The Golden State Warriors, led by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, have been on a tear since the calendar flipped to 2019. They have won 18 of their last 21 games and sit atop the Western Conference as one of just two teams to have reached the 20 road wins mark.
The 76ers appear to be comfortably positioned for a playoff run and have been playing relatively well over the past couple of weeks going 5-2 in their last seven. Still, they have had issues when facing playoff contenders which makes Saturday’s game against the Warriors so important. They have proven that they can dispose of much lesser teams but their chances of winning a championship can be measured by how they compete against the best teams in the league.
The Warriors are loaded with talent — Curry and Thompson are two important cogs in the Warriors machine and their ability to drain three pointers makes them extremely dangerous. Currently, Curry sits in second place overall with 255 three pointers made while his teammate ranks sixth with 175. Curry averages 5.2 three pointers per game while Thompson is usually good for three of them. How many will Thompson and Curry combine for on Saturday?
Curry routinely has double-digit three-point attempts averaging 11.7 per game. His has taken 11.6 per game through February with 17 attempts being the high mark and five attempts being the low. He converted on 10 of 18 attempts against the 76ers on January 31st in a 113-104 loss. We should be confident that Curry will have at least 10 three-point attempts and he will convert on five of them.
Thompson has averaged seven three-point attempts in February and his 3.6 conversions put his rate at over 50 percent on the month which is above his .398 on the season. His monthly high in attempts was 13 but excluding that game he has averaged 6.25 attempts per game. Also excluding that game, Thompson has recorded four three-pointers on three occasions in February while recording three four times and two once. It would stand to reason that Thompson should be able to record three or four three-pointers on Saturday giving Curry and Thompson a combined total of around nine.
My Pick: Curry and Thompson combine for nine three-pointers on Saturday in Philadelphia.
