Friday was always going to be an incredibly difficult game for the Golden State Warriors. They were on the road, taking on a San Antonio Spurs team that had won 10 consecutive games. Just on strength of opponent, it was the hardest game of the year for the Dubs.
And then “hard” turned into “impossible” when Steph Curry was injured during Wednesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. With Curry sidelined, the Warriors were, essentially, without hope in this game.
Still, about once a year the Warriors — like most teams — are good for a shocking upset bid when undermanned. Could this be the night where they’re competitive against all odds?
It only took a few possessions for the answer to be an emphatic “no.” Steve Kerr opted for a small starting lineup — De’Anthony Melton, Brandin Podziemski, Will Richard, Yaxel Lendeborg, and Draymond Green — hoping to outrun a team that they would be catastrophically undersized against, regardless of who they started.
And boy howdy, that — like everything the team tried — did not work. The opening possessions went exactly the way you would expect: the Warriors could not find an inch of space, while the Spurs broke them down. It felt like a team of seven-footers was playing a team of five-footers … it seemed like every Warriors pass was deflected, and every shot was blocked or contested. In the time it took you to figure out how to get this Prime Video game on your TV, San Antonio had taken a 7-0 lead.
They were getting everything they wanted on offense, using the gravity and playmaking of Victor Wembanyama to fully break down a helpless Warriors defense. Kerr called his first timeout less than three minutes into the game, with the Spurs leading 12-0. That timeout helped Golden State’s defense a tiny bit, but it did nothing for their offense. 12-0 became 14-0 became 16-0 became 18-0, the best start to a game in San Antonio’s history.
Finally, more than halfway through the quarter, the Warriors — who started the game 0-for-11 from the field — got on the board, when Gui Santos absorbed some contact for a tough and-one.
But even that play was emblematic of the struggles, as Santos missed the free throw, and just a few seconds later, the Spurs converted it into a three.
Santos’ bucket did not break any dam. Offense was still borderline impossible for the Dubs to come by, though they finally found a few buckets when Wembanyama took a rest. San Antonio’s offense, on the other hand, didn’t change at all with their superstar sidelined, as Stephon Castle took it upon him to thoroughly feast on Warriors defenders. That, combined with the Spurs making it rain from deep, led to a 38-14 San Antonio advantage after the first quarter. With no Curry, it was clear that the game was already over.
Golden State played much better defense in the second quarter, and the Spurs’ offense got a little discombobulated. But that did nothing for the Warriors’ offense, which was still stuck on life support. Every bucket was hard to come by — though LJ Cryer had some nice bursts to give fans something to cheer for — and Golden State could do nothing to cut into the deficit. A bad foul on a De’Aaron Fox three with less than a second remaining punctuated an awful half, and the Spurs went to the locker rooms leading 66-33.
The Warriors opened the third quarter with a pair of threes, and then, for all intents and purposes, they walked off the court and called it a night. San Antonio was taller, longer, stronger, more athletic, faster, and happy to flex all of those advantages in every area of the game. The second half was window dressing, and the Spurs weren’t even incentivized to take their foot off the gas, since it was an NBA Cup game, and thus, point differential mattered. The lead ballooned to 43 points for the Spurs, before coming back to an ever-so-slightly less-disrespectful 38 by the final buzzer, with San Antonio winning 123-85.
Cryer was the Warriors’ lone bright spot, as he scored a career-high 20 points with six assists (and no turnovers!), while shooting 6-for-11 from three-point range. Charles Bassey, who had 11 points and five rebounds, was the only other Golden State player in double figures.
With Curry out, the Dubs are going to rely on Lendeborg and Podziemski to carry the offense, but neither could do so against the ranginess of San Antonio’s excellent defense. Lendeborg had far and away the worst game of his young career, as he shot 1-for-13 from the field for three points, seven rebounds, one assist, and three turnovers. Podz wasn’t much better, as he had eight points on 2-for-10 shooting. As a team, the Warriors shot a paltry 33.3% (31-for-93) from the field. The Spurs’ length gave the Dubs fits, as they shot significantly worse inside the arc than beyond it … they shot 15-for-41 (36.6%) on threes, but just 16-for-52 (30.8%) on twos, while only earning 11 free throws.
Castle led San Antonio with a brilliant game, finishing with 32 points, five rebounds, and six assists. Wembanyama only played 21 minutes, but that was enough for him to have 12 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and two blocks.
The Dubs now get the weekend off, before facing the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.
