I did not think we would be back here doing this again so soon. The Warriors were already humiliated on their home floor by the Raptors this week, in a loss so bad that it felt season-defining, and not just for its proximity to Draymond Green cutting a hard-to-believe promo about how he considered retirement during his latest suspension. And yet here we are again, examining the Warriors after yet another disastrous home loss, the worst of the Steph Curry era, suffered at the hands of the Pelicans on ABC, in front of God and everyone.
It was a wire-to-wire ass-kicking, and the Pelicans outclassed the Warriors in every phase of the game, winning 141-105 while never ever once appearing bothered. Every Pelican looked six inches taller and twice as fast as every Warrior, and though the aging Dubs have tended to lose when faced with such a pronounced athleticism differential, this was comfortably their worst performance in a season defined by crummy performances, which explains the post-game sense of mourning.
You may wonder, Hey those are mostly Pelicans highlights, surely the Warriors made at least one cool play, right? Right. Here it is:
Klay hit the behind-the-back car lock 😂 pic.twitter.com/Grav8XiVzI
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 10, 2024
New Orleans built and maintained the lead by bombing away from distance—three guys made four triples—and after C.J. McCollum nailed his team's 11th three of the first 15 minutes to make it a 58-33 game in the second quarter, Warriors fans started booing their team for the second straight game. Neither the Warriors losing by a million points nor their inability to get normal shots in any kind of regular manner are surprising at this point in the season. Andrew Wiggins remains a husk, everyone is tiny, and the turnover problems that have, to some degree, always plagued them are completely backbreaking right now. We're almost halfway through the season, and this is who the Warriors are. Right now, that's 12th in the Western Conference, thanks to an inexplicable surge from the Jazz.
After the game, everyone was asked about the boos, and almost everyone admitted that there was not much worth cheering for and that the team's spirit had been broken. "We deserved it for sure," head coach Steve Kerr said. "I think we’re just lacking confidence right now. You just sort of get to a stage sometimes where you just kind of lose your belief. It happens. That’s what’s happened right now with our team the last few days. We’ve just lost the spirit and confidence that has to carry you against talented teams night in and night out."
Kevon Looney agreed with both contentions, while Klay Thompson split the difference ("Are we supposed to lose sleep over [the boos]?"). When Steph Curry was asked about getting booed off his home court for the second game in a row, he squirmed silently for 11 seconds before answering.
"There's nothing really to cheer about," he said. "Honestly, I'm booing myself. Booing our team in my head because of the way we're playing." That was painfully clear at the end of the third quarter. Curry has every right to be frustrated. He's been incredible this season, though through a combination of Thompson's decline, Wiggins's ultra-mega-turbo decline, injuries across the board, and Green's skills in combat, the Warriors can't win unless Curry has a great game. He'll soon turn 36, and he's burning one of the last seasons of his prime on a team whose third-leading scorer is a non-positional zoomer shooting 27 percent from three, who just called up Shams Charania to knife his head coach. The Warriors' season is dead unless they make some sort of deal.
Per Charania, the team is looking to get aggressive and make some trades, and when asked about that possibility, Curry said basically the same thing. "If things stay the same, that’s the definition of insanity, right?" he said. "Keep doing the same thing expecting a different result." Translation: Andrew Wiggins, congratulations. YOU are a San Antonio Spur.
