The Golden State Warriors lost 120-110 to the Milwaukee Bucks, who were playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak was ruled out of the Thursday game due to soreness in his left knee.
But the night was a disappointing outing for the Stephen Curry-led Warriors. They got outplayed by a former teammate, Ryan Rollins, who had a career-high 32-point game.
Steve Kerr candidly revealed that the Golden State Warriors have been losing games with a consistent pattern for some time now. According to the head coach, if the opponent’s star is sitting, their chances of winning go down dramatically.
“We’re like 0-12 the last couple of years when (opponents) sit their stars,” Kerr said after the game. The Warriors struggled to build a flow or get into the rhythm they’re known for. Passes went wrong, and plays did not pan out.
“You know, I just told our coaches that if I were an opposing coach, I would just sit the star every time. These are games that, as a coach, you know, as a staff, as soon as you hear that the star is out, you’re terrified because we’ve just seen it a million [times],” Kerr further added.
“Every NBA team is loaded with talent. You saw those guys out there. You know, firing threes and all, everybody can play in this league, and when the star sits, everybody gets excited. Um, this game did not surprise me frankly,” said Kerr in conclusion.
Curry had 27 points, six rebounds, and four assists, shooting 42.1% from the field and 40% from the three-point line. Jimmy Butler had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists, while shooting 38.9% from the field. Jonathan Kuminga continued to shine bright in the post extension era, as he scored 24 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, shooting 63.6% from the field, and 50% from the three-point line.
For the Bucks, young guard Ryan Rollins went off, scoring 32 points, three rebounds, and eight assists. He shot 61.9% from the field, and a whopping 71.4% from the three-point line, making five of seven from the line. He led from the front and did not give the Warriors any chance of a comeback after taking the lead in the first quarter.
Head coach Steve Kerr also talked about the visible fatigue that players were going through and how that accounted for a lot of the on-court mistakes that led to their defeat.
“It looked to me like fatigue, like mental and physical fatigue. Like our team, out there. Our spacing was bad. It just didn’t feel like we had our usual pop, and I thought Milwaukee was brilliant. They made 19 threes, they made one tough one after another down the stretch, but we let them hang around for too long, and that was the problem, it’s what we talked about before the game: any team playing without their star is going to play with nothing to lose, firing shots,” Kerr noted.
During the game, Curry made a cross-court pass that went wrong and hit Draymond Green in the side of the side. Green was visibly wobbly after the mishap and asked to be substituted since he needed to go to the locker room.
This small incident was a clear sample of the kind of night the Warriors had. After showing off their team chemistry in back-to-back games against the Clippers and the Grizzlies, they had an outing completely bereft of any coordination or flow.
The Warriors play the Pacers on Saturday, who are going to be without their star and Curry’s friend, Tyrese Haliburton, for a major part of this season. Let’s see whether the Golden State Warriors bounce back and end their streak against teams without their star players.
