The Warriors fell behind early and never recovered in Tuesday’s season opener, falling to the Spurs 129-100 at Oracle Arena.
GAME LEADERS
The Warriors fell behind early and never recovered in Tuesday’s season opener, falling to the Spurs 129-100 at Oracle Arena.
Kevin Durant tallied 27 points and 10 rebounds in his regular season Warriors debut and Stephen Curry added 26 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough against a Spurs squad that looked flawless for the vast majority of the game.
After the Warriors held a 16-12 lead in the first quarter, the Spurs closed the period on a 19-4 run and the Dubs were playing catchup from there on. While Kawhi Leonard was the star of the show, accompanying his typical stifling defense with 35 points, it was 20 points off the bench from Jonathan Simmons that really buried the Warriors. The second-year forward knocked down a 3-pointer to end the first period and did the same at the end of the second quarter as he made his first six shots of the game.
Every time the Dubs seemed poised to make a run to get back in the game, the Spurs – in typical Spurs fashion – had an answer to keep the Dubs at bay. The Warriors started the second half on a 6-0 run and cut what was an 18-point deficit at the break down to 10 when Draymond Green finished a fast break with a dunk. But San Antonio quickly responded, pushing their lead back up to 20 just minutes later and the Dubs never sniffed single digits again.
Despite double-doubles from Durant (27 points, 10 rebounds) and Green (18 points, 12 rebounds), the Warriors were out-rebounded 55-35 and shot just 21 percent from 3-point range (7-for-33) compared with 50 percent (12-for-24) from San Antonio.
The Warriors will look to bounce back from their Opening Night hiccup when they open a three-game road trip on Friday in New Orleans.