Warriors week 2 review/week 3 preview

The Golden State Warriors suffered their first loss of the year in this, the second week of the 2021-22 NBA season. And despite 72% of Golden State of Mind readers predicting a second consecutive 3-0 week during last week’s preview, it was still a good week, and a brilliant start to the season, which is a change of pace after the last two years.

So let’s look back on the week that was, and look forward towards a week of games in San Francisco.

Where the Dubs stand

Record: 5-1
Standing: Tied for 1st in the Western Conference
Offensive rating: 11th (108.2)
Defensive rating: 4th (100.3)
Net rating: 5th (+7.9)

Team ratings are garbage-time adjusted, courtesy of Cleaning The Glass.

Weekly recap

Tuesday: Beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-98
Thursday: Lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 104-101 (OT)
Saturday: Beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-82

The week started off with two performances that were mirror opposites. The Dubs inextricably and inexcusably fell behind by double digits to the lowly Thunder, but were able to dig out of a hole and recover for a victory. Then they built up a 19-point lead early against the Grizzlies, only to watch Ja Morant and Memphis’ exciting young team come flying back to steal the victory.

Thankfully they ended things with a much more convincing win against OKC. That’s how to take care of business when you’re a good team.

Performance of the week

Draymond Green vs. the Thunder (second game): 14 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block, 6-for-8 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws.

It’s hard to find a performance more Draymondian than Green’s showing in the second game against the Thunder. He nearly became the second Warrior this season to have a triple-double (Steph Curry during the opening night victory over the Los Angeles Lakers being the other), and managed to control the game despite taking just eight shots. He had the most rebounds and assists of any player on either team, and played the type of defense that has him once again looking like an All-Defense player.

Honorable mention goes to ...

Damion Lee vs. the Thunder (first game): 20 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 8-for-14 shooting, 4-for-7 threes.

In the first game against OKC it was Lee who helped keep the pesky young Thunder at bay. Lee hit big shot after big shot, and led the team in plus-minus — the Warriors outscored the Thunder by 16 points in Lee’s 26 minutes, and were outscored by eight in the 22 minutes where he was on the bench.

Highlight of the week

There aren’t many players in the NBA who can make this shot, and there aren’t any players in the NBA who, when they shoot this shot, make you think, “oh, I bet he’ll make that.”

This week’s schedule

Wednesday: vs. Charlotte Hornets (5-3), 7:00 p.m. PT
Friday: vs. New Orleans Pelicans (1-6), 7:00 p.m. PT
Sunday: vs. Houston Rockets (1-5), 5:30 p.m. PT

Easiest game of the week

Sunday hosting the Rockets. Houston is one of the worst teams in the league and, just as importantly, they’re one of the youngest. Their starting lineup features a rookie in Jalen Green, an undrafted second-year player in Jae’Sean Tate, and a third-year player with all of 82 career games in Kevin Porter Jr.

Add in a young and inexperienced bench, and you’re left with a fun and exciting team that will take themselves out of a game if you play technically sound basketball.

Hardest game of the week

Wednesday hosting the Hornets. This is an easy choice: the Warriors are playing two awful teams in the Rockets and Pelicans, and one good team in the Hornets.

Not only is Charlotte good, but Warriors fans will have to listen to the tiresome discourse about how they erred in drafting James Wiseman over LaMelo Ball. And on top of that, it’s a safe bet that Kelly Oubre Jr. will want to show out against his old team, especially given how last season ended.

Prediction time

The Dubs went 2-1 last week, which 26% of fans predicted. 72% of fans thought Golden State would go 72%, while 1% each predicted a 1-2 and 0-3 week.