The Warriors suffered the worst loss in the Steph Curry era.
The Golden State Warriors rose to become a dynasty with impeccable three-point shooting. At the peak of their historic run, the Dubs used to blow out their opponents with a barrage of threes that put the game out of reach very early on.
Nearly a decade after winning their first title in the Stephen Curry era, the Warriors have slowed down. On Sunday, they got a dose of their own medicine as the Boston Celtics blew them out 140-88 in their worst defeat since drafting the Davidson product.
“They’re hitting 10 3s in the first quarter,” Curry said. “That’s what we used to do to teams. It’s kind of demoralizing, especially on the road. It’s a shot you’re comfortable giving up, and they’re taking advantage of. Then it feels like we got to play home run basketball on the other end to make it.”
Blowing out the Warriors
It was a close contest, with two teams tied at 21 all early on. But with the Warriors letting Jaylen Brown shoot, the Celtics guard turned into a “Splash Brother,” scoring 19 first-quarter points on 5 of 8 from three-point range.
Thanks to Brown’s scoring explosion, the Celtics had a 44-22 lead at the end of the first quarter, and Golden State never recovered.
Overall, Boston went on a 58-13 run that pushed the lead up to 35 in the second period. At the end of the first half, they had scored a season-high 82 points with 15 three-pointers, 20 assists, and a franchise-record 44-point halftime lead.
The Celtics’ starters pushed the lead to 51 early in the third, and that’s when Joe Mazzulla decided to play the bench unit.
1st team in NBA history to win 3 games by 50+ points in a single season. pic.twitter.com/sdGHFpCvZD
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 3, 2024
“The way that they’ve been playing, they seem very sure of themselves in their identity and who they are,” Curry said. “Give them credit. They came out and whooped us tonight from the jump, and it was one of those perfect storms of a rough (day) on our end and them taking it to us.”
End of the dynasty?
What happened to the Dubs on Sunday usually happened to opponents facing the Warriors, especially when they still had Kevin Durant. Golden State would bury its opponents right from the opening tip with impeccable three-point shooting and leave them in catch-up mode the rest of the way.
But gone are those days, and so is Durant. After Sunday’s loss, the Warriors are 32-28, sitting ninth in the Western Conference. They are 1.5 games behind the eighth-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
That said, Golden State has been great lately, winning 13 of its 17 games. And even though yesterday’s loss is tough to swallow, the Warriors should look to bounce back and focus on avoiding the play-in tournament.
Then, once the playoffs begin, with Curry still playing at the peak of his powers, anything is possible.