Wiggins 24 points, Curry absent, Beane 22 10 8 turnovers, Warriors beat Grizzlies with 23 3-pointers

With both teams sitting in 4th in their respective conferences, the Golden State Warriors hosted the Memphis Grizzlies for what everyone hoped would be a fun New Year's Day game. With both teams having a tough time this month, and Stephen Curry and Ja Morant being out for both teams, the Grizzlies came into the Bay Area to compete.

The game began with the Warriors scoring the first 6 points, followed up with a Kevon Looney block. The crowd had already erupted, and the 40-point fourth quarter game between these two teams from the beginning of November was back in everyone's minds; it could become another fun offensive battle that Golden State would end up winning, right? But then, the Warriors went on to score another 9 points in a row, and the Grizzlies started their season 0-22 from three. Eventually, however, Desmond Bane scored two three pointers for the Grizzlies to get the lead back. They finished the opening quarter with their lead back down to five. They had only been 6-24 from behind the arc, but 12-15 from in close when there was contact, showing that while they still weren't getting many open looks and were missing their catch and shoot threes, they could do well getting to the rim. That showed in the second: with the Warriors shooting just three-for-13 from three in the second quarter, Memphis got within just eight at halftime.

After the halftime break, the Warriors went on yet another 9-0 run, but then Jordan Poole got injured, falling and missing time, then coming back and going 0-7, then getting ejected. Looney missed a dunk and got a technical for arguing with the referees. With that momentum shift, they went on another 12-2 run themselves. It was back and forth; neither team could get ahead by 11 for long, but Golden State could never really ever fall behind in this game, and with time winding down, Stephen Curry's teammates finally put the clamps on the young Grizzlies team and secured a win. This was no 106-111 loss, or a 109-115 loss, this was a 30-point blowout.

It took awhile, but the Warriors found their legs to end the calendar year on a high note, while starting a long stretch of 9 games in 14 days. Now back at 18-16, but a half of a game behind the 4th-place Lakers, and a full game ahead of the Denver Nuggets for 5th place in the extremely tight Western Conference.

Desmond Bane led all Memphis players with 22 points, despite 0-9 from deep and 6-18 from the field. Second on their team were Jaren Jackson Jr and Tyus Sinckler, with 23 and 8 respectively. Golden State's Kevon Looney was not happy; he got a technical, missed a layup and a dunk, and fouled out early. Jordan Poole was ejected after arguing with the referees (which the NBA later admitted was a mistake on the officials part), finishing with 14 points on 3-9 (2-4 from deep) shooting efficiency for 12 points per shot attempted. Klay Thompson also did not do well after getting ejected and fined two times in 2022, scoring 9 with just 4 points in the second half. The hero of the game? Andrew Wiggins. With Stephen Curry out of action and Klay Thompson looking a long way away from his peak, Wiggins is stepping up to be the team's new best player. He led the Warriors with 24 while playing all 48 minutes of the game; he also recorded his 13th double-double of the year, with 4 steals and no turnovers. If Wiggins keeps his current season shooting average for his 3s at the same rate he is currently shooting them, he would make 31.7% of the 208 shots he will take from deep and would go 66-208 (a drop to 31.7% from 33.6%), and that would break the record from last season. Last place teams typically have a 33% shooting percentage, according to stats, so if Golden State wanted to break that, they would get a shooting guard that shoots 33.6%. Wiggins, currently shooting 39.3% on 84-214 and looking at breaking his own NBA Record (which he tied this season with the record held by Reggie Miller and John Havlicek) of 281 three-pointers in a season, is much, much better than last place at shooting. Wiggins is not only getting open threes, but also driving and getting to the rim, where he has a great mid-range and has a good eye to pass the ball out, where his teammates have a 40.9% shooting percentage from three (154-376).

It was a good game, the Warriors kept their heads cool (despite Wiggins' technical). The NBA could use more of this after all of last week's drama.