The Golden State Warriors Klay Thompson (right) goes up against the Milwaukee Bucks Bobby Portis Jr (left) at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Sat Mar 12, 2022 (AP News photo)
Warriors Handle the World Champs 122-109
By Barbara Mason
Saturday night the Golden State Warriors (46-22) took on the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks (42-26). The talk of the town is the strength of the Bucks. Superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks and is coming off a crazy performance Wednesday night against Atlanta with 34 points. His has an incredible supporting cast with Kris Middleton, Bobby Portis, and Jrue Holiday.
The Warriors have some super strengths themselves with the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole off the merit of his excellent bench play averaging almost 24 points a game in his last five games.
Kevon Looney rounds out the starting roster. Looney has been great defensively in the absence of Draymond Green. Monday night Green is expected to be back on the court for Golden State.
Giannis got into some early foul trouble in the opening quarter and sat out the final six minutes of the first quarter. The first 12 minutes of this game were hotly contested. The teams started trading three’s and after the first quarter this game was tied at 28.
The second quarter really heated up for the Warriors as Thompson hit three consecutive shots from downtown. After six minutes in the second quarter the Warriors were lighting up the court as Thompson continued to hit three’s and the Warriors had taken a 50-41 lead.
At the half the Warriors had scored 38 points in the quarter, 17 of them coming from Thompson giving Golden State a 67-58 lead. The game had been tied six times in the half.
Thompson had 21 points in the half for the Warriors and for the Bucks the team leader after two quarters was Antetokounmpo with 17. With Curry attracting so much attention from the Bucks Thompson and Poole had a lot of open looks that they were taking full advantage of. The Warriors had an exceptional first half and would have to repeat it through two more quarters.
The Warriors would take an early 17 point lead in the third quarter, the largest of the game for Golden State. After two minutes the Warriors had a 20 point lead blistering the Bucks from the three point line.
Golden State continued to lead after three quarters 103-84. Every time the Bucks made a move, the Warriors would answer. After three, Thompson had 31 points closely followed by Poole with 30 points.
In the early fourth quarter Thompson had his high score since his returned to action with 36 points. The Warriors had only three turnovers so far in this game. Ball control, energy, effort and execution won this game for Golden State. Thompson finished with 38 points and Poole with 30. Andrew Wiggins really picked it up scoring 21 points.
The Warriors dominated throughout the second half. Curry had a season low in this game but his teammates picked up the slack to bring this one home, 122-109 Golden State has now won three games in a row.
Monday night the Warriors welcome back Green as they take on the Washington Wizards. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM as Golden State will be looking for a fourth win in a row.