Big third quarter leads to much needed win in Chicago
CHICAGO — After a week of doubt and semipanic, punctuated by listless wire-to-wire losses to Toronto and New Orleans, the Golden State Warriors fell behind by 13 points at halftime Friday night. Once again, they looked meek on defense.
Then, suddenly, they hopped to life and raced to a much-needed 140-131 victory over the Chicago Bulls at United Center.
It required no sixth sense to connect this win to those lopsided defeats back home in San Francisco. The Warriors blew an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead Jan. 4 against Denver, barely slipped past the NBA’s worst team (Detroit) and then got smacked by the Raptors and Pelicans.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson called the losses “embarrassing” and “humbling” — and those emotions fueled Friday night’s spirited response in the opening game of Golden State’s four-game road trip.
“It’s one thing to lose and another thing to get embarrassed,” center Kevon Looney said. “The last two games, we felt like we got embarrassed. We weren’t playing hard always and we weren’t playing to our standard.
“When you get embarrassed like that, you have to respond and we did tonight. … We needed that for our team, for our spirit, for our morale.”
Head coach Steve Kerr acknowledged the previous three games, including the win over the Pistons, counted as his team’s worst stretch of the season. The Warriors seemed almost overwhelmed, their confidence shaken as opponents glided to the rim and buried wide-open, 3-point shots.
The Warriors gave up 133 points to Toronto and 141 to New Orleans, then 75 more in the first half to the Bulls. But they didn’t allow an encore, buckling down in the third quarter.
“I think we got off track emotionally and spiritually the last couple of games,” Kerr said. “Our fans could feel it. We got booed for the first time since I’ve been here, in 10 years, and both nights we deserved it because our energy and competitive spirit was not there. And we found that again tonight.”
Stephen Curry and Thompson led the way. They combined to make just 4 of 17 shots from the field in the first half — and 13 of 26 in the second half. Thompson led the Warriors with 30 points and Curry finished with 27 points and nine assists. Jonathan Kuminga contributed 24 points off the bench. The Warriors had 39 assists and matched their franchise record by committing just five turnovers.
The game turned in the third quarter, when the Warriors outscored the Bulls 48-20. That was Golden State’s highestscoring quarter of the season, sparked in part by (finally) getting some stops on defense and dashing the other way in transition.
Thompson made all five of his 3-point attempts in the quarter. The bench — led by Kuminga and rookies Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski — also made an impact, as it often has this season.
Most significant, the Warriors cranked up their defense in the third quarter. Andrew Wiggins shadowed Bulls guard Coby White, who had scored 21 points in the first half (he had only four thereafter). The Warriors mixed in some box-and-one and 3-2 zone defense, to disrupt Chicago’s rhythm.
Consider this telling third-quarter stat: The Warriors had 14 assists and the Bulls had one.
Golden State (18-20) weathered some shaky fourth-quarter moments to seal the win, after dropping six of its previous eight games. Warriors players very much heard the doomsday chatter.
“It starts with how we feel in the locker room, and how disappointed we are in our performance,” Curry said. “The disappointment is you know we can play better. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win every game, but you just want to play better and I think we did that tonight. Now we have to do it again.”
Friday night’s performance was far from perfect. The Bulls busted loose for 45 points in the second quarter to take a 7562 lead at halftime. That extended a run of porous Warriors defense in recent games.
More specifically, Golden State has relinquished 70 or more points in the first half four times in the past five games. Denver (70), Toronto (76), New Orleans (73) and now Chicago (75) feasted on the Warriors.
The issues were familiar: The Bulls fearlessly drove to the basket — especially when Jackson-Davis wasn’t in the game — and whipped the ball around the perimeter. They went 13-for-21 from long range in the first half, mostly on wide-open shots.
But they cooled off in the second half, partly because of Wiggins’ work on White. The Bulls went 0for-9 beyond the arc in the third quarter.
Wiggins has struggled so mightily this season, but played well Friday night. He finished with 17 points and eight assists, in addition to playing strong defense.