If there was any hope that the undermanned, scrappy Golden State Warriors could muster up some momentum following their upset win over the Denver Nuggets, it just came crashing to a halt in the Bayou.
The Warriors fell 113-109 to the New Orleans Pelicans in ugly fashion. Though the close score indicates a highly contested, competitive affair, it speaks more to the Dubs' tepid offensive performance in the first quarter, in which they shot only 8-of-25, that they ultimately could not overcome.
And while Moses Moody continued his consistent play with 24 points and five rebounds, and De'Anthony Melton exploded for 28 points in only 28 minutes, Pelicans star Zion Williamson proved unstoppable down the stretch, finishing with a team-high 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting. After the game, Steve Kerr gave his evaluation of the Dubs' underwhelming performance.
“I don't know if ‘down the stretch' is what got us. It was the full 48 minutes,” Kerr said. “21 turnovers. We did not execute very well offensively. Spacing was bad. Transition, we had three potential layups in the first half. We didn't run, we didn't cut to the rim, we didn't get to the corners. We just looked disjointed.”
Frustration felt palpable from the Warriors all night long as the bad basketball plagued them up and down the hardwood. Midway through the third quarter, the broadcast caught Quinten Post and Brandin Podziemski having a heated conversation as the two walked to the bench, with Draymond Green having to step between the two to prevent things from escalating.
And while the Warriors did have a chance to steal this game from the jaws of their own poor play, the offense unsurprisingly ran dry, and they could not bail themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves.
Offense remains a problem without their stars
It's no surprise that the Warriors' offense has struggled with consistency lately. With Stephen Curry in day-to-day purgatory with his inflamed runner's knee, Jimmy Butler out for the season, and Kristaps Porzingis suffering from a bad, undisclosed illness, Golden State lacks an on-ball creator or engine to center the offense around.
Kerr has talked about needing “triggers” to get the defense scrambling, i.e., Curry's gravity or Butler drawing double teams in the post. But without them, they don't have that which leads to droughts like the ones they suffered against the Pelicans.
And sure, Melton can get penetration, and Moody can run around a screen off-ball, but across 48 minutes of a game, they need more. What they did versus Denver is certainly the height of what's possible when everything's humming. But ultimately, that requires kind of outing everything to run smoothly. That means no messy turnovers, no missed opportunities in transition.
It requires good ball movement and hitting open shots. And the Warriors didn't do that in New Orleans.
“The game was right there for us, just couldn't execute well enough,” Kerr said. “With the injuries we have, we have to play well to win. And I don’t think we played well tonight.”
Al Horford resting on the front end of the back-to-back certainly didn't help, and they'll get him back versus the Memphis Grizzlies. But help's not on the way any time soon. Curry's reevaluation won't come until the end of the week, and knowing their tendency to lean conservative on returns from injury, there will likely be a ramp-up process before he comes back. Meanwhile, Porzingis may very well be confirming the Warriors' worst fears with this latest health scare.
The Dubs will look to bounce back with a game in Memphis in less than 24 hours.
Other noteables
- To add insult to injury for the Dubs, Jonathan Kuminga looked pretty smooth in his Atlanta Hawks debut. 25 points, 7 rebounds, on 9/12 FGs against the tanking Washington Wizards. It's only one game, and against a poor team at that, but the Kuminga era in Atlanta is off to a good start.
- Porzingis did not make the trip to the south, which rules him out for Memphis. It's unknown what his illness is specifically. He has a history with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) that the Warriors were aware of when they traded for him, but the Warriors have not confirmed if this current illness has something to do with that. Kerr said Sunday it was severe enough for Porzingis to not be able to leave his hotel room.
- The NBC Sports Bay Area has started adding live graphics to its broadcasts. Things like a grey circle hovering under whoever has the ball, names popping up whenever someone gets the ball, and a distance counter whenever someone shoots it from deep. Looks like NBA 2k and it's driving many watchers up the wall (including me).
