The Golden State Warriors are looking to turn the season around in the home stretch. After not winning consecutive games for over two months after Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry's injuries, the Warriors have now rattled off three straight wins against the Mavericks, Nets, and Wizards.
Playing with various rotations and starting lineups, there's been one mainstay throughout the entire season who has shown up big time in the past few games. Brandin Podziemski hasn't missed a single game all season and is one of 18 players to have played 74 or more games this season.
Over the Warriors' three-game winning streak, he has been excellent, scoring 20 or more points in all three games and providing extremely valuable production.
Podziemski Dissects His Recent Improvement
The third-year guard has had a bit of an up-and-down season, especially due to some off-court conversations sparked by a few overly confident statements that the fanbase didn't take too well. However, he has been largely excellent over the past handful of games.
After the win over the Wizards, Podziemski discussed his recent stretch of high-quality play.
"I've been getting to the line quite a bit. I think it's helped. Just taking good shots within the flow of the game and getting to the foul line. (The key to getting there) is really understanding the rules. I learned a lot from Jimmy (Butler) early in the season and just watching other players play. I think it's constant aggression, in terms of going to the basket. The more drives you do a game, the more likely you're going to get fouled. Just always being aggressive going to the rim."
In this three-game stretch, Podziemski at the free-throw line was 2-2 against the Mavericks, 8-8 against the Nets, and 7-8 against the Nets, combining to be well above his season averages of under 3 free-throw attempts per game and around 77% from the line.
Podziemski Continues To Play Well In Curry's Absence
Steph Curry's extended absence due to a lingering knee injury has really hurt the team in terms of overall success, but Podziemski has taken the extra minutes and increased responsibilities in full stride.
In the past 24 games that Curry has missed since the end of January, Podziemski is averaging 15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 31.9 minutes per game. Out of those 24 games, he scored in double figures 19 times and went over the 20-point mark 7 different times.
Alongside Gui Santos, who also played all 24 of those games and is averaging 15.9 points per game in that stretch, the pair is inspiring confidence for what could be a sneak peek of part of the Warriors' future after Curry and the other veterans retire.