The best moment for the Warriors on Wednesday afternoon in Boston was the sight of Stephen Curry putting up shots on the TD Garden floor before the game. He’s trending toward a return perhaps as soon as next week.
The next best moments came hours later, within the first two minutes after tipoff against the Boston Celtics, with Kristaps Porziņģis blocking two shots before he and Draymond Green each splashed their first 3-point attempts.
That only woke up the Celtics, who responded by putting the Warriors to sleep with a 120-99 thrashing that was as methodical as it was predictable.
“We did a lot of things well offensively, got a lot of good looks,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Boston. “It was just a night where shots didn’t go down. We’ve got to be a lot better defensively. Some game-plan mistakes early, A lot of fouling at the beginning of the third quarter got us in trouble.”
The loss sent Golden State skidding into 10th place in the Western Conference, a status generally claimed by teams showing progress in a rebuild or who were utter failures at tanking.
“We had our eyes on (sixth place) for a while,” Kerr said. “That’s out of the question now. We’re not getting there. If we if we can string together some wins you know try to get to (eighth), that’d be ideal. We’d get two cracks at it. But we’re not getting to seven. We know that.”
The Warriors have fallen from eighth to ninth and now 10th in span of nine days. They’ve lost six of their last seven games. They are 8-17 since Jimmy Butler III sustained a season-ending torn ACL. They are 6-13 since Curry was sidelined with “runner’s knee.”
Just because the record can mimic tanking, and some of the poor play can look like tanking, does not mean the Warriors are purposely taking a dive in hopes of lottery luck.
That’s partly because it’s almost impossible for the Warriors to fall any lower in the West. And, also, there is the obvious: Most of the shortcomings are directly related to being deeply compromised by injuries to Curry and Butler, both essential for any realistic chance to thrive.
Yet there were times during this and other games in recent weeks when it appeared the Warriors were, um, less than committed to pursuing success.
They undermine their sub-standard roster with silly defensive mistakes, and reckless turnovers and curious shot selection. And by discovering an approach that provides a glimpse of benefit only to abandon it for something that backfires.
Golden State’s strongest quarter was the second, when the teams battled to a 27-27 tie. That was the quarter in which the Warriors strayed from launching inefficient threes and chose to defend and attack. While they took only seven shots from deep, making one, they were 9 of 10 (90 percent) in the paint and shot 50 percent overall in the quarter.
The Warriors ended 26 of 47 (55.3 percent) inside the arc, 10 of 43 (22.3 percent) beyond it. This baffling lack of prudence – they shoot barely 36 percent on “open” 3-balls – has become a self-destructive tendency. It has happened numerous times in recent weeks, with each game delivering a deserved L.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve been telling the guys that we have to build our habits and be ready for when we get guys healthy again,” Kerr said. “Then we can have the firepower that can be complemented by a foundation of good habits and fundamentals.”
That firepower would come from the returns of both Currys – Seth and Stephen – as well as Moses Moody and Al Horford.
Meanwhile, the Warriors bobble along being slapped around by their own futility. They go on Friday to Detroit, where the Pistons sit atop the Eastern Conference. On Saturday, the dark side of a cruel back-to-back, they drag into Atlanta to face a Hawks team that has won 11 in a row.
“What I’m most interested in right now is can we prepare ourselves for the play-in?” Kerr said. “We’re going to be in the play-in; we know that one way or the other. So, we’ve got to prepare. We have to be prepared for when we get guys back. When Steph’s back. And Moses and Al. If we’re prepared when they get back, we can do some damage. And we can go on the run.”
Theoretically, Kerr is correct. But it has been two months since the Warriors have won consecutive games. The prep work is not yielding anything encouraging. Each victory is nullified by two losses.
Until reinforcements arrive, the Warriors are giving lottery team vibes without a ping-pong ball at the festivities on May 10.
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