Takeaways from Warriors' Win Over Hornets: Hall of Famer Responds to the Noise

The Golden State Warriors (18-16) overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Charlotte Hornets (11-22) 132-125 on Wednesday at Spectrum Center.

Brandon Miller had a season-high 33 points. Stephen Curry had a team-high 26 points, and Jimmy Butler and Brandin Podziemski added 19 apiece. The Warriors went 24-of-49 from three to overcome 19 turnovers.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday's games.

Green Plays Best Game of the Season

I've been critical of Draymond Green's performance for weeks, and there are plenty of stats to support that he's in the midst of one of the worst stretches of his career.

Perhaps he broke out of it Wednesday.

Green had 10 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and one steal. He was a game-high plus-18.

As an added bonus, Green had a three and a tip-in late in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors hold on.

Green did have four turnovers, and once again a couple of them were hard to understand, but he also had a number of plays in which he forced a miss on a Hornets layup attempt and tipped the loose ball to a teammate.

If the future Hall of Famer plays this well consistently moving forward and the Warriors stay relatively healthy, they will make a charge up the Western Conference standings.

Richard, Melton Are Here to Stay in Closing Lineup

Against the Nets on Monday, the Warriors closed with Curry, De'Anthony Melton, Will Richard, Jimmy Butler and Green. That lineup entered the game with a six-point lead, and it pulled away wiht a 13-6 finish.

On Wednesday, the same lineup came in with the Warriors leading by five. They won the closing stretch by two points to secure another win.

Two things I want to highlight about this. First, Richard hit an open corner three (off great passing) that the Warriors have missed so many times in clutch situations. At the moment, the only Warrior I trust more than Richard to make that three is Steph.

The other important note is that before Richard's three, Melton got a steal. The Warriors are having all sorts of issues getting stops in clutch games, but that's two games in a row in which Melton has single-handedly got a stop, and last game Richard also had a steal down the stretch.

If you're going to play small in close games, you pretty much have to create turnovers and score efficiently, and at least for the last two games, the Warriors have done that.

After starting the season 6-11 in clutch games, the Warriors have won their last two. This closing lineup should get more chances moving forward.

Santos Earns More Playing Time...Again

Gui Santos had a positive plus/minus in four straight games in mid-December. Then, almost inexplicably, he got two straight healthy DNPs.

He returned to the lineup against the Nets and was a plus-10, and Steve Kerr went back to him again Wednesday.

It was a great choice.

In 17 minutes, Santos had 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting (3-of-4 from three), five rebounds, two assists, one block, no turnovers and a plus-15 plus/minus.

He's up to six consecutive games with a positive plus/minus.

Kerr should be playing him close to 20 minutes every game for at least next couple of weeks.