Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) is fouled by Toronto Raptors' Dennis Schröder (17) in the second quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — In theory, the Warriors newest starting five, their 13th one this year, is built to beat the best of them. In practice, it flunked harder than nearly any other group of Warriors to take the floor this year in the Warriors’ 133-118 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. Fans had a feeling it’d be one of the Warriors’ worst efforts of the season and boo’d them after the halftime buzzer.
Once coach Steve Kerr cleared the benches for garbage time with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Chase Center emptied. It was one of the Warriors’ worst defensive performances made worse with Draymond Green watching from the bench — reinstated from his indefinite suspension, but unavailable to play due to conditioning.
Coach Steve Kerr paired Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga together alongside Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis, but the group was a minus-12 in six minutes together. The Raptors offense torched them in transition, no rotation off the bench could get a stop and the Warriors allowed a season-high 76 points at the half.
On paper, Kuminga and Wiggins together gives Golden State all the size and length defensively, force on the boards and downhill threat offensively to counter the Raptors and other teams with athleticism and size. But the pair struggled to score and rebound and Curry was often left alone defending a switch.
Golden State turned up the heat defensively in the second half and Klay Thompson scored 11 third-quarter points to cut Toronto’s 27-point lead down to nine. Thompson was subbed out with a minute remaining in the third quarter and the Raptors went on a 22-11 run to get their lead back up to 25 mid-way through the fourth quarter before Kerr waved the white flag. Curry had an off night, going 2-for-14 from the field and 0-for-9 from 3.
The Warriors are 2-4 on this seven-game homestand, closing out against the hot New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday before they head on the road again to Chicago, Milwaukee, Memphis and Salt Lake City. The Warriors are 17-19.
Originally published at Shayna Rubin