On Monday, the Golden State Warriors suffered their worst home loss in 40 years, as the Boston Celtics blew them out 125-85 at Chase Center. It was an embarrassing showing by the Warriors and Stephen Curry was highly critical of the team postgame when asked how he processes a loss like this one.
"I have no idea, it's just a tough one from the end of the first quarter through the rest of the game," Curry said. "I thought we came out with pretty good life and energy. A big part of our season has been when we can't score, we lose spirit, we lose life, we lose competitiveness. You can get away with it against some teams. Against the defending champs, it's not a good formula for success."
The Warriors did start well and the game was tied at 17 with 4:29 left in the first quarter. It seemed like we might witness an interesting contest, but the Celtics took total control from then on. They went on a 12-1 run to end the quarter and that was that.
The Warriors would go down by as many as 45 points at one stage in this contest. They had no answers for that potent Celtics offense but the bigger issue was definitely their own failure to put the ball in the basket. The Warriors shot just 34.8% from the field and 26.4% from beyond the arc, and with each missed shot, you could see those shoulders slump just that little bit more.
Curry himself was far from his best on the night, as he had 18 points (6-16 FG), three rebounds, four assists, and two steals against the Celtics. The 36-year-old was still the Warriors' most effective offensive player, which lets you know just how poorly his teammates played.
The Warriors dropped to 21-21 on the season following this loss. They have been blown out one too many times this season and head coach Steve Kerr admitted those losses have demoralized the team. The vibes understandably aren't great but Curry stressed the need to be positive.
"We need to have positive vibes in our locker room, no matter what happens in a win or a loss," Curry stated. "You just gotta be able to come with the right attitude. Like I said, it's a belief thing that we can win whatever game is in front of us."
That internal belief certainly would have been shaken a bit by all these blowouts. The Warriors have lost by double digits on 11 occasions this season. This 40-point loss to the Celtics wasn't even their worst of the campaign, as the Memphis Grizzlies had beaten them by 51 on Dec. 19, 2024.
It's hard to stay positive after losses like the ones against the Celtics and the Grizzlies but the Warriors will have to, or else another blowout might be on the cards. They take on the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center next on Wednesday at 10 PM ET and it wasn't pretty when the teams last met.
The Kings had beaten the Warriors by 30 points when they faced off on Jan. 5. They also enter this contest on a high, having won nine of their last 10 games. Unless the Warriors bring their A game, things could get ugly again.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!