It would’ve taken, as Golden State coach Keith Smart said, the
Warriors’ players to max out in order to beat the league’s best
team. But in Monday’s home game vs. the San Antonio, the Warriors
had just one player do such. And forward David Lee’s season-high 31
points to go with 12 rebounds was hardly enough. The 113-102 loss
to the Spurs doesn’t come as a shock. San Antonio (38-7), owner of
the league’s best record, has beaten the Warriors in 11 straight,
five straight at Oracle Arena. All the Warriors can hope now is
that the buzz kill against the Spurs doesn’t carry over into the
next game.
OAKLAND
It would’ve taken, as Golden State coach Keith Smart said, the Warriors’ players to max out in order to beat the league’s best team.
But in Monday’s home game vs. the San Antonio, the Warriors had just one player do such. And forward David Lee’s season-high 31 points to go with 12 rebounds was hardly enough.
The 113-102 loss to the Spurs doesn’t come as a shock. San Antonio (38-7), owner of the league’s best record, has beaten the Warriors in 11 straight, five straight at Oracle Arena. All the Warriors can hope now is that the buzz kill against the Spurs doesn’t carry over into the next game.
Golden State gets the last team to beat San Antonio on Wednesday, the New Orleans Hornets. And after being soundly beating by the Spurs, the trick will be for the Warriors to somehow get their momentum back.
Warriors star guard Monta Ellis needed 26 shots to get 25 points. Point guard Stephen Curry, who had 66 points in his last two games, managed just 14 points on 6-for-16 shooting.
San Antonio got 18 points and 11 assists from point guard Tony Parker. Manu Ginobili had 20 points and forward Tim Duncan finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Even the Warriors’ bench was slaughtered by the Spurs’ reserves, 46-14, led by 14 each from guard George Hill and big man Antonio McDyess.
The Spurs reduced the Warriors to primarily a jump-shooting team in the third quarter, and they weren’t making them at a high rate. Of the Warriors 22 shots in the third quarter, 17 were outside shots. At one point, they missed seven straight jumpers.
It’s no wonder Golden State made just 36.4 percent of its shots in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Spurs did their methodical thing. They made 10 of 19 field goals, spread the scoring wealth around several players (McDyess had a team-high eight in the quarter) and got to the free-throw line.
San Antonio built its lead as large as 13 and sent the Warriors into the fourth quarter down 90-78.
Unlike what they did vs. Sacramento on Friday and at the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, the Warriors couldn’t mount a fourth-quarter comeback on Monday. Ellis took two shots, missing both, and managed just two points in the fourth quarter.
Normally, being tied with the Spurs after the first quarter is a good thing. Only, the Warriors needed to shoot 60.9 percent to break even. Lee scored 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first 12 minutes. Still, the Warriors trailed late in the final seconds of the first quarter. That is until Curry drove and found a streaking Dorell Wright for a left-handed dunk that tied the game at 34 entering the second quarter.
The Warriors’ couldn’t keep the hot shooting going. They made just 9 of 20 attempts in the second quarter. Ellis needed 10 shots to get eight points. Meanwhile, the Spurs got to the free-throw line (7-for-10) and crashed the glass, doubling up the Warriors on the boards in the quarter.
The Warriors trailed 56-53 after Wright knocked down three free throws with 2:22 left in the half. But San Antonio ran off three straight baskets to take its largest lead of the game, nine points. A Lee jumper sent the Warriors into the half down 62-55.
— Story by Marcus Thompson II, Contra Costa Times
