New-Look Toronto Raptors Embarrass Golden State Warriors On Their Own Floor

Briefly, before getting into the article, I would like to apologize for the lack of articles the past month. I have been on winter break from school and have been spending time with family and friends as it is my first time back home in 11 months. Starting now, I am getting back on track and will resume uploading articles 1-2 days after the game. I hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Without further ado, let’s get back to business.

We pick back up 36 games into the Dubs season as they sit just under .500 at 17-19, good for 11th in the Western Conference. The back half of December was streaky as they strung together five nice wins in a row including an overtime thriller over one of the best teams in the league in the Boston Celtics, but then dropped three straight to close out the month. Fortunately for the Warriors, Draymond Green is cleared to return after serving a 12 game suspension for his series of misconduct. He will likely need to ramp up his conditioning and won’t return to action for another week or so, but Green coming back will undoubtedly help the Dubs. On the other hand, Chris Paul and Gary Payton are both injured and out for multiple weeks leaving Golden State shorthanded at the guard position. In theory, this opens up minutes for Moody and Podziemski, but for whatever reason, Kerr seems reluctant to playing Moody. Moreover, news broke that Kuminga was upset with Kerr after he was benched in the fourth quarter despite playing well all game. I will talk more about the rotation problems and how I think the Warriors should approach the team and the trade deadline later in this article. For now, let’s debrief the most recent game, an embarrassing home loss to the Toronto Raptors.

The new look Raptors came to town and blew out the Dubs 133-118. Down 27 at half, the Warriors made some third quarter adjustments and looked like they might stage a late game comeback, but everytime they drew within striking distance, the Raptors hit a big shot and kept the Dubs at bay. The Raptors are rumored to be sellers with the deadline looming, as they already shipped off OG Anunoby to the Knicks for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, but they have been playing solid basketball of late. Still, Golden State was expected to win the game and should have taken advantage of the opportunity. Kerr has been toying around with the starting lineup recently, and this game rolled with the usual suspects in Curry and Klay, while Wiggins, Kuminga and rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis took the floor with them. 

Toronto jumped out to a 7-0 lead with Poeltl getting a post hook to fall sandwiched by two RJ Barrett buckets. Kuminga stopped the bleeding with a nifty layup but the Raptors kept the pressure on, extending the lead to 12 a few minutes later on a Siakam basket. Klay Thompson’s scoring output kept the Dubs in it, as he striped several shots from inside and outside the arc. With just under two minutes to play in the first, Gary Trent Jr. nailed a trey ball putting Toronto up 36-23. Moses Moody capitalized on his minutes and responded with a three of his own before getting to the line and knocking down two free throws to cut the lead to 36-28 after one. The Raptors absolutely poured it on in the second quarter dropping 40 points and holding the Dubs to just 21. Golden State hung around for the first five minutes, but after two Klay buckets making it a 48-37 game, the Raptors went on a 28-12 run to end the period giving them a massive 76-49 cushion. RJ Barrett accounted for 17 on his own including four threes. 

Golden State made some solid half time changes and were able to put a dent into the big deficit in the third quarter. The Dubs went on a 13-2 burst to start the third thanks to some tight defense and good ball movement. Later in the quarter Klay Thompson started to heat up draining back to back threes. Kuminga then got fouled and converted two from the charity stripe to cut the lead to single digits, 96-87. But Gary Trent Jr. cashed in from 30 feet and big man Chris Boucher got a put back to go to end the quarter, and the Raptors sat comfortably going into the fourth quarter, up 101-87. Golden State was never able to get the lead under 10 again, as the Raptors jumped out to a quick 110-90 lead to start the fourth after two long balls from Chris Boucher. In fact, with a whopping six minutes left on the clock, Kerr emptied his bench and in doing so, waved the white flag on the game. The final score was 133-118, and really just an impressive performance by Toronto as they dominated from start to finish, never losing the lead. 

The box score tells the whole story, as Steph Curry had not only one of his worst nights of the season, but possibly his career, going 2-11 from the field, 0-9 from downtown, and recording a measly 9 points. Wiggins and Podziemski had off nights as well, combining for 3-17 from the field and 8 points. Kuminga, Saric and Looney all had solid games, putting up 13, 11 and 10 respectively while Looney grabbed 7 boards to go along with it. Despite the Warrior’s struggles, several players actually had excellent performances that hopefully carry over to the next game. Klay Thompson had 25 points on 10-15 from the field and 5-7 from beyond the arc. TJD had an efficient 16 points and 11 boards as he went 8-9 from the field. And finally Moses Moody put up a surprising 21 points on a 7-9 clip with 4 treys. For the Raptors, it was a coming out party for new addition, RJ Barrett. He tallied 37 points with five threes, six boards, and six assists. Siakam and Poeltl had 16 and 14 while three bench players got into double figures. Boucher went 7-7 and recorded 17 points, while Trent Jr. and Schroeder put up 14 and 13 themselves. 

Taking a look at some team stats, the Warriors surprisingly weren’t drastically outrebounded or outscored in the paint though the Raptors did narrowly win each battle. It really just came down to shot making. Toronto shot just under 60% from the field while going 15/33 from beyond the arc. Conversely, the Dubs hit 30% of their three pointers and shot 45% from the field. Not a lot can be said other than it was an off night for Golden State. It’s unfortunate to have such a brutal shooting night against a team like the Raptors who are easily beatable. The Warriors will get a few days off before hosting the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night. The Pelicans have been playing great basketball as of late and post a 22-15 record. The trio of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum is lethal while the Pels have several role players that contribute significantly to winning basketball such as Jonas Valanciunas, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado, and Trey Murphy. It will be a tough game for the Dubs, especially considering the amount of size New Orleans has. As is often the case, Golden State will need a special performance from someone to win this game. No longer can the Warriors just play mediocre basketball and expect to win the game. I predict the Pelicans come out on top 123-114, despite a bounce back game from Steph. 

Now, I want to talk a little about the rotation and playing time issues that surround the Golden State Warriors. As I mentioned, rumors started going around that Kuminga and his camp were unhappy with Kerr as he wasn’t allowing Kuminga to properly develop and reach his full potential. Within 24 hours, even more rumors were spread that Moody and his camp were upset with his lack of playing time. The problem right now, is that the Warriors have too many mediocre role players. Don’t get me wrong, these types of players are crucial and necessary for a deep playoff run, but not 7-8 of them. The Warriors badly need to make a big time trade, sending multiple players away for one star talent. Whether that is Lauri Markannen, Pascal Siakam, or someone else, it needs to happen. Think about it, Curry is the lone player on the Dubs who should start and play the majority of every game. Klay Thompson has been falling off and just can’t shoot the ball as well as he used to, Wiggins doesn’t look anything like he did in 2022, Draymond can’t stay on the court, Kuminga struggles to shoot the ball well from beyond the arc, and so on and so forth. I believe the Warriors best five they can roll out there right now is Curry, Klay, Kuminga, Draymond, and TJD. Then, off the bench, you have CP3, GP2, Podz, Wiggins, Moody, Saric, and Looney who all have viable cases to get minutes. But that is just not possible. So, players have to be dealt. In my opinion, the Warriors should prioritize their future and hold on to their young core. I think Moody, Kuminga and TJD should be getting quality minutes. Many people like Podz, but I am not too high on him. I’d rather deal him somewhere else and give his minutes to Moody or GP2. Regardless, Golden State’s GM is tasked with tough decisions, but he will have to pull the trigger on one thing or another in the coming weeks before the trade deadline, as the current roster is not championship-ready.