The All-Star break has concluded. On Thursday night, the Warriors got back to action, albeit, still without two of their stars. It was a disastrous second half performance, with Golden State stumbling into a 124-111 loss to the Lakers.
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy… and wretched shooting
That absolutely looked like a team returning from a break. It seemed more like a training camp roster at the first day of summer practice than one at the midway point of the season.
There were all the hallmarks of an ugly Warriors performance: erratic turnovers, fouls, and inconsistent defense.
While Golden State ebbed and flowed, closing the gap at certain points, their mistakes couldn’t be afforded without the likes of Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins to bail them out. There simply wasn’t enough offensively.
And that’s with former Warrior D’Angelo Russell twisting his ankle in the first half and not returning to the game.
It wasn’t just that the Warriors turned the ball over; the Lakers turned the ball over more than they did (16 to 10). But the Lakers had 19 points off turnovers to 10 for the Warriors, and the flow of Golden State’s offense was horrible.
There wasn’t consistent ball movement or player rotation. Shots were consistently chucked while contested, late in the shot clock.
So when they did turn the ball over, it was magnified, and usually in easily avoidable fashion. And aside from one heroic stretch from Kevon Looney, Los Angeles out-rebounded them consistently (58 to 48).
When you shoot a whopping 38.1 percent from the floor, you will lose most games. That mark is the second-lowest on the season, only ahead of a 37.5 percent performance against the Orlando Magic.
The Warriors failed to secure easy scores at any point in the game, and weren’t close to scoring on the one ones. Only some garbage time points, largely from Patrick Baldwin Jr., avoided the season-worst shooting fate.
No answer for… Malik Beasley
What’s particularly embarrassing about this result is that it wasn’t the Lakers’ stars who beat the Warriors.
It was decidedly not their stars. Russell was in the game for nine minutes. Anthony Davis had just 12 points, plus 12 rebounds. LeBron James was putrid from the floor, scoring 13 on 5-of-20 shooting, along with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and one of the funnier, ill-advised challenge attempts you’ll ever see.
That might have been the highlight for the Warriors. James looked apoplectic after an obvious foul call, hitting Ty Jerome’s arms a would-be block attempt. Stan Van Gundy pointed out the clarity and hilarity of the challenge, one that would only happen for a player of James’ stature.
Outside of that, there was little to laugh about.
Mo Bamba and Lonnie Walker IV had 10 each. Dennis Schroeder had 13. Rui Hachimura had 14. Austin Reaves had 17. And Malik Beasley torched Golden State to the tune of 25 on 9-of-16 and 7-of-11 from three.
For a Lakers team that entered this season with one of the most embarrassing rosters in the league, it’s been evident that they made some impactful additions with the likes of Russell, Beasley, Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt, all over the last few weeks.
The Warriors? Well, they added a player in Gary Payton II who won’t be back until maybe the playoffs, and are still without Curry and Wiggins. Yikes.
There was a chance at one point (an ode to Kevon Looney)
For a brief, fleeting moment, the Warriors had a chance.
That was almost solely the work of Kevon Looney. He is still the heartbeat of this team and was the only player who looked to have any interest in mounting a comeback.
After a 20-5 start to the second half from the Lakers following just a three-point halftime deficit, Looney took it upon himself to mount a last stand. It was, again, not long lived, but it was admirable.
Looney (with 10 points and 15 rebounds, seven of which were on offense) grabbed offensive rebounds on four-straight possessions, and was almost singlehandedly responsible for Golden State’s 17-10 edge in offensive rebounds.
With that brief effort, he got the Warriors on an 11-2 run that left the Warriors with just an 84-76 deficit.
Of course, that evaporated. After a foul, a turnover, a Klay Thompson miss and a couple makes from Beasley, that single-digit mark turned into a 92-76 deficit and it completely slipped away from the Warriors.
Aside from Looney’s effort, perhaps the only other bright spot for Golden State were some mildly intriguing minutes from Patrick Baldwin Jr. He had 11 points, a few threes and a couple rebounds. He looks like he might know how to play the game of basketball. Stay tuned.