Well, the Golden State Warriors did it. They lost again, this time falling 119-116 to the Phoenix Suns.
In a vacuum, losing a single-possession game to a very good Suns team on the road ain’t that bad, even when you account for Kevin Durant being sidelined.
But this game, in addition to giving us excitement, drama, and hope, gave us a whole lot of frustration, sadness, bewilderment, and exasperation.
Hey, that was quick and easy! Have a good night, everyone!
OK fine, we’ll grade the individual players, too.
As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that player.
Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Tuesday’s games, league-average TS was 57.7%.
17 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 33.3% TS, -15
Early in the third quarter, Green got ejected.
It was the third time that he’s been ejected this season, despite playing in only 15 games.
All three ejections have come in a close game with tons of time remaining.
On the one hand, I do actually agree with Green that he did not try to hit Jusuf Nurkić, though the quote about it is downright hilariously eye-rolling.
If Green had been playing well at the time of his ejection, I would maybe consider giving him a salvageable grade. But he was playing poorly. Very poorly.
And then he took himself out of the game. Again.
11 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, -13
Looney has not been playing well lately. And he didn’t play well against Nurkić the first two times these teams played.
You could kind of see this coming. He was a menace on the glass in the first quarter, which was awesome. But he was removed from the starting lineup to start the second half, and played just three minutes in the half. And for good reason.
15 minutes, 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 1-for-7 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 21.4% TS, -19
Wiggins was also removed from the starting lineup to start the third quarter, and played sparingly in the second half.
He was bad. He looked disinterested on both sides of the court. He looked like he did not want to show off any athleticism or aggression.
He played like he wanted the game to end, and looked disengaged on the bench.
He now has 42 turnovers to 24 assists. I’ve never seen anything like that from a wing.
And Podziemski’s combination of composure, creativity, and courageousness was on full display once again on Wednesday.
As was his outstanding rebounding, and shocking ability to get to the rim with seeming ease. It almost led to a sensational comeback.
