The Golden State Warriors were handed their first loss of the 2016 postseason on Thursday night when the Houston Rockets knocked them off by a single point. The Warriors were playing without Stephen Curry, but it went far beyond that. They got awful performances from several players, but one especially took blame for it.
From Monte Poole, columnist for CSN Bay Area dot com:
“I was awful, the whole game,” [Draymond] Green said. “I care about the (late) turnover, but I don’t care to the point where I feel that turnover cost us. I cost us the game throughout the game.”
Green finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, but he was only 3-for-9 from the field, didn’t make a three, and had seven turnovers. It was close but not enough. On the final possession of the game for Golden State, Green caught the ball and had it dribble off of his own foot out of bounds.
The Warriors will have to regroup and get ready for a Sunday afternoon meeting with the Rockets in Game 4. If Houston wins, the series is tied at two wins apiece heading back to Oracle Arena for Game 5. The hope is that Curry will be able to play and the Warriors could get back on track.
Awfully big of Draymond to take the blame for this one, but more than most teams, this bunch wins and loses as a team, and game 3 was no exception. In addition to Green, Thompson didn’t shoot it well, and Barnes has been missing since… at least since the playoffs began. Wasted an excellent performance by subs Clark, Iguodala, Speights, and Livingston.