Warriors' Stephen Curry on loss to Spurs: 'There is no panic at all'
Golden State guard Stephen Curry did not seem particularly worried on Saturday.
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The San Antonio Spurs gave the Golden State Warriors their seventh loss of the season on Saturday, holding MVP Stephen Curry to 14 points on 4-for-18 shooting, including 1 for 12 from behind the 3-point line. Afterward, Curry told reporters that he didn't play smart enough, but he didn't sound too worried about the result, either.
"There is no panic at all," Curry said, via Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News. "We'll be fine. It's a good learning experience."
It's easy to overreact to one high-profile game, especially one in which the defending champs seemed so discombobulated offensively, so let's remember a few things:
1) Golden State was on the second night of a back-to-back, and San Antonio was not.
2) The Warriors were missing three key parts of their rotation: starting center Andrew Bogut, his backup Festus Ezeli and Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.
3) Unlike the last meeting between these two teams, it was not a blowout, In fact, it was a one-point game just before Danny Green's layup with 3:36 remaining, the one that caused Golden State coach Steve Kerr to lose his mind because traveling wasn't called.
The Spurs deserve all the credit in the world for how they executed their defensive game plan. The Warriors had difficulty pushing the pace and finding their rhythm. Curry was clearly never comfortable. San Antonio's LaMarcus Aldridge, Boris Diaw and Kawhi Leonard all had several moments of brilliance offensively, too. It was extremely clear that these are the two best teams in the league. Curry was right, however, to keep his head held high. Golden State did not play anything close to its best basketball, and it still had a chance.
"I couldn't be prouder of our guys," Kerr said, via CSN Bay Area. "What an effort. Incredible. All the odds were stacked against us. Ninth game in 14 days. Back-to-back, obviously. Tough game last night. Down three guys, three important rotation guys, and we hung in there right till the end. So it wasn't our night. The Spurs played great, they deserved to win. But I'm really, really proud of the way we fought tonight. It was awesome."
When the Warriors demolished San Antonio in January, Manu Ginobili told reporters he wasn't embarrassed to say the champs were the better team. The Spurs have improved since then, though, and this game should help their confidence. Judging by the comments coming out of the visiting locker room, it did not have any effect on Golden State's.
