As we approach the end of 2019, the common theme for the year when it pertains to Golden State Warriors basketball has been injuries. Nearly every player on the Warriors’ roster has dealt with their fair share of injuries, with the biggest hits coming to All-Stars, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Injuries have turned Golden State from a perineal contender to a team looking at a high lottery pick when the draft rolls around—it’s safe to say this is new territory for the Warriors.
For a team that ripped through the NBA for five-straight seasons, now in 2019, the Warriors haven’t had much to celebrate. The arrival of D’Angelo Russell and the development of rookie Eric Paschall has been fun. Still, when it comes to evidence Golden State can hang their hat on, the cabinet was looking bare—until Christmas day.
The Warriors completed the biggest upset in 30 years on the NBA’s Christmas day slate when they knocked off their rival, the Houston Rockets, 116-104 at home. A surprising Christmas gift that the fans could be proud of, as well as the players.
The crowd and the bench going crazy on these two 3s gave me so much life yesterday pic.twitter.com/yKf3whyrzu
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) December 27, 2019
From Curry and Thompson on the bench, to Draymond Green flexing away after hitting a pair of timely three-pointers, you could tell the Christmas day moment meant something special to this edition of the Golden State squad.
Steph after D-Lo's layup lol pic.twitter.com/5bLUel78o8
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) December 25, 2019
Following the dramatic upset, Steve Kerr told reporters that the Warriors were almost in jeopardy of getting a technical foul for how they celebrated after the final whistle, and the championship coach’s response was priceless.
“At one point the ref told me— he wanted me to tell our guys not to run on the floor. And I said, ‘That’s not happening—we’ve had a lousy season—We’re going to run on the floor.’ I said, ‘If you’ve got to call a T— you’ve got to call a T.’ And he said, ‘All right, fair enough—so, it was a good night.”
“At one point the ref told me that he wanted me to tell our guys not to run on the floor and I said that’s not happening. We’ve had a lousy season. We’re going to run on the floor. I said if you gotta call a T, call a T.”
Steve on the bench celebrations 🤣 pic.twitter.com/3zHFkaCFdh
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) December 26, 2019
The Warriors victory on Christmas day extended their longest win streak of the season at three, and now have the struggling Phoenix Suns coming to Chase Center. Golden State could parlay their emotional win against Houston into another notch on their season-long winning streak.