Warriors: Good news & bad news from 131-106 win over Bulls

Jan 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors center Quinten Post (21) celebrates with guard Stephen Curry (30) after scoring a three point basket against the Chicago Bulls during the fourth quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors pulled off a massive 131-106 win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.

The Warriors limited the Bulls offensively, allowing only three of their players to score in double figures. Conversely, Golden State had seven of their stars drop 10 or more points and got strong contributions from a pair of their young talents in Gui Santos and Quinten Post.

The Dubs had many positives from the victory that they can carry over with them into their upcoming slate, as well as areas to clean up. Let’s take a look at the good and bad from the win.

Bad news: Warriors’ defense took time to ramp up

The Warriors were not as sharp on defense in the first half as they are capable of being. They allowed the Bulls to take as much as a 14-point lead in the first quarter.

Jan 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) walks around Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball (2) after missing a half court shot at the buzzer of the first quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Golden State was not sharp enough in closing their men out, which allowed shooters on Chicago like Lonzo Ball and Ayo Dosunmu to nail threes, four in total between them both. The Warriors also could not stop Zach LaVine from going on his own personal tear in the second quarter, where he drained 14 points.

While the Dubs weathered the early storm and accelerated the rest of the way through, the deficit they first found themselves in could have spelled disaster. Golden State has reeled over the last two months. They’ll need to prevent themselves from falling into great holes if they want to continue righting the ship, especially once competition stiffens.

Good news: Warriors rookies go off in win

On the bright side, Santos put up 19 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes of action. The former No. 55 overall pick from 2022 has been a hot name that has given Golden State good production of late, namely four double-digit scoring outings in his last eight games including his season-high on Thursday. The two-year veteran’s adroitness in getting to the rim and finding his spots on the floor should be music to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr’s ears.

Jan 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos (15) scores a three point basket against the Chicago Bulls during the second quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Post gave hope to a Warriors team that is lacking in frontcourt productivity with his big game against the Bulls. The 7-0 footer was adept at popping out to the corners for spot-up threes and also doing so out of the pick-and-roll. He finished the game having shot 5-10 from distance.

Good news: Warriors close show in style

Golden State made sure not to take their foot off the gas to end the game. The Warriors’ momentum carried over into the second half, where they got good production from Dennis Schroder and Brandin Podziemski. Moses Moody mirrored his eight points in the first 24 minutes of action to the second, and superstar Stephen Curry made sure to hold his troops together throughout with confident three-point marksmanship and timely buckets. Golden State started letting it rain from downtown in the third and put Chicago away resoundingly.

Up next, the Warriors will face the Los Angeles Lakers in their next outing on Saturday. They’ll hope that they can get all of their players to chip in valuable minutes and be increasingly less reliant on stagnating traditional offensive sets should Draymond Green continue to miss time.

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