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The headline for my preview of the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night game against the Dallas Mavericks was Oh, this is a big one.
You would not know it watching the Dubs play.
The Warriors got absolutely crushed, with the final score of 133-103 not even coming close to showing how poorly they played. They did just about everything wrong, but just for masochism’s sake, let’s see how they did with their pregame keys to victory from my preview.
Bring the energy
The key: Have more energy than Dallas, a team that’s on the back end of a road back-to-back.
The outcome: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.
/catches breath.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha.
OK, sorry. Where were we? Oh, right.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah.
Energy has to start at the beginning of the game, and the Warriors went about nine minutes in the first quarter without scoring a single basket.
The score was 36-12 after one quarter. It was 62-29 at halftime.
Golden State’s biggest problem was simply playing poorly, but you don’t ever reach that score, at home, unless you’re getting outworked.
The warriors got outworked.
Grading the key: 0 out of 10.
Pressure Dončić
The key: Hound Luka Dončić and force other players to beat you, or at least a lot of turnovers and inefficient shots.
The outcome: The Warriors did force 7 turnovers from Dončić, so that’s good news. The rest? Not so much. Dallas’ superstar had a game-high 39 points on wildly efficient 15-for-23 shooting. He got to the free throw line 5 times, dished out 8 assists, and generally looked in full control all night long.
Grading the key: 1 out of 10.
Ball movement
The key: Keep the ball moving and smartly attack a subpar defense.
The outcome: I mean ... they had 29 first-half points. What do you want me to say?
HALFTIME: Warriors trail the Mavericks, 62-29. The lowest-scoring first half in Golden State history was 25 in 2001. That the Warriors avoided that ugly record by four points is one of the only positive takeaways right now.
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) April 28, 2021
They nearly set the Golden State record for lowest-scoring first half. Despite being at home, with a day of rest, against a subpar defense that was playing the second end of a road back-to-back.
You can guess how good the ball movement was.
Grading the key: 1 out of 10.
Welp.