Warriors fall to Suns, lose third straight as Green is ejected
The starters are playing atrociously as a unit just one year after being the best in the league.
The Phoenix Suns defeated the Golden State Warriors 119-116 in Arizona, with one of the worst performances Dub Nation has witnessed from GSW’s starting lineup. Stephen Curry’s boxscore looked like a Kobe Bryant tribute, shooting 8-for-24 from the field for 24 points.
But the rest of the starters combined for 12 points, with Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson going 3-of-17 from the field. Coach Steve Kerr had seen enough of their lackluster play and limited their second half minutes for the reserves to get more time.
Oh yeah and Draymond Green got ejected for cracking Jusuf Nurkic in the face… accidentally?
"I am not one to apologize for things I mean to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn't intend to hit him," Green said after the game. "I sell calls with my arms ... so I was selling the call ... and I swung and unfortunately I hit him."
"Like I said, if I intended to do that, then I would feel awful about not being there," Green said. "But my intentions were just to sell the foul.
"You guys have known me long enough, if I intended to do something, I am not apologizing. But I did make contact with him, so I do apologize. ... It's a hard hit."
Fortunately the Warriors did get strong performances from their bench players.
Brandin Podziemski: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists
Jonathan Kuminga: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 60% shooting from the field
Chris Paul: 15 points, 11 assists
Dario Saric: 15 points
Moses Moody: 12 points
This game might be the most extreme example this season of Coach Kerr’s trust in his starting lineup not proving dividends, forcing him to explore alternate rotations. Only 23 games in to an 82 game season, there’s still plenty of time for Kerr to tinker and figure out who can give him the most on the court.
Thompson, Wiggins, and Green are completely integral to this team’s championship aspirations. If those three former All-Stars are providing a lackluster impact, Golden State’s going to have to continue turning to their role players on the bench for a consistent spark.
And back to Green; I truly wonder what the penalty from the league will be considering he just got back from suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a sleeper hold. Is the NBA going to drop the hammer on him and take him out of action for a substantial amount of time?
Pistons, Wizards, and Spurs all lose again tonight. Ignoring the Wizards' win against the Pistons (someone had to win), the three teams have lost 21, 15, and 18 games in a row, respectively. 54 straight losses!
New thread to discuss Draymond’s indefinite suspension: https://dubnationhq.com/p/draymond-suspended-indefinitely-the