Tag: inside sports

SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors coach Steve Kerr tried just about everything. Pat Spencer-centric high screen and rolls. Post ups with Quinten Post. A pressing defensive scheme that looked to feature Will Richard. 

But in front of a national television audience that expected to see the Warriors’ aging cast of legends face the defending champion Thunder at Chase Center on Friday, the viewing public saw a skeleton crew Golden State squad — for all of their creativity — fall 131-94. 

Brandin Podziemski scored 12 points and had four assists, while Richard and Al Horford each scored 13. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the Thunder with 30 points in just 28 minutes, while Chet Holmgren put up 15 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks as the Thunder improved to 3-0 against the Warriors and 30-5 on the season.

“Yeah I mean it was a tough night,” Kerr said. “Obviously we’re short-handed but I don’t think that is an excuse for the way we played.”

Coming off two consecutive road wins, the Warriors’ thee Hall of Famers – Steph Curry (ankle), Jimmy Butler (illness), Draymond Green (rest) – were ruled out before tipoff. 

On top of that, combo guard De’Anthony Melton had the night off as the team remained cautious with his workload as the guard worked his way back from a torn ACL. 

And Jonathan Kuminga, who has been benched for weeks as his trade date of Jan. 15 approaches but was in line to receive big minutes, was scratched with a lower back injury. 

Thus, the Warriors resorted to a ragtag starting five of Podziemski, Will Richard, Moody, Gui Santos and Quinten Post. 

Spurred by some inspired defense, the Warriors were able to hang around and even cut the Thunder lead to just 38-36 when Richard canned a 3-pointer with 7:19 left in the second quarter. 

“There’s definitely look at some stuff you can learn from, but you got to have a short memory when it comes to games like this,” Richard said.

The Thunder responded with a 19-0 run to take command of the game, and the visitors cruised from there, leading by as many as 41 in the fourth quarter that was played exclusively between deep reserves. The Thunder, though no longer on pace to win a record-breaking 74 games in the regular season, have now won four in a row. 

The Warriors (18-17) will take on the Jazz on Saturday.

CHARLOTTE – It is a scene witnessed in almost every NBA city the Warriors visit: fans arriving hours before tipoff and congregating in the lower bowl to gawk at Steph Curry’s legendary shooting routine before begging him for a signature or picture. 

Curry almost always obliges, but it may be difficult for him to accommodate all requests at the final stop of the Warriors’ last road trip of 2025, an early game that will tip off at 10 A.M PST. 

The Warriors will visit Curry’s hometown of Charlotte, also located a half-hour away from Davidson College. 

On the day before New Year, Curry’s admirers will likely outnumber supporters of the lowly Hornets by a considerable margin. Including, for at least one game, in the Hornets broadcast booth, where father Dell Curry will provide television commentary. 

It is one of the few road games the superstar considers a special occasion.

“I know when I go to Charlotte and see my family, and I know when I go to Toronto … so I circle those dates at the end of December,” Curry said this summer at his yearly golf tournament.

Adding to the New Year’s Eve festivities is that his younger brother, Seth – though inactive while dealing with sciatica – will now make the trip with the Warriors. 

But while this homecoming usually results in a Warriors victory (8-4 record in Charlotte), signature Curry flurries are usually replaced with excellent but unspectacular outings. 

Curry averages 27.3 points per game in 12 games in North Carolina’s largest city, a number that would be the envy of the vast majority of his NBA peers. But he has also not had a 40-point game in Spectrum Center since dropping exactly that amount during his MVP season in 2015-16.

But after almost a decade since that night, when he hit eight 3-pointers in a 116-99 victory, Curry is primed to have a huge game against the Hornets. 

Despite possessing multiple double-digit leads in the second half, the Warriors found themselves in a familiar spot: stuck in a close game, with turnovers to blame in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

Immanuel Quickley’s 3-pointer for the Raptors with under a minute tied the game at 120. Brandin Podziemski gave the Warriors another lead by grabbing an offensive rebound off a rare Steph Curry miss and putting it in with 32.8 remaining. Scottie Barnes answered by putting back a Brandon Ingram miss to tie it at 122.

Overtime ensued after Curry turned the ball over and the Raptors missed a buzzer-beater.

The Raptors scored the first 10 points over overtime to doom Golden State to an 141-127 loss, snapping the Warriors’ three-game winning streak.

“They turned up the pressure, and we didn’t handle it well and they scored 35 points off our turnovers,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Toronto. “That was the game. It sucks. We’re on a little bit of a run, have a chance at some momentum and control the whole game, and we let it slip.”

Curry led the team with 39 points and made 13 of 30 shots, making the Raptors pay for top-locking him on defense and allowing Curry to cut to the basket for layups and foul shots until late, when he went cold. The Warriors fell to 2-6 when Curry scores at least 35.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler scored 19 and Draymond Green put in 21 while making a season-high four 3-pointers. Quickley led the Raptors with 27 points and Ingram put in 26 as seven different Raptors scored in double-figures. Barnes scored 23, grabbed 25 rebounds and had 10 assists.

“The times we did get stops, we just didn’t come up with the rebound,” Podziemski said.

After mixing and matching and shuffling for the first two-and-a-half months of the season, Kerr settled upon a first five of Curry, Moses Moody, Butler, Green and Quinten Post for the fifth consecutive game, and that continuity paid off early.

