The Golden State Warriors suffered one of their worst losses of this 2024-25 season at Chase Center on Sunday, as the Sacramento Kings blew them out 129-99. The Warriors never really threatened to mount a comeback in the second half and Stephen Curry admitted postgame that they are not built to come back from big deficits.
“Nobody likes to get embarrassed like that, especially the way we started the first quarter,” Curry said. “I know everybody’s on a back-to-back—obviously, I didn’t play yesterday—and the Kings have a very fast-paced offense that they pretty much had every option they wanted and offensive rebounds in the first quarter.
“So, when you’re looking up and it’s a double-digit lead before the first timeout and 36-21, we’re not really built—especially with the situation—to have that crazy comeback,” Curry continued. “I don’t want to overreact to it but you also have to address the execution that we didn’t do.
“Obviously, I had a couple of turnovers in the first quarter, we were gifting them possessions, so it was just kind of a mindless first quarter that established their dominance and we had no answer for it,” Curry concluded.
The Warriors committed eight turnovers in the first quarter and were down 36-21 by the end of it. They managed to cut the deficit down to four in the second quarter but that was as close as they got. The Kings went up by as many as 39 points at one stage as the home team struggled to keep up.
Curry was later asked why he felt the Warriors, who rank 16th in offensive rating (111.6) and 15th in points per game (112.2), were not built to come back from large deficits.
“I mean we haven’t shown that,” Curry stated. “And it’s just one of those things where you don’t want to be in that situation, especially (in) a back-to-back where the guys exerted a lot of energy last night to get that win.”
“We would have loved to have started the game a lot better to give ourselves a chance and not be in that situation where we’ve been where you’re having to have crazy offensive fireworks to even have a chance to come back,” Curry added. “That’s not our MO.”
Here’s Steph Curry on the 30-point loss to the Kings. He mentions that the Warriors “aren’t built” to be a team that can come backfrom large deficits. pic.twitter.com/1upptoaCxs
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 6, 2025
It is quite damning that Curry, who had 26 points (8-12 FG), seven rebounds, and one steal against the Kings, feels this way. It indicates the 36-year-old doesn’t have much confidence in his teammates and this is not the first time he has been rather blunt with his assessment of the team.
Following the 113-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 30, Curry said the Warriors are “mid.” This defeat at the hands of the Kings dropped them to 18-17 on the season and they are truly just an average team now.
Steve Kerr Doesn’t Believe This Loss Was More Alarming Than Any Other One
Alarm bells tend to ring when teams get blown out in this manner but Warriors head coach Steve Kerr thinks it’s just the nature of the NBA. In Kerr’s postgame press conference, he was asked how alarmed he was by the nature of the loss and stated it was just like any other for him.
“A loss is a loss,” Kerr said. “It’s not any more alarming than any other loss. This is the NBA these days. It’s such a fast game and so many 3s that there are just gonna be some nights where everything goes your way, or everything goes the other team’s way. I thought Sacramento was brilliant tonight. They played a fantastic game. So, we just have to regroup and get a day off and come back in on Tuesday.”
Kerr hasn’t been a very popular figure among Warriors fans this season and that response isn’t going to go down too well. He needs to find a way to get this team going to get the fans off his back.
Kerr and the Warriors will get a chance to make amends for this loss on Tuesday when they take on the Miami Heat at Chase Center at 10 PM ET.
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