© Kyle Terada | 2021 Mar 23
Tuesday’s 108-98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers was one of the more remarkable games of the season. At the outset, it looked like it might be the worst performance of the year. Then it looked like maybe Golden State’s most impressive comeback. Then they folded. Here are some takeaways:
A tale of two games
After 12 minutes vs. the Embiid-less Sixers, it looked like the Warriors might lose by 50 points. The first quarter more resembled a varsity vs. junior varsity intersquad scrimmage than an NBA game. Every offensive possession for the Warriors was difficult, hampered by the length of the league’s No. 2 defense. Every Warriors defensive possession was an exercise in futility, Golden State unable to deal with the combination of team ball movement and attacking by Ben Simmons.
The Warriors trailed 35-17 at the end of the quarter. It only got worse in the second quarter. With 2:13 left in the half, the Sixers led 59-37. And then, something changed.
Golden State held the Sixers scoreless for the remainder of the quarter and went into halftime down just 14. Unbelievably, they were able to carry that momentum the rest of the way, outscoring the Sixers 40-21 in the third quarter to regain the lead.
How they did this is difficult to explain. Shots began falling. Kelly Oubre and Damion Lee were excellent, finishing with 24 and 16 points respectively. Golden State began to run the offense more through Jordan Poole, who despite an okay shooting night was able to unlock the Sixers defense with high pick-and-rolls with Draymond Green. They did a better job defensively on Ben Simmons, forcing the other Sixers players to beat them as their shooting went cold. They took advantage of a weak Sixers bench.
And then of course there was something less tangible, a Sixers team that couldn’t quite believe they were giving up a 24-point lead to a Warriors team without Stephen Curry, coinciding with a Warriors team that started to believe they could win as the Sixers’ lead slowly dwindled. With 5:08 remaining, the Warriors trailed by just a point, 93-92.
Cant’ close without Wiggins
Ultimately it wasn’t enough. The value of having stars on the floor is you can play through them late in games. The Warriors without Curry don’t have one, the Sixers have two in Harris (25 points and 13 rebounds) and Simmons (22 points and 8 rebounds). Those two combined for 10 of the Sixers’ 14 points down the stretch, 6 of which came from Harris. The Warriors, conversely, went cold, scoring just six points down the stretch, and only 13 in the quarter, finding shots difficult to come by like they did in the first, as Harris, Simmons and Danny Green put the clamps down on the perimeter.
It’s games like these where Golden State needs Andrew Wiggins to step up, and he just didn’t have it on Tuesday, going 6-for-15 with 14 points, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls. The Warriors were a minus-29 when he was on the floor, illustrating just how difficult he found operating vs. the Sixers’ large wings.
Poole, Oubre, Lee step up, Wiseman struggles following promotion
By now we know that when Curry is out of the lineup, the Warriors almost have to have an All-Star performance from Wiggins to have a chance. It was clear early on they weren’t going to get that, but contributions from Jordan Poole, Oubre and Lee were nearly enough to get them over the hill. Oubre had his best game in a while, finally looking like himself after back-to-back games where he was off due to injury. He was probably Golden State’s best player (24 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists) and the only starter to finish with a positive plus-minus (+3).
Lee also had a nice night, dropping 16 just two games after his season-high 21. It’s the type of game that might put him back in the second-unit rotation for the time being. Jordan Poole was also impressive again with the ball in his hands, though fell back to earth shooting (19 on 5-for-16 shooting) the ball after a stretch of hot games.
James Wiseman made his return to the starting lineup, somewhere he’s expected to stay for the rest of the season, but played mostly like the guy who got scratched from it earlier in the year. He finished with 11 points on just 5-of-13 shooting, looking uncomfortable when being force fed early. He again struggled on the boards, finishing with just 4 rebounds in 26 minutes, while allowing Tony Bradly to secure 11, four on the offensive end, and go 8-for-8 from the field.
