Changes& Curry s season high 46 points& Raiders Payton Jr.

You thought he was OK, but he fell down;

You thought he was down, but he was OK again;

——"Some Teams"

The Thunder played away from home the day before and lost miserably by 24 points. The game lost suspense from the second quarter on. Curry had 11 points on 13 shots, 1 rebound and 0 assists; Jimmy only took 3 shots; Kuming added 13 points but made 5 turnovers. In post-game interviews, Dream Chasing and Jimmy both pointed out that the team lacked the desire to win.

Today, against the Spurs back-to-back, Cole changed his lineup, allowing Richard and Moody, who have been most eager to win in recent times, to start together with the three veterans of Kuchaiba. However, when the score was 14-28 after the first quarter and the score difference was widened to 16 points in the middle of the second quarter, everything seemed to be in vain.

Fortunately, the old guys didn’t give up.

Curry scored 22 points in the third quarter, the 43rd time in his career with 20+ points in a single quarter, ahead of second-placed Kobe Bryant's 36 times; similarly, after turning 30, Curry scored 40+ points in a single game for the 43rd time, second only to Jordan's 44 times; especially the one-on-one goal in the game that reminded people of Gobert's military training.

Although Chai Meng had no touch today and made a lot of plays, the defensive end never made Wen Ban comfortable. At the last moment, he finally scored a key 2 points, which can be regarded as making up for the five embarrassing moments of not scoring.

Jimmy scored 25 points in the last three quarters and made 3 of 3 three-pointers in the second half, all of which were key. Especially Curry's superb performance in the third quarter, which tied the score to 80, then took a break. Jimmy led the team. By the end of the third quarter, the score had opened to 92-84. In the fourth quarter, the Spurs counterattacked and chased the score to 91-92. Jimmy scored The three-pointer hit, stabilizing the morale of the army; the Spurs scored a goal, 93-95, Jimmy broke through and knocked away Keldon Johnson, transferred Richard and hit a three-pointer, 93-98; then broke through again and caused Castle's fifth foul, 99-93, Curry returned.

In order to avoid Wenbanyama on the offensive end, the Warriors shot 57 three-pointers today and hit 21 of them, including 5 each from Curry, Jimmy, and Moody, 3 from Horford, 2 from Podger, and 1 from Richard. On the contrary, the comparison of shots at the basket is an exaggerated 18 vs. 43. Don't underestimate these 18 shots under the basket. This is a rare gap in the basket that the Warriors gained after firing wildly at all costs. How to take advantage of it?

Speaking of which, I have to mention Payton.

Since the championship season in 2022, Payton Jr. has come back again and again, but his form has never returned to its peak. Especially this season, the 32-year-old's defense has declined, and his offense has failed. So far this season, his three-point shooting percentage has dropped to 9%, and his playing time has dropped to a career low for the Warriors. The call for Richard to replace him in the rotation is getting louder and louder.

However, speaking of this game alone, when the Warriors encountered difficulties, Payton Jr., who was called upon in danger in the second half, performed well. On the defensive end, he fought hard and blocked the line; on the offensive end, he actively crossed the line to lubricate the team, stealing 4 points under the basket and grabbing 4 key offensive rebounds (one of them was even grabbed between Wenban and Kornet).

Looking at the above round, did Payton do anything that showed off his physical talent? No. It’s nothing more than reading, judgment and execution. How to assist Curry to make Curry play comfortably & how to use Curry to make the team play comfortably. “It’s all about brains, not blood.” The current Warriors' upper and lower limits are very wide. When the upper limit is high, you are actually doing the above two things right; otherwise, the lower limit will be infinitely low.

With 7 wins and 6 losses so far this season, if the Warriors want to remain competitive and win against opponents like the Nuggets and Spurs, Curry's stability, dream-chasing focus, Jimmy's aggressiveness, and role players' execution are all indispensable. Every Warriors player has to think clearly about whether he has the ability to replace the 37-year-old Curry in the system. If not, then he should do whatever he needs to do. As for starting or not, how much possession of the ball, how much time, it doesn't matter. If the results are good, everything will be available.