Despite possessing multiple double-digit leads in the second half, the Warriors found themselves in a familiar spot: stuck in a close game, with turnovers to blame in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
Immanuel Quickley’s 3-pointer for Toronto with under a minute tied the game at 120. Brandin Podziemski gave the Warriors another lead by grabbing an offensive rebound off a rare Curry miss and put it in with 32.8 remaining. Scottie Barnes answered by putting back a Brandon Ingram miss to tie it at 122. Overtime ensued after Curry turned the ball over and the Raptors missed a buzzer beater.
The Raptors scored the first 10 points over overtime to doom Golden State to an 141-127 loss, snapping the Warriors’ three-game winning streak.
Steph Curry led the team with 39 points and making 13 of 30 shots, making the Raptors pay for top-locking him on defense and allowing Curry to cut to the basket for layups and foul shots until late, when he went cold. The Warriors fell to 2-6 when Curry scores at least 35.
Meanwhile Jimmy Butler scored 19 and Draymond Green put in 21 while making a season-high four 3-pointers. Quickley led the Raptors with 27 points and Brandon Ingram put in 26 as seven different Raptors scored in double-figures. Scottie Barnes scored 23, grabbed 25 rebounds and had 10 assists.
After mixing and matching and shuffling for the first two-and-a-half months of the season, Kerr settled upon a first five of Curry, Moses Moody, Butler, Green and Quinten Post for the fifth consecutive game, and that continuity paid off early.
The Warriors embarked on an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 54-50 lead midway through the period. The Raptors, led by Brandon Ingram, fought back to lead 65-64 at halftime. The Warriors led by as many as 13 in the third thanks to oddly enough, a flurry of 3-pointers by Green and strong inside work by Curry.
But the Raptors forced four consecutive turnovers to cut the deficit to just 100-96 going into the fourth quarter. The Warriors bounced back to start the fourth, being aided by Buddy Hield and Moody’s 3-pointers that helped push the lead back to a dozen before a flurry of turnovers assisted the Raptors in sticking around.
From there, the Warriors’ felt the impact of 21 turnovers — 15 in the second half and overtime while they had trouble with the Raptors’ hard doubles all game — and an additional three Raptors offensive rebounds in the first two minutes of overtime to send the Warriors (16-16) back to .500.
Golden State will play in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Defensive effort for naught
Payton II cannot soar with the same abandon he once did, but the 32-year-old still has some life in his legs when playing limited minutes. Now strictly relegated to being an energetic defensive specialist, Payton made the most of his spot minutes.
He blocked two different Raptor dunks in the first half, those plays coming on the heels of a spectacular two-handed smother of Cooper Flagg on Christmas. With De’Anthony Melton out of the lineup, his activity against an athletic Toronto squad was much-needed.
The Raptors, in a similar fashion to the super-sized Blazers, were replete with rangy 6-6 and above wings who loved to attack the paint. RJ Barrett returned to action after missing a month with a knee injury. They scored 70 points in the paint.
In the third quarter, the Warriors broke out a 2-3 zone, clogging the paint and attempting to close off driving lanes. The Warriors entered the game ranked third in defensive rating (112.2), and they were bolstered by Al Horford’s presence. For the second consecutive game, the center played well. He scored seven and grabbed seven rebounds while playing active defense in 17 minutes.
But because of an avalanche of turnovers, the Raptors were able to score 35 off those plays, nullifying any halfcourt effort the Warriors showed.
Melton out, Hield in … sort of
Though De’Anthony Melton is beginning to ramp up his minutes – he was coming off a season-high 24 minutes against Dallas – the team is still being cautious with a player who is returning from a torn ACL.
With the game against Brooklyn scheduled for the next day, Kerr sat Melton and inserted Buddy Hield back into the lineup. Hield saw his 198 consecutive games played streak snapped last week, and had played only three minutes in the past two games combined.
Though Hield played 13 minutes and scored three, it was actually Will Richard who absorbed most of Melton’s playing time. While playing high-level defense (five steals), the second round pick put in 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds while playing with the stars late in the fourth and overtime.
