The Warriors begin 2020-21 campaign with matchup against the Brooklyn Nets.
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287 DAYS LATER, WARRIORS BASKETBALL IS BACK
The 75th season of Warriors basketball tips off Tuesday in Brooklyn as the Warriors take on the Nets. The first Warriors game in 287 days will feature Stephen Curry taking on former teammate Kevin Durant, who will be playing his first game in a Brooklyn uniform after missing all of last season while recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles suffered while playing for the Warriors in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals. That the Warriors open the season with a matchup against the Nets is only fitting, as the Warriors were set to take on the Nets on March 12. But that game never happened, as the 2019-20 NBA season was suspended on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When play resumed in the Orlando bubble, the Warriors watched from home, while the Nets participated in last season’s restart in the summer and wound up making the playoffs. Both teams enter the 2020-21 season as vastly different clubs than the ones that ended their respective previous seasons, and both with heightened expectations compared to where they were last spring. The 2020-21 season will be different in many ways, but both the Warriors and Nets will enter with the same goals of success.
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LAST TIME OUT
Klay Thompson had 22 of his 34 points in the first quarter as the Dubs picked up a 117-100 win in Phoenix on Sunday. Full Recap
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MATCHUP AT A GLANCE
| GSW | UTA |
|---|---|
| 58-23 | 47-33 |
| 2nd in West | 4th in West |
| PTS: 113.9 (1st) | PTS: 104.1 (19th) |
| REB: 43.6 (17th) | REB: 43 (20th) |
| AST: 29.5 (1st) | AST: 22.5 (21st) |
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PROJECTED STARTERS
GSW: Stephen Curry, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andrew Wiggins, Eric Paschall and Kevon Looney
BKN: Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Kevin Durant, Joe Harris and DeAndre Jordan
INJURY & ROSTER NOTES
GSW: Draymond Green (right foot strain) is doubtful. Klay Thompson (right Achilles rehab) is out. Team Notes
BKN: Nicolas Claxton (right knee) is TBD. Team Notes
READY TO RUN
Dub Nation may have become accustomed to seeing the Warriors get out and score in transition over last five-plus seasons, but the Dubs’ 2020-21 roster was showing a new level of speed through their three preseason games and ability to cover the court that rivals what fans have seen in the past. “I definitely feel like we’re going to play a lot faster,” Eric Paschall in a preseason RingCentral meeting with media.
The Warriors and their backcourt are led by two-time NBA MVP and six-time All-Star Stephen Curry. The 32-year-old Curry is entering his 12th season with the Warriors, which will tie him with Chris Mullin for the most seasons played in franchise history. Though renowned for his shooting, we have all seen Curry’s ability to find teammates downcourt through his career, too. The preseason was no different:
Ready to run with Curry in the frontcourt are Dubs brining a mix of strength and length that includes returning teammates Paschall, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Kelly Oubre Jr, who was acquired via trade during the offseason. The 25-year-old Oubre Jr. has already put his athleticism on display in the team’s exhibition road games against the Sacramento Kings when he was active on the boards and helped clean up some of his teammates’ missed shots.
Of course there is also the Warriors’ trio of Kevon Looney, Marquese Chriss, and second overall pick James Wiseman at the center spot. As Chriss said during an interview with media, the Dubs bigs bring “different players who can offer different things at different times in the game.” That includes Looney’s knack to be in the right place at the right time, Wiseman’s size with his seven-foot-tall frame and seven-foot-six-inch wingspan, as well as Chriss’ own speed and athleticism on both sides of the court. Those who have paid close attention during the preseason saw them stepping out beyond the arc for some three-pointers, too.
Though the same Warriors team with many of the same core pieces from prior years in Curry, Green, All-Rookie First Team honoree Paschall, and others, this is a new kind of team. New additions with the likes of Wiseman and returning Dub Kent Bazemore give the team nine players with a wingspan of at least seven feet wide. And all of the 2020-21 Warriors can cover a lot of hardwood when running in their fast-paced transition offense.
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TEAM LEADERS
| GSW | UTA |
|---|---|
| PTS: Durant (26.6) | PTS: Mitchell (20.5) |
| REB: Green (7.7) | REB: Gobert (10.8) |
| AST: Green (7.3) | AST: Rubio (5.3) |
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BROOKLYN SCOUTING REPORT
The Nets enter the 2020-21 season under the guidance of first-year head coach Steve Nash, the former All-Star guard who spent the previous five years as a part-time player development consultant with the Dubs. After going 35-37 last season, earning seventh place in the East, the Nets were swept by the Raptors in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs in the Orlando bubble. Kevin Durant is set to play in his first NBA game in 561 days, and he’ll be joined by Kyrie Irving, who is beginning his second season with the Nets. A six-time NBA All-Star, Irving led Brooklyn with 27.4 points per game in an injury-shortened season. Irving is one of eight Nets players who averaged double figures last season, and seven of those players are back with the club this season. Add Durant to that core and a new coaching staff and Brooklyn figures to be a team to watch this season.
