After getting blown out by the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors fell just short against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. On the tail end of a back-to-back, the Warriors don’t have time to lick their wounds. But knowing how things have gone recently, they may take some time to do so, anyways.
Game Details
WHO: Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs
WHEN: Sunday November 18th,
WHERE: San Antonio, Tx
TV: CSNBA
Blog Buddy: Pounding the Rock
No way around it, the Warriors are having a very bad week
On the bright side, no one is seriously injured, and there isn’t anything wrong here that can’t be fixed. But for real — the Warriors are struggling right now. Golden State has lost four of the last six games,
A lot of this is due to Curry (missing at least another full week of action) and Green (day-to-day with a sprained toe) — but there’s more going on here than a team just struggling with injuries and emotional baggage.
The Warriors have Kevin frickin’ Durant and Klay Thompson running around out there, but the offense should not look like tepid bath that seems to be our current default. And yet...here we are.
Warriors starters went 3-of-23 from 3 tonight. Klay 2-of-11, KD 0-of-4.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 18, 2018
We saw some signs of life from them in their last game in Dallas, but this team still needs to figure out how to get their offense going when short-handed. Right now? The team almost seems to have a fundamental problem with their offense whenever Curry isn’t around.
It’s no secret that Curry makes everyone around him better, but with the added absence of Draymond Green and the heavy emotional weights of his outburst still pulling at the corners of the team, the Warriors have looked seriously off.
When we added Kevin Durant, it was supposed to be insurance against missing a star player. But after more than two years with Durant, and many more without him, one truth is becoming self-evident: the Warriors just aren’t the same without Curry.
We talk big game about Strength in Numbers around here, so it was nice to see the Warriors bench start to deliver in the last game against Dallas. Hopefully, Klay Thompson can pull out of his shooting slump soon, because this has been an ugly week, both on and off the court.
If history is any indication, this will turn around. Until then though, it’s going to take everything Dub Nation has to not succumb to the darkness.
Klay Thompson is shooting 32.5 percent from 3 right now. Is he frustrated? “I feel great, man. You don’t set NBA records being frustrated...I’m just going to keep shooting and they’re going to fall at a high clip. I guarantee you that.” pic.twitter.com/lWiWE62mTP
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 18, 2018
A crumbling dynasty
After decades of dominance, it may finally be time for the San Antonio Spurs to re-tool. After an extremely weird season-long standoff with perennial all-star Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs did reasonably well to come away with DeMar DeRozan via trade. Along with the departure of Tony Parker and the retirement of Manu Ginobli, the Spurs also lost pesky three-and-D wing, Danny Green (in that same DeRozan trade).
So now the Spurs have fully entered a new era.
The question now is: what does a team featuring DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge look like? The Spurs have lost three straight and now sit at 7-7 on the season. They land pretty much in the middle of the pack on offense (14th) and defense (15th in the NBA). They aren’t especially efficient at shooting the ball — with a team-wide .493 effective field goal percentage.
Prediction:
Heck, at this point I’m just in it for the process. As long as no one comes to blows with a teammate, I’m preemptively calling this a victory.