets.
Golden State Warriors
Draymond’s Debut
Rust was evident in Green’s season debut. Through his first nine minutes, Green already has committed three turnovers and three fouls and the Warriors were a minus-9 with him on the court. He also was scoreless and only had one assist and one rebound in that span.
But he found Thompson for a signature split-action 3-pointer in the first two minutes of the second half.
Green played 20 minutes, getting five-minute bursts throughout the game. It’s safe to say he looked like someone who missed all of training camp, all of preseason and the first two games because of a sprained right ankle. Green wound up having four points, five rebounds, five assists and four turnovers.
The starting five played 18:36 together and was a minus-2, being outscored 40-38.
Sixth Man CP3
Paul entered the game with seven minutes to go in the first quarter, and everything seemed to settle. The point guard replaced Green and Jonathan Kuminga came in for Andrew Wiggins, giving the Warriors a Paul, Curry, Thompson, Kuminga, Looney lineup. Dario Saric, Gary Payton II and Moses Moody also played a large role in the first quarter.
Down 13-7 when Paul first came in, the Warriors held a 26-24 lead going into the second quarter.
The Warriors held a 10-point lead at halftime, and Paul was the main person in charge of them finding their groove. Though he only scored two points in the first half, Paul was a plus-23 because of the seven assists he gave out and he didn’t turn the ball over once. For an eight-and-a-half-minute stretch between the first and second quarters, the Warriors were plus-16 with Paul in the game and Curry on the bench.
That should relieve a lot of stress Kerr has accumulated throughout the years.
Paul played 27 minutes in reserve and was a game-high plus-22. He stuffed the stat sheet, scoring eight points and added seven assists and five rebounds. Paul now has 28 assists to five turnovers this season.
Every bench player had a positive plus-minus, and they outscored the Rockets’ bench 41-21.
GP2 Finds His Shot
Defense always will be where Payton’s impact is felt the most. He’s one of the very best defenders in basketball. The Warriors, though, are a much better team when Payton is hitting open 3-pointers.
And on Sunday in Houston, he finally found his shot.
Payton entered the day scoring a total of eight points in two games, and was 1 of 5 from 3-point range – all in the corner. In the Warriors’ win, Payton nearly doubled his points by scoring 15. Payton was 6 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 beyond the arc.
His impact was felt everywhere as always. Payton was a plus-13, giving the Warriors four rebounds and three steals. The early portion of the season has shown why a full season of Payton in a Warriors uniform is so important.