SAN FRANCISCO – The Dallas Mavericks face the Warriors on Sunday at Chase Center, so Klay Thompson will go against his former teammates for the second time this season.
It also means Kyrie Irving, who broke Golden State hearts with his game-winning shot in the 2016 NBA Finals, will be out to wreck the Warriors.
Neither Thompson nor Irving is the No. 1 priority for the Warriors. That distinction belongs to 6-foot-7, 230-pound point guard Luka Dončić. Containing him is the key to beating Dallas.
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The Mavericks had won seven consecutive games before running into the defensive juggernaut that is the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose collection of athletic wings is the perfect antidote to slowing Dončić – and, by extension, the Mavericks.
The Warriors don’t have the same length and quality in their wing collection, but they do have Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II, Kyle Anderson and, they hope, Andrew Wiggins.
Wiggins practiced on Saturday but is listed as questionable on the early afternoon injury report with right adductor tightness. If he is cleared before the 5:30 tipoff, the Warriors have an adequate response to Dončić. If not, Golden State will need a hero.
Since returning to the Dallas lineup after missing five games with a sprained right wrist, Dončić is averaging 28 points per game, on 47.9 percent shooting from the field, including 40 percent from distance.
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Dončić was averaging 31 points per game on 50.6/42.9 splits before the Thunder held him to 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting while also forcing six turnovers to snap the Mavericks’ seven-game win streak.
Wiggins’ status stands to be pivotal. In Golden State’s first meeting with Dallas, Nov. 12 at Chase Center, his defense on Dončić in the fourth quarter was essential to a 120-117 victory. Luka scored 31 points on 24 shots through three quarters, but he was scoreless in 12 minutes while committing two turnovers in the fourth.
“Wiggs was great,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the win. “I just think there has to be cumulative effect on Luka. You can’t stop him; he gets to so many shots. You just have to try to make it difficult.”
Wiggins, whose work on Dončić in the 2022 Western Conference Finals was crucial to Golden State’s championship run, does that about as well as anyone in the NBA.
The Warriors need to contain Irving and Thompson. But their primary mission, whether it’s Wiggins or the Anderson-Kuminga-Payton trio, is to prevent Dončić from controlling the action.
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