LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry wanted solely three quarters to seek out his groove Sunday afternoon.
After lacking a month of motion as a result of a leg harm, Curry scored 19 of his team-high 27 factors within the fourth quarter, however the Warriors nonetheless got here up brief to the Lebron James-less Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony Davis had 39 factors, eight rebounds and 6 assists en path to handing Golden State a 113-105 loss, which snapped the Warriors’ five-game win streak.
It took a while for Curry to get into the stream of the sport. Curry had an eight-point surge within the second quarter after lacking his first three photographs, however he saved his greatest for final.
“I felt like I received stronger as the sport goes on,” Curry mentioned.
Added Steve Kerr, “He seemed nice. Nice to have him again. He's who he's, he strikes worry in our opponents and opens up a variety of issues for his teammates.”
Anthony Lamb knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the sport at 91 with 5:37 remaining in regulation. However the Lakers responded by scoring seven straight factors to go up 103-95.
Curry and Klay Thompson knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a two-point recreation with 1:46 left, however that may be the closest the Warriors would get.
“It’s clearly not the result we needed,” Curry mentioned.
The Warriors have had a foul stretch of begins as of late, trailing opponents by double figures early in every of its final 5 video games, together with Sunday in opposition to the Lakers.
Golden State trimmed a 20-point deficit to at least one by the half after it stopped fouling and turned up it defensive depth. However the Warriors couldn’t recover from the hump and take a lead.
“This was not a recreation the place I walked away saying what are we doing defensively,” Kerr mentioned. “I preferred the protection, it was fairly sound, however [the Lakers] did a fantastic job.”
The Warriors home-and-away discrepancy stays a evident situation. Golden State has top-of-the-line residence information within the league (27-7), however hasn’t been capable of care for enterprise on the highway.
Draymond Inexperienced shrugged his shoulders when requested for the rationale behind the crew’s dropoff outdoors the Bay. Kerr mentioned protection wasn’t the difficulty Sunday.
“I wasn’t dissatisfied in our protection in any respect apart from a number of protection errors,” Kerr mentioned. “It was our offense that we would have liked to execute somewhat bit higher, however it was a one possession recreation with two minutes left, we had been proper there.”
No matter it's, the Warriors must flip their highway woes into wins in the event that they need to keep their spot within the standings.
“Our highway splits have been trash all yr in all classes so simply tyring to appropriate that as a lot as doable is our problem,” Curry mentioned. “The primary quarter we’re down 20 and to combat our manner again exhibits you the way a lot it issues to us to attempt to recover from the hump on the highway, we simply received to have a greater begin.”
The 34-31 Warriors stay in fifth place within the Western Convention standings. They’re two video games behind the fourth-place Phoenix Suns and solely a half recreation forward of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who're clinging to the ultimate playoff spot.
The Warriors will look to rebound from this loss on Tuesday after they place the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
Lamb’s scenario
Kerr believes Lamb has carried out sufficient to earn a everlasting roster spot.
Sunday afternoon marked Lamb’s fiftieth NBA recreation of this season, which means he’s ran out of eligibility on his two-way deal. Lamb completed a team-best plus-17 in his 27 minutes in opposition to the Lakers. He contributed six factors on 2 of 5 capturing from 3 and recorded six rebounds and two assists coming off the bench.
Golden State’s fifteenth roster spot presently belongs to G League guard Lester Quinones, whom the Warriors signed to a 10-day deal final week. But when the crew’s entrance workplace determined to transform Lamb to a full-time deal, it’d have Kerr’s stamp of approval.
“I’d preferred to have Lamb on the roster,” Kerr mentioned. “He performs an vital position for us as a result of he connects a variety of lineups together with his potential to house the ground and shoot the three after which he simply performs the way in which we’ve all the time performed, point-five basketball, makes a fast resolution, drive it, move it, shoot it. After which he’s large and versatile sufficient to protect a number of spots. he connects a variety of our lineups, once we play two bigs, we will have him on the three or you may play him on the 4 So he’s been actually helpeful for us this yr and we’d like to get him on the roster.”
Lamb is averaging seven factors, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per recreation this season, whereas capturing 47.5% from the sphere and 37.9% from deep.
Draymond Inexperienced’s harm replace
Draymond Inexperienced left the primary quarter to get an X-ray on his left hand. The scan got here again damaging and Inexperienced finally returned to the sport on the tailend of the opening quarter sporting a big white pad on his injured hand. Inexperienced later ditched the assist and completed the sport with 15 factors, 9 rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes.
After the sport, Inexperienced mentioned his hand is sore “however it's what it's.
“No one’s that wholesome at this level of the season, so simply preserve pushing,” Inexperienced mentioned.