Town’s Finest Week 2: Golden State Warriors Take Manhattan

Blue Man Hoop contributor Jannelle Moore with her second installment of her “Town’s Finest” column, discussing the top performances and moments concerning the Golden State Warriors from the past week.

Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors has had a number of interesting off court exploits, and they never cease to amaze me. As you already know, Thompson was a special guest on New York’s Fox 5 chatting about a scaffold collapse in Manhattan.

At first, I thought the story was false, because there were some stills of the segment floating around on twitter and  some posters were manipulating the lower third caption. After seeing the segment for myself, I couldn’t do anything but laugh and be in awe of Klay’s knack of being funny without trying.

I may be wrong, but I think that #NYCKLAY is better than #ChinaKlay.  The randomness of the situation stands out to me.  Klay was just minding his business on his day off-just walking down the streets of New York until a Fox 5 reporter stopped Klay  and  asked him for an interview.  Not only Klay agreed to the interview, he also answered those questions candidly and honestly.  You can’t help but to love how Klay seems to “live his best life” off the court.

On the court, Klay and the Warriors rebounded from that messy 91-110 dud against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 49-point bludgeoning of the Chicago Bulls and a 15-point win against the New Orleans Pelicans. Yeah, a win against the Thunder would have made the week complete, but at least the week didn’t lack spectacular performances. Let’s get into them.

STEPHEN CURRY: 33 POINTS/7 REBOUNDS/4 ASSISTS VS BULLS

After an uneven game against Oklahoma City, Stephen Curry exploded in arguably his best performance of the season so far. In the Warriors’ 143-94 massacre of the Bulls, Curry cooked, roasted, baked and fried Chicago for 30 points in the first half.  He shot a blistering 55 percent from the field. While his three-point percentage was a shade under 40 percent, it didn’t take away from Curry’s dominance during the game. His crafty layups and circus shots compensated for a couple of missed threes regardless.

ZAZA PACHULIA: 10 POINTS/ 6 REBOUNDS/3 STEALS VS PELICANS

I never thought I would feature Zaza Pachulia up here, but here I am and here we are. I give credit when it’s due her, and it is due this week. Granted, his line may not be impressive but, that’s not why Pachulia is up here. Pachulia is up here because he clamped DeMarcus Cousins. You read that right, he frustrated Cousins in shooting 5-11, and holding him to 15 points-his third lowest point total of the season.

KLAY THOMPSON: 29 POINTS/4 REBOUNDS VS BULLS

Thompson’s line was overshadowed by Curry’s rampage. However, the fact that he outscored the Bulls 15-13 in the third quarter on 6-8  shooting (including 3-5 from deep). Thompson’s performance seemed effortless because he  let the game and the shots come to him. With this performance and other performances against the Nets and the Pelicans this week, Thompson has inched closer to shooting 50/40/90 for the the season. Thompson will need to increase his free throw percentage by 2.5 percent in order to average the coveted milestone.

OMRI CASSPI: 12 POINTS/8 REBOUNDS VS NETS

Omri Casspi once again proved that he needs more minutes in the rotation as he started in the place for an injured Kevin Durant. Like Shaun Livingston did last week when he started in place of Curry, Casspi didn’t try to overcompensate and  duplicate what Durant brings every night. Instead, Casspi was aggressive in crashing the boards and selected his shots wisely.

Next: Warriors set to finish 3-game homestand vs. Kings (PREVIEW)

What was surprising about Casspi’s night was the fact that he didn’t attempt a three.  On the other hand, I believe Casspi not attempting a three was a good thing because he relied on cuts with Pachulia to get most of his 12 points. Screening and cutting are two key components in this offense and this game proves that Casspi is a great fit for the system. Hopefully,this game will earn Casspi some much deserved minutes.

Enough about what I think — who is your pick for “Town’s Finest?” Let me know in the comments and on Twitter and let’s do this again next week!