Golden State Warriors Look To Be In Shambles Following Second Straight Blowout Loss At Home

The New Orleans Pelicans handed the Golden State Warriors their largest home loss of the Steve Kerr era last night, 141-105. This marks the second consecutive game that the Warriors have been absolutely embarrassed on their home court. This time, so much so that the Chase Center fans were booing the team after just the first quarter. Kerr once again made some changes to the starting lineup, going with Curry, Klay, Podz, Kuminga and Looney. The constant swapping and rotating starters could potentially be impacting player’s confidence. Obviously injuries and Draymond’s suspension play roles in this but I think if Kerr sticks with the same five for 10-15 games with the same players coming off the bench at the same times each game, the team could be a lot better off. Players could find grooves and get into a rhythm rather than not knowing when or if they will see the court. Alas, back to the game. 

The Pelicans came out scorching hot, nailing five three pointers in the first three minutes to take a 15-4 lead. Klay, Curry and Wiggins got a trey to fall each to keep the Dubs in the game but New Orleans was getting whatever they wanted on offense and quickly turned a 24-15 lead into a 34-18 lead. Moody hit a long ball and Saric got to the rim twice for easy looks but to cap off the Pelican’s highest scoring quarter of the season, rookie Jordan Hawkins cashed in on a buzzer beater three to make it a 46-27 game after one. The second quarter was full of runs. The Pels opened up with a quick 14-8 burst led by Trey Murphy and CJ McCollum threes. Then it was the Warrior’s turn as Curry and Moody traded shots from downtown cutting the deficit to 60-41. After a Pelican’s timeout, Jordan Hawkins striped a trey followed by two Ingram free throws to extend the lead to 23 with just under six minutes to play. The Dubs showed some fight to finish off the half as Looney and TJD got a couple good looks under the rim. Moody then capped it off with a three to trim the lead to 73-60 and finally give the Chase Center fans something to cheer for.

The momentum was short lived as Kuminga got to the lane for two to start the third quarter, but the Pels responded with a bucket in the half court and then a quasi transition bucket from Brandon Ingram. Klay did answer back immediately, lacing one from way downtown only to have Ingram bring the lead back to 14 on a three of his own. Halfway through the third, Kuminga converted two from the free throw line making it an 86-75 game and the Warriors looked like they might have a chance to crawl back into the game, but Valanciunas proceeded to go on a tear, scoring 14 points on his own to end the quarter. Heading into the fourth and final period, the Pelican’s lead had ballooned back up to 22, 105-83. A Zion Williamson layup sandwiched by two three pointers gave New Orlean’s a commanding 30 point lead, and Kerr had seen enough. With around 10 minutes to play, Lester Quinones, Gui Santos, and the rest of the Warrior’s benchwarmers checked into the game and garbage time ensued. Kuminga, TJD and Podz stayed on the court and were able to pad some of their stats and hopefully build on something moving forward. After a brutal 48 minutes of basketball on the Warrior’s behalf, the buzzer sounded and the Pelicans came away with a 141-105 victory. 

Nobody on either team was able to put up any spectacular numbers because the game was a blowout and the starters hardly played the fourth quarter. For New Orlean’s, eight players got into double figures with Valanciunas and Zion leading the way at 21 and 19. Valanciunas just missed a double-double as he grabbed 9 boards. McCollum and Ingram had an elementary 14 and 13, while UVA product Trey Murphy had 16 off the bench with an astonishing +38 plus/minus. Hawkins was also feeling it as he recorded 14 points, drilling 4 threes. For the Dubs, Moody put up 21 points matching his season high while TJD continued his efficient production, going 9-11 with 19 points. Curry and Klay continued to struggle, tallying 15 and 13 on 3 threes apiece. Finally, Kuminga got into double digits with 12 but Podz and Wiggins had poor outings combining for 7 points on a 3-14 clip. 

In a postgame interview, Steph was asked about the team potentially making changes and his response somewhat solidified that the Warriors will be active around the deadline. He talked about how what they have going on right now is not working and they can’t keep doing the same thing. In my opinion, this is an understatement. The Dubs have already lost more games at home than they did the entire season last year, and it’s not as if they are killing it on the road. With a four game road trip coming up, including games against a hot Bulls team and a powerhouse Bucks squad, the Warriors are in real danger of falling into the bottom tier of the Western Conference standings. I feel like a broken record talking about the same issues every game but the stats just don’t lie. Golden State is turning the ball over at too high of a rate, consistently being out-rebounded and out-scored in the paint, and simply just not hitting a high enough percentage of shots. It starts with Curry and goes all the way down the roster. If Curry keeps struggling like he is, the Warriors could very well go 0-4 on this road trip. There isn’t enough production from the rest of the team to compensate for Steph having an off night. 

The first game of the road trip comes on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls. Chicago has not been amazing this year, but since Lavine returned from injury they are 3-0. I want to be optimistic and say the Warriors will pull out a big win to give them some momentum going into the rest of the road trip, but I just don’t see it happening the way Golden State is playing right now. The Bulls will be too much to handle with Lavine, Coby White, and Demar Derozan causing problems on the outside, while Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic dominate in the paint. I’ve got the Dubs losing this one 119-111, though I hope at the very least Curry gets back on track and finds his stroke.