Stephen Curry may have been struggling a bit over the past few games, putting up stinkers against the Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers. But the Golden State Warriors star was at his best once more during their Christmas Day tussle against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. He scored the Warriors' final eight points of the game as they tied the game at 113 courtesy of a deep three-ball from Curry. However, there were still 6.3 seconds left on the clock — and Austin Reaves took full advantage.
With Curry and Draymond Green denying LeBron James the ball on the inbounds play, Max Christie gave the ball to Reaves, who was isolated against Andrew Wiggins. Reaves, who was having himself a night, blew by Wiggins and took it all the way to the cup for the go-ahead layup that ended up giving the Lakers the win over the Warriors.
Now, the Lakers deserve credit for maintaining some very good spacing and for utilizing James as a decoy, thus removing Green — the Warriors' best defender — from the action. But Wiggins still played some very inexcusable defense, with Reaves getting the step on him towards the baseline. And with no rim protector present for the Dubs, everything was too easy for the Lakers guard.
As a result of this horrific defensive play, social media put the Warriors forward on blast, saying that the Dubs must find a way to trade Wiggins after that debacle.
“Warriors should literally find every way possible to trade Wiggins he’s a downfall to that team that guy career fell clean off the map,” @_gapower wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Trade wiggins pls terrible defender,” @russwestfacts added.
“There’s no f**king way you give up a layup that easily???? Andrew Wiggins gotta be ashamed of himself,” @FeelLikeDrew furthered.
“You lose on a Austin Reaves wide open layup really????? You ruin Steph Curry’s masterclass like that???? Trade Andrew Wiggins to China NOW,” @YT_Solo exclaimed.
Warriors must find a way to stop the bleeding
Having Andrew Wiggins on Austin Reaves on that final possession was as good as the Warriors can draw up. Perhaps Dennis Schroder could have matched Reaves' speed much better, but Wiggins' height and length advantage would have given him the edge when it comes to contesting the shot.
Alas, nothing seems to be going right for the Warriors these days that one of their best perimeter defenders would get cooked in that scenario. They simply must find a way to stop the bleeding or else their free-fall down the West standings will continue.
