The Warriors close out the road trip with a win, defeating the Mavericks 133-103

With Stephen Curry in the lineup after being fined $50,000 but not suspended for throwing his mouthpiece during Saturday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks 133-103.

The game started out with the Warriors playing some of their best basketball of the season. Despite still having a few rough turnovers, Curry would finish the quarter with 9 points and 5 assists, getting to the line 7 times and making all 7. With Curry playing a strong first quarter, Klay Thompson posting an early four points, and Kevin Durant contributing on the offensive and defensive end, the Warriors seized control of the game early.

Using this strong start, the Warriors held a 40-24 lead at the end of the first quarter, putting together one of their best quarters of basketball of the young season.

Unfortunately, the Warriors would continue their trend of one abysmal quarter in a game with a rough second. The quarter would begin with J.J. Barea coming off the bench and knocking down a 3-pointer, following that with a steal on an inbound pass that the Mavericks were able to convert into a layup.

The Warriors, once again, would find themselves in foul trouble in the second, with Thompson picking up his third midway through while the Mavericks were in the bonus for most of the quarter.

The Warriors’ second unit, with Curry on the bench, continued to struggle as well.

While these struggles are not surprising, given the effect Curry can have on a game, one GSoM writer pointed to an interesting reason for the Curry-less unit’s struggles.

The Mavericks took advantage of the Warriors subpar second quarter to cut the lead to three at the half.

Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks in scoring with 14 points at the half (finishing with a team-high 19) while Barea had 9 points, 4 assists, and 2 offensive rebounds while posting a team-leading plus/minus with a +8. Curry led the Warriors at the halfway mark with 17 points and 5 assists (though also with 4 turnovers) while Durant contributed 15 points and another block.

The third quarter started out on a strange note with Curry taking a free throw for delay of game because the Mavericks were not back on the court in time. The Mavericks would cut the lead to a mere two points before the Warriors would push it back to double digits, helped by a couple of three pointers from Thompson.

The Warriors fouling ways did continue as Thompson picked up his fourth foul with four minutes left in the third while Draymond Green earned his fourth defending on a Dennis Smith Jr. layup attempt. After, Green had some words with the rookie point guard.

The Warriors closed the quarter strong even with Thompson and Green on the bench and had a 15 point lead at the end of the third.

The Warriors strong offensive performance extended into the fourth as they pushed the lead to 22 points on a Durant pull-up 3-pointer while he was guarded by the much shorter Barea. The combination of an efficient offensive performance along with more focused defense and rebounding allowed the Warriors to stay in control throughout the fourth to cap off their most dominant performance of the season.

Former Warriors player Harrison Barnes was one Mavericks player who struggled against the Warriors tonight and Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett made numerous references to this.

Barnes finished with a paltry 13 points while it took future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki into the fourth quarter to get into double digits in scoring, ending with 11. For the Warriors, Durant finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and only 2 turnovers while Curry scored a game-high 29 points to go with his 8 assists.

Oh, and Jordan Bell did something awesome.

They still haven’t put together a good full game yet, but the Warriors took care of business against an inferior opponent on the road in their final game of this short road trip.