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Warriors' "best effort" not good enough against Kings
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Associated Press/Tyreke Evans drives to the basket.
Playing in a half empty arena against a home team that played on the road the night before, the Golden State Warriors found themselves relegated to another fourth quarter of garbage time in Sunday's 120-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings.
Like after Friday's 28-point home loss to the Clippers, Warriors coach Don Nelson had little say on Sunday.
"We didn't have a very good game," he said. "I thought we gave it our best effort and it wasn't good enough."
With all the disappointing things that have happened and have been said this year, that statement may be the saddest of them all. The Warriors gave their best effort and not only couldn't beat the Kings, a team that won back-to-back games for the first time in a year, they couldn't even stay close.
Well, actually, the Warriors were only down four points midway through the third quarter before the Kings closed the quarter with a 24-9 run. Sacramento then scored eight of the first 10 in the fourth quarter to take a 104-79 lead with 8:00 left in the game.
"Another beatdown," said Stephen Jackson, who led the Warriors with 21 points. "What can I say? It is just all bad right now. We've got a lot of work to do."
But really, what can the Warriors do?
They're not suddenly and magically going to get bigger and healthier in the front court, which would be nice considering they were outrebounded 52-34 by the Kings. Andris Biedrins (back) started at center on Sunday and was mostly ineffective in 22 minutes, scoring two points and grabbing six rebounds. Nelson said after the game it wasn't a good decision to let Biedrins, who sat out Friday's loss, play on Sunday. Ronny Turiaf (knee) watched the game in a suit and we all know that Brandan Wright is likely done for the year. Backup center Anthony Randolph scored 14 points but finished with five fouls and just two rebounds in 22 minutes.
They're not suddenly going to get better on defense, a point of emphasis for improvement for several years now. Kings rookie Tyreke Evans couldn't be stopped as he scored 18 of his 23 points in the second quarter while driving to the basket at will for easy layups or free-throw attempts. The Warriors allow the second-most points in the league behind Memphis and allow opponents to shoot better than 51 percent from the floor, the worst in the league. The Kings, playing with leading scorer Kevin Martin, entered the game in the lower third of the league in shooting percentage at 43.4 but shot 49.4 percent against the Warriors.
And they're not suddenly going to develop chemistry and continuity. Those only come with wins and there aren't many of those on the horizon.
"We are doing everything we can," said Monta Ellis, who scored a season-low nine points and had four turnovers to go with his four rebounds and five assists. "We are trying our best, but it is just not working for us now. The only thing we can do is keep going and try to get ourselves out of this."
But, again, the question is how?
The Warriors actually had some decent numbers Sunday. They shot better than 50 percent from the floor, held a 27-14 edge in fastbreak points and posted a 20-14 assists-to-turnovers ratio. Despite all that, they found themselves down 25 to the Kings in the fourth quarter.
Nelson said he doesn't expect changes to the starting lineup. Ellis, Jackson, Stephen Curry and Kelenna Azubuike are expected to start Monday against Minnesota. With Biedrins hurting, Mikki Moore or Randolph will likely start at center.
The Warriors made a nice run at the end of the first quarter when Randolph and Anthony Morrow entered the game and played with Ellis, Jackson and Corey Maggette. They also closed the game with a 28-16 run with Acie Law and C.J. Watson in the game, but it's not likely that Law and Watson are the keys to saving this season.
But then again, who knows? There has to be some way to save the season, doesn't there?
On a side note, what was Watson doing passing the ball off the backboard to Randolph for a breakaway dunk with the Warriors down by 21 points with four minutes left in the game? It's like a receiver who celebrates a first-down catch with his team down 21 points in the fourth quarter. There's a time and a place for everything, but that was neither.
MONDAY'S GAME
Who: Timberwolves (1-6) at Warriors (1-4)
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV: CSNBA
Radio: KNBR 680
Of note: The teams split their four games last year. ... Minnesota is coming off a 116-93 loss in Portland on Sunday. The time a team played consecutive nights in Portland and Oakland, the Houston Rockets beat the Warriors 108-107 in their season opener. ... Timberwolves rookie Jonny Flynn was averaging 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game before Sunday.
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