SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors don’t want to go stumbling into the All-Star break with nine days to think about all their missed opportunities from the first half of the season.
If we’ve learned anything about Golden State through its first 57 games this season, it’s that the squad can be inconsistent. So when the Washington Wizards built up an early 15-point lead at Chase Center Monday night, you could hear the collective groaning in the crowd. Was it gonna be another one of those games again?
Despite a sloppy first half and some second-half lulls that brought the Wizards to within six points late, the Warriors got some big performances from throughout their roster in the 135-126 victory.
Golden State had been waiting for the real Andrew Wiggins to stand up.
The wing started out this season playing at an All-Star level, shooting the lights out before an adductor muscle and two subsequent illnesses sidetracked his campaign. In his biggest scoring output since returning five weeks ago, Wiggins dropped 29 points on 12-of-23 shooting to lead the Dubs in points scored.
"Definitely his best game since he’s been back," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I loved his aggressiveness. He was attacking the rim all night. He got going from the mid-range and just got us a lot of key buckets when we were starting to fade a little bit."
Wiggins had noticeably been struggling since coming back on Jan. 7, as he shot just 39.9 percent from the floor and 27.1 percent from 3-point land en route to 13.1 points per game. While he admitted to some rust shortly after coming back, Wiggins’ prolonged offensive funk was starting to become a source of concern. It’s only one game, but Golden State has to be ecstatic to see an outburst from Wiggins, especially as Steph Curry (leg) remains sidelined.
"Wiggs played like an All-Star tonight," Ty Jerome said. "That’s who he is and that’s who we need him to be."
Klay Thompson paced the Warriors offense with 20 of his 27 points in the first half, while the bench came alive throughout the night. JaMychal Green went a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point land on his way to 14 points, while Jerome added nine points and seven assists, with Donte DiVincenzo chipping in 17 points of his own.
Golden State will travel to Los Angeles and wrap up the “first half” of the season with a matchup against the Clippers on Tuesday, before going on hiatus until Feb. 23 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kerr said there's a chance Klay could play on Tuesday, which would mark his first time playing in both games of a back-to-back since he returned last January from his Achilles and ACL injuries.
"Hope so," Kerr said of Klay. "We've talked about it and we'll see."
