What we learned as Steph struggles in loss to KD, Suns originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Thanksgiving dinner and two days off weren’t a successful recipe for the Warriors to snap their losing streak, as they fell 113-105 Saturday night to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.
The Warriors have lost four consecutive games, dropping them to 12-7 this season.
It wasn’t for a lack of fight, though.
The Warriors went on a 13-3 run down the stretch, turning what looked to be a blowout into a battle to the final minute. But it was too little, too late. They outscored the Suns by 10 in the third quarter and won the second half by nine points. A 17-point halftime hole buried Golden State on the road.
Steph Curry scored 23 points but on 8-of-21 shooting and 3 of 10 beyond the arc, with 21 of his points coming in the second half.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ latest loss.
Podz Gets The Starting Nodz
Out goes Lindy Waters, and in comes Brandin Podziemski. As coach Steve Kerr looked for answers to snap the Warriors’ losing streak, he trotted out another new starting lineup. The Warriors have played 19 games and used 10 different starting lineups.
Curry, Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis got the call for the first time together, and were solid together, though Kevon Looney did replace Jackson-Davis to start the second half.
Podziemski’s decisiveness has taken a back seat this season as he has struggled shooting. How he began Saturday night in Phoenix is exactly what Kerr wants to see. By the time he went to the bench at the 5:50 mark, Podziemski already had eight points, two rebounds and one assist, going a perfect 3 of 3 from the field while making both his 3-point attempts with the Warriors up 18-16.
Podziemski’s two first-quarter threes were the most he has made in an entire game in exactly one month when he made two 3-pointers against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 30. Podziemski wound up stuffing the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists against the Suns, a big step forward for the young guard.
Scorching-Hot Suns
From the stats and the eye test, the first half Saturday night looked like the Suns’ offense was scrimmaging their G League affiliate the way the Warriors’ defense was playing. The strategy was simple, and the Suns could not miss.
They’d drive and the Warriors would collapse as a team, causing kickouts, great ball movement and a barrage of threes. The Suns made 23 shots in the first half and collected 21 assists. That’s absurd efficiency.
Through the first two quarters as the Suns held a 17-point lead, they made 14 threes, double the amount of their misses. The Suns had an 18-point advantage from deep, which made all the difference. At halftime, six Suns had made a 3-pointer – all of which made multiple threes.
Golden State made the right adjustments in the second half, starting in the third quarter when Phoenix made only two of its eight 3-pointers. The Suns then made two of their six threes in the fourth quarter, far from their stellar first half.
Steph’s Slow Starts Hurts
Curry’s return from bilateral knee pain took some time to knock the rust off. Too much time.
Off the dribble, Curry couldn’t get by his defenders early on. He couldn’t cash in from deep either. Curry in the first quarter took two shots and missed both. In the second quarter, he tried three more times and failed to connect.
That gave him two points – both from free throws – at halftime without a single made shot on five attempts. His age and health looked evident, and even a bit concerning. Until the third quarter.
It’s no mistake that once Curry got going, so did the Warriors. They outscored the Suns 29-19 in the third quarter to cut their deficit to only seven points while Curry scored 15 points in the quarter, going 5 of 9 from the field and 3 of 3 on 3-pointers.
But there wasn’t a Curry flurry to save the Warriors in the fourth quarter. Concerns mostly were erased in the second half. The Warriors’ lack of a second true scoring star also was evident.
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