Golden State Warriors vs Brooklyn Nets: With their 102-98 loss at Barclays Center against the veteran Brooklyn Nets last night, the Golden State Warriors fell short on the following accomplishments, as detailed by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“It’s very disappointing,” said Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who scored a game-high 34 points to go with seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and seven turnovers. “Our vision was set on finishing off the road trip with a win and what that would mean.”
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It would have meant a lot. If the Warriors (24-14) had prevailed in Brooklyn, they would have had 11 straight wins, tying the franchise’s best winning streak – set during the 1971-72 season – and matching San Antonio and Portland for the longest runs in the NBA this season.
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A win against the Nets would have marked the Warriors’ eighth consecutive road victory, which would have set the best stretch in franchise history – passing the seven-game streak set in 1969 – and would have made them the NBA’s first team ever to sweep a seven-game trip.
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“We’re disappointed that we did not finish it up the right way,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. “But the history we’re chasing after is bigger than a record for a seven-game road trip.”
The Warriors came out blazing:
Perhaps the Dubs were inspired by the presence of Spike Lee:
Carl Steward of the Bay Area News Group explained the rise and eventual fall:
“I had great looks, especially those two 3’s I missed,” Klay Thompson said. “But you can’t let it get you down. You have to take those shots every time. But it’s bittersweet, especially when we had a chance to make history and were up 16 at one point.”
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Indeed, the game started as if it would be a Warriors runaway. Golden State hit 11 of its first 14 shots, including 6 of 7 from 3-point range, to take a 32-16 lead with 1:43 left in the first quarter on Harrison Barnes’ bomb from the corner.
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But Brooklyn whittled away from that point, cutting the lead to 10 at the quarter break, then outscoring the Warriors 37-20 in the second period — the most points scored against them in a quarter this season.
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The Warriors fought back from 11 down in the third period to take a one-point lead into the final 12 minutes, and it was an epic battle to the finish against Brooklyn’s cast of veterans.
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But after the Warriors took the biggest lead of the quarter by either team (93-89), their offense went dry…
But the bench couldn’t hold a double-digit lead, as described by Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
“We know who we are as a basketball team. We know when we play great and what we’ve done to put ourselves in position to win,” he said. “And we know when we make mistakes and are careless. So we don’t learn from it. We just get better.”
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Meanwhile, Jackson coaches a quality squad, highly entertaining, but often as maddening as it is marvelous.
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The roster deficiency falls under the department run by the ingenuity of general manager Bob Myers and checkbook of co-owner Joe Lacob, and we know they are power-shopping the market. The turnover issue sits heavy in Jackson’s lap, and his answers thus far have been futile.
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As for the boys on the bench, they blowtorched a double-digit lead in the time it took Stephen Curry to wipe the sweat from his brow. This sort of thing happens because Warriors reserves have the lowest scoring average in the league (22.9) and the lowest shooting percentage (38.7).
Give credit to the Nets. Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Andrei Kirilenko, and Andray Blatche all had their moments.
Yet the Warriors still had a chance at the end, as Curry decided not to launch a potential game-tying three-pointer from 30 feet, resulting in a terrible pass.
Even after that, the Warriors made things interesting, but had to foul and hope for a string of miracles to send the game into overtime. Ultimately, the playoff-atmosphere matchup in which the Nets would not let the Warriors make history on their homecourt was over.
Some in #DubNation felt a blowout would have been better served. But this was an excellent learning experience, once again, on how to close games if not only for Curry:
Look at this way. Hard, hard, painful lesson for Steph, but it's better that way in the long run. #growingpains #loseonabadpass
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) January 9, 2014
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Best of all, #DubNation represented itself well, both here at home and in Brooklyn.
Ready for the game:
Great shot of Barclays from up high:
Courtside with the blue and gold:
More sights:
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