Warriors struggle on All-Star Saturday

The Golden State Warriors’ four star players struggled in a variety of ways on All-Star Saturday, each taking an L of some kind.

Well, everyone has an off day, even the best, right? The Golden State Warriors may be the top dogs in the Association, but they struggled on All-Star Saturday. They weren’t strong as a unit.

Each All-Star managed to take some kind of L during the festivities in New Orleans. It was a bad night all around for the league’s best team. The losses started early.

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Draymond Green was the first one to falter on Saturday. Normally, Green defending Kyrie Irving well is a good thing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t on the basketball court–it was with his words.

Green defended Irving’s claims that the Earth is flat. He said that the Earth “may be flat.” He admitted that he hadn’t done enough research, but added that it wasn’t fair to call the Cavs star’s opinion crazy.

Draymond Green becoming a flat earther is not a development that any of us saw coming. He could just be protecting his friend or–even better–trolling all of us. But if he truly chooses to believe wild conspiracy theories instead of science, then that’s a scary thought.

The weird weekend continued to get weirder for Kevin Durant. Things have been pretty awkward with, teammate-turned enemy-turned teammate again, Russell Westbrook in the building. Their relationship has been the supreme storyline this weekend.

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Durant can’t even get away from it all as a spectator. He sat courtside to watch the three-point contest and the arena announcer introduced him as “OKC’s own Kevin Durant.” KD sat there awkwardly until he waved at the camera and the announcer moved onto another Warrior.

I don’t know if the announcer just forgot or has been living under a rock or if he’s just trolling. Regardless, it’s a cheap move. Durant, one of the best players ever, has become a punch line for choosing where he wanted to work.

Then the L’s on the basketball court started coming. After setting a record for most points in a round last season, Klay Thompson put up a dud. The favorite going into the Three-Point Contest, Thompson didn’t even make it out of the first round.

The Warriors had an opportunity for redemption with the other Splash Brother. After the shooting competition, Ernie Johnson announced that they would be raising more money for the Craig Sager Foundation. More shooters would take turns taking threes with the hopes of raising $10,000 with every make.

After the group of shooters, which included Reggie Miller and DJ Khaled, finished their minute, they had raised $110,000 for the foundation. Johnson then called out the two-time MVP, challenging him to make a half court shot to raise the total to a half million dollars. Steph Curry said he’d hope to do it in one shot, but that he’d like to do it in no more than three.

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Curry ended up taking ten shots and missed them all. To be fair, coming from the sidelines with no warmups in tight jeans and a hoodie makes an already-difficult shot harder. Still, he couldn’t convert and Twitter had some fun with him.

Still, it’s impressive that he was expected to make that shot. He’s made half court shots look so easy over the last few years that people think it’s an automatic thing that he can just turn on. Luckily, Sager’s youngest son saved the day, with Shaquille O’Neal’s help, and made a shot to push the total up to $500,000.

Overall, there was nothing too serious about any of the Warriors’ shortcomings, but still. As a fan, it’s never great to see your team falter like that. The four Golden State All-Stars will get a chance at redemption when they take the floor in the actual All-Star Game.