Warriors week 16 review/week 17 preview

After a much-needed three-day rest, which featured their first weekend off all season, the Golden State Warriors are back in action with a four-game week.

And they do it riding high, with a league-best eight-game winning streak despite the continued absence of the injured Draymond Green.

Can they push the winning streak to double digits? Can they gain some ground in the Western Conference standings?

We’ll soon find out. Now let’s look back on the week that was, and ahead to the week that will be.

Where they stand

Record: 40-13
Standing: 2nd seed in the West, 2.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns
Offensive rating: 12th (112.5)
Defensive rating: 1st (104.6)
Net rating: 2nd (+7.9)

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

Weekly recap

Monday: Beat the Houston Rockets 122-108
Tuesday: Beat the San Antonio Spurs 124-120
Thursday: Beat the Sacramento Kings 126-114

Three games, three wins, but the star of the show came in San Antonio, when a Dubs team that was without Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala, Otto Porter Jr., and Nemanja Bjelica managed a 16-point comeback to steal a victory on the back end of a road back-to-back.

We all love watching the Splash Brothers go off — as they did two nights later — but even without their stars, that was perhaps the most memorable game of the year.

Performance of the week

Steph Curry vs. the Rockets: 40 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 13-for-23 shooting, 7-for-14 threes, 7-for-8 free throws.

Curry seems fully rejuvenated now that Klay is fully back in the fold, and he put that on full display in both games that he played in last week ... but especially against Houston when, with a little help courtesy of some Kevin Porter Jr. trash talk, he exploded for a 21-point fourth quarter to send the Dubs to victory ... all while dishing out nine dimes with just a single turnover.

Honorable mention goes to...

Klay Thompson vs. the Kings: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 8-for-11 shooting, 7-for-9 threes.

It doesn’t get much more Klay than 23 points in 24 minutes on 11 shots. Thompson had Chase Center absolutely rocking as he scored 20 points before missing his first shot. You couldn’t help but smile watching it happen.

Highlight of the week

We just got to go with that whole Klay highlight package from Thursday.

This week’s schedule:

Monday: @ Oklahoma City Thunder (17-35), 5:00 p.m. PT
Wednesday: @ Utah Jazz (32-21), 7:00 p.m. PT
Thursday: vs. New York Knicks (24-29), 7:00 p.m. PT
Saturday: vs. Los Angeles Lakers (26-28), 5:30 p.m. PT

After a lazy end to last week, the Dubs get a four-game week, featuring the rare road-home back-to-back.

That said, it’s a schedule that looks highly winnable.

Easiest game of the week

Monday at the Thunder.

Yes, the Warriors are on the road for this one, but the Thunder are the worst team the Dubs face this week, and they’ll be without their best player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been out since late January.

Plus, Golden State is well rested, having not played since Thursday. This is one where their goal should be to get business handled before the fourth quarter.

Hardest game of the week

Wednesday at the Jazz.

Utah looks like a significantly less imposing team after the season-ending ACL injury that Joe Ingles suffered, which is a huge loss for both the team and NBA fans in general.

That said, with Donovan Mitchell having recently returned from injury, Utah is clearly the best team the Dubs face this week, featuring the All-Star duo of Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, and excellent supporting cast, some tremendous depth and shooting, and one of the league’s top coaches, not to mention a significant home court advantage.

They’re 11 games over .500 and have the third-best net rating in the league, behind only the Suns and Warriors.

Prediction time!

Last week 70% of you accurately predicted a perfect week. Can you get it right again?