Andrew Wiggins' numbers against the Oklahoma City Thunder don't particularly jump off the page.
He had 15 points, four rebounds and two blocks in Monday's game, shooting 7-of-13 overall and hitting one of his four three-point attempts. But Wiggins' overall impact in Oklahoma City loomed larger than the box score suggests, pivotal in the Warriors' hard-fought 128-120 win.
Have Steph Curry and the Warriors flipped a switch offensively? Reactions are in from an impressive win in Oklahoma City.
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— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) January 31, 2023
Making his strong performance all the more significant? It came after Wiggins missed the previous two games with another illness, amid a sustained funk he's been unable to shake since returning to the lineup in early January from the longest absence of his career—until Monday night, at least.
“I thought Andrew looked great. Athletically, energy-wise, he just looked like himself,” Steve Kerr said after the game. “He's had a rough go just between the injury and then being sick a couple of times. He lost some conditioning, lost some rhythm. He had a great practice yesterday. You could see this coming just from the way he was moving and how aggressive he was. I love the way he played tonight.”
Wiggins looked comfortable and played aggressively from the opening tip, hitting an open triple off a set play on the Warriors' first possession.
He scored the first six points of the third quarter off a pair of layups—one cutting from the weak-side corner and the other sprinting the lane in transition—and step-back 19-footer. Wiggins had a pair of his patented hook shots from either block early in the fourth quarter, too, more evidence of his burgeoning comfort post-injury and illness.
But where Wiggins came up biggest is probably on the other end, consistently forcing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into tough shots one-on-one and coming up with a massive lefty block—as a help defender, no less—on Josh Giddey in crunch-time.
The Warriors won't win another title unless Andrew Wiggins plays near his peak. He didn't quite reach those heights against the Thunder, but flashed enough two-way prowess throughout Monday's game to believe that his struggles will soon come to a much-needed end.
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