Final Score: Warriors win vs Wizards 109-101 in Durant’s homecoming

The Golden State Warriors overwhelmed the short-handed Washington Wizards 109-101 in a battle of “The Town” vs “The District”. Kevin Durant lit up the defense of his former coach Scotty Brooks for 32 points, on 12-of-20 shooting (3-of-6 from the arc). Stephen Curry added 25 points on a rough 5-of-15 shooting from the field, but went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Draymond Green had a heady double-double with 11 points and 11 assists.

The Wizards were missing All-Star point guard John Wall due to knee surgery, which kept fans from witnessing a matchup of the greatest backcourt in NBA history versus the most delusional backcourt in the game. Bradley Beal didn’t make a field goal until late in the third quarter, and finished with a paltry 8 points on 3-of-15 shooting. He had 5 turnovers as well, and pretty much disappeared under Klay Thompson’s shackling defense.

First Half

Remember all the murmuring and complaining about the Warriors uninspired first quarters at the All-Star break? Well, it’s early in the Javale McGee-as-starter experiment, but this game showed some promising potential.

Durant led the opening blitz with sixteen points in his return to the arena where he suffered that frightening knee injury last season. Way to get comfortable back home in the “DMV”, KD!

He would finish with 18 at the half, cooking Wizards defenders with kerosene.

Unfortunately, that hot start was the preamble for a lame second quarter for the champs. The Wizards outscored the Dubs 35-22 that period, fueled by some hot long range shooting. Otto Porter Jr. drilled 4 of his 5 three pointers in the two quarters and matched Durant with 18 points of his own early.

Washington shot 9-for-21 from long distance at the half, with the bench contributing 21 points. Despite Durant’s hot start, the spirited Wiz managed to hack away at the deficit, and the Warriors only led 58-56 at the break.

Second Half

In the third quarter, the Warriors, as usual, ratcheted up their defensive intensity from “Normal” level to “Swarming Sharks Smelling Blood”. They forced six Washington turnovers in the period, after the Wizards only had six for the entire first half. As the Wizards offense broke-down, the Warriors offense cranked up in transition.

The Warriors would dominate the quarter, 27-14, and take the crowd completely out of the game. After three periods, the Dubs led 85-70.

The Wizard cut it down to six with under three minutes to go, but the “Hamptons 5” lineup made sure the Wiz never truly threatened down the stretch.

Moving On

The Warriors next game on their road trip will be Friday, against the Atlanta Hawks. Their race with the Houston Rockets for the number one seed RAGES ONNNN.....