The Warriors' quest to remain in the play-in continued Tuesday night, and it was glorious. Golden State rallied multiple times in a back-and-forth win over the visiting Mavericks.
Here are three takeaways from the 104-100 win:
This felt like a playoff matchup
When the NBA is good, it's damn good. The patrons at Chase Center got their money's worth Tuesday night.
The runs on either side were startling in their incision. Dallas would look hapless, then Luka Doncic would hit what felt like a half-dozen 3-pointers in a row and send the Warriors spiraling. Then Golden State snapped out of that skid and returned fire, going on a run of their own.
If the Warriors miss the playoffs, this is what we will be deprived of. This atmosphere. This genuinely can't-miss basketball. That is rare. But the Warriors owned their home court like they were hosting a playoff game.
And for the fourth-straight game, they did it without Jonathan Kuminga. If the Warriors played like this all year long, there is not a chance they would be holding onto the 10th seed. They would at least be around the Mavericks are, sitting tied for the fifth seed.
But regardless of this excellent basketball, Golden State is 1.5 games back of the Lakers for the 9th spot with seven games to go. With a Rockets loss, they've now moved up 3.0 games on Houston. A win there on Thursday will all but ice their play-in destiny.
The best, realistic hope is that they can close strong and beat the Lakers April 9 to claim home court in the first of two play-in games.
Wiggins, Paul, Moody-- F it, everyone else showed up
When the Warriors were on the receiving end of the Mavericks' runs, they were steadied in different ways. They needed varied contributions, because Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had a combined 27 points on 10-of-32 from the field.
At one moment, it was Andrew Wiggins, in one of those fleeting moments where he might trick you into believing he's the greatest player of all time. He had a team-high 23 points, 4 rebounds, a couple assists, a steal and a block.
Moments later, it would be Moses Moody, who was crucial off the bench. He had 12 points, 4 rebounds and a steal while going 4-of-6 from deep.
Also excellent, and showing vintage signs of life, was Chris Paul. He had multiple moments that left Stephen Curry shaking his head on the bench in disbelief.
He singlehandedly closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run featuring a fading mid-range and 3-pointer.
When these teams were going tit-for-tat for most of the third, Paul was watching on the bench. He came in with a vengeance. He drove, faded and dropped in a vintage, looping mid-range that left Curry shaking his head. The next possession, he railed in a 3-pointer. Paul finished with 14 points, a rebound and 5 assists, but his points felt monumental.
On the whole, the Warriors outscored the Mavericks 39-to-13 in bench scoring. With a poor shooting night from the Splash Bros, it was necessary.
The defense, and ending
If you want to capture the energy in the building, refer yourself to a handful of possessions inside of two minutes remaining.
It was, guess who, Draymond Green coming through in the clutch with energy. He followed up a Curry miss to build an 8-point lead. But his stop on the other end was the moment.
Daniel Gafford, who had created issues for the Warriors on the inside all night, got another good opportunity. He had position, went up from just under the hoop, and met Green. Green rejected him, got the ball, threw it back to the Warriors and flexed. He might have scared an official.
Klay Thompson high-fived him on the way down the court, and a few seconds later, Green drove like a man possessed for a clutch layup. He had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, a block and 3 turnovers. Since his ejection, he has been outstanding.
But even with an eight-point lead at the 1:06 mark, the Warriors did not make it easy. They rarely, if ever, do.
They allowed a 3-pointer from P.J. Washington to cut the lead to four points with 28.1 seconds remaining. Then they got what looked like a free layup for Klay Thompson out of an inbounds play, but he got rejected. Kyrie Irving got fouled by Green for a pair on the other end.
Then the Warriors got away with a possible travel on Thompson. It wasn't called, and he nailed both of his free throws. Then Green forced an off-the-side-of-the-backboard miss from Irving to ice the game, and a winning season, in a fifth-straight win.
That ending was indicative of the chaotic ebbs and flows of this game. Golden State couldn't control Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving, who had 57 combined points on 22-of-41 shooting (and 9-of-19 from deep), but they held the Mavericks to 39-of-89 (43.8 percent) from the field. They weathered the storm.
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