Andrew “Air Canada” Wiggins soar, lead Warriors past Rockets, 120-101
By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Mon, 05 Dec 2022
Our neighbors from up north dubbed him ‘Air Canada’, perhaps because of his range and icy demeanor.
We all know he’s a two-way scrapper—equally adept at offense and defense.
He has become Golden State’s wing man extraordinaire, the third (or is it fourth?) Splash Brother, their own ‘Maple Jordan’.
Andrew Wiggins helped the Klay-less Warriors defeat rising Filipino-American Jalen Green and the visiting Rockets, 120-101, Saturday night in San Francisco.
Without Klay Thompson, who was sitting out the second leg of a back-to-back, the Warriors stars shone bright.
Stephen cooked 30, Jordan Poole splashed 21, and Moses Moody authored 11 points off the bench— as the Warriors won their tenth straight home game.
“I felt like I was just flowing,” Wiggins was quoted by NBA.com and ESPN, “My shot felt good, my teammates did a great job finding me and getting me open shots and good looks.”
Wiggins proved his mettle at the Chase Center on Saturday night, scoring a season-best 36 points, eight of which were dazzling rainbows beyond the outer arc…matching his game best 3-PT output at 8. Wiggins posted 17-points in the first half, reignited in the third quarter and sank 5 treys to cap his spectacular performance.
As a team, the Warriors sank 45 of 85 buckets (52.9% FG) and sniped 25 of 52 from three-point range (48.2% 3-PT); they led by as much as 25 points.
Fresh off of an improbable win, 122-121, against the Western Conference top seed Suns in Phoenix last Friday, the Rockets did not carry the momentum to Chase Center Saturday night. Their 40 for 91 buckets made (44% FG) was not enough to overpower the Warriors. Also, their dismal 3 for 28 conversion beyond the arc (10.7% 3-PT) may be the lowest for any team this season.
Filipino-American Rookie Jalen Green missed all five of his attempts at treys and scored a lukewarm 13, far less than the 30 points he made as Houston made a 16-point comeback against Devin Booker and the Suns last Friday.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 20 points and Tari Eason produced 13 for Houston.
In sum, the Warriors are starting to look like the 2021-22 NBA champions that they are, especially at home.
‘Tis the season to be jolly, fellow hoops fans!
Stats:
Upcoming:
Warriors: Host the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, December 5, 2022.
Houston Rockets: Host the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, December 5, 2022.
Note of Appreciation:
Photos, stats and video are courtesy of the NBA and brought to you by PhilBoxing.com.
To my fellow RRT, John Marshall Roberts, thanks for bringing up the ‘Maple Jordan’ metaphor.
