Warriors’ stunningly poor performance against Kings stops chance for momentum – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Warriors’ stunningly poor performance against Kings stops chance for momentum – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

SAN FRANCISCO – The momentum the Warriors had built by winning their last two home games came to a quick and emphatic end Sunday night.

With the chance to snap their first three-game winning streak in seven weeks or provide some help to their Northern California neighbors in Sacramento, the Warriors chose the latter option. There was no sign of deliberation and only faint signs of protest.

The Kings accepted gifts, accepted donations and ran with them at Chase Center shortly after the tip-off. They scored 11 points off eight Golden State turnovers in the first quarter. They continued to benefit from charity, handing the Warriors a 129-99 loss that left Stephen Curry with a measure of infamy.

“Nobody likes to get embarrassed like that,” Curry said, “especially the way we started the first quarter.”

Given the circumstances, Golden State’s performance suggests that it continues to search for the level required to qualify for the NBA playoffs. This was an opportunity to make significant progress, a small but significant statement, but the Kings brought more intensity – and were heavily subsidized by the Warriors.

“That was the game for me,” Kerr said of the 22 turnovers that gave Sacramento 34 points. “Right from the start we turned everything upside down. The ball losses didn’t seem forced either. They felt more decision-oriented. That was the disappointment. Knowing that Sacramento likes to play fast and move up and down the field, you have to have a goal in mind. This purpose must be based on the game’s connection. Offensive execution, possession of the ball and that leads to transition defense and then you can make a play.”

The Warriors missed their shots at the rim – to be fair, this has been a season-long problem. They threw bad passes, erratic lobs and, in the end, the whole game. They often seemed like a team that wanted to play but was indifferent to winning.

The Warriors handed out their first gift when Trayce Jackson-Davis scored on a turnover 21 seconds into the game. They finished the half with 14 and contributed 20 points to the Kings, who took a 75-51 halftime lead into the locker room.

“We’re not really set up – especially in this situation – to have this crazy comeback,” said Curry, who scored 26 points but had four turnovers. “I don’t want to overreact, but you also have to look at implementation. Of course we didn’t do that.”

The Warriors never got closer than 23 in the second half. After the third quarter, with the Warriors trailing by 30 (105-75), the crowd began to file out. This also happened when Kerr raised the white flag and called up Pat Spencer and Gui Santos from the end of the bench.

In the final minutes there were sporadic pro-Kings chants – “Light the beam” – that would be blasphemous under normal Chase conditions.

Golden State was without three rotation players — Jonathan Kuminga (sprained right ankle), Gary Payton II (left calf strain) and Brandin Podziemski (right abdominal) — but only Payton’s point-of-attack defense might have had an impact. Maybe, that is.

“It was downhill for us from the point of attack,” Kerr said of Sacramento’s offense, where Malik Monk was the driving force. “We have to help, and then they spread the land.”

Monk, who came into the game at point guard in De’Aaron Fox’s absence, punished the Warriors inside with penetration and outside with five 3-pointers, finishing with 26 points, 12 assists, four steals and three rebounds. Kings center Domantas Sabonis outscored Jackson-Davis, outscoring him 22-0, outrebounding him 13-2 and adding seven assists to three for TJD.

Golden State’s offense wasn’t crisp enough to give its defense a fair chance, and its soft defense wasn’t effective enough to overcome the sloppy offense.

This was reminiscent of the NBA play-in tournament game between the teams last April in Sacramento, where the Kings suffered a 118-94 loss. Nearly nine months later, after a Golden State roster overhaul and a coaching change in Sacramento, the result was even more impressive.

When asked if he was disturbed or surprised by the team’s poor performance, Kerr dismissed the answer, saying nights like these exist in the NBA and praised the Kings for it.

“We’ve played more close games than any other team in the league,” he said, referring to the team’s 22 “clutch games,” tied for the league’s most by the NBA’s definition. “We were very competitive. Tonight we weren’t.

“But we’ll get back on our feet.”

Maybe they will. Perhaps this was just an incident in early January on the Warriors’ path to a top-six finish in the treacherous Western Conference.

Turnover is symptomatic of a lack of focus, poor decision-making, and lack of attention to detail. It remains a persistent problem for these Warriors – this is their 10th game in which an opponent has scored at least 20 points on turnovers, including four that have given up at least 30 points.

That should be alarming. Surprising. Maybe even stunning.

And it’s a problem that the better teams in the league tend to solve as the season progresses.

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