MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Warriors performed so poorly within the first half of Monday evening’s sport in opposition to the Grizzlies that Steve Kerr didn’t want to observe the ultimate two quarters.
Official Brett Nansel finally determined he wouldn’t let him anyway.
A fiery Kerr was ejected after getting slapped with two fast technical fouls for arguing with an official on the finish of the primary half. Kerr gave the impression to be upset after no name was made when De’Anthony Melton contested Jordan Poole’s layup on the buzzer.
However that play certainly couldn’t have been the one factor Kerr was pissed off about within the Warriors’ 123-95 loss to the Grizzlies, who had been with out star Ja Morant.
Enjoying with out Stephen Curry (foot), Draymond Inexperienced, Klay Thompson and Otto Porter Jr. (relaxation), Golden State had an embarrassing first-half efficiency, taking pictures a paltry 27.3% general and 23.5% from three as they trailed the Grizzlies by 26 factors heading into the locker room.
“There’s plenty of locations that went mistaken tonight,” Kevon Looney mentioned after the crew’s worse lack of the season. “As soon as the dam type of broke, it was laborious to get it again.”
The Warriors performed higher within the second half with affiliate head coach Mike Brown on the helm. Golden State, who got here inside solely 18 factors of the Grizzlies within the third quarter, had been outscored by solely two factors within the second half.
“We had been embarrassed, so we simply needed to go on the market and battle, match their physicality,” Looney mentioned of the crew’s stronger second half. “The primary half they only walked over us, pushed us round. We simply needed to go on the market the second half and no less than put up a battle.”
The lone vivid spot within the in any other case awful sport was the return of Andre Iguodala, who had missed 21 video games with a again damage.
The Memphis crowd loudly booed Iguodala when he checked into the sport halfway via the primary quarter. On his first possession, the 38-year-old veteran hit a nook three earlier than subtly shrugging.
Iguodala additionally had a dunk within the third quarter and completed with six factors and three rebounds in about 16 minutes.
“Very lucky to have the ability to go on the market [and] assist the fellows,” Iguodala mentioned. “It was a troublesome evening however I had some enjoyable, noticed some good issues, some dangerous issues.”
Jordan Poole led the crew 25 factors, and Moses Moody added 18 off the bench.
Brown mentioned he was happy with how the Warriors responded within the sport’s ultimate half.
“Our group may’ve simply gone on the market, dropped their heads and mentioned, hey, we’re down 20 or 30 or no matter we had been down at half time, and simply thrown within the towel,” Brown mentioned. “However I believed our guys, they had been actually good within the second half by way of competing and bringing the physical-ness to the sport and to Memphis. That kind of deficit is tough to beat even when you have all of your fundamental guys.”
This sport appeared like an acceptable finish to an general disappointing 1-4 street journey throughout. Over the past week, Golden State has dropped video games to the now 20-win Orlando Magic, the mediocre Atlanta Hawks and the woeful Washington Wizards.
Nothing appears to be simple for the Warriors, losers of six of their final seven video games, who're taking part in with out an injured Curry for the foreseeable future.
Regardless of the current skid, Kerr stays optimistic the Warriors will have the ability to work out their points by the point the playoffs roll round. However with solely six video games remaining within the common season, time is of the essence.
Quite a lot of Kerr’s hope depends on Curry returning to his dominant self and reinvigorating the lineup with Inexperienced and Thompson.
“I actually consider that there’s gonna come some extent whether or not it’s the final couple of video games of the common season or Recreation 1 of the playoffs the place we’re going to have all people wholesome and we’re gonna come collectively and it’s gonna click on,” Kerr mentioned earlier than the sport.
The Warriors will play no less than two extra video games with out Curry, beginning with Wednesday’s house sport in opposition to the Suns, aka the league’s finest crew, and Friday’s matchup in opposition to the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz.