The season is unraveling for the Warriors at a really bad time, writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Golden State fell to the Lakers Saturday night, extending its losing streak to four games for the first time this season. The team has fallen into third place in the Western Conference after going 2-8 in its last 10 games, and Stephen Curry understands that something needs to change.
“We cannot give in to this losing mentality,” he said. “We’re not that team, and I’m not going to let us be that team. … We cannot give in to this losing spirit of just finding different ways to lose basketball games. We have 18 games left, we have to figure out how to turn things around pretty quick.”
The Warriors are dealing with a variety of issue, with the most notable being the absence of Draymond Green, who hasn’t played since January 9 but hopes to be back in “a couple weeks.” However, the problems go beyond Green, Andrews adds, as Golden State has been struggling with missed free throws, a drop in bench production and executing late in games, which coach Steve Kerr blamed for Saturday’s loss.
“I thought we had several chances to really break this game open,” Kerr said. “This has kind of been a pattern during this bad spell for us. We are not stepping on teams when they are down. We are making mistakes and allowing teams to hang around. And when you do that in this league, you’re dead.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Another concern is a shooting slump by Klay Thompson, who is going through his worst stretch since returning from a long injury-related layoff, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Thompson was just 3-of-13 Saturday night, including an important miss on a wide open three in the final two minutes. “Klay’s pressing,” Kerr said. “He got into a pretty good groove over the month or so before the All-Star break, and I feel like the sickness, the illness that kept him out of a couple of games probably affected his conditioning and his timing. So, he struggled the last two games. He’ll get it back.”
- The Warriors are getting quality minutes from their young players, but many of the veterans they signed during the offseason aren’t producing right now, Slater adds. Andre Iguodala has only played one six-minute stretch since January 20, Nemanja Bjelica is losing his spot in the rotation and Otto Porter Jr. hasn’t been the same since January ended.
- Kerr expressed frustration over the league’s decision to schedule a make-up game Monday at Denver and said he won’t have Curry, Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and possibly a few other players make the trip, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “We are not sending a lot of our players to Denver,” Kerr said. “The decision was pretty easy. Throwing that game (originally scheduled for December 30) into the schedule the way the league did after that game was postponed and then going back to Denver — three games in four nights, with two of those games being back and forth, we’re not gonna put our high-minutes guys at risk.”
There’s been a long enough sample size to realize they were a better team before Klay Thompson came back. It’s as if he’s trying to shoot all the shots he didn’t take over the past few years. I lost track how many times the commentators say “he’s pressing,” “he’s taking bad shots.”
It’s too late to change course. We just all have to hope it will all work out for the W’s. I was one of those fans that felt that Klay should come off the bench to begin his comeback. But to Klay’s defense, Green has been out all along and it’s not fair to blame the losses solely on Klay.
Not just Klay playing bad. Wiggins been awful last 2 months. Kerr’s rotations have been questioned a lot. GP2 was out last night and he has been a big part of their defense. I just don’t want GSW play Clippers in the first round in case they get back their 2 all stars.
Yea I agree. That was my thought as well. Have him come off the bench so he can shoot as much as he wants too and keep the starting 5 the same as before he came back. His “getting in game shape” has messed up the rotations and continuity of the team that was so dominant before he came back.
One thing does bother me this year about Klay. It’s not shooting slump, but a bit of his attitude.
Last night was a good example. He keep whining about missing shots and opportunities and about his slump rather than being happy about team winning. You can see it on his face and body language and it was a terrible display of focusing on himself rather than the team. I was very disappointed and for some reason, Klay got very big big headed during his 2 year layoff. ONLY one stat matters – WIN !!
Klay’s negative attitude eventually affected everyone last night when the team was playing great especially Poole. WHY leave the court early for halftime especially when the team was winning double digit ??? Who cares about personal stats??! Why not be happy and root for the team??! I want the old Klay’s attitude back !!
