The Golden State Warriors were at the Wells Fargo Center last night to face the Philadelphia 76ers. Head coach Steve Kerr had said that he expected the team to come out sharp after the loss to the Atlanta Hawks, plus one day of rest, but he turned out to be wrong.
Pre-Game
#DubNation represented well in Philadelphia:
#DubNation was repped in PHI last night. So was @StephenCurry30 or, rather, Stephen and Curry! http://t.co/gkygzIEMnR pic.twitter.com/v0Uxrh5WrC
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) February 11, 2015
Meanwhile, Mo’ne Davis got to meet Stephen Curry — or was it the other way around? Curry was seen getting an autograph from Davis on her Sports Illustrated cover issue.
Pre-game last night in Philly: #StephCurry and Mo'ne Davis shot 3s at warmups. #Warriors http://t.co/LwPpwoC0Ct pic.twitter.com/hpPP3uD7Gz
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) February 11, 2015
In-Game
The Warriors started off with Klay Thompson committing another early turnover, as well as missing a few shots. Thompson was guilty of 3 of the early turnovers and it could’ve easily been 4 as he made a bad pass to Harrison Barnes, who juggled it, had it, then lost it with his own deflected pass as he tried to get out of a double-team swarming him.
Philly’s young up-and-comers like Nerlens Noel and Luc Ricard Mbah A Moute — okay, he’s more of a veteran compared to the rest of the 76ers roster, but still — played like they really wanted to play whereas the Dubs were sort of going through the motions with uninspired play. It was 10-4 early, with all of the Sixers’ points coming from the paint and Kerr called timeout.
The lack of energy continued, except not for the Sixers, as the pogo stick otherwise known as KJ McDaniels showed off his extraordinary hops with a Kobe/LeBron/T-Mac-like pass to himself for the dunk:
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That brought this tweet of the night:
My warriors just got violated😂 McDaniels self ooped it to himself. Oh my… #LetsGoWarriorsLive
— Ian Sabastro (@ISabastro) February 10, 2015
Another fan joked, “Who is this team and what have they done with the Warriors?”
When Andre Iguodala checked in, he did what he could to change the game, and had a few mini-highlights, such as this one while manufacturing two shooting fouls after getting hacked:
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Thompson was inconsistent and the #SplashBrothers were a combined 5-for-17 at halftime, but Draymond Green got this flush right before the break:
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Leandro Barbosa was the most consistent, tallying 11 points by halftime to lead the Warriors. After the break, Iguodala continued his strong play:
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There was also this alley-oop from Shaun Livingston:
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But the Warriors continued to struggle with their open shooting, despite executing their offense:
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Still, Curry got his. He did finish with 20 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds:
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It’s just that the usual splashes, such as this patented side-step, didn’t ignite any deep runs:
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This drive was a back-breaker for the Sixers:
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Yet the major concern for the Warriors was Green, who sprained his right ankle in a freak play heading into the offense with Noel simply getting back on defense and tangling his legs with Draymond’s. This happened with just 3:29 to play and Green had to exit the game. Fortunately, X-rays were negative:
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Post-Game
During the post-game interview, CSN’s Rosalyn Gold-Onwude asked Barbosa about what the Warriors were going through, with the sluggishness.
His answer?
“We grind…We take the win.”
When asked what he told the team in one of the late huddles, Barbosa said, “Gotta grind, you know?”
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Before Monday night’s game, Philadelphia head coach Brett Brown said the Warriors’ second unit would contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Well, the Warriors’ reserves proved that they would certainly finish ahead of the 76ers.
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On a night when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson once again couldn’t find enough legs to knock down their usually automatic jumpers, the backups picked up the slack for an 89-84 victory at the Wells Fargo Center.
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“It just feels right now like we’re running on fumes,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m actually really proud of the guys pulling out that win. It wasn’t pretty. There wasn’t much that we did well. But we got a few key individual performances … to get a huge lift.”
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Led by Leandro Barbosa’s 16 points and six rebounds, the Warriors’ bench outscored the 76ers’ reserves 39-19. Andre Iguodala had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals, and Marreese Speights added 10 points and five rebounds for the backups.
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
The victory was painful – literally and figuratively – as Draymond Green left the game in the fourth quarter after rolling his right ankle when getting tangled up with 76ers center Nerlens Noel.
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Five Warriors scored in double figures, led by Stephen Curry’s 20 points (7-of-20 shooting), but the bench made a significant impact. Reserve guard Leandro Barbosa scored 16 points in 20 minutes, Andre Iguodala put in 13 and Marreese Speights added 10.
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