D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
A first-half shootout became a second-half slugfest.
A game became a battle. NBA refs turned into boxing refs. Seemingly all of the Bay Area wanted a piece of Kristaps Porzingis. All of Luka Doncic wanted a piece of Marquese Chriss.
The most entertaining half of basketball in the Warriors’ season was followed by the most pugilistic one in the Warriors’ 141-121 loss to the Mavericks at Chase Center on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 18,064, most of whom seemed to want blood. The Warriors rained down 16 3s in the first half, but the bigger number may have been their four technicals (the Mavericks picked up one).
The Warriors’ four-game win streak was snapped just as they snapped. The meltdown began late in the first half, with just over a minute left, when Draymond Green, as is his wont, would not let Kristaps Porzingis forget that he had stripped him of the ball twice. The two had to be separated, and a fun half had its energy cranked up.
About 40 seconds later, Glenn Robinson III’s drive to the basket was met by a Porzingis stiff-arm, and Klay Thompson — in a suit — hollered at Porzingis for a good 10 seconds as the crowd stirred. Porzingis jawed right back.
The madness only intensified after the half, the most memorable moment also the scariest. D’Angelo Russell — the best player in a game filled with nominees — chased a loose ball directly into Luka Doncic’s hip and bounced off, laying motionless for several minutes. A stretcher was brought out but not used; Russell eventually rose, retreated to the tunnel and soon emerged with a right shoulder contusion, right back on the court to start the fourth quarter.
But not before another scuffle broke out, this one between Doncic and Marquese Chriss. Late in the third, the two battled for a rebound and exchanged a few light shoves before the 6-foot-9 Chriss shoved Doncic to the ground. Doncic hopped back up and took a half-hearted approach at Chriss, being held back by a referee. Chriss was hit with a technical.
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And somewhere in there, the Warriors were hit with a left hook courtesy steady Dallas shooting. Golden State was ready to fight in the second half but only literally, folding 45-24 in the third and deciding quarter, which saw an entertaining game be sidelined. The Warriors couldn’t stop Doncic (31 points on 16 shots) or Tim Hardaway Jr. (25 on 13), and a game that started with promise finished with frustration.
Before the Warriors took shots at the Mavericks, they drained shots. Russell was immaculate in the first half, sinking his first six shots (including three 3s) for 15 points in six minutes. It was 41-41 after one quarter, 74-72 Golden State at the half. In two quarters, the teams combined to go 28-for-49 from beyond the arc, no one matching Russell.
There’s red hot, then there’s the burning, sizzling, too-hot-to-touch feel that Russell possessed. He had 30 points in the first half, going 8-for-11 from 3, each shot more daring than the previous. The Mavericks began double-teaming him upon his touch, and still the Warriors — well-practiced from years of Stephen Curry darting around — found him off screens, and long jumpers kept finding net.
Golden State cooled off in the second half, though, scoring just 44 after the break and so much of the team’s energy being expended after the whistle.
