The Golden State Warriors suffered a wire-to-wire 127-113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night at the Chase Center, competing against the second-best team in the NBA this season with nine rotational players ruled out.
The Warriors’ record worsens to 36-40, but the franchise has secured a spot in the Play-In Tournament. More losses amid their injury crisis likely mean they’re locked into the No. 10 seed, currently 2.5 games behind the No. 9 seed with six games left in the season.
New signing Omer Yurtseven led the Warriors in scoring with 17 points (6-9 FG), eight rebounds, and four assists. The franchise had only nine available players to rely on, including all their two-way guys, so it led to a team-effort where seven of nine players scored in double-digits, led by Yurtseven’s 17 points.
Victor Wembanyama made his case for MVP with a ruthless performance to beat the Warriors, putting up 41 points (16-22 FG), 18 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in just 29 minutes of action. No other Spur needed to even reach 20 points, given Wembanyama’s dominance and how overmatched the Warriors were against them. The Spurs improve to 58-18 on the season.
Let’s take a deeper look at the Warriors’ performances in this clash, as the team tried their best to mount an upset against a team that was clearly on an entirely different level.
Omer Yurtseven: B
Game Stats: 17 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 6-9 FG, 0-1 3PT, 5-6 FT, 29 MIN
Omer Yurtseven joined the Warriors roster as a late-season signing in March, but had a pretty impressive game considering how outmatched the Warriors were. He’s the only player to leave the night with a positive plus/minus (+1), as Yurtseven was able to maximize his minutes and be a force on the interior. He had strong moments against Wembanyama, but their minutes barely overlapped, which could explain why his production was as good as it was.
Yurtseven will likely not receive such an opportunity again when bigs such as Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Quinten Post are also available, but he has to maximize the opportunities that he gets. This was a good way to ensure minutes in the next game, and if he can continue doing this over the final six games of the season, it might lead to an opportunity in postseason play as well.
Yurtseven is averaging 3.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in nine games this season with the Warriors.
Brandin Podziemski: B-
Game Stats: 14 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST, 1 TO, 4-8 FG, 2-5 3PT, 4-4 FT, 17 MIN
The Warriors deployed the player who has been their biggest perimeter weapon in Stephen Curry’s absence: Brandin Podziemski. Unfortunately, the scale of the blowout led to Podziemski playing controlled minutes to safeguard his health in future games, as the Spurs looked to be in winning control of this one from the opening tip. Podziemski didn’t play a single minute in the fourth quarter, even when the lead was close to coming back down to single-digits, showing that the franchise would rather protect his health than gamble on an unlikely comeback.
Podziemski was effective as a scorer and creator, even having strong defensive flashes. However, his production couldn’t have matched the pace of Wembanyama’s tonight, so the Warriors chose to protect him after getting solid minutes and production across the first three quarters.
Podziemski has averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists over the last 10 games and is averaging 13.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists on the season.
Draymond Green: C+
Game Stats: 14 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4-7 FG, 4-6 3PT, 2-2 FT, 21 MIN
Draymond Green has made it clear that playing as a Warriors starter when the team isn’t winning is a challenge for him personally, given the scale of success he’s enjoyed. His play style also doesn’t lend well to being put in a position where he isn’t playing with star players, as he can be an offensive liability sometimes. He wasn’t that against the Spurs, finding his shot from outside early. However, he simply wasn’t given enough minutes or played with the effort we know he can give.
Green had his best stretch of the game in the third quarter, knocking down three of his shots in that period, but like Podziemski, he wouldn’t return to the court in the fourth quarter. There might have been a chance to spring an upset after the Warriors showed fight in the third quarter, but we’ll never know, as Green and Podziemski were pulled out. Nonetheless, this wasn’t a great Green showing outside the hot shooting, given his signature defense was subpar in the minutes he did get.
Pat Spencer: C+
Game Stats: 14 PTS, 8 REB, 7 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 5 TO, 6-15 FG, 2-6 3PT, 38 MIN
Pat Spencer led all Golden State guards in minutes this game. Unfortunately, his increased usage didn’t translate to an improved game. Despite making some big shots and strong reads, his performance was largely inefficient and inconsistent from play-to-play. He’s proven his value as a shooter and a backup guard on the Warriors this season, but this role isn’t something the Warriors can expect Spencer to play and have success in.
His best moments in the game came in the fourth quarter, as he put up six points, five rebounds, and three assists in the 12 minutes to close the game. Spencer is averaging 7.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 60 games this season.
Nate Williams: C
Game Stats: 18 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, 8-18 FG, 2-4 3PT, 47 MIN
The Warriors asked a lot of two-way player Nate Williams tonight, basically playing him for every single minute of the game. Williams served his purpose as a hustling member of the frontcourt, but, similar to Spencer, was totally miscast in this role. Despite his best efforts, he simply wasn’t good enough to consistently impact the game positively with his heavy minutes load and the high-quality opposition they were up against.
Williams did the best he could in the minutes he got, but 18 shots for someone who averages 3.7 shots per game for his career won’t lead to good results. He didn’t shoot that much because he was hot at any point; he shot that much because the Warriors literally didn’t have anyone else to rely on tonight. All things considered, it was a decent game for Williams, although his inefficiency also played a role in why the Spurs walked away with such a comfortable win.
Williams is averaging 7.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in 16 games with the Warriors this season.
L.J Cryer: C
Game Stats: 17 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 2 TO, 6-12 FG, 2-7 3PT, 3-3 FT, 23 MIN
L.J. Cryer has been one of the best rotational finds of the season for any team in the NBA, with the 24-year-old rookie contributing as a difference-maker on the Warriors’ rotation over the last month. Despite his seemingly solid numbers, Cryer didn’t have a good game.
He was quickly pulled from the rotation in the first quarter when the Spurs outscored the Warriors by 12 points in just three minutes of action for Cryer. He salvaged his stats with a 15-point second half, but he genuinely looked like a fish out of water in the first quarter when the Spurs were attacking the Warriors with everything they had.
This was a solid game for Cryer to show what he can do as a player, but this performance didn’t really teach us much about how he can deal with adversity while still having an incentive to win.
Seth Curry: C-
Game Stats: 12 PTS, 2 REB, 5-8 FG, 2-4 3PT, 10 MIN
Seth Curry played very limited minutes for the Warriors tonight, but shone in those. He scored 12 quick points while playing only in the first half, as the Warriors pulled him from the rotation. We can presume it was about the negligible defensive impact he brought in his minutes, although Golden State also needed someone who could’ve scored as effortlessly as Curry did to open the game.
The best way for the Warriors to pull off an upset was to throw wings and other defenders at the Spurs, which explains why Curry didn’t get a shot in the second half.
Malevy Leons: C-
Game Stats: 5 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, 2-6 FG, 1-3 FT, 29 MIN
Warriors rookie Malevy Leons had a well-rounded game. His defensive impact was quite important to the Warriors’ success in the third quarter, as the Dutch player tried to use his high work-rate to make a positive impact on the game.
Will Richard: D
Game Stats: 2 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 1-3 FG, 0-2 3PT, 26 MIN
Will Richard had the worst plus/minus (-18) of any Warriors player in tonight’s loss. He looked out of rhythm, rushing shots and committing silly fouls, which safely ranks him at the bottom of today’s player ratings.
