What we learned as Wiggins fuels Warriors’ gritty win over Grizzlies

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What we learned as Wiggins fuels Warriors’ gritty win over Grizzlies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – After opening 2025 with a 34-point blowout win, the Warriors on Saturday night at Chase Center followed that with a feel-good 121-113 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Warriors were without Steph Curry, as well as Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II, and Jonathan Kuminga didn’t play the second half against Memphis because of a right ankle injury. Golden State now is 5-2 this season in games without Curry after being 3-5 when he didn’t play last season.

Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 24 points, with 22 coming in the second half. Dennis Schroder’s 17 points were his most in a Warriors jersey, two more than the previous high he scored last game. As a team, the Warriors had six players score in double figures.

As the Grizzlies crushed the Warriors in the paint, outscoring them 64-32 down low, Golden State let it fly behind the 3-point line. The Warriors went 23 of 43, a much different clip than the Grizzlies making only nine of their 27 3-point attempts.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ second straight win to improve to 18-16 this season.

Kuminga’s Night Ends Early

From the words of his coaches and teammates, to watching the product on the floor, Kuminga has been playing his best stretch of basketball lately in his four-year NBA career. And that’s because of much more than his back-to-back 34-point performances.

Everything has been coming together lately for Kuminga. But he had to limp to the locker room in the second quarter while attempting to block a shot. Coming down, Kuminga took a dangerous fall when he was sandwiched between two Grizzlies. His right ankle landed on Brandon Clarke’s right foot, as well as Jake LaRavia’s left foot, rolling it hard and immediately telling the Warriors bench he had to be taken out.

Kuminga wasn’t seen on the court during halftime as his teammates got shots up. He was ruled out for the rest of the game with a sprained right ankle soon after the third quarter began.

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/learned-wiggins-fuels-warriors-gritty-042553925.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-05 04:25:00

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