The Warriors and the rest of the NBA pretty much know what to expect of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. They are able to see what’s possible with Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga, and also what Gary Payton II is going to bring.
Andrew Wiggins? From game to game, no idea.
One game, he’s making an impact at both ends.
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Next game, he’s barely there. There have been a lot of those games over the past two months.
On Wednesday night, though, Wiggins managed to compress the best and worst of himself in a single game – with the best coming after halftime when the game was decided.
With the Warriors clinging to a seven-point lead, trying to hold off the stubborn Heat, Wiggins took it upon himself to put them to sleep, scoring eight points in a 45-second span to push the lead to 15 and secure a shocking 118-104 victory at FTX Arena in Miami.
“I feel like this one of the better games I’ve had in this little stretch,” Wiggins said, temporarily forgetting his abysmal first half. “Just got to carry it on. Have that same mindset that I did in the second half.”
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Wiggins’ first half is best tossed into a fireplace. He played 15 minutes, producing two points, on 1-of-5 shooting, with one rebound, one turnover, one foul and zero assists, blocks and steals. The game was tied, but he was minus-8.
Whatever he ate or drank – or whoever got into his ear – at halftime worked wonders. Wiggins scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, grabbed a couple rebounds, got one assist, one block and one steal. He was plus-18 over 22 minutes.
He even made all three of his free throws, which came inside the final two minutes.
“It’s been a rough go for Andrew,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But he has played a lot of great games for us this year. His first half was amazing; he was an All-Star player. You’ve got to look at the sum of the whole season. That’s what I told him. Everybody can have bad stretch, but overall, it’s been a great year and he’s going to get it back. He stayed with it through a difficult first half and really exploded in the second.”
Might this be the rebirth of “Two-way Wiggs,” the guy who was voted in as a starter in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in his seven-year career?
The guy whose jump shot, which was dropping in an unprecedented rate, abandoned him in February? The sudden loss of touch, even at the free-throw line, clearly had a psychological impact on Wiggins.
“That’s part of it,” he conceded. “It felt good today. Even last game, I didn’t make shots, but it felt good. I think I’m on the right track, coming back. I feel good. Just got to keep it rolling.”
With Curry sidelined until next month and consistency eluding Thompson after a 31-month layoff, the Warriors need second-half Wiggins to close the regular season with anything remotely resembling momentum. No matter how prolific Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga are, Wiggins is key to the fate of the final nine games.
He proved in the second half that he has within him the ability to play well when he is needed.
“Being able to have Wiggs go out there and dominate, like we know he can, is huge for our team,” Poole said. “I have no doubt that he’ll just take over. Every time we go into a game, I have the utmost faith and trust in him hitting big shots because that’s who he is. It was amazing to see him get to it today.
“He’s capable every single night. He has no reason to listen to the noise because he’s a great player. Huge win for us, and he’s big part, if not the reason we won.”
Poole is right. Wiggins has no reason to “listen to the noise.” It’s going to be there, just as has been throughout his career. That he reached All-Star status was deserving at the time votes hit ballots, but it still puzzled many around the league.
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Wiggins’ reaction to the honor was a sharp decline in production, which fed the narrative that was he was less than deserving.
He played up to that level down the stretch of a game that could have gone either way. Wiggins forced the action, even drove into the paint, as if to prove he would embrace the possibility of shooting free throws. He did. He swished them.
If Wiggins stays on this path, and it's an enormous "if," it’s a timely boost for the Warriors. With nine games remaining and seeding at stake, another fade into the ether would suffocate them while turning up volume of the noise.