Warriors Wow Fans in Win vs. Jordan Poole, Wizards Despite Steph Curry's Struggles

Don't look now, but the Golden State Warriors are officially rolling.

Golden State defeated the Washington Wizards 123-112 on Tuesday at Capital One Arena to improve to 30-27 overall and 9-2 in its last 11 games. It is attempting to move up the Western Conference standings and perhaps avoid the play-in tournament entirely with a top-six seed, and taking care of business against one of the league's worst teams is a perfect way to do just that.

Washington fell to 9-49 on the season with its 12th straight loss and is simply playing out the string at this point.

The Warriors win plenty of games behind Stephen Curry's individual brilliance, but that was far from the case Tuesday. The future Hall of Famer finished with 18 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the field, but his fellow Splash Brother picked up the slack with 25 points behind 6-of-11 shooting from deep.

He was one of 11 Golden State players to score in a performance that drew plenty of reaction from social media:

There was no shortage of storylines in this one, as Jordan Poole—who Draymond Green infamously punched during practice before the 2022-23 campaign—faced his old team for just the second time since he was traded in the deal that brought Chris Paul to Golden State.

Tuesday was also Paul's return to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 5 because of a fractured hand that required surgery, which was all the more important because Andrew Wiggins was out for personal reasons.

It was also important in the first half since Curry didn't score a single point before intermission. Yet the Warriors still took the lead into the locker room in part because Paul helped spearhead a 12-0 run with a three-pointer, rebounding, defense and facilitating.

Jonathan Kuminga also efficiently attacked the Washington defense by getting inside the lane, while Moses Moody dropped his defender with quite the crossover.

It was just a matter of time before Curry scored and the Warriors pulled away, but it was Thompson who caught fire as the visitors buried the Wizards 38-17 in the third quarter and removed any doubt about the outcome.

While Washington played well for stretches in the fourth, Curry finally hit some shots and Golden State put the game away. It will look to continue playing at a high level when it visits Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks on Thursday.