SAN FRANCISCO – The two most important numbers from the Warriors’ 38-point obliteration of the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night were 26 and 20 – the first representing how many minutes Steph Curry played, and the second being the playing time for Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.
Both the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs were on the second night of a back-to-back when they played each other Wednesday night at Chase Center. The Warriors’ stars were rested from a blowout win, while the Spurs battled the LA Clippers the previous night and their top two players – Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox are out for the season.
Didn’t matter. The Warriors fumbled a 12-point fourth-quarter lead, losing 114-111 on a night where an inexcusable loss couldn’t be accepted.
The mood wasn’t doom but gloom after the disappointment, and to coach Steve Kerr the absence of two key role players was evident throughout the loss.
“I think we really missed Gary tonight,” Kerr said. “Missed QP. We’ve really developed a good group, rotation-wise, with those guys.”
Gary Payton II (right knee inflammation) and Quinten Post (illness) missed their second straight game. Their presence wasn’t needed against the Suns where the Warriors led from the nine-minute mark of the first quarter through the rest of the game. But this part of the season is all about fit and combinations going into the postseason, and these two players are puzzle pieces placed in unison for the Warriors.
Only two players had a positive plus/minus for the Warriors in their three-point loss. Steph Curry was a plus-14 in 36 minutes, and Post’s replacement, Trayce Jackson-Davis, was a plus-3 in three minutes off the bench.
Golden State Warriors
The non-Steph minutes have turned from a close-your-eyes-and-look-away situation to a major positive since Butler’s arrival. When he sat against San Antonio, any positive momentum created was tossed to the toilet and flushed away.
“Huge,” Kerr said. “I thought that was the key to the game – top of the second, top of the fourth. We played two great quarters tonight, first quarter and third quarter. Both of those quarters, top second and top fourth, they blitzed us. … Those were the two key stretches in the game.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
And they’re where Post and Payton come into play.
To start the second and fourth quarters, Kerr essentially has been replacing Curry with Post, a seven-footer who can let it fly from deep. The lineup of Podziemski-Moody-Butler-Green-Post has a 18.3 net rating with a 112.4 offensive rating and 94.1 defensive rating. Post gives Butler a shooter and gives the group both size and spacing.
He also is shooting 41 percent from three this season, which tops Curry’s 39.5 percent and leads the Warriors. His 3-point prowess was imperative on a night where Brandin Podziemski (1 of 5) and Moses Moody (1 of 7) went 2 of 12 from three. Post is shooting 41 percent from three in the second quarter (25 of 61) and 39 percent in the fourth quarter (16 of 41).
Kerr and the Warriors’ coaching staff have emphasized winning the first and last four minutes of quarters. Through the first four minutes of the second quarter, the Warriors were outscored 15-3. If you extend it to the first six minutes, the Spurs had a 20-3 advantage. Then to start the fourth quarter, the Spurs raced out to a 15-7 run through the first four minutes.
“Couldn’t get a stop,” Green said. “Couldn’t get into nothing offensively. Couldn’t get a stop.”
Is that Payton’s music you hear? He’s the ultimate wild card Kerr can call upon, making his long injury history and health going forward that much more important to the Warriors’ success.
Though the Warriors lost the previous game Payton played, falling 106-96 against the Houston Rockets, Payton was phenomenal. In 20-plus minutes off the bench, Payton had 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Individually, Payton had a 128 offensive rating, 100 defensive rating and a 17.0 box plus/minus against the Rockets.
His point-of-attack defense was severely missed against San Antonio’s Rookie of the Year frontrunner Stephon Castle, who blew past Warriors defenders all night. The Spurs went 7 of 10 on threes in the fourth quarter, and three were from clear drive-and-kick situations.
When one or two bench links are missing from the chain, the Warriors can’t crumble. They did. Post has been great with Butler, and Payton’s chemistry alongside Curry can cure all. Are they the ultimate X-factors?
That question can be looked at differently in nearly every game. In this catastrophic loss, the answer was obvious, with hopes they’ll be back as soon as Friday against the Trail Blazers in Portland.
