The Golden State Warriors are officially on an absolute roll, slamming the Miami Heat 120-100 on Thursday night. That’s six wins in a row, folks, and their ugly 0-3 start? Ancient history. We all expected a win, yeah, Miami’s been sluggish and played an overtime grinder the night before, but still, a 20-point victory is a statement. Especially when they stumbled out of the gates, trailing by 10 early and heading into halftime with a tied score. But man, did they turn it on.
Richard Stepped Up Big When the Dubs Were Sleepwalking
Let’s talk about Will Richard. This guy got another start, probably because Gui Santos was out and they wanted a strong defender on Andrew Wiggins. And Richard delivered, big time. He played “awesomely” against Wiggins, holding him to a measly 1-for-6 shooting. He even took turns on Klay Thompson, making an impact there too. When the Warriors were looking like they needed a shot of espresso to start the game, Richard was their only offense. Seriously, he was the first player on the team to hit double digits, and the only Dub to have double digits by halftime.
Now, the box score shows a -5 plus/minus for Richard, which is just straight-up unfair on a night they won by 20. But that’s just how it goes sometimes, right? He was balling out when the team was struggling, and then he didn’t get a ton of second-half minutes because other guys started heating up. Still, he played well, they got the win, and you know he’s happy with it. His 16 minutes on the court gave us 10 points, 2 assists, a block, and he shot an insane 4-for-6 from the field, including 2-for-4 from deep, with an 83.3% true-shooting percentage. League average is 57.1%, for crying out loud! That’s efficiency you just can’t argue with.
Yaxel Lendeborg’s Quiet Dominance Is Becoming a Problem for Opponents
Then there’s Yaxel Lendeborg. This dude is only in the ninth game of his career, and he’s already at the point where you think he had a “quiet game,” then you peek at the box score and BOOM: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. Ridiculous! His NBA crash course is still very much in session, but he was thrown right into the fire, defending Bam Adebayo to start the game and then Giannis Antetokounmpo for a bunch of possessions later. Even though those guys put up “pretty decent numbers,” Lendeborg’s work against them was seriously impressive.
He put in 30 minutes, shot 6-for-14 from the field, 1-for-3 from three, and hit 4-for-6 from the line, resulting in a 51.1% true-shooting percentage. Not his most efficient shooting night, sure, but with that kind of all-around production, who cares? He was a -1 plus/minus, which is basically nothing considering his defensive assignments and how much he did. We’re definitely going to see him get a larger and larger role in the offense, and honestly, with performances like this, how could they not?
The Warriors are really starting to find their groove, and with guys like Richard stepping up early and Lendeborg showing this kind of potential, it’s going to be exciting to see how far this momentum can take them.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Golden State of Mind.
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