BY DAVID THORPE

Even after a couple of short-handed stumbles against the Mavericks and Pelicans, the Warriors are an incredible 29-9 without Klay Thompson or James Wiseman. As John Hollinger pointed out the other day, a lot of the best play has come from players who don’t make much money. They have something going that will matter in the playoffs.

2022 kicked off with two of the West’s best going head to head in Utah: the Warriors and the Jazz. Of course the Warriors feature Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr’s clever offense that we like to call The Cuisinart. The Jazz counter with one of the best defensive tandems in the NBA. Rudy Gobert—to me, arguably the best defender of all time—and Mike Conley, who has spent most of his career with some of the league’s best advanced stats at his position. Ask Curry to describe what kind of guard can give him problems and I’d bet he’d use words like ultra quick, experienced, and expert. That’s Conley, who has the smarts and speed to harass guards into t…