The Warriors didn’t play poorly on Sunday and perhaps that’s the biggest cause for concern.
Golden State (47-24) fell to the San Antonio Spurs (28-44) 110-108 at Chase Center on Sunday, in their first game following Stephen Curry’s foot injury that could keep him out for the rest of the regular season.
It was a game the Warriors trailed from almost beginning to end. An excellent stretch in the fourth quarter allowed them to tie things late, before a bizarre sequence of events saw them fall in a nail-biter.
The good news is Golden State got contributions up and down the lineup. Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson led the way with 28 and 24 points respectively. Otto Porter Jr. (16 points, 16 rebounds), Nemanja Bjelica (9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) and Jonathan Kuminga (9 points) were solid off the bench. The team as a whole shot over 45.6 percent from the field.
But the start wasn’t good enough, and questionable defense and turnovers in the first half put the Warriors in a 10-point hole that they spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of. Draymond Green also only played 18 minutes before getting tossed.
Golden State now faces eight of their final 11 games on the road, including four back-to-backs. It’s going to be a rough final stretch.
Here are three takeaways:
Wild finish
Two bizarre fouls ultimately defined Sunday’s game.
After scratching and clawing their way to tie the game late in the fourth quarter — thanks in large part to Poole — Spurs guard Dejounte Murray missed a driving layup with 36.7 seconds remaining. All of the sudden, the Warriors were in the driver’s seat.
Unsurprisingly, Golden State put the ball in Poole’s hands, running a high pick-and-roll with Klay Thompson. Two Spurs defenders jumped at Poole — who had 28 points and had already scored 11 in the frame — leaving Thompson — who was red hot after ditching his headband midway through the third quarter — for a wide open 3 at the top of the key.
Thompson clanked it, but Porter Jr. grabbed his eighth offensive rebound to keep the Warriors alive. The Spurs took their foul to give.
On the ensuing inbounds, the ball eventually cycled to Poole with 9.2 seconds left. He also missed his chance at a potential game winner, but this time it was Jonathan Kuminga who grabbed the rebound. He passed the ball back out the Andrew Wiggins.
Bizarrely, the Spurs fouled Wiggins 30-feet from the basket with three seconds remaining.
That was the first head-scratcher.
The second one came after Wiggins split free throws, and Kevon Looney was called for an over the back foul on the ensuing rebound, a call that replays showed to be highly questionable.
This now put the Spurs at the line with 2.4 seconds, and a chance to take the lead down one. Jakob Poeltl also split free throws, but Kelden Johnson rebounded the second miss and threw it back in to give the Spurs a two-point lead with 0.3 seconds remaining.
It was a strange end to a strange game.
Green returns to starting lineup, gets ejected
Though still on a minutes restriction, Green was back in the starting lineup for the first time since March 1. Eighteen minutes of floor time later, Green was back in the locker room.
Green was ejected for the first time this season midway through the third quarter, receiving two technical fouls from official Marat Kogut after arguing a foul call at the rim. Here’s the play in question that set Green off:
Believing that he went straight up to contest Devin Vassell, Green got the first tech for arguing too demonstratively. That really set Green off, and he continued to talk to Kogut after play continued. He was eventually tossed after the next possession.
The Warriors have history with Kogut dating all the way back to 2019. Stephen Curry was so upset with a number of calls made by Kogut at the conclusion of a game vs. Minnesota, he sarcastically called Kogut “the MVP of the night.” Green, Curry and Kevin Durant were all fined for criticizing officials after that game.
Green was also upset with Kogut earlier this season after receiving a technical foul in a game vs. Dallas. Green believed that Kogut’s conduct was unprofessional.
“I got a technical for a referee walking away from me and then coming back to talk to me and I walk away,” Green said after the game. “That’s why I got a technical. I think I got eight or nine techs this year. Five or six of them are super questionable. And as I said to the ref, ‘It’s unbelievable that you’ll walk away from me, very disrespectful, mid-sentence when we’re having a normal conversation and if I walked away from you when you were talking to me, you’d give me a tech.’ He continued to walk away from me, then walked up to me and said ‘All right, what do you have to say?’ And I said ‘f–k it. It’s cool. I don’t even want to talk no more. It’s all right’ and walked away and got a tech. So, you tell me where the tech is at.”
Curry speaks on injury
Curry spoke to the media for the first time since sustaining a sprained ligament in his left foot on Thursday, and gave a somewhat encouraging update. As has been previously reported, Curry said that he expects to be ready for the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, set to begin on April 16.
“I think I’ve got enough time for that but I’m an optimist,” Curry said before Sunday’s game.
For now, Curry is set to be re-evaluated two weeks from last Friday, on April 1.
“That two weeks is kind of the marker just to know how it’s feeling,” Curry said. “From what I’m told just in terms of the ligaments around the injury and the bone that’s underneath there, you want to not rush the beginning phases of the healing, because that’s where you get the most progress so when you put the shoe back on and get reps so you’re not dealing with crazy soreness or anything. You give yourself a better shot. Because this is one where if you push it too soon it can linger and be a real nuisance.”
The most optimistic timeline would seem to have Curry return to action a week after the re-evaluation date, on around April 8. That would see Curry return for the final two regular season games, after missing 10. In the nine games Curry missed last year, Golden State went 2-7. A repeat of that would see the Warriors unable to reclaim the No. 2 seed in the West, a possibly fall to the No. 4 seed, with Utah currently 2.5 games behind Golden State.
Curry didn’t seem worried about that prospect.
“Different team this year.”
Notes:
Warriors starters tonight vs Spurs Jordan Poole Klay Thompson Andrew Wiggins Draymond Green (28ish minutes) Kevon Looney
Moses Moody has been downgraded to out tonight for the Warriors vs Spurs. Dealing with a right shoulder issue. Isn’t considered serious.
