The Golden State Warriors' 121-85 win over the New York Knicks Wednesday night was their 50th consecutive win at the Oracle Arena, their sixth straight overall and their 61st of the season. Stephen Curry scored 34, Draymond Green had double-digit rebounds and assists, Klay Thompson hit a few three-pointers.
Somehow, the Warriors' big three has managed to replicate these kinds of performances on a consistent basis and no opponent has been able to come up with a solution, at least not more than once. Dating back to the beginning of last season, a stretch of 149 games, only three teams have managed to beat the Warriors more than once, though only one team did it in the same season.
So how can they possibly get better? Adding a big man who can shoot from range into the rotation may actually be the answer. Only Curry and Thompson shot more three-pointers against the Knicks Wednesday night than forward-center Marreese Speights.
Speights went 3-5 from beyond the arc and totaled 13 points in about 15 minutes. Speights is shooting 39.5 percent from distance this season and 42 percent overall, and he has also shown the kind of range thought to be exclusive to Curry and Thompson.
"He's auditioning for that Splash Cousin, maybe," Curry said of Speights. "He's definitely confident out there now. We love that. It adds a new element to our lineup and our rotation when he's able to step into those threes and knock them down. We'll keep feeding him. Definitely a crowd pleaser, and it gets us going on the bench, too."
Speights is averaging 7.4 points per game while getting about 11 minutes per game off the bench. That translates to 22.3 points per game over a 36-minute per game average. Speights' performance also comes at an interesting time, as the Warriors are about to get to the part of their schedule where regulars will get more rest.
The Warriors are also going to visit the San Antonio Spurs, the only team to beat them twice in a season (last season), on Saturday. Given how dominant the Spurs' defense has been and how they are 33-0 at home this season, Speights could well be an ace coach Steve Kerr has been keeping up his sleeve.
But even if Speights is not the Warriors' secret weapon (seriously, the team is deep enough without him), Curry believes he can be better. Bruce Fraser, an assistant coach on Kerr's staff, recently said the only times Curry misses in practice is when he is "bored." Center Andrew Bogut joked the only room for improvement Curry has is his accuracy from distance most players do not even attempt to shoot from.
"I mean, there isn't a whole lot," he said. "What's next? I guess shooting pull-ups from halfcourt on a more consistent basis."
