What we learned as Steph exits loss vs. Clippers with ankle injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – The immaculate vibes of the Warriors’ two first games of the season turned sour Sunday night at Chase Center in a 112-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Turnovers tortured the Warriors in their home debut. The bench couldn’t muster anything as their lauded depth took a hit. The Clippers dominated the Warriors in the paint, outscoring them 58-38.
But the real rotten egg was Steph Curry exiting in the fourth quarter with a left ankle injury after rolling it on two separate occasions.
Andrew Wiggins did his best to pick up the slack for Curry, scoring 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting and was 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. Kevon Looney provided a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double, also adding three assists and three steals.
The Warriors also allowed James Harden to have a 23-point, 11-assist double-double, and Ivica Zubac to own the glass with 17 rebounds and 23 points.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ first loss of the season.
Win or lose, the health of Curry trumps all. Dub Nation held its collective breath in the third quarter when Curry rolled his left ankle and had to head to the bench. Curry was replaced by De’Anthony Melton for the final two minutes and 43 seconds, and was seen doing band work on the bench.
Then the good news came. Unfortunately for Curry and the Warriors, it was short-lived. Curry re-entered the game at the 8:08 mark in the fourth quarter. His return lasted all of 13 seconds.
Curry while trying to set a screen for Buddy Hield aggravated his left ankle injury and immediately limped down the tunnel and to the locker room with the help of Rick Celebrini and teammate Gary Payton II.
Soon after, Curry was ruled out for the rest of the game with a left ankle injury. In 27 minutes, Curry was a plus-2 with 18 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, but also six turnovers. He went 6 of 11 from the field, and 4 of 7 beyond the arc.
Ball movement always has been a staple of Steve Kerr’s offense. Mixed in over the years has been far too many turnovers. That was a major issue last season, and the turnover train returned to Chase Center on Sunday night for the season opener.
The Warriors through the first two games of the season, two blowout road wins over the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, had 40 more assists than turnovers. They handed out 73 assists while conceding only 33 turnovers. But against the Clippers, the Warriors were far too careless with the ball.
In the first quarter where they came out tied with the Clippers, 34-34, through the first 12 minutes, the Warriors had twice as many assists (eight) than turnovers (four). The second quarter then began an ugly trend. As the Warriors were outscored 25-20 for the quarter, the Warriors had just three assists while turning the ball over eight times. That gave them more turnovers (12) than assists (11) in the first half, trailing 59-54.
Then to begin the second half, the Warriors had three turnovers in their first four offensive possessions. Their final total was 21 turnovers, two more than their 19 assists, which led to 21 points for the Clippers.
There simply was no way Hield, for how great of a shooter he is, could keep pace with his absurd numbers to start his Warriors career. Hield was the Warriors’ leading scorer in each of the Warriors’ first two games, totaling 49 points in 35 minutes on 69.2-percent shooting (18 of 26) and shot 75 percent from 3-point range (12 of 16). On Sunday night in his Chase Center regular-season debut in a Warriors jersey, Hield missed his first four shots, including his first three 3-pointers.
His first made basket didn’t come until there were just under eight minutes left in the second quarter, nailing a turnaround jumper. That sparked a mini stretch where in just a minute and a half, Hield scored six points – highlighted by a four-point play – grabbed two rebounds and found Trayce Jackson-Davis found a sweet lob.
But that was the best of Hield’s night. He never got going, finishing with eight points in 28 minutes. Hield went 3 of 14 from the field and only made one of his nine 3-point attempts. The Warriors’ bench overall shot 19.1 percent (4 of 21) on 3-pointers.
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