The 2012-13 season undoubtedly brought change for the Golden State Warriors’ franchise. They were an exciting young core making a playoff run and showing signs they will be a fixture for years to come. Along the way, we saw some classic games. Here are my top 5 games of the 2012-2013 season:
5. Oct. 31, 2012 Warriors 87, Phoenix Suns 85 – “Culture Change”
This may seem like an odd choice for a top 5 game, but it was symbolic of what was to come. The Warriors historically had struggled with defense. When your 2 best offensive players, Stephen Curry and David Lee combine to shoot 4-30 from the field and on the road, you expect to lose. Instead, on opening night, the Warriors were able to gut out an ugly, defensive 87-85 victory, a far cry from most Warriors team we’d seen before. This game representing everything Mark Jackson had been preaching for the last year. Offense can get hot or cold, but if you play good defense and rebound, you’ll always be there. Despite shooting 38.4% as a team, the Warriors won. This was the start of something new.
Key Performer: Carl Landry – 17 points, 7-9 shooting, keeping Warriors in the game when no one else’s shot would fall.
4. Feb. 27, 2013 Warriors 105, New York Knicks 109 – “Steph Curry’s coming out party”
Normally it would seem weird to see a loss listed in a team’s top 5 games of the season, but there is nothing normal about this game. With Lee and Andrew Bogut out, it had potential to be a blow out. Instead, Curry set an NBA season high of 54 points on only 28 shots and willed the Warriors with in an inch of winning despite being undersized and out-rebounded (Tyson Chandler had a career-high 28 rebounds). Curry’s 3-point assault (11-13) tied for the third-most threes ever made in an NBA game (Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall have both made 12). More than anything, this game will go down at Curry’s coming out party to the national media and a nice message to the leagues coaches who didn’t vote him into the all-star game the weekend before. And if you’re ever in a bad mood, watch this video and you’ll surely cheer up:
Watch all of Steph’s 54 points here
Key performer: Stephen Curry – 54 points, 18-28fgs, 11-13 3 pt’ers, 7 assists, 6 rebounds
3. Jan 2, 2013 Warriors 114, Los Angeles Clippers 95 – “A force to be reckoned with”
The Clippers had one of leagues 3 best records. They were fresh off having their 17-game winning streak snapped and looking to get back on track. Instead the Warriors came out to a frenzied crowd and ran the Clippers out of the gym. The Warriors, led by Curry, took a 13 point lead into halftime and never looked back. Steph out dueled the league’s best PG and MVP candidate, Chris Paul, showing Warrior fans he can be the leading player they were looking for after Monta Ellis. And perhaps the most important part, this game was a precursor for the insane atmosphere we were going to see in the playoffs:
Key Performer: Stephen Curry – 31 points (11-16 fg), 8 assists, 6 rebounds
2. Dec. 12, 2012, Warriors 97, Miami Heat 95 – “The Road Warriors are born”
The Warriors came into this game 14-7, sitting in a potential top 5 playoff slot. Year after year, the Warriors had shown early season signs of being a playoff team only to flame out mid-season. A 20-year history of this had rightfully made the broader bay area skeptical of any Warriors team who had a nice start to the season. This game will go down as the one, which let the bay area know, the Warriors are for real. It’s not every day your team walks into the defending champions house and wins. More than that, though, it’s the way the Warriors won. A team known for finesse got physical with the league’s best player and one of its most physically dominating players of all time, Lebron James. Rookie Draymond Green traded blows with James and even engaged in trash talking. And after the game, Lebron complimented Draymond, saying:
“He played hard. It was great competition out there between me and him. I have always respected him, especially in college. You could tell he really knows how to play the game. It was good to see him out there.”
It was only fitting on the Warriors last play, Green would score the winning basket. A team known for being soft and mentally weak, shows the toughness needed to walk into the defending champ’s house and win a close game. That night the road Warriors were born.
Click here to see Draymond Green’s game-winner
Key Performer: Draymond Green – 7 points, 7 rebounds, and some great defense.
1. May 8, 2013- Warriors 100, San Antonio Spurs 91 – “The curse dies!”
To call the AT&T Center the Warriors’ house of horrors is an understatement. Entering this game the Warriors had lost 30 straight games in San Antonio. To make it worse, the Warriors had lost Game 1 two nights earlier in the most dramatic fashion on a last second shot by Manu Ginobili in double-overtime. A weaker team might have folded, however the Warriors showed the mental toughness Jackson had instilled in them all year, and bounced back to win. The Warriors came out guns blazing, led by Klay Thompson‘s 29 first-half points, including 7 threes. To put that in perspective, that is the second greatest scoring half in franchise playoff basketball history. The Spurs mounted a come back to erase most of a 19-point lead, but the Warriors played good defense down the stretch to get the win. To come back after the brutal game 1 loss and end the longest road losing streak in NBA history, the Warriors showed they are for real, and won’t be going away anytime soon.
Key Performer: Klay Thompson – 34 points, 8-9 from 3-point, 14 rebounds
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