The Warriors played from behind for nearly the entire game and their bid for 25 straight wins to open the season was squandered with a 108-95 defeat on Saturday night in Milwaukee.
GAME LEADERS
The streak is over. The Warriors played from behind for nearly the entire game and their bid for 25 straight wins to open the season was squandered with a 108-95 defeat on Saturday night in Milwaukee.
Playing the back end of a back-to-back at the end of a seven-game road trip, and after Friday’s game went into double overtime a time zone away, the Warriors were a step slow against a Milwaukee team that was eager to end the longest undefeated start to a season in NBA history.
“The losses are going to come. We didn’t have it tonight,” interim head coach Luke Walton said. “We didn’t have our shots falling and we were a little slow on our defensive rotations. And that happens, but it takes nothing away from what we did to start the season.”
The teams exchanged runs for pretty much the first three quarters. Milwaukee had separate runs of 10-0 and 12-2 in the first period, and each time the Warriors rallied to make the game close again. The Bucks led by as many as 14 and never trailed in the second half. When the Dubs looked to be on the comeback trail – a dunk from Brandon Rush that caused an epic bench reaction brought the Warriors within one point with five minutes left in the third quarter – Milwaukee responded with another run and stepped up their defense.
The Bucks held a three-point lead at the end of the third quarter but held the Warriors reserve unit to just one made field goal through the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green re-entered the game with seven minutes left and the Dubs down 12, but they were unable to spark a comeback like they did on Friday night in Boston.
Curry had 28 points to lead the Warriors, who shot 40.9 percent from the field and 23.1 percent on 3-pointers, the second straight game in which the Dubs have shot a season-low percentage on 3-pointers. Green had 24 points and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double, Festus Ezeli came through with 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Klay Thompson returned from a one-game absence to put in 12 points.
The loss drops the Warriors to 24-1 on the season, and the Dubs will return home after two weeks on the road and take on the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.