:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69032233/1231937820.0.jpg)
The Golden State Warriors got run off the court against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, losing 141-119 in a truly dismal defensive display. Steph Curry and Draymond Green didn’t play, which might serve as an excuse for some, but it sure doesn’t make the game any more digestible.
Let’s see how they did with the pregame keys to victory from my preview.
Be disciplined
The key: Play with discipline and take care of the ball.
The outcome: The Warriors actually did pretty well on this key, provided you’re only looking at the offensive side of the ball. They only had 12 turnovers all night — 5 of which came from James Wiseman — and generally made the smart decision with the ball in their hands.
But you can’t overlook the other end of the court, where the Warriors played with all the discipline of an unsupervised 10 year old in a candy store.
Grading the key: 3.5 out of 10.
Defend Richaun Holmes
The key: Keep Richaun Holmes in check.
The outcome: The Warriors didn’t keep anyone in check except, ironically, the Kings best player this year: Harrison Barnes.
Richaun Holmes shot a blistering 10-for-14 from the field, finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He was probably only Sacramento’s third-best player on the night, but he still was substantially better than anyone who took the court for the Dubs.
Grading the key: 0.5 out of 10.
Shoot the three
The key: Move the ball, find the open man, and take — and make — a lot of threes.
The outcome: The Warriors had a tremendous night shooting threes, as they went 17-for-32, good for 53.1%. When you shoot better than 50% from distance, on a decent amount of attempts, you don’t expect to lose. And you really don’t expect to lose by 22 points. But that’s how bad the defense was.
As for the moving the ball and finding the open man part, the Warriors did pretty well there. They had 24 turnovers, which isn’t a great number, but generally were pretty solid with ball movement.
Grading the key: 8 out of 10.
On to the next one, Dubs.