The Golden State Warriors fell 120-110 to the Milwaukee Bucks in a Thursday night clunker. The opposition was without Giannis Antetokounmpo due to left knee soreness, but Golden State failed to match the shorthanded Bucks' intensity.
Warriors All-Star Jimmy Butler acknowledged that the loss was not what the team had hoped for and provided a simple way for the group to get back on track.
“Get back to winning and it’ll be flowers and daisies in no time,” Butler told ESPN’s Anthony Slater.
Butler, Stephen Curry, and Jonathan Kuminga all scored more than 20 points, but Milwaukee played a tighter overall game.
“It looked to me like fatigue,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told Nick Friedell of The Athletic. “Mental, physical fatigue. It did not look like our team out there. Our spacing was bad. It didn’t feel like we had our usual pop. I thought Milwaukee was brilliant.”
Bucks guard Ryan Rollins was particularly effective. The 23-year-old dropped a career-high 32 points as well as eight assists. He was 13-of-21 from the field and 5-of-7 from range in the winning effort.
“Watching him on film before tonight, you see he’s being very calculated on how to use his speed and create space and get downhill,” Curry told Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Shooting shots when he’s open. It seems like the game has slowed down enough when he’s making proper reads.
“You obviously saw it tonight, he played fearless out there … I’m happy for him, but I’m also pissed off.”
The Warriors are now 4-2 on the season. They will look to bounce back when they face the Pacers in Indiana on Saturday.