The Warriors embarked on an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 54-50 lead midway through the period. The Raptors, led by Ingram, fought back to lead 65-64 at halftime. The Warriors led by as many as 13 in the third thanks to, oddly enough, a flurry of 3-pointers by Green and strong inside work by Curry.

But the Raptors forced four consecutive turnovers to cut the deficit to just 100-96 going into the fourth quarter. The Warriors bounced back to start the fourth, being aided by Buddy Hield and Moody’s 3-pointers that helped push the lead back to a dozen before a flurry of turnovers helped the Raptors stick around. 

From there, the Warriors felt the impact of 21 their turnovers — 15 in the second half and overtime while they had trouble with the Raptors’ double-teams all game — and an additional three Raptors offensive rebounds in the first two minutes of overtime to send the Warriors (16-16) back to .500.

Golden State will play in Brooklyn on Monday (4:30 p.m., NBC Sports Bay Area). 

“We’ve got to learn from this, and see what we did wrong in this game,” Will Richard said.

Defensive effort for naught

Payton cannot soar with the same abandon he once did, but the 32-year-old still has some life in his legs when playing limited minutes. Now strictly relegated to being an energetic defensive specialist, Payton made the most of his spot minutes. 

He blocked two different Raptors dunks in the first half, on the heels of a spectacular two-handed smother of Cooper Flagg on Christmas. With De’Anthony Melton out of the lineup, his activity against an athletic Toronto squad was much-needed. 

The Raptors, similar to the super-sized Blazers, are replete with rangy wings who love to attack the paint. RJ Barrett returned to action after missing a month with a knee injury as Toronto scored 70 points in the paint. 

In the third quarter, the Warriors broke out a 2-3 zone, clogging the paint and attempting to close off driving lanes. The Warriors entered the game ranked third in defensive rating (112.2), and they were bolstered by Al Horford’s presence. For the second consecutive game after returning from sciatica, the center played well. He scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds while playing active defense in 17 minutes. 

But because of an avalanche of turnovers, the Raptors were able to score 35 off their takeaways, nullifying any halfcourt effort the Warriors showed.

Melton out, Hield in … sort of

Despite large swaths of San Francisco struggling with blackouts as heavy rainstorms moved through the Bay Area on Saturday night, the Warriors’ 119-116 over the Suns was not lacking for juice. 

Less than 48 hours after the Suns beat Golden State in a chippy one-point game, the teams squared off again, this time in the Bay Area. 

Like many of Golden State’s games this season, it was competitive late into the fourth quarter. 

With a minute showing on the clock, Curry brought the ball up with the Warriors leading by just two. Curry hit Gary Payton II, who found Jimmy Butler on the baseline for a contested layup that he turned into an and-1 score and a 115-112 lead.

Devin Booker responded by driving for an and-1 layup of his own five seconds later. Collin Gillespie had a chance to take the lead on an open corner three, but he missed, Brandin Podziemski grabbed a contested rebound, and Steph Curry made two free throws to push the lead back to four.

But Gillespie made it a 117-116 game when his one-legged 3-pointer in the corner went cleanly through the rim. The Suns elected not to foul, and let Steph Curry make a baseline layup with 5.7 seconds remaining. The Suns missed a desperation attempt from midcourt to end the wild game.

Curry scored a team-high 27 and Butler put up 25 points for Golden State, and Will Richard added 20. Booker led Phoenix with 38 points, and Dillon Brooks scored 22.

It was abundantly clear early on that neither side had much love for the other. 

There were three technical fouls handed out and one ejection. 

Draymond Green was ejected in the second quarter after shoving Gillespie from behind and arguing with the officials afterwards. 

Booker also got whacked with a tech for complaining to Pat Fraher’s crew over what he believed to be an uncalled foul on Curry. 

Brooks, the longtime Warriors nemesis, and Butler had a brief incident when Butler flung the ball at Brooks after a Warriors bucket, but no technical was called. 

The Suns jumped out to a 44-32 lead after one quarter, but the Warriors cut the deficit to 67-64 at halftime thanks to Richard and Butler’s aggression. The Warriors led 93-87 after three quarters.

The Warriors (14-15) will remain in the Bay Area and will welcome the Magic to Chase Center on Monday. 

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers

Steve Kerr has tried quite possibly every lineup combination possible, attempted a multitude of tactics this season, all in aims of finding a way of mitigating the Warriors’ turnover-happy ways. 

None of them are working, and nothing he did seemed to work on Saturday night. After giving up 30 points on 20 turnovers on Thursday, Golden State did not benefit from being back home. 

The Warriors turned the ball over 13 times in the first half alone, and 20 times overall. Those giveaways led to 15 points for Phoenix. 

Will Richard makes most of opportunity

One adjustment Kerr made in rainy San Francisco was giving an unheralded rookie another chance. After starting a dozen games in November and early December, the second-round rookie Richard was a healthy scratch for each of the past three losses.

But with the team in need of a spark, Kerr went back to the kid from Georgia. 

He made the most of his first action in almost two weeks when he checked in during the first half in lieu of Buddy Hield. The rookie out of Florida scored 20 points, shooting 6 of 7 in the process, including 4-of-4 on 3-pointers and 4-of-4 from the line.

Jonathan Kuminga out with illness

One game after rejoining the Warriors’ rotation, Jonathan Kuminga remained at home with an unspecified illness. Curry also previously missed time with an illness. 

Kuminga rejoined the rotation after three consecutive healthy scratches, and produced two points and four rebounds in 10 minutes of action.