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The Golden State Warriors suffered their second-worst defeat of the season on Tuesday night, losing to the suddenly surging New York Knicks by a whopping 38 points at MSG. It was a game that felt remarkably similar to their 45-point throttling at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans back in November, too.
As was the case on that fateful night, the Dubs went into hostile territory incredibly shorthanded. Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins missed the contest with a shoulder subluxation and an adductor injury, respectively, which had been expected. However, the team was thrown a curveball when Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green joined the pair on the sidelines with sore knees.
In the wake of the loss, Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked whether his club was now treading water with so many key players out (and others failing to step up in their place). His response was peak Kerr.
“Uh, yeah. We sank tonight, so…” he said with a sheepish grin on his face.
That statement could come across as a commentary on his youngsters coming up short. As Kerr’s postgame presser wore on, though, he made it clear that he sympathizes with the greenhorns and the difficult situation they continue to deal with this season.
Steve Kerr Defends the Warriors’ Youth Contingent
While every Warriors player outside of Ty Jerome was negative in the contest (he was an even zero in the plus/minus department), the first and second-year players that the team actually drafted reached a whole other level of futility in the fourth quarter. And they did it together, too.
Over the final 7:40 to close out the game, the five-man lineup of Ryan Rollins, Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and James Wiseman was outscored 19-6. Despite the woeful effort, Kerr vouched for his younger players while discussing the loss.
“I mean, look, these guys are these young guys are working their butts off every day in practice and I want them — we all want them — to have success,” Kerr said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “So, it’s tough to see when things don’t go well. At the same time, we’ve got to keep our energy and our spirit up.”
As ever, learning to play winning basketball at the NBA level is easier said than done, especially when players are being asked to do it in garbage time or while older/more experienced ballers are playing over them. But Kerr is doing what he can to keep the youngsters engaged and moving in the right direction while the vets fight for wins.
“It’s not an easy position to be in and they’re all so raw, so young that they’re not ready yet to figure out how to get each other’s shots and it’s just a tough situation for them to be in… I’m just asking them to keep working and reminding them that things will get better.”
Fatal Turnovers
Throughout the campaign, the Warriors have been felled by a veritable bonanza of regular shortcomings — poor defense, an inability to box out, a lack of juice off the bench, free throw disparity, et al. On Tuesday, Dub Nation was treated to the lot. Having said that, turnovers were arguably the biggest killer in the game.
Golden State didn’t just rack up 20 giveaways in the game, but they allowed the Knicks to score 36 points off of them, which makes it awfully hard to ever gain a foothold in a game.
For his part, Klay Thompson was the biggest offender; he somehow managed to commit a season-high five turnovers despite seeing just 26 minutes of action.
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