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Five notes after Warriors beat Wizards for ninth-straight win

By

Jacob Hutchinson

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© Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The last time the Golden State Warriors lost a game was from a near-impossible game-winning shot from James Harden. It was the first Warriors game of the new year, and since that time, the team has played near flawlessly. Tonight, Golden State secured its ninth-straight win, in a game that was closer than the Warriors would have preferred.

Here are three notes from the Warriors’ 126-118 win over the Wizards:

“DC, yeah you know they f****** proud of you”

It’s well known that Kevin Durant is from Washington, D.C. Durant grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland on the outskirts of D.C. and has made a concerted effort to return to the place he grew up and provide support to the youth.

Just yesterday, Durant opened an after-school facility. The College Track at The Durant Center, comes with a $10 million endowment from Durant. It will provide scholarships, tutoring and emotional and financial support to local kids, helping them get into college and secure graduation. Durant and Quinn Cook, who grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland, and has been a close friend of Durant’s since childhood, went to the opening of the center yesterday, and were excused from practice.

On “Pray Everyday (Survivor’s Guilt),” GoldLink, a D.C.-area rapper, rapped about the pride that his home has for him, and it surely applies to Durant. GoldLink rapped, “DC, yeah you know they f****** proud of you.”

Get Barry in the squad

Durant’s efforts to reach out to and educate the local D.C-area youth didn’t stop with the opening of The Durant Center. According to Connor Letourneau, Durant and the rest of the Warriors, “… toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture with students from Kevin Durant’s hometown of Seat Pleasant, Md.”

On that visit, the Warriors met up with a notorious basketball fan, Barack Obama who also happens to be the 44th President of the United States of America. Obama, a Chicago Bulls fan, takes his basketball very seriously, and plays with an intensity that other NBA stars like Chris Paul can attest to. If the Warriors hit an injury bug in the backcourt, he might be worth taking a 10-day flier on.

Dray, Klay, will have to wait for another day, while Curry heads home to Charlotte

Before tonight’s game, the NBA All-Star starters were announced, and while Paul George knocked off Anthony Davis in the West front court, there were few other surprises. Both Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry were named starters, but neither were chosen captain, like Curry was last season. LeBron James won the West captaincy handily, while Giannis Antetokounmpo won the East captaincy.

It sets up the likely possibility that Curry and Durant face each other in the All-Star game in Charlotte, Curry’s hometown.

But with the reserves being voted on by NBA coaches and announced January 31, there is a massive amount of uncertainty regarding Draymond Green and Klay Thompson’s All-Star candidacies. Thompson has been named an All-Star each of the last four seasons, while Green has been an All-Star in each of the last three seasons.

When asked before tonight’s game whether all four players would make this year’s All-Star game, Steve Kerr was uncertain at best:

Here is the full quote, from Anthony Slater:

The offense looks frighteningly good

The last time the Warriors scored less than 112 points was December 27, in their last loss of 2018, to the Portland Trail Blazers. Since then, the Warriors have been brutally efficient on offense. Again, their only loss in the last 12 games came from one of James Harden out-of-body nights, which seems to happen at a frightening rate lately.

A lot of that efficiency can be attributed to the efforts of Draymond Green. In Green’s last nine games, including tonight, he has 81 assists with just 14 turnovers. Tonight was probably his least clean passing game, and he still finished with 7 points (3-of-6, 1-of-2 from 3-pt), 7 assists, 15 rebounds, 1 block, 3 turnovers.

In addition to Green’s improved passing, the Warriors now have four elite offensive weapons, with the addition of DeMarcus Cousins. Here are the stats for the so-called “death lineup” starters tonight, aside from Green:

Stephen Curry: 38 points (14-of-24, 2-of-8 from 3-pt), 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 3 turnovers

Kevin Durant: 21 points (9-of-18, 1-of-4 from 3-pt), 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers

DeMarcus Cousins: 17 points (8-of-12, 1-of-1 from 3-pt) 3 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 block, 2 turnovers

Klay Thompson: 9 points (4-of-13, 1-of-4 from 3-pt), 5 assists, 1 rebound

The first T for Boogie… on the floor

Cousins is well-known for getting on the wrong side of NBA referees. In his nine seasons in the league, Cousins has racked up an astounding 119 technical fouls. Since he made his debut with the Warriors, the question naturally arose: when will Cousins pick up his first technical foul as a Warrior? Well, that question was answered back in October, when Cousins was ejected from the bench against the New York Knicks. So the question was reframed: when would Cousins pick up his first technical on the floor?

Well, that short wait is over. In his third game, Cousins picked up his second technical of the season after getting tangled up with the Wizards’ Thomas Bryant:

I’m sure no one on the Warriors will be too concerned about the technical foul, considering the ease with which Cousins has slotted into the lineup, and the depth he has provided in the front court.

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