Draymond Green, LJ Cryer, and De'Anthony Melton missed their first couple of shots. Brandin Podziemski started his night 0-for-3. Yaxel Lendeborg couldn't convert on his 3-point attempt. And Will Richard misfired on a mid-range shot. The Golden State Warriors, in their first full game without Steph Curry, missed their first 11 attempts from the field.
Meanwhile, the red-hot San Antonio Spurs rattled off 18 points before Gui Santos eventually put his team on the board with 5:53 left in the first quarter. Down big early against the best team in the league, the Warriors never came close to recovering, falling 123-85.
In his first true test as the number one option, Lendeborg hit a wall. He took 13 shots, made just one, turned the ball over three times, and posted a team-worst minus-40 in his 24 minutes. His sidekick, Podziemski, went 2-for-10 from the field for eight points in 22 minutes.
As a group, the Warriors' starting lineup accounted for just 30 points on 10-for-43 shooting (23.3%). After describing his performance against the Los Angeles Lakers a couple of weeks ago as "the worst game of my life," Lendeborg isn't going to forget this one anytime soon either.
"I'm not going to move past this. I don't know about the rest of us," the rookie said. "Everybody's saying, you know, throw it out the window. I can't throw a damn thing out the window. We just lost by like 100. So, you know, I'm fu–––ed up mentally right now."
A familiar problem finally proves costly
Trailing early had become a recurring habit during the Warriors' eight-game winning streak, as Golden State overcame a first-quarter deficit in five of those eight wins. Whether it came from a Curry flurry or a lift from the second unit, every time the Warriors would be down after one, they would respond in the second quarter and pull away in the third.
Without Steph and with a bench weakened by Brandon Williams' injury, Richard's injured thumb, and Santos' struggles to get back to the level he played at last season, the answer never came in San Antonio. A couple of nights earlier in Houston, Golden State faced a 15-point deficit after the first 12 minutes, and never managed to get over the hump. On the season, the Warriors have been outscored by 52 points in the opening frame. Only the 2-9 Chicago Bulls have a worse first-quarter point differential.
"It's going to take a little time to adapt to no Steph," Steve Kerr said postgame.
Some of the credit also goes to the Spurs, as Kerr pointed out. They shot lights out in the first five minutes and didn't play with their food. But the message from the Warriors' last two games is clear: they can't afford slow starts without Curry, especially not against elite teams like the Rockets and Spurs.
Curry's absence strips this team of its safety net. His organization of the offense, gravity, shot-making, and overall calmness have allowed the Warriors to climb back into games and turn major deficits into double-digit wins. While the Chef is on the shelf, most of that burden will fall on the rookie.
Kerr talked pregame about the balance Lendeborg needs to find: being aggressive offensively without overdoing it. Against the Spurs, he shot multiple floaters, a shot he said he hasn't worked on since his JUCO days at Arizona Western. If the rookie can't get himself going early on, this upcoming Curry-less stretch could turn out to be more daunting than it initially appeared.
Flustered from start to finish, Lendeborg said he didn't have anything to learn from that game. For his coach, bouncing back is what's most important after nights like this.
"He'll learn from this just like he's learning from every experience that he's having here in the early going," Kerr said. "We got a big game coming up in New Orleans, so it's important to just turn the page quickly."
The Warriors will have a couple of days off before taking on a Pelicans team that has allowed over 135 points in each of its last four games – Golden State put up 138 points in a 51-point victory against them on Monday. As cliché as it sounds, games keep on coming in the NBA. The next one can't come soon enough for the Warriors.
"They keep saying it's like 70 games left, or 71 games," Lendeborg said of his teammates' message after the game. "I don't remember the last time I got beat by 70 the whole entire game with no hope at all. It felt helpless out there, golly. ... I'm cooked right now."
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