Three positive takeaways from the Warriors' loss in Phoenix
The highly anticipated matchup of the Warriors and Suns came to an abrupt end for Dub fans as Phoenix won, 104-96. There are two things that stood out when watching the game, the number of turnovers the Warriors had (22 to be exact) and the lack of production from the team’s two best players. Steph had an uncharacteristic night, his worst shooting night of his career on twenty shot attempts and they still managed to lose by single digits.
Curry, Draymond, and Wiggins combined for just 30 points, almost as many as Jordan Poole had by himself. (28) So why is this a good thing then, and what can be taken away from the poor performance? Here’s three positive takeaways, as just mentioned, Poole proved that he can step up in a big game when it matters so we know he’s capable of helping the team score. Secondly, Otto Porter Jr continues to play like he is severely underpaid, as he chipped in a solid sixteen points off of the bench.
And finally, the Warriors record. They aren’t fighting for a spot in the play in this year and they have a chance to redeem themselves this Friday as they have a rematch against the Suns. But here is the real takeaway that I noticed after tonight’s loss, it helps build character and light a fire under an already fired up squad. On twitter ESPN said, “The Warriors are looking good right now.” And underneath the tweet was a graphic of the Warriors past historic starts. In the 2014-15 season they started 18-2, the 2016-17 season, 17-3, and the 2017-18 season they started 15-5. The only time they went undefeated in the first twenty games was the 2015-16 season in which they lost in game seven of the finals versus the Cavaliers.
The point of that post is that every single time they won a championship, it was after a start to the season that saw them take a few losses. No one in NBA history has won all 82 games before, let alone 16 straight in the playoffs. It is all about perspective, certainly every NBA player would love to never lose, but if you start to do so it can lead to a slippery slope down the line where you feel unbeatable. Now in some cases that might be a good thing, but if a team goes out there and totally disregards the other team, thinking that it’ll be an easy win, that is where you can start to see some flaws.
We saw flashes of that when the Warriors played the Cavs in 2016 and when they played the Suns on Tuesday night. Lackadaisical plays and effort which can lead to turnovers and overall worse team play. Not to say that the Warriors weren’t trying to win, and that they were playing too cocky, but it was a combined team sluggish play that led to a loss versus a very hungry team. It should, if anything, motivate all the guys to play better on Friday. As well as play better against any other teams, so come playoff time they are completely locked in and ready to make another run for a championship.