Warriors coach Steve Kerr gets brutally sincere on Dubs getting ‘punched in mouth’ by Raptors
It was an ugly game from the start for the Warriors.
“We got punched in the mouth right away,” Kerr said during the post-game press conference. “They just took it to us. It was an ugly, really ugly first half… We were too far behind to really make the full run.”
The Raptors put together a stellar second quarter, where they outscored the Warriors 40-21. They ended the first half with a 76-49 advantage. Toronto’s 76 points marked the most points the Warriors have given up in a half this season.
As Kerr mentioned, the Warriors made a run in the third quarter and trimmed the lead to as low as nine points after Jonat.
Klay Thompson was the lone bright spot for Golden State as Stephen Curry struggled with his shot throughout the evening. Thompson scored 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Curry, meanwhile, scored just nine points and failed to make a three-pointer for the second time in a couple of weeks.
With the loss, the Warriors are now 17-19 and find themselves back outside of the play-in tournament picture.
Further Reading:
Warriors’ Draymond Green claims Adam Silver talked him out of retirement
Green was indefinitely suspended after an altercation on Dec. 12.
“I told him, ‘Adam this is too much for me. … This is too much. It’s all becoming too much for me — and I’m going to retire,’” Green said on his show. “And Adam said, ‘You’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.’”
Because of the aforementioned altercations, Green was suspended indefinitely, but will last 14 games as he is on the brink of returning with the team. Subsequently, he went through a month of counseling which propelled the NBA to reinstate the Warriors staple last Saturday and according to ESPN, “he started ramping up with the Warriors on Sunday for a return that sources say is expected to come in approximately a week.”
Wojnarowski’s report also mentions that when Green officially comes back with the team and is playing for them, the counseling meetups are expected to continue. Golden State fans are hoping to see the spark plug back in full force with the team as the team has been disappointing to start the season with tons of drama outside Green.
The suspension after the Nurkic hit was the second for Green his season as the first came in November when he put Minnesota Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert in a chokehold. That resulted in a five-game absence for the four-time NBA champion.
Green says he is “thankful” to play for a league with Silver at the helm
Green was complimentary to Silver for talking him out of retirement, saying that he is “thankful” that he is the commissioner of the NBA. He said that that Silver is more about helping than he is about “hurting” or “punishing” people, even calling the association head “more about the players.”
“We had a long, great conversation — very helpful to me,” Green said. “Very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who’s more about helping you than hurting you; helping you than punishing you. He’s more about the players.”
On the season, Green is averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 15 games this season. He is reportedly losing money every game he does not play as in his four-year, $100 million, he says goodbye to $153,941 for each contest missed per ESPN.
Consequently, the Warriors next game is against the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 10. They could possibly need the energy and juice from Green as they are 17-19 on the season which puts them at eleventh in the Western Conference. The team has lost five of the last seven games and when Green has been playing with them this season, they were 7-8.
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