Golden State Warriors escape with second-straight win despite erratic shooting

The Golden State Warriors have escaped with their second-straight win, defeating the Charlotte Hornets 110-105 at Chase Center on Tuesday night.

It was a tail of horrific and deteriorating shooting from both teams, with the win Golden State’s first of the season where they haven’t made at least 12 three-pointers. The Warriors would make just two triples after the first-quarter, yet managed to hold on despite a Hornets fourth-quarter surge where they tied the game with just over four minutes to play.

Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga made the big plays late as the Golden State Warriors held off the Charlotte Hornets for a crucial win on Tuesday night.

The Warriors began by shooting an efficient 54.1% from the field in the opening period, led by Klay Thompson’s four three-pointers. Charlotte began the game as the league’s 29th ranked three-point shooting team, and it certainly showed as they were kept to just 26 points for the quarter.

Golden State largely continued their dominance in the second-quarter, though they were never able to create a game-decisive advantage. Warriors’ youngsters Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody continued from where they left off on Sunday, recording a combined ten points and six rebounds.

After six first-quarter triples, the Warriors went cold from deep and were 0-for-10 in the second period. It didn’t prove overly costly at that point though as they maintained a 13-point half-time lead at 65-52.

But Golden State’s poor three-point shooting failed to turnaround in the second half, and at some point it would have to come back to bite them. A solid defensive period in the third meant they maintained an 11-point lead, but after Jordan Poole extended it to 14, Charlotte would go on a 23-9 run in seven minutes to level the game at 101 with 4:19 to play.

Both teams’ struggles continued as neither team managed to make a shot over the next 90 seconds, before Poole would find Jonathan Kuminga for a dunk to regain the Warriors’ advantage. It was part of an incredible final period for the second-year forward, with Kuminga bullying the ball out of PJ Washington’s hands, then grabbing a crucial defensive rebound in the previous two defensive possessions.

With just under 1:30 to play and Golden State still clinging to a 103-101 lead, Kuminga made something out of nothing when he drove and flipped a shot over the outstretched hand of Gordon Hayward to beat the shot-clock buzzer. Mason Plumlee then missed two crucial free-throws down the other end, before being embarrassed by a filthy Poole spin move and layup to push the lead to six.

Poole and Kuminga then combined for the final stamp — the former magically drove down the lane before finding the latter for another dunk to put Golden State up six with 21 seconds to play. It was an ugly second-half display from the reigning champions, but the dynamic young duo made it right in the closing minutes.

Thompson would lead the Warriors’ scoring with 29 points on 10-for-22 shooting and 5-for-12 from three-point range. In fact, aside from the 32-year-old veteran, Golden State would shoot just 12% (3-for-25) from deep for the game. Poole had 24 points and six assists, while Kuminga was the Dubs’ third-leading scorer with 14 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench.

The Warriors shot 43.2% overall, just shading the Hornets’ 41.3%. Golden State made one more free-throw while each team had nine offensive rebounds — all numbers that emphasize the parody in the game.

It was far from the convincing win that the Warriors had over the Memphis Grizzlies on Christmas Day, but given their struggles and poor record to begin the season, a tick in the win column is all the franchise needs at this point in time. Golden State are now 17-18 on the season ahead of a matchup against the Utah Jazz on the second night of a back-to-back.