Warriors looking dangerous with recharged Andrew Wiggins

In the Warriors' 118-112 win over the Celtics Wednesday — Boston's first home loss of the season — Wiggins had 16 points and played lockdown defense on Jayson Tatum. Boston's All-Star shot 3-of-8 and committed three turnovers with Wiggins as his primary defender, struggling to get free as Wiggins chased him over screens.

That was a huge part of the Warriors' victory in 2022, when Tatum shot just 36.7 percent during Golden State's six-game victory. Wiggins is one of the rare wings with the speed to stay with Tatum and the size not to get bullied. The Warriors used his length to stymie Tatum with traps early, often alongside Draymond Green.

But beyond Wednesday's game, Wiggins is putting up a very solid two-way season. He's played only 26 minutes per game thanks to some blowout wins, but his statistics per 100 possessions are excellent.

Wiggins is shooting threes at the highest rate of his career, 9.9 per 100 possessions, and making 40.6 percent of them. He's blocking 1.5 shots and grabbing nine rebounds per 100, career highs. Wiggins also has his highest free-throw attempt rate since his third season, at age 21. While Green is still the Warriors' best defender, Wiggins has been nearly as good on the perimeter.

For the last two seasons, Wiggins has missed significant time, mainly while caring for his ailing father, who died this summer. Last summer, Wiggins couldn't work out for months after he suffered fractured ribs guarding LeBron James in the playoffs, and he had a rough start to the regular season.

The only thing Wiggins hasn't been doing well this season is shooting layups. He blew one early in Wednesday's win, which prompted good-natured ribbing from Gary Payton II, who wants to inspire his teammate with the hashtag "#DunkItWiggs".

If he starts dunking some of those layup attempts, Wiggins will be even more valuable. As for Tatum, he'll get a rematch with his tormentor when the two teams play again Jan. 20.