Golden State Warriors lose Kevin Durant, game to Wizards
The Golden State Warriors lost Kevin Durant to a knee injury in a tough loss on the road to the Washington Wizards.
108. 41. Final. 112. 142
Things the Golden State Warriors might have been able to get away with against the Philadelphia 76ers currently don’t always work against good teams like the Washington Wizards. On Tuesday night, Golden State closed out the month of February with a tough loss that featured a myriad of problems.
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The elephant in the room of course in the close loss is Kevin Durant. After Marcin Gortat and Zaza Pachulia battled down low, the Warriors’ center fell back into Durant’s knee. That caused his knee to hyperextend and Durant would leave the game. The ensuing MRI is going to leave everyone holding their breaths in Golden State.
While Durant certainly is going to be the big takeaway of the night, the shooting woes continued for the Warriors. Stephen Curry hit a couple of threes but the former MVP and Klay Thompson struggled from deep.
The duo combined to go 5-22 from deep and Golden State had to try and catch up with the Wizards the entire way. Defensively, they waited to long to long to lock in once again and that cost them the game ultimately.
Spotting the Wizards 40 points in the first quarter meant having to climb out of too big of a whole. Excluding the first quarter, Golden State went onto outscore Washington 82-72 the rest of the way as they started to find their groove defensively.
They had a huge third quarter, which has become a theme for them this season, and that allowed them to really make this game. Ultimately, they didn’t have the fire power at the end of the game to pull out the win.
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Turnovers, the loss of Durant and spotting the Wizards a 40-point quarter were just way too much. Washington is too good to spot them that many points and they played one of their best games of the season, as Bradley Beal and Markieff Morris had huge nights.
Stephen Curry led the way in scoring with 25, but it once again wasn’t one of his better shooting nights. The team will now face the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, with a chance to begin the month of March with a victory.