Warriors suffered the pain of Lakers monstrous third quarter run
Ky Bowman will miss time after suffering a tough ankle sprain
Last night the undermanned Golden State Warriors suffered a 116-86 beatdown at home by the hands of a LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Warriors only trailed 54-52 at halftime despite Andrew Wiggins joining the Splash Bros on the inactive list and Draymond Green getting ejected.
Then the good vibes in Chase Center quickly evaporated as the Lakers incinerated the Warriors in the third quarter, 40-17. Letās talk about two factors that went horribly wrong in that awful start to the second half.
1.) Turnovers skyrocketed in Draymond's absence
Early on the Dubs were hanging in against a better team by dishing the rock with purpose. In the first half they tallied 17 assists and won the turnover battle 10 to 12.
Green was running the point early on, controlling the pace while getting four assists and three turnovers of his own. Once he was ejected, Golden Stateās young players couldnāt control the basketball, falling prey to the Lakers hawking defense.
The Warriors committed seven turnovers in the third quarter alone and fed L.A. easy transition buckets.
2.) Lakers lived in the paint like Bob Ross
The Lakers scored around the rim with impunity in the disastrous third. Check out Los Angelesā shot chart for the period.
That cluster of green circles around the hoop was made up of mostly layups and humiliating lob dunks as the Lakers exploited Golden Stateās lack of both perimeter and interior defense.
Remember when the Warriors used to own the third periods by ending games early with dominant explosions? Those Dubs could sleepwalk through the first half before activating a focused frenzy similar to that of a frugal mother of five going berserk in the finals of āSupermarket Sweepā.
Now? The third quarter is where Golden Stateās dreams go to die. The Warriors are ranked 28th in the NBA in third quarter plus/minus at a withering -2.4 (for reference they were +3.0 last year).
At least Paschall and Poole balled!
The Warriorsā top two picks from last yearās draft acquitted themselves well against the physical Lakers squad. Eric Paschall scored 23 points in 27 minutes as a reserve, shooting 7-of-14 from the field and going 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Jordan Poole played well in the role of lead ball handler (once Green was gone) scoring 16 points, nailing 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, and dishing out a game high 8 assists (with 4 turnovers).
The two showed some good chemistry with Poole carving up the defense off the dribble and dropping dimes to an aggressive Paschall.
Am I the only one getting whiffs of faint Nash-to-Stoudemire vibes??
Poole shook off a badly rolled ankle last night and returned to the game. He should get even more time as lead ballhandler after teammate Ky Bowman unfortunately suffered a painful ankle sprain of his own.
Sheesh, the way these injuries are happening to the 2020 Warriors, are we sure we want Steph Curry to come back?
Weird thought experiment: if Lonzo Ball suddenly woke up tomorrow with a 7ā1ā wingspan and magically became a 1-5-switchable, defensive specialist, how big of a contract would you offer him?
I understand everyone loves the status quo. Imagine if monta wasn't traded would there be any dynasty? Monta was a very good player but they had to move on from him .. I believe the benefits of moving on from draymond far outweigh the risks