Golden State Warriors beat Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, 118–112, capping off a successful close to the 2022 calendar year. A shorthanded Warriors club put on yet another tenacious showing, winning their fourth straight game at home. With the victory, they improve their record to 19-18 and surpass.500 for the first time since December 10.
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After their early season struggles, Golden State is finally starting to resemble last season’s championship team. This is mostly due to the positive contributions from their role players – something they weren’t getting from their struggling bench unit at the beginning of the season. Guard Donte DiVincenzo has elevated his play in the absence of Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins and has been a stabilizing veteran presence for a young second unit that desperately needs it.
A steal and a monster three.
👀 Donte DiVincenzo had a night. pic.twitter.com/isrOqFPppY
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 31, 2022
The Athletic’s Anthony Slater went into further detail on DiVincenzo’s impact in his latest article.
Via The Athletic:
This continues an extended emergence in recent weeks by DiVincenzo, who has been elevated into the starting lineup with Curry and Andrew Wiggins out to help stabilize the Warriors in this tenuous moment and also cement his place as a must-play cog in the nightly rotation, even once everyone is back healthy.
The shooting has been a factor. DiVincenzo is above 38 percent from 3 this season, a tick above the clip he shot during that breakout third season with the Bucks, where he was a starting guard on the league’s best five-man lineup. But it’s the defense, more than anything. Kerr has spent the past five months searching for reliable options to rebuild what was a stingy defensive unit a season ago. DiVincenzo has stepped up as a perimeter hawk. He had four steals against the Blazers.
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Aside from DiVincenzo, other players on the team also seem to be settling into their roles. Jordan Poole has regained confidence in his offense averaging 30.8 points per game on 45.6% shooting from the field in the past four games, while Jonathan Kuminga has become a consistent force on the defensive end.
Although things are looking good now, the Warriors’ true test will be if they can continue to play like this on the road where they are an abysmal 3-16 this season. Until then, they will continue to take advantage of this remaining homestand starting with tonight’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks.
Source: https://www.goldenstateofmind.com
