Klay Thompson dunks and Steph Curry dances as Warriors weaponize joy

The Warriors completed an undefeated road trip in style, and even had a touching moment between Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins

Ah yes, there’s nothing like “Weaponized Joy.”

It is the fuel of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, and is beginning to churn at playoff intensity levels since the assimilation of the leviathan DeMarcus Cousins to the back-to-back champions.

Washington, Boston, and Indiana all saw their home courts flooded by the Splash this past week as Golden State wrapped up it’s perfect five game road trip in style. There was SO much joy to be weaponized, let’s reflect back on the key moments that brought smiles to Dub Nation and pain to the hearts of our foes.

“Slippery When Wet”/ Curry slips off the Warriors bench after Klay’s jam

This year the Splash Bros have added two new elements to their games: Klay Thompson can’t stop dunkin, and Stephen Curry can’t stop slippin’.

If you didn’t know, Thompson is suddenly morphing into some terrifying cross between Reggie Miller and Dominique Wilkins. Okay, maybe not ‘Nique, but check out this fascinating graphic Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle posted about Thompson’s dunkfest this season.

Remember earlier this season when his shot wasn’t on target, and he kept uncharacteristically dribbling into the mid-range? What if Thompson was getting acclimated to suddenly turboing past his defender while keeping his dribble? Maybe he was only comfortable drippling from the arc to the mid-range, and once he saw that 95% of NBA players can’t/won’t play defense, he was like, “Well damn I might as well posterize these dudes”.

Whatever his thought process has been, I’m a big fan. Clearly so is his fellow Splash Brother, who took his second tumble during this road trip. Curry was so filled with joy as Thompson elevated that he literally couldn’t control his body, jumping off of the bench, losing his balance on a towel, and spilling onto the court. #splashbrotherhood

“Gettin Jiggy Wit It”/ Curry dances before his bomb goes in against Boston

Put that in your cigar and smoke it, Red Auerbach!

Curry had a scoreless first quarter in Boston during a marquee matchup and possible Finals preview against the Celtics. You knew he was coming out firing in the second quarter, and he did just that with 17 points on 5 triples in the frame.

But this three-pointer was the very intersection between ridiculous performance and disrespectful enjoyment. Completely in the zone, Curry launches a deep shot with the same breezy confidence that a child has sticking a straw into a Capri-Sun pouch. As the ball twirls through the air, Curry can’t contain the joy that is circulating through his body, and bursts out into a spontaneous wiggling/cabbage patch combo straight from the set of a Paula Abdul video.

SOMEBODY STOP THIS MAN!

“Don’t You Worry Bout A Thing”/ Dray consoles Boogie after the first tech?

This may not have been joyful for Cousins at the time, but I definitely cracked up laughing.

We all knew that Cousins had a reputation for drawing the referees ire; he’s been a leader in technical fouls since his days with the Sacramento Kings. Although Cousins has relaxed some in recent seasons, there’s always the curiosity from Dub Nation as to what will set the big fella off.

This time there was a particularly funny interaction between him and Thomas Bryant where they locked arms in frustration at mid-court. The refs immediately jumped on it and assessed a shocked Cousins a technical foul. As the whistle blew and a dark cloud of disbelief came over Boogie’s face, Draymond Green appeared by his side, barking encouragement.

Boogie didn’t even have time to fester over his grievance for long with Green shouting what I perceived to be something loosely along the lines of “don’t worry about these refs they don’t know what they’re doing anyway”. Really Dray? All of a sudden we gotta ignore the refs buffoonery? Where was this mature restraint all the other times YOU were getting T’ed up! LOL.

It was a quite heartwarming to watch Green build that camaraderie and support system with the big fella, and it bodes well for the team’s chemistry going forward. We know the stronger the love, the deeper the joy down the road.