The Golden State Warriors are getting hot at the right time

In what can only be described as the game of the year, the Golden State Warriors scratched and clawed until the very end, earning a double-overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks and extending their winning streak to five games.

Klay Thompson led the way with a vintage 54-point outburst including ten made threes, but this was a complete team win. Kevon Looney was an absolute monster on the glass, hauling in 10 offensive rebounds, including the game winning putback layup at the buzzer. Jordan Poole, despite his shaky performance, added 28 points of his own. Draymond Green left his fingerprints all over the game with an absurd defensive performance and a huge three down the stretch. Even Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Lamb made some key hustle plays in crunch time.

After back-to-back embarrassing losses, the Golden State Warriors have now strung together five straight victories, positioning themselves only two games back of the fourth-seed in the Western Conference.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way – that was a Thompson masterclass. The Warriors needed all of his 54 points to even have a chance in this one, and they rode his hot hand until the very end. Thompson hasn’t quite rediscovered his pre-injury form and as he continues to age into his thirties, he likely never will.

But one thing that nobody can ever question about the four-time champion is his competitive spirit, and that performance was the ultimate display of an unyielding will to win. The doubters will continue to doubt, but as Bob Fitzgerald told Thompson during his postgame interview, “[The doubters] can take that 54 and stick it!”

Looney tallied 14 points, four assists and and a career-high 20 rebounds, none of which were more important than his final offensive put-back that sealed the win for Golden State. It’s no coincidence that the 6’9 Looney is always in the right place at the right time.

Despite being undersized at the center position, Looney is constantly outworking and out-hustling the competition, putting himself in positions to fight for second and even third chances. While his contributions will continue to fly under the radar, but Looney is an indispensable piece of this puzzle.

We are running out of ways to describe Green as a defender. Few players in the history of the NBA have been able to contain both traditional bigs on the block and shifty guards in space better than the former Defensive Player of the Year.

Green completely altered the game on the defensive end, forcing the Hawks’ offense into a stale and stagnant shell of itself. When all else failed, the Hawks looked to their best player to make things happen, but the former DPOY had Trae Young in hell, fighting for even the slightest bit of breathing room. Green was huge for the Warriors on Monday night, as he has been for much of the team’s current winning streak.

https://twitter.com/PlayoffDraymond/status/1610319803331264516?s=20&t=eTCUlEnHV-asiZ78MG8rXQ

Despite the early-season turmoil, the Warriors are now 20-18 and find themselves only two games back of the fourth-seed in the Western Conference. They’ve managed to string together five straight wins without their two most prolific offensive threats, and with games against the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic to come, this win-streak could be extended to seven games by the end of the week. The Dubs remain within striking distance of a top seed and with a little over half the season remaining, the sky’s the limit for this Golden State team.