The Golden State Warriors finally earned a comfortable victory. Playing on the second night of a back-to-back without a resting Klay Thompson, the defending champions routed the San Antonio Spurs 132-95 at Chase Center on Monday behind a barrage of splashed triples and forced turnovers.
Jordan Poole led the charge from the opening tip, dropping a season-high 36 points on 13-of-20 overall and 5-of-10 from deep, getting wherever and whatever he wanted offensively. Even more impressive? Poole did it all in just 29 minutes, subbing out for good with 8:04 left in the fourth quarter.
“Obviously, Jordan was pretty amazing offensively,” Steve Kerr said. “He got it going right away.”
None of his teammates added more than 17 points. But the Warriors easily compensated for that lack of individual scoring pop behind Poole with red-hot shooting, crisp ball movement and disruptive, opportunistic defense that ignited their transition attack—a wholesale team effort good enough that Curry, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins sat the entire fourth quarter.
Golden State shot 21-of-43 from deep, doled out 31 assists and outscored the Spurs 19-4 in fastbreak points. If not for San Antonio absolutely owning the offensive glass, the Warriors could've been on their way to a blowout win of historic proportions.
Not that Kerr is apologizing for his team's much-needed 37-point win, of course.
“It was an excellent performance by the team. We did a lot of things that we've been talking about. We defended without fouling, moved the ball, took care of it for the most part,” he said. “All in all, a really good effort.”
Bigger challenges will come for the Warriors, and soon.
After a hot start to 2022-23, San Antonio has lost six of seven, repositioning itself to be a player in the sweepstakes for Victor Wembanayama come the 2023 NBA draft. The Spurs were missing three rotation players on the perimeter on Monday, too. Anything less than an easy win at Chase Center would've been cause for even more concern in the Bay.
Still, the totality of Golden State's dominance leaves room for real optimism, the first real sense that this team could be turning the early-season corner. Either way, we'll know much more after Wednesday's matchup with the Phoenix Suns in the desert.