A lot of the talk at Oracle Arena on Friday centered around Stephen Curry’s anticipated return from an ankle injury. Unfortunately for the Dubs, he sat out an 11th straight game and the Dubs struggled offensively in a 111-100 loss to the Hornets.
TEAM LEADERS
As sloppy as it ended up being, it didn’t look like that way at the start. Klay Thompson was hot early, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of the game. The Splash Brother had 13 of his 24 points in the opening quarter, Kevin Durant had a team-high 27 points and Draymond Green tallied a Warriors season-high 16 assists, but it wasn’t enough in a game that saw Dwight Howard turn in a vintage performance with 29 points (on 10-for-15-shooting), 13 rebounds and seven assists.
NO COMEBACK THIS TIME
The Warriors have shown a tendency to recover from double-digit deficits this season, but every time they seemed poised for a comeback, Charlotte had an answer. Nothing was more indicative of that than in the fourth quarter when Durant came through with a four-point play. The shot punctuated a 7-1 run for the Dubs and brought them to within nine points with four minutes and change remaining. But instead of getting a stop on the next possession, Kemba Walker drilled a 3-pointer on the other end of the floor.
Walker sealed the win a few minutes later with a 20-foot jumper immediately following a Warriors turnover. Key miscues was one of the themes of the game for the Dubs, whose 18 turnovers yielded 32 points for Charlotte.
KLAY’S STILL STREAKING
Klay Thompson has the longest active 3-point streak in the NBA, having made a 3-pointer in 90 straight games. That’s the third longest streak of all-time, and Thompson secured that spot outright after he drilled a trey on the team’s first possession of the game. Dana Barros had the record for the longest such streak with 89, a mark he reached in 1996, but that record has since been been broken by Kyle Korver (127) in 2014 and Curry (157) in 2016.
IS CURRY READY?
With the Warriors playing again on Saturday, the team is taking a cautious approach with when Stephen Curry will return to action.
“I would say most likely he’ll play (on Saturday),” Head Coach Steve Kerr said prior to Friday’s defeat. “I talked to him today and he was feeling good, so we’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow morning … Tomorrow it appears he is good to go and then we don’t play again for a while. Should be a good time for him to go for it.”
SHAUN FILLING IN
Entering Saturday, Shaun Livingston had a league leading net rating of +17.6, meaning the Warriors outscored their opponents by 17.6 points per 100 possessions that Livingston was on the court. Starting in place of an injured Curry, Livingston had a very solid game with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. He had a pair of back-to-back dunks in the third quarter that helped get the Dubs back within three points, but again the Hornets responded and cushioned their advantage.
UP NEXT
Now 4-2 on this current season-long seven-game homestand, the Dubs will close out 2017 at home on Saturday when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies at 5:30 p.m. Find Tickets