Warriors, Lakers seem to reverse roles for a day
What the heck happened to the Golden State Warriors against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday?
Let’s try to explain it.
Splash Brothers bottled up
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 13-of-40 from the field and 1-of-18 from 3-point range. It was the worst 3-point shooting game for the pair as teammates. Curry was 1-of-10 on the pull-up 3-pointers that NBA fans are so accustomed to see him make. Curry took only one shot all game that was a catch-and-shoot, his fewest such opportunities in a game this season
Curry and Thompson combined to shoot 0-of-17 Sunday when their shot wasn’t directly preceded by a pass.
The Lakers’ starting backcourt outplayed the Warriors backcourt by a wide margin. Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell outscored Thompson and Curry, 46-35 and went 7-of-13 from 3-point range.
Poor ball movement
With Curry and Thompson bottled up, it was up to the Warriors’ big men to create scoring opportunities. Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut combined for 27 assist opportunities (Bogut had a season-high 10).
When the Warriors couldn’t get a shot directly off a pass, they struggled mightily. The Warriors shot a season-low 12.5 percent (5-of40) -– including 0-of-10 from 3-point range — when the shot wasn’t directly preceded by a pass, the lowest for the Warriors this season.
The turnover differential in the first half also told the story. The Warriors had 11 turnovers. The Lakers had one.
The Lakers got the open looks, the Warriors didn’t
The Warriors allowed 45 open looks to the Lakers on Sunday, tied for the second-most open looks for a Warriors opponent this season.
The Lakers had 19 more uncontested looks than the Warriors, the biggest difference for a Warriors opponent this season.
When the Warriors couldn’t get an open look Sunday, they shot 31.8 percent, including 1-of-20 on 3-pointers.
You don’t have to be great to beat them
Three teams that currently rank in the bottom-10 in the NBA in winning percentage have beaten the Warriors this season—the Bucks, Nuggets and Lakers.
No team ranked in the top third of the league has beaten the Warriors.
Biggest upset of the season
ESPN’s BPI gave the Warriors a 93 percent chance to win at the beginning of the day. This edged out the Lakers’ win over the Celtics on Dec. 30 as the biggest upset of the season. In that game, the Celtics had a 92 percent chance to win.
Did you know?
The Warriors are 55-6 through 61 games. The 72-win 1995-96 Bulls were 54-7. Each got blown out in their 61st game of the season. In theirs, the Bulls lost to the Knicks by 32.
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