What’s up with the Warriors?
After an underwhelming loss to the Magic Tuesday night, which saw the Dubs score just 16 points in the fourth quarter, Golden State is now riding a three-game losing streak.
Although the Warriors are without leading scorer Steph Curry — who suffered a left foot sprain in last week’s loss to the Celtics — dropping a game to the 20-53 Magic was a glaring wakeup call for Golden State.
“No disrespect to the Orlando Magic, but that’s one of the worst teams in the league,” Warriors big man Draymond Green said after the 94-90 loss to the Magic — his fourth game back after being sidelined since Jan. 5, with a nagging back injury.
“We can’t match that with them. And if you can’t match that with them, you definitely can’t match that going against a great team.”
Green, who recorded two points in 29 minutes in the Tuesday matchup, said he believes his team is “playing soft” and not meeting their standards of physicality.
“We’re playing stupid. We’re just not playing good basketball and we’re getting punked. It’s hard to win a game getting punked. So that’s where we are right now,” Green said.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters that his team doesn’t know how to win right now. With just 10 games left in the regular season, how could Golden State figure out a winning solution?
“We’ve got to execute better,” Kerr said, before listing a number of “meddle mistakes” his team needs to take accountability for.
Draymond Green with the Golden State Warriors Getty Images“We’ve got to stop fouling three-point shooters… We’ve got to take care of the ball. We can’t get illegal screens. We’ve had a couple awful illegal screens, where we’re completely out of position and we know we’re out of position,” Kerr said, adding that his team must “be sharp on our switches and defensively. There has got be a level of discipline, accountability and competitive desire.”
The Warriors are 2-6 without Curry on the floor. Kerr said the point guard’s absence is like a “domino effect” to the lineup.
As for when Curry will return to action? That remains unclear. On Sunday, the three-time NBA champion said the Warriors aren’t rushing his recovery.
“From what I’m told, just in terms of the ligaments around the injury and the bone that’s kinda underneath there, you wanna not rush the beginning phases of healing,” Curry said.
When asked if he believes he’ll be ready in time for the playoffs, he said, “Ya, I got enough time for that. But I’m an optimist.”
Golden State fell to the third spot in the Western Conference amid a late-season surge by the Grizzlies.
Although the Warriors aren’t under pressure like some teams in the west fighting for a play-in spot, there is clear concern as the post-season nears.
The Warriors (47-25) play the top-seed in the east Heat (47-25) in Miami Wednesday.
