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PHILADELPHIA — Steph Curry didn’t make the trip to Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago. Jimmy Butler was in street clothes for the first contest of the road trip. Draymond Green left the Xfinity Mobile Arena in a walking boot after a clumsy Dominick Barlow landed awkwardly on the foot sprain Green has been playing through.
Some injuries to the Warriors veterans were baked into the equation. That’s what happens when a team is built around three stars who are 35 or older. But all of this happening at once isn’t ideal.
Despite the absences, the Warriors still had a chance on Thursday night to stun the 76ers. Golden State scored just five points in the first 10 minutes of action, but stormed all the way back from 24 points down to the cusp of a shocking comeback. VJ Edgecombe’s putback tip and Tyrese Maxey’s heroic chasedown block of De’Anthony Melton thwarted the Warriors’ hopes.
“Gut punch,” head coach Steve Kerr said after the 99-98 defeat. “Total gut punch.”
How the Warriors (11-12) nearly stole the game was most astonishing. Both Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench as reserves Pat Spencer, Gui Santos, and Quinten Post spearheaded a spirited comeback. Melton (14 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) looked fantastic in his first game back from ACL surgery last December and, for a second straight game, the Warriors’ offense looked its best with Spencer running the show.
Having capable players at the back of the Warriors’ bench is a positive. But relying on Spencer, who is signed to a two-way contract, and Santos, who was previously out of the rotation, isn’t sustainable.
These are the games — with stars unavailable — in which Podziemski and Kuminga are supposed to carry the Warriors. Podziemski has been vocal about wanting the duo to prove itself capable of such a position. Kuminga is on a $46.8 million deal and has shown flashes of being a reliable offensive engine in the past.
Expecting them to step up isn’t outlandish because they’ve done it before. Podziemski capped last season with a 28-point burst in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against an elite Minnesota defense. Kuminga had games of 30, 23, and 28 points in that same series.
Not so much this year.
2 days ago
Tuesday, Nov. 25
Friday, Nov. 21
Kuminga looked excellent in his first five games, fulfilling the role the Warriors have hoped he would for years. He defended with intensity, crashed the boards, cut into the paint, and made quick decisions with the ball. Since then, he missed seven games with bilateral knee tendinitis and has too often fallen into old habits — taking ill-advised midrange shots and stopping the ball — when available.
Podziemski, meanwhile, looked to be turning a corner over the past couple weeks, averaging 15.3 points in his previous six games. He was letting more 3-point shots fly instead of passing up shots for drives that frequently ended aimlessly.
But Podziemski can let missed shots affect his play, an Achilles heel many young players suffer from. He clanked his first five shots, all 3-pointers, against the Sixers and finished 2-for-8. He’s usually a plus-minus hero, but the Warriors were outscored by 20 with him on the court.
Kuminga didn’t fare much better. He finished 4-for-12, settling for jumpers instead of layups. His loose handle also led to three turnovers.
Both played just 20 minutes. It was an easy decision for Kerr to sit them down. They made the choice for him, really.
“Specifically for those two guys, I think staying confident is the biggest thing,” Melton said postgame. “Play your game. Sometimes there’s a lot of outside noise that goes into it, especially young players in such a great organization — you might have a lot of he said, she said stuff going on. But I think just staying confident and playing your game, take whatever comes with it. People are always going to say something.”
With Podziemski and Kuminga on the bench, Golden State’s offense was more organized, leading to significantly better ball movement. The defense was stouter, especially when guards including Melton and Buddy Hield pressed up on their assignments. 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey started 11-for-17, but missed eight of his last 10 attempts.
Lineups around Spencer, Melton, Santos, and Post won the second half 64 to 43. If the Warriors didn’t look anything like the team that fell behind 30-10 after the first quarter, it was because they had completely different players on the court.
Brandin Podziemski didn’t play in the fourth quarter in the Warriors’ loss to the 76ers on Thursday. | Source: Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Santos was a +15 in 12 minutes, and all he did was hustle, foul, and keep the ball moving. Spencer logged 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists as the Warriors won his minutes by 17.
“The ball was sticking too much probably,” Post said of the first half. “We were making it hard on ourselves. Not moving the ball. Defensively, we weren’t connected. Didn’t run in transition.”
The Warriors led 98-97 with 10.1 seconds left. But they had to inbound the ball for a second time because 76ers coach Nick Nurse won a challenge that overturned a loose ball foul. Spencer, from midcourt and without any timeouts, tried to squeeze a pass to Melton, but Hield ran into the passing lane and brought his man with him.
Edgecombe nabbed the steal, then tapped in a Maxey miss for the go-ahead bucket. Maxey sealed the win by pinning Melton’s layup high off the glass.
“Felt like we really deserved to win, and I feel terrible for the guys that we couldn’t hang on,” Kerr said. “Because the effort, the energy, the commitment.”
The Warriors need to replicate that type of effort, energy, and commitment now more than ever. Green’s foot injury doesn’t appear dire, but he nonetheless could miss time. He missed one game a couple of weeks ago with a right foot sprain before playing through pain.
Butler was questionable for Thursday’s game with knee soreness, and he’s day-to-day. Curry won’t return until at least next Friday at Chase Center.
Through 23 games, Curry has been sidelined for seven (and he’ll miss his eighth and ninth game in the coming days). Butler has been sidelined for three games. Green has been out for four. And 39-year-old Al Horford, who returned on Thursday, has missed 11 so far this season.
The Warriors are 0-3 in games both Curry and Butler miss. Their defense falls apart without Green. Their offense, 23rd in the league entering Philadelphia, loses its North Star without Curry. Without Butler, Golden State loses a good bit of its swagger.
Podziemski and Kuminga are here to make up for at least some of what’s lost when the tricenarians are unavailable. Too often this year, and certainly against the Sixers, that’s been too much to ask.