Takeaways from Warriors' Win Over Cavs: Dubs Must Make Room for Spencer Contract

Without Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors (12-12) shocked the Cleveland Cavaliers (14-11) with a 99-94 victory on Saturday.

In his first career start, Pat Spencer had a career-high 19 points.

Here are four takeaways from Saturday's improbable victory.

Warriors Need to Get Spencer on a Standard Contract

Spencer has had an outstanding three-game stretch. He had 17 points and six assists against the Thunder, and 16 points and four assists against the 76ers.

He was even better against the Cavs with 19 points and seven assists, including 12 fourth-quarter points the Warriors desperately needed.

Amazingly, Spencer isn't even on a standard contract. He's on a two-way contract.

Players on two-way contracts can only be active for 50 games. Once they reach that threshold, they are ineligible to play unless their contract is upgraded to a standard contract.

Spencer was active for his 24th game on Saturday.

The problem for the Warriors is twofold. They have the maximum of 15 players already on standard contracts. And they have virtually no cap room to spend, so even if they had an open spot, they couldn't afford to give Spencer a contract.

Their only way to fix this is to create some cap space with a trade.

The Warriors need to make that a priority of the trade deadline so they can keep playing him down the stretch and into the playoffs. It's clear he's earned a role as a backup point guard, even if he doesn't play every game when the Dubs are fully healthy.

Post Strengthens Argument to Start/Play More

Quinten Post entered Saturday averaging 16.5 minutes per game. That's a puzzlingly low number considering Post is one of just three Warriors with a net-rating swing above 13.0, per Cleaning the Glass.

The other two are Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, who have started every game they've been healthy. Post made just his ninth start in 24 games on Saturday.

What continues to be a surprise is the second-year big's defense.

On one rep in the third quarter, one-time All-Star Evan Mobley tried to score on Post one-on-one down low, and Post blocked him. On another in the fourth quarter, Post did it again to Mobley. Overall, Post had three blocks.

On the offensive end, the Warriors got Post involved in most of their possessions with pick-and-pops and pick-and-rolls. Despite a big workload, he played well with 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 2-of-6 from three in 32 minutes.

Golden State's Defense Has Turned a Corner

The Warriors gave up just 99 points against the 76ers on Thursday. They backed that up by allowing just 94 against the Cavaliers.

It's Golden State's first time this season holding consecutive opponents under 100 points.

Of course, the Warriors have benefitted from unusually cold three-point shooting from their last two opponents. But a big part of that is a collective effort on the defensive end that hasn't always been there this season.

The other obvious improvement has been taking care of the ball. The Warriors had just 13 turnovers the last two games, which is below their average of 16 per game.

When Curry, Butler and Green return from their injuries, they need to be as locked in as their teammates have been the last two games. Green and Curry in particular have been too turnover-prone, which has hurt Golden State's defense immensely.

Dubs' First-Quarter Offense Must Be Better Against Chicago

The Warriors scored just 10 points in the first quarter against the 76ers. That was the lowest point total in any quarter by any team.

They followed that up by scoring 12 points in the first quarter on Saturday.

Woof.

What's particularly strange is the Dubs have otherwise scored at a decent rate. They had 32 points in third and fourth quarters on Thursday. They had 33 points in the second quarter against Cleveland.

Regardless of who's healthy for Sunday's game against Chicago, the Warriors will have a chance to win. The Bulls are just 9-13, and they've lost six in a row.

If the Warriors can have a normal scoring output in the first quarter, they won't have to expend a ton of energy coming back. That's essential for a team playing its third game in four nights.