The Washington Wizards sorrows continue as they lose at home to the Golden State Warriors 114-107. Stephen Curry returned tonight after missing a game with a foot injury. Curry scored 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc.
Not only was Curry lethal shooting the ball tonight but he dished out eight assists without turning the ball over once. As a team the Warriors only turned the ball over nine times while the Wizards were very sloppy as the turned the ball over 26 times leading to 23 Golden State points.
Washington’s John Wall did record another double-double tonight scoring 16 points and dishing out 11 assists. However, Wall was the biggest turnover machine as he reversed the possession eight times. Obviously he wasn’t the only problem handling the ball, but because he handles the ball the majority of the time he can’t afford to be that careless.
Member number two of the “Splash Brothers” Klay Thompson added 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Thompson was very actively defensively as he recorded five steals. Marreese Speights was aggressive off the bench with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. As usual Draymond Green gave his team a little bit of everything. He added 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists while shooting 3-of-4 from behind the arc.
The go-to guy for the Wizards tonight was Paul Pierce. In 28 minutes of play Pierce scored 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting while grabbing five rebounds. Pierce used his veteran savvy as he made all nine of his free throws. Marcin Gortat recorded his second straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Gortat sat most of the fourth quarter because the Warriors went small and Nene is more athletic to cover a smaller big. Gortat’s absence really hurt Washington but it would have been tough for Gortat on the defensive end of the floor.
The Wizards have been struggling shooting the ball over this tough stretch, but tonight they shot 53.2 percent from the field. However, they continued their troubles from the three-point line shooting 27.8 percent, and allowed the Warriors to shoot 52.2 percent from behind the arc making 12 three pointers.
The clear reason Washington lost this game aside from the lights out three-point shooting by the Warriors was the turnovers, as I stated earlier. Golden State is the best team defensively in the league and part of that is their ability to force turnovers and score easy buckets off said turnovers. Sadly the Wizards did a lot of other things well like outrebounding the Warriors 45-to-29, and had the advantage in fast break points 22-to-15.
Washington is not in the position of moral victories anymore, but the way they’ve been playing for a month this was at least competitive to the end. They played hard for most of the game and they didn’t let Golden State’s hot shooting keep them down long before they would roar back. It’ll be hard for any member of the Wizards to be confident after losing their fourth straight game but they have to quickly forget as they play another tomorrow night.
The Wizards have a quick turnaround as they head to Minnesota tomorrow night to face the Timberwolves at 8:00 PM EST. The Warriors next game is Thursday night in Cleveland to face the Cavaliers at 8:00 PM EST on TNT.