The Warriors are home after going 3-2 on their latest road trip, bringing their road record to 7-7 so far this season.
This is the seventh consecutive road trip of five or more games where the Warriors came home with a winning trip, dating to the 2014-15 season.
Here's a recap of what happened …
Toronto
This game featured the top offense in the West versus the top offense in the East. TSN (the Canadian ESPN) was doing live shots three hours before tip-off. This was a big game.
Sports
Steph Curry missed this one due to his groin injury, but he spoke about his fondness for Toronto. His dad played for the Raptors for three seasons.
In the game, the Warriors trailed by 18, but they came back to force overtime. Kevin Durant scored 51 points. It was the first time in his career he had three consecutive games of 40 points.
The Warriors lost.
My husband's mother watches the games from her house in Dublin, Ireland. Sometimes the games re-air on Sky Sports, or she finds a live stream, or she "watches" by refreshing the score online when she's in bed for the night. She followed this game, long past her bedtime, into overtime. Dub Nation has made a mark on our lives.
Detroit
This cold-weather road trip meant the coats and hats came out of the closet, and Jim Barnett's garb was by far the best.
Winter fashion guide, featuring Jim Barnett @uograd66 and his special hat 🌧❄️⛄️ pic.twitter.com/3ha1eJUEyC— Kerith Burke (@KerithBurke) December 1, 2018
Against the Pistons, the Dubs reunited with former teammate Zaza Pachulia, whom Steve Kerr described as one of his all-time favorite players.
KD jumps on Zaza pregame 😬 pic.twitter.com/7kqfQTIHTZ— Kerith Burke (@KerithBurke) December 1, 2018
This game marked Steph's return. He missed 11 games and about three weeks of action before suiting up for this one. He played 36 minutes and scored 27 points, but it was a strange game for the Dubs, who looked out of whack in their offensive rhythm.
Steve said postgame this was one of his worst games as coach, and that he needed to do more to help the guys space the floor better.
This game also featured a tough injury for Damian Jones, who tore his left pectoral muscle during a rebounding tangle with Andre Drummond.
This game was bittersweet for Draymond Green, still out with his toe injury, to come to Michigan, and be about 100 miles from home and not play. He repped his school with a Michigan State bomber jacket on game day.
Atlanta
It was gray and dark in Toronto and Detroit, so Atlanta's sunshine felt megawatt. Atlanta also has Chick-Fil-A in the media room. Another bright spot!
Jones had his left arm in a sling. I asked him what it's like to lift up his arm to put on a shirt. He said, "It kind of sucks."
Shootaround featured more media members than usual. The local folks wanted to ask about Trae Young's compassions to Steph. Neither Trae nor Steph like this comparison. Trae sees himself as a Steve Nash-type. That was his favorite player growing up. And Steph feels like a young player shouldn't be saddled with a comparison so soon in his career.
The game against the Hawks ended the Warriors' six-game losing streak on the road. Steph scored 30, Klay scored 27 and KD had 28, marking the first time the Dubs were close to having a trio of 30-point scorers in a game since the Run TMC era. Kevon Looney also notched a new career high in scoring with 14 points.
Cleveland
Back to cold weather. Windy, too. Players were walking around in balaclavas. If they weren't so tall, covering their faces could give them some anonymity if they wanted to walk around Cleveland. However ... no one wanted to walk around Cleveland.
When I was sitting down to write a portion of this week's mailbag outside the locker room at the Q, Warriors security was helping a reporter find where the media group was waiting for shootaround to open. The reporter's name is Tim (find him on Twitter: @TimWig), and he works for the Telegraph in London. He came over from England to do a story on the NBA and introduce the impact the Warriors have made on the game. He said his story will come out after the new year.
Steph was on triple-double watch during this game, and he finished with 42 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. His performance helped the Warriors take two straight wins to Milwaukee.
I could have arrived in Milwaukee with a sprained ankle if it wasn't for Andre Iguodala. When I was sharing one of my in-game stories, I had to walk and talk to get off the floor as play resumed. The court in Cleveland is elevated, and I missed the step off. Take a look at this ankle-breaker corner.
I started to topple, but Andre was at the end of the bench, and he caught me. I twisted my ankle and felt a small jolt up my back, but it could have been much worse.
Milwaukee
The first day in Milwaukee featured my favorite story of the season so far: Kevon Looney's jersey retirement ceremony at his high school. If you haven't seen Loon's prom king photo yet or heard the story about how he learned to swim, click the link.
At shootaround, Steve Kerr revealed the plan to have DeMarcus Cousins spend some time in Santa Cruz to get practices and scrimmages in with the G-League Warriors. The plan could start as early as this week when the Warriors settle into their homestand.
The Warriors beat the Bucks with good defense, limiting one of the NBA's most powerful offenses to 39.1 percent shotting from the field and seven made 3-pointers on 39 attempts. The Warriors attempted 46 threes, their highest total of the season, and cashed in 19, getting makes from six different players. Andre had 15 points and eight rebounds for season highs.
Now Golden State comes home with three consecutive wins and Draymond returning as soon as Monday.
The team bus pulled out of Fiserv Forum at 12:02 a.m. Friday, concluding 10 days on the road.