He’s always had a poor attitude. You just didn’t notice it when they were winning. He struts around like he’s a top 5 player in the league.
Sounds like Michol is blaming Klay himself after speechifying nobody should do that.
Could not agree more. I’ve said this a number of times. It’s as if he’s mad at the Warriors for being injured and trying to make up for lost time or he’s still trying to make the top 75 player list. Either way very obviously not a team player attitude
Couldn’t agree more, his attitude was always there but now it’s getting really bad..dude is hella vain: his facial expressions, body language, and the way he walks is losing a ton of brownie points from me.
Overall, optimistic about Klay. He has shown he can still play, shoot well, and healthy enough to play both ways. All he has to do is let go of his inflated ego and self-pity, and simply hustle and prioritize winning. Fans only care about wins and he should too especially when he has guaranteed $200m contract.
Klay is pressing and you can tell he was trying way to hard. Good to see Kerr give him the next game off to get mentally ready for Clippers. Klay has high standards for himself and shouldn’t be thrash for that.
I think he’s taken his whole me against the world mentality during rehab too far and let it spillover into the regular season. He’s making it too much about himself and not enough about the team. Granted, helping himself helps the team in a roundabout way but continuing to force things isn’t going to get him there.
Yeah judge him on ONE game …..
Warriors are a better team with Klay. He’s still finding his way. Relax lol
No one is judging him on ONE game.
Before Klay was back Green was healthy and Curry wasn’t shooting some of the worst percentages of his career.
Curry was slumping from about a week and a half before he broke the record until the AS break. It would come and go with occasional good games, but he has been off since before Klay returned. The one encouraging thing in a lot of these losses is that Curry is looking much better than before and his shot seems to be coming back. They are being killed by at least 2 of or all 3 Klay/Wiggins/Poole all being off a lot of games recently.
Curry has been dropping 20-35 again but nobody else on the team cracks 14 most nights.
Everyone who has a clue and knows the Warriors can realize what Draymond Green means to this team. That’s what this is plain and simple.
On both the offensive and defensive end Green means everything with what the Warriors do and how they’re made up. When he comes back they’ll be fine and perhaps have a shot to win a few playoff series.
It will be interesting to watch the last month. Conference Finals? I think they can get there.
3 best defenders were out and nobody could shoot a free throw. Kerr’s rotations are terrible. Why wasn’t Looney playing more when they needed rebounding? Wiggins and Thompson shooting was terrible again. Wiggins went from all star to bench player in just 2 months.
Bench Klay and start Poole
Start Kuminga and bench Porter
Warriors were likely to win last night
4 injury
Payton
Wiseman
Iguodala
Green
He should’ve never been a starter in the All-Star game. A questionable All Star at all.
problem will always be with Wiggins is how much desire he has to be a all star. He can be a great player on the court but never been consistent at being the best. I do kind of wonder if he is not happy about getting a new max deal.
His month of FEB was the single worst shooting month of his career!
Why wasn’t Looney playing?
You want Looney to guard LBJ?
They even lost to the brokedick Lakers. This is getting hard to watch.
Added note tomorrow’s game there will be no Curry, Thompson, or Wiggins in Denver. So the losing streak will continue.
We kept saying not to get too excited when W’s got off to a fast start. A lot of fans thought W’s will win 65-70 games. Likewise, dont get too down! W’s will get Iggy, Green, Wiseman back and W’s will peak just in time for an exciting postseason. W’s are contenders no doubt!
The easily would have if Dray didnt get hurt! He fell super hard on his back under the basket in late Dec which I think caused his injury. If the team had him Iggy and Porter not missing time which screwed his rhythm they would be right there hunting the 1 seed.
Warriors are missing their bigs. If you think Looney is a real big. Then you will always fail. Dre and Wiseman change everything. Warriors had a good run. But against top teams. They have to be at full strength. That makes them deeper, better, more dangerous.
Curry’s shooting slump is sooo bad!
Who was supposed to pick up Lebron coming down the middle?