The Golden State Warriors had the best third quarter of the season
The terrifying incendiary power of the Golden State Warriors was on full display against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday evening in Oakland.
Predictably, the Warriors came out less-than-focused at the beginning of their final game before the All-Star break — with the team’s grumpy mindset exemplified by Draymond Green’s obscenity-laced ejection baiting at the end of the second quarter. But — just as they have been doing all year — Golden State absolutely owned the third quarter. In fact, they might have played the best third quarter of any team this season.
The Warriors scored 42 points in the third frame erasing a three-point halftime deficit and building a 24-point lead. In winning the quarter by 27 points, Golden State posted the second-largest single-quarter point margin of the season.
It was the sixth 40-point third quarter on the season for the Warriors; that’s three times more than any other team in the league. Overall, Golden State has amassed 16 single-quarter outbursts of at least 40 points, which is also by far the most of any team in the league.
This particular third-quarter spurt was fueled by a four-minute-and-three-second period of near-flawless basketball, during which the Warriors outscored the Kings by 21 points. This is what it looked like:
During that four-minute stretch, Golden State went 9-for-9 from the field (4-for-4 on 3-pointers, 1-for-2 on free throws). On the other end, they held the Kings to just 1-for-5 from the field (0-for-2 on 3-pointers) and forced four turnovers and three timeouts. The explosive stint had all the hallmarks of a Warriors run: deep 3-pointers, transition baskets off of turnovers, and even a Steph Curry-to-JaVale McGee (underhanded) alley-oop dunk to cap it all off.
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This is the dominant offense that we all expected to see when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors. This is the nightmare that has been keeping 29 NBA coaches up at night. Now, if the Warriors can just extrapolate this level of productivity for 48 minutes (i.e., by scoring 276 points per game); they should cruise to the title. At the very least, they should be able to beat the Kings in a potential first-round playoff rematch.