Kelly Oubre shakes off the ‘noise’ and delivers a career-high 40 points in the Warriors’ 147-116 victory Thursday night over the Dallas Mavericks.
Bradley Beal, who was a teammate of Oubre at the Washington Wizards from 2015-18, shared his excitement for Oubre’s first NBA game with 40 points on social media.
Former Warrior Nick Young also called Oubre for the big night, hoping that everyone who criticized the forward would retain the same energy.
Oubre started offensively with the Warriors offensively, especially from 3-point land. He shot just 23.1 percent from behind the arc on five attempts per game that penetrated Thursday night’s game.
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The 25-year-old fired seven of his ten shots from downtown and appeared offensively in control and owned by the Mavericks. Coach Steve Kerr said after the win that he and the Warriors knew Oubre was capable of it, and was excited to see it manifest in Dallas.
“I think it’s coming,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told the media during a Zoom conference. “Clearly it was a rough first quarter of the season for Kelly. And yet, within this team, he had some excellent games for us. He played very well sometimes, he just had some bad ones. “He had shooting nights during the period when people locked up. But Kelly is getting more comfortable. Guys in the locker room like him and want to help him get comfortable. It was a wonderful evening for him, of course.”
Oubre also joined an exclusive club and became the fifth Warrior to score 40 or more points under Kerr, joining Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and D’Angelo Russell.
An outburst like that can not be expected from Oubre tonight, but the performance could be a turning point for the forward and his confidence goes forward offensively.
The Mavericks will definitely have some adjustments ready to defend Oubre when the two teams take on the fight again on Saturday night.
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