Steph Curry’s hip might be aching but at least he doesn’t have to carry the Warriors’ offense on his back any more.
Toronto Raptors guard Fred Van Vleet hounded Curry all night, and he finished with a season-low 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting while expressing his frustration on occasion. But it didn’t matter on a night when Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole led the offense for the second straight game.
Despite an off night from their superstar Curry, the Warriors notched a 119-104 win over the Toronto Raptors.
For the first time ever, Wiggins and Poole each scored at least 30 points in the same game as teammates. Unlike last year, the Warriors are consistently proving they can win games even when Steph isn’t at peak performance. Last season, when No. 30 didn’t score at least 30 points, Golden State went 11-19. With Sunday’s win, the Warriors are 9-1 this season.
Of course, when you’re 15-2 and atop the NBA standings, your season stats are going to look good almost any way you slice it.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse has been known as something of a Curry specialist since slowing him down in the 2019 NBA Finals, but the Warriors are more than a one-trick pony.
"Just the overall spacing means that if teams are going to throw kitchen sink at Steph, then they're going to pay," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Poole caught fire from behind the arc, going 8-of-11 en route to a game-high 33 points. The performance came on the heels of his 30-point barrage against the Detroit Pistons on Friday. It marks the first time in the third-year guard’s career that he’s scored at least 30 points in consecutive games.
"On a night like tonight where Steph didn't really have it going, you need those points and that aggressiveness," Draymond Green said of Poole.
Green and Kerr also said that Poole's shot selection is becoming sharper as he gets more regular playing time as a starter.
"He continues to grow," Green said. "That growth is important. He's kind of getting to that point where he's taking better and better shots. He's starting to read the game better."
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Wiggins finished with a game-high 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished three assists to keep up his stellar string of play since his 35-point outburst against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Nov. 10. In the past seven games, Wiggins is averaging 24 points.
"I think something triggered after that Minnesota game," Kerr said.
Kerr also said Wiggins looks recovered from knee soreness that slowed his start, while adding that he should have implored the wing to be more aggressive on offense to begin the year. Wiggins is averaging 16.3 shots per night since the Minnesota game, compared to 13.1 per game before it.
"We were so focused on him defensively early in the season and I don't think I did a good job of really reminding to be aggressive," Kerr said. "Kind of took him for granted there for a couple weeks."
You never know who’s going to step up for the Warriors on a nightly basis, but Sunday night the team’s second and third options made a Curry dud an afterthought. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the league.
