The Golden State Warriors suffered a humiliating loss on Sunday, falling behind by 44 at half-time before eventually going down 140-88 to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
A 61-17 run across the final 18 minutes of the first-half was nothing short of an embarrassment, but how much should it weigh on the Warriors' outlook moving forward? The answer? Not much given the context surrounding the game.
The Golden State Warriors won't be pressing the panic button after their 52-point blowout loss against the Boston Celtics
Sunday's game was Golden State's seventh in the last 10 days, the last four of which have come on the road. The period has included a pair of back-to-backs, the second coming on Thursday and Friday in New York followed by Toronto.
The Warriors' plane was late leaving New York after the 110-99 victory, meaning they didn't arrive in Toronto until 7am. Steve Kerr labelled it "the worst travel circumstances I've ever been involved with," yet Golden State still came away with a 120-105 win.
Given it was the third game in four days and seventh in 10 days, the Warriors were always up against it let alone having to play the best team in the league. Stephen Curry entered the game questionable with a knee issue, and in hindsight should have simply got an extra day of rest before Wednesday's meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Here’s Steph Curry on the knee issue that had him questionable today pic.twitter.com/pZUOl6Pfw9
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 3, 2024
Golden State still finished the road-trip 3-1, a record they certainly would have taken before it started. Sunday's loss shouldn't wash-away all of the momentum, with Kerr seemingly holding that mindset during the postgame.
"Flush it down the toilet. We had a great road-trip; 3-1. We've had a million games. Boston was amazing, we weren't beating them today. We head home and get ready for Wednesday."Steve Kerr
As funny as it sounds, the blowout loss may have actually been better for the Warriors than a close loss. It allowed Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson to rest the entire second-half, while current starters Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody also played less than 20 minutes.
Any loss makes it that much harder for Golden State to surge further up the standings by the end of the season, but given they've largely handled business over recent weeks, one embarrassing outlier performance can and should be excused.