Warriors

Klay Thompson scored a season-high 54 points and Kevon Looney came through with the buzzer-beater in double OT to lift the Warriors to a thrilling win over ...

Grading Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, Jordan Poole, and the rest of the Golden State Warriors in the team's 143-141 double-overtime victory over the Atlanta ...

Moody had a few big plays in this game, but he continues to just not do quite enough. Lamb played huge minutes in the first half when the Warriors build up a 21-point lead. With about 15 seconds left in regulation, and the Warriors trailing by a point, Poole rushed when he didn’t need to, and dribbled off his thigh and out of bounds. He’s still unlikely to be a rotation player until next year, but he’s firmly at the point where the Dubs can play him when they’re shorthanded, which they might be for a while. Baldwin is starting to look more and more comfortable on defense, which allows Steve Kerr to play him more and more. He’s had more assists than turnovers just twice during Curry’s nine-game absence, and during that time has turned the ball over 46 times to just 33 assists. On the other hand, he was pretty darn inefficient, and he had a few really rough plays in the closing moments. A bit of an odd game for JP. As was the defense in this game. Looney’s plus/minus is rather shocking, and by “shocking” I mean a reminder that you shouldn’t read too much into single-game individual plus/minus. As always, grades are weighted based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” representing the average performance. It gives them a five-game winning streak, which is a season best, despite the fact that Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins have been sidelined for all five games.

Klay Thompson scored a season-high 54 points in Monday's double-overtime win against Atlanta.

They’ve now won five in a row without Curry and They dug themselves a huge early season hole and then watched Curry mess up his shoulder and sink to the background for a month. He was below 40 percent overall and below 35 percent from 3 as the Warriors stumbled out of the gate. Thompson became more patient, worked his way into better shape and has been shooting it much more consistently the past month. He wasn’t in game shape and his jumper was short the first month. He added eight rebounds, three assists and one block.

Thompson hit 10 3-pointers while Looney had the game-winning tip-in as time expired.

It was the [Warriors](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/GS/golden-state-warriors/)' fifth straight win, and their league-leading 17th at home. Here's the winning tip: Don't think I forgot about Looney, who went for 14 points and 21 rebounds, including 11 of the offensive variety, yet was somehow a game-worst minus-20 during his 32 minutes. Thompson is also the sixth player in Most refreshingly, he was just 2 for 2 from the free-throw line. He was 10 for 21 from 3.

The Warriors' five-game win streak without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins should have the rest of the NBA on high alert.

Thompson shouted out "Strength In Numbers" at the podium on a night when he was a one-man show at times. Stars such as himself, Thompson and Jordan Poole have put together big performances to get back in the win column and to stay there. The Warriors are a half-game back from being a top-six team in the West and avoiding the play-in tournament. "We just got to continue to get better and embrace the process of improving each and every day. "I'm a basketball fan, so I look at it, of course," Green said in the Warriors' locker room. Get in the playoffs, and good luck to the rest of the league. The Warriors have won five games in a row, all without Curry and Andrew Wiggins, who missed his 14th straight game to a right adductor strain and then an illness. The standings are even kinder to the Warriors than Thompson knew. "We realize we're only four, five, maybe six games back from first place and we know it's a long season and it's about catching that fire at the right time." "We do look at the standings," Thompson continued. Players, coaches and the rest of the organization expect better. They sat in the 11th spot of the Western Conference standings with a Christmas Day date against the first-place Memphis Grizzlies.