Unknowns gave inspired effort in defeat
Injury-decimated team kept it close at Chase
SAN FRANCISCO >> With Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell joining Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney on the growing injury report, the Warriors entered Saturday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets without a single healthy player who logged minutes in last season’s playoff run.
And yet, a mostly anonymous roster gave fans donning Curry, Thompson and Green jerseys something to cheer about — the first close game at Chase Center — a 93-87 defeat for the Warriors.
Injuries have depleted the Warriors roster beyond recognition, but the team had hardly resembled the Warriors that went to five straight Finals even when at its healthiest. Three blowout losses in the first four games, the league’s worst-rated defense and secondto-worst net rating. The intuitive functions of an experienced core have been replaced by a young group still in its beta testing phase of development.
But whereas the young players had struggled to keep up with Green and Curry, they found solace in playing together. Led by rookie forward Eric Paschall and two-way player Ky Bowman, the Warriors maintained a first-quarter lead until the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter.
The exciting final frame ended
with the Warriors botching opportunities to come up with crucial defensive rebounds off of two Hornets missed free throws. Ironically, it may have been a coaching decision, not a shorthanded roster, that doomed the Warriors late.
Down one with 14.5 seconds left and Hornets guard Terry Rozier at the line for a pair of free throws, Warriors coach Steve Kerr decided to take out center Willie Cauley-Stein, opting instead to go small for when the Warriors got back on offense.
“I wanted to get an extra shooter on the floor,” Kerr said after the game. “I figured Rozier would make the free throws, he’s an excellent foul shooter. When they took their big out, PJ Washington, they were small and so we thought we’d be okay with Eric (Paschall) and Glenn (Robinson) on the bottom of the free-throw line but it was a long rebound. If Willie (CauleyStein) had been in there, I think he would’ve had the ball. So that’ll haunt me tonight.”
For the first time this season, Kerr started his postgame press conference with an opening statement. He called the loss “a tough one.” The first close game at Chase Center may have been the most frustrating of a season full of step backs and growing pains.
“A really positive step, but you’ve got to get some wins too. That’s why I feel so bad for them,” Kerr said. “I could’ve done a better job down the stretch to help them out, but that’s the way it goes.”
Some other thoughts from the game:
1. A lot of rookies can stand up in short spurts but, give them extended minutes, and they teeter. Eric Paschall is not one of those rookies.
The No. 41 pick in the draft who turns 23 in a couple of days has maximized his time on the court. He’s played 35 or more minutes in two of the last three games and logged fewer than 20 minutes only once — in a blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Paschall got on the court early because of his defense. Kerr has talked about the 6-foot-6, 255 pound forward’s size and versatility as an asset on that end. On Saturday, Paschall stepped up as the team’s leading scorer with 25 points on a tidy 10-of-18 shooting.
While he missed each of the five 3-pointers he took, he scored points by using his body to shoulder his way to rim over and over again. By the fourth quarter, the Warriors were deferring to him and letting him isolate on the perimeter.
“They felt like I had a mismatch, so I just took advantage of it and they just allowed me to play my game,” Paschall said of his teammates.
Feels like we learn more about his game as the season goes on.
2. Most of the headlines from before the game were about Green’s injury. Green will miss several games with a sprained index finger on his left hand. Meanwhile, Russell’s ankle injury has been a bit overlooked.
“He was in a lot of pain this morning,” Kerr said of Russell before the game. “He rolled/tweaked his ankle last night and it got worse overnight, so he’s out tonight.”
It’s another thing to monitor.
3. With Russell out, twoway player Ky Bowman was the starting point guard. Backup point guard? That was handled by committee. Bowman led the team with four assists while four other players recorded three assists — Robinson, Jordan Poole, Alec Burks and Omari Spellman.
4. Curry and Green were not on the bench during the game. Russell was. Some teams require players listed on the injury report to sit on the bench (if they can) but the Warriors don’t have that policy.
Thompson, meanwhile, was in the locker room after the game despite not playing. Kerr said Saturday he hopes the trio will remain engaged and help bring the new-look team along.
“We’re going to need them all here.”