MEMPHIS — Donte DiVincenzo believes the Warriors present a difficult challenge for any team once the postseason rolls around.
“It’s going to be hard to beat us four times,” DiVincenzo said, noting that the team’s dynastic trio and head coach feel the same way, boosting the team’s confidence.
But Golden State has to make it there first.
The Warriors made it a one-possession game twice early in the fourth Saturday night in Memphis, giving them a fighting chance, but Golden State folded midway through the final quarter before ultimately losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 133-119.
While a rare Warriors’ road win appeared to be within reach, the Warriors once again failed to execute down the stretch. A reverse layup by Stephen Curry made it a two-point game with 9:41 left in the game. But the Warriors chucked up some ill-advised shots that led to the Grizzlies being able to get out in transition and knock down timely 3s. Memphis went on a 15-3 run to jump out to a 123-109 lead.
Golden State could never recover.
“Give them credit for playing a great game,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ 11th straight road loss. “We had our chances but slipped away there in the first five minutes in the fourth quarter.”
The Warriors are 7-29 on the road, dropping them to .500 for the 18th time this season. They’re now in seventh place of the Western Conference standings and trying to climb their way out of play-in purgatory once again.
Jaren Jackson Jr. led all scorers with 31 points and had four blocks, while Desmond Bane contributed 26 points and Dillon Brooks scored 18.
Jonathan Kuminga matched a career-high of 24 points and was praised after the game for his two-way performance. Jordan Poole added 21 points. But Stephen Curry finished with only 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting.
After the game, Kerr said it “felt like Steph’s legs weren’t quite there.
“It’s going to happen,” he continued. “At 35, there’s going to be some nights where especially on back-to-back with a lot of travel involved, flying cross country, all that stuff, sometimes it catches up to you when you’re a little older but it’ll be fine.”
But Curry said he felt fine.
“There’s never an excuse for anything… you expect to play great,” Curry said.
Nothing is easy for this Golden State team, especially on the road. The Warriors had their defensive anchor Draymond Green back after he served a one-game suspension Friday for racking up 16 technical fouls. But with Andrew Wiggins (family matter) and Gary Payton II (core injury) sidelined indefinitely, perimeter defense remains a glaring issue for the Warriors.
The Grizzlies rank No. 23 in the league for 3-point shooting, converting its shots beyond the arc at a 34.7% clip. But Memphis went 18-for-38 from deep Saturday, while the Warriors shot 13-for-35.
The Grizzlies pulled ahead by as many as 15 points in the second quarter. Memphis shot 44.9% from the field and 12-of-19 from deep in the first half. Meanwhile the Warriors, other than Jonathan Kuminga who had a game-high 15 points at that point, struggled to get going and were down by 12 heading into the locker room.
The Warriors showed signs of life in the third, going on an inspired 22-9 run to trim the Grizzlies’ lead down to four with 7:27 left in the third. The Grizzlies stuck with Golden State but also found themselves on the wrong side of the whistle, sending the Warriors to the line 19 times in the third. Jordan Poole provided a spark in the third, scoring 17 of his 21 points in that stanza.
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“We stopped making simple plays,” Green said. “We’ve been fighting an uphill battle all night so it’s its hard to come back. We did that three or four times, try to get over the hump and you do that by making simple play after simple play after simple play.”
Brooks became more boastful as the night went on. With the game in balance, he stared down Klay Thompson after knocking down a 3 to put the Grizzlies up 111-106. After Kerr pulled his starter, Thompson put up four fingers to remind Brooks of something he and the Grizzlies have yet to achieve.
Brooks called their interaction “friendly trash talk.”
“I just hold a lot of real estate over there in San Francisco,” he said.
The Warriors will travel to Houston to play the Rockets on Monday.
Grizzlies hand Warriors their 11th straight road loss
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