The Warriors lost Friday night at Sacramento, but they delivered a dominant performance in the third quarter that gives coach Steve Kerr some hope heading into the play-in tournament, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Golden State won the quarter by a 38-19 margin and held a seven-point lead before Kerr rested most of his rotation players down the stretch in the meaningless game.
After Draymond Green said earlier this week that it’s hard to get excited about the play-in, Kerr challenged his veteran leader to do a better job of inspiring the team. Green’s trademark aggressiveness returned on Friday, leading to big plays on both ends of the court and a few skirmishes.
“We were not good defensively,” Kerr said. “We had one good stretch in the game, third quarter. I thought we set a tone defensively. Obviously, Draymond got things stirred up a little bit. We needed that, that fire, that edge.”
Trailing by 12 points at intermission, the Warriors got back into the game with a 12-2 run early in the second half. They held the Kings to 1-of-9 shooting during that stretch and Green goaded Devin Carter into a Flagrant 1 foul that turned up the intensity. Green got into a shoving match with Maxime Raynaud, then Gary Payton II picked up a Flagrant 1 of his own for an aggressive screen on Carter. He was later whistled for a technical for throwing the ball at Carter.
The exchanges brought some life to a team that has been through a difficult second half of the season.
“I mean, I was just laughing at a lot of it, pretty funny stuff going out there,” Brandin Podziemski said. “Everyone was just kind of having fun with the game.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- After falling to Portland on Friday, the Clippers need to beat Golden State in the season finale to have any hope of moving up to the No. 8 seed, notes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register (subscription required). L.A. fell into an early 20-point deficit against the Blazers, but rallied to take the lead before collapsing late in the game. Now the team will need help to avoid starting the postseason on the brink of elimination. “I mean, we just got to do it the Clippers’ way, the hard way every time. Never easy,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “We are still in it and we’re OK. And like I said, they beat us. They’re a good team and Tiago (Splitter, Portland’s interim coach) has done a hell of a job this season filling in. They played better than us.”
- Suns guard Grayson Allen was forced out of Friday’s game against the Lakers after hurting his hamstring in the second quarter, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The injury occurred when he landed after making a difficult shot over L.A. center Deandre Ayton. Allen has been ruled out of Sunday’s game, Rankin adds in a separate story, along with Devin Booker (right ankle injury management), Dillon Brooks (left second metacarpal injury management) and Royce O’Neale (left knee injury management).
- In an interview posted on the Arizona Republic website, Suns center Mark Williams talks about enjoying the healthiest season of his career. He was available for 60 games, topping his previous high of 44.
The blazers own the tiebreaker versus the Clippers because of the conference record.
With both team teams obviously winning Sunday, you can count on the Warriors crumbling versus the Clippers the middle of next week.
The number 11 pick is the prize after leaving a turd in Los Angeles Wednesday night.
One positive in the game was Podz scoring his career high of 30 pts, so we won’t have to suffer through Davey’s rants about how he’s “never scored 30” (like Moody has).
I can’t imagine that the mindset of the team is to actually try to make the playoffs, but I guess we’ll see.
You can bet everything you have on the loss next Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Check the couch for quarters, ask relatives to borrow money, raid your kid’s piggy banks.
This is the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind.
Did you see the Slater interview of Moody where he said his knee has bothered him since high school, and was always due to the patella tendon?
He’s dealing with the injury in a very positive way.
link to nbcsportsbayarea.com
Thank you for the link. Good article !!
I think patella tendinitis is a young man’s deal. 18-21 you have discomfort in the front of your knee after playing basketball. I used to have my AC vent pointed directly at my right knee when I drove home from Hoops back then.
Strange thing is that it went away in my mid 20s and never came back? I’ve heard similar stories from others or complaints from young guys about their patella tendinitis.
But it sounds like Moses had a little more going on with his right knee and I’m glad he’s taking such a positive outlook at his situation right now.
Well, 20 years ago at age 50, I went up to dunk forgetting my age and tore my patellar tendon completely. I don’t even jump anymore. PRP helps even for the old. :)
Ouch Sam !!
Mark Williams healthiest ever ?? Must be his contract year.
Oh, heck yeah! One decent quarter in a meaningless game is a GREAT rallying point for a number ten seed!!!
Sad.
The spin attempt is funny. I really hope they aren’t going to try to win the play-in games. A better draft pick should be the goal.
Umm…It was the first time those 5 had started a game this season. I’m not sure what you are expecting.
Yet your fellow bandwagoner in Davey is already pointing out how great next draft is.
And that related, I’m confused. Davey is on Curry bandwagon. I don’t know what that has to do with anything. How are they related?
What a shameful post lol. Gotta keep these guys engaged somehow I guess..