Duringwarriors game day (Photo: LetsGoWarriors.com Instagram account via SportsSouth/Bobcats)
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — After morning shootaround, Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson had a three-point shooting contest against one of his assistant coaches:
I needed 4 out of 5 for the win! Thanks @ThompsonScribe for the video. http://t.co/FD06Mc3G8J
#Splash
— Mark Jackson (@MarkJackson13) February 4, 2014
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Little did anyone know, Jackson would hit as many threes as the entire team would against the Charlotte Bobcats later that night in the Warriors’ worst performance of the season.
Little did anyone know, Jackson’s celebration of the shot, with a pose, would be the only celebration for the Warriors that day, with the exception of a Marreese Speights halfcourt buzzer-beater that would trim the Bobcats’ halftime lead from 15 to 12 (twelve!):
PRE-GAME
Hours before tipoff, Jermaine O’Neal announced on Twitter that he would be playing. The Warriors had announced earlier in the day that he was listed as “questionable”.
At the pregame press conference, Jackson said he was happy that he followed O’Neal on Twitter.
Stephen Curry‘s father, Dell Curry, is a broadcaster for the Bobcats and offered his time in a press conference prior to tipoff. Sarah Todd of SFBay.ca has the full report: Proud Papa Dell Curry Beams Over All-Star Son.
Among the many highlights of the interview session were his take on Steph’s gaudy shoes and improvement into an All-Star caliber point guard:
During pregame layup lines, Steph video-bombed Dell’s broadcast:
IN-GAME
The game progression was not pretty (click to see images from an dis-spirited #Roaracle):
- #Bobcats 26, #Warriors 13, end of Q1. Smh!
- #Bobcats 46, #Warriors 31, Q2, 2:25.
- #Bobcats 51, #Warriors 39, halftime.
- #Bobcats 72, #Warriors 57, end of Q3 as Mo Speights hits a shot from near halfcourt.
- #Bobcats 91, #Warriors 75, FINAL. Yep, you read that right.
From the Associated Press:
“We’ve got to find a way to get out of this,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We are, right now, taking the life out of the building.”
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The Bobcats controlled the game from the start, going ahead by 18 points late in the third quarter and 22 midway through the fourth. Charlotte, which shot 47.4 percent, held the Warriors to a season-low 31.2 percent shooting.
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
“I’m not going to use any of that as an excuse, that’s for sure,” Lee said, while conceding he was not 100 percent.
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Al Jefferson scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Charlotte, with the center getting the better of the Warriors’ Andrew Bogut, who had six points and 15 rebounds.
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The Bobcats shot 47.4 percent from the field, leading the Warriors by as many as 22 points. Gerald Henderson scored 17 points, and former Warriors forward Anthony Tolliver added 11.
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“We’re thinking a little bit too much,” Jackson said. “With a young basketball team, at times missed shots affect everything else.”
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Klay Thompson added 12 points for Golden State, going 5 for 13 from the field in trying to come out of his shooting slump.
Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press:
Any hope quickly faded when Anthony Tolliver hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the Bobcats up 78-60 lead with 9:51 remaining.
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The Bobcats closed out their road trip 3-1 and handed a streaky Golden State team another stinging setback.
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Warriors coach Mark Jackson publicly called out his team last month for playing down to their opponents too often this season, especially at home. Apparently, his players still haven’t received the message.
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
But fans started trickling toward the exits at the end of the third quarter, and midway through the fourth the place was half-empty. Warriors fans tend to be fiercely loyal, but not to what they witnessed on this night.
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The Warriors (29-20) are playoff contenders. The Bobcats (22-28) arrived in Oakland seven games below .500. The Warriors shot 31.2 percent, while the Bobcats shot 47.4 in a game that never really sizzled.
Todd on SFBay.ca:
Scoring just eight points, Lee snapped his 123-game streak of scoring in double figures. He told SFBay that the team needs to learn to deal with frustration:
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“We were a frustrated basketball team tonight. I think we let shots not going in affect us.”
More of the same continued into the second half and Charlotte extended their lead to as many as 18 points with Al Jefferson scoring 11 of his game-high 30 points in the third quarter.
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A glimmer of hope shone as Marreese Speights hit a near half-court shot as the third quarter buzzer sounded. But just as soon as that glimmer of hope came, it went away. The Warriors never gave themselves a chance and finished the night with only the most loyal of fans sticking around to watch.
Poole in his rewind on CSN Bay Area:
“We defended well enough to win,” forward Draymond Green said. “We just couldn’t buy a bucket. You hate it, but sometimes there are going to be nights like that. There were layups. We missed 15 layups. Layups!
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“As a competitor, as guys that want to win, you never accept it. These are the types of games that somehow we have to find a way to give ourselves a chance to win. And we didn’t.”
POST-GAME
Again, not pretty. Meanwhile, Speights went to the practice facility to put up some late-night post-game shots.
- Mark Jackson sys this young team is getting affected by its missed shots.
- Jermaine O’Neal: “I don’t think we’ve quite grasped the concept of that…hopefully these 30-some-odd games, we do that.”
- David Lee: “Did not play my best tonight, especially finishing the basketball.”
- Andre Iguodala said he’ll watch film and find out where he can attack and get better shots.
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