Getty Referee Marat Kogut #32 signals a field goal as Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates after scoring against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stephen Curry continued to make history as he became the oldest player to average 30 points through his first 10 games at the age of 35.
His current scoring average is six points more than LeBron James (24.0 ppg) at 35 during the all-time scoring leader’s first 10 games in the 2019-20 season.
Curry also became the 35th player in NBA history to reach 22,000 career points.
Congratulations to Stephen Curry who has reached 22,000 career points 🙌
But it came at the expense of another Golden State Warriors loss at home.
Curry’s 30 points were not enough to keep the Warriors from suffering their first losing streak of the season, and second straight against the Cleveland Cavaliers in six days.
Curry did not mind reaching those milestones. He rued about losing at home for the second time in three starts.
“I absolutely hate leaving the court without the win and not taking advantage of the energy in the building,” Curry told reporters after the loss. “And again, we have a pride around how we protect homecourt.”
The Warriors will continue their six-game homestand against the streaking Minnesota Timberwolves, winners of their last five games, on Sunday on the second night of a back-to-back schedule after a grueling four-game road trip.
“It’s a long season,” Curry said. “Another opportunity. That’s the beauty of the NBA. We have another game [Sunday] where we can kind of rectify the situation.”
The Warriors had the second-best home record in the NBA last season, losing only eight times in 41 games at the Chase Center.
They are shooting worse at home (41.2%) than on the road (47.2%) this season and turning the ball over more (16.3 versus 13.7). Last season, they averaged a league-high 16.3 turnovers per game.
Warriors’ Lack of Size
Warriors coach Steve Kerr indirectly admitted their lack of size and athleticism as the culprit of their back-to-back losses to the young and more athletic Cavaliers.
“This [Cavaliers] team puts a lot of pressure on us,” Kerr told reporters. “At the point of attack, with [Darius] Garland and [Donovan] Mitchell with penetration, and [Evan] Mobley and [Jarrett] Allen with their shot blocking. It’s been a tough matchup. In both times we played them, they’ve really taken it to us and dominated the game.”
The Warriors lost their first meeting in Cleveland on November 5 with Mitchell torching them with 31 points and the Cavaliers outrebounding them 54-44.
On Saturday night, the Warriors won the battle of the boards, 55-45, but their turnover woes (20) and the Cavaliers’ size made life difficult for them.
Cleveland took advantage of Golden State’s erratic game and turned it into a huge 32-8 discrepancy in points off turnovers. The Cavaliers’ twin towers of Allen and Mobley limited the Warriors to just 34 points inside the paint. Cleveland scored 16 more in the painted area.
Draymond Green’s Ejection
The Warriors also lost their emotional leader Draymond Green in the third quarter after a bizarre sequence of events.
Green drew his second technical foul with 6:23 left in the third quarter after a review of Mitchell’s shove on the Warriors forward. Mitchell, who only came away with a common foul, pointed out he was only retaliating after Green shoved him in an earlier play.
Five seconds earlier, Green pushed Mitchell to the ground during a Caris LeVert fastbreak play.
Mitchell, already incensed after Green picked his pocket in a sequence before the pushing, blew his stop which led to the altercation.
Kerr called Green’s ejection bizarre as the referees retroactively called a technical foul on Green.
“[The explanation was] that he got a technical foul for elbowing [Donovan] Mitchell a couple of plays before maybe,” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “So I had never heard of this rule, but apparently you can retroactively call a technical on someone from two plays before upon review.”
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Stephen Curry Makes History, Outsprints LeBron James at 35