What we learned as short-handed Warriors fall to Mavericks

What we learned as short-handed Warriors fall to Mavericks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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Playing without their top two players, the Warriors’ offense never found much of a rhythm and couldn’t keep their road magic going, losing to the Dallas Mavericks 109-99 on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.

Jonathan Kuminga led the Warriors with 27 points, but he also committed six turnovers. Andrew Wiggins shook off a sluggish start and scored 17 points. Trayce Jackson-Davis added 10 points and nine rebounds.

But on a night when Stephen Curry missed his third consecutive game with a right ankle injury while Draymond Green sat out with lower back soreness, the Warriors needed a whole lot more.

They just didn’t get it.

About the only thing that went right for Golden State was that Luka Dončić’s consecutive triple-doubles streak ended at six. Nevertheless, Dončić was still superb with 21 points, nine assists and three rebounds.

The Mavericks gave him plenty of support, too, something the Warriors failed to provide for Kuminga.

Before getting mopped up by the Mavs, Golden State (34-31) had been one of the NBA’s hottest team on the road with nine wins in their previous 11 games away from Chase Center.

The Warriors’ frustrations boiled over in the fourth quarter when Chris Paul was tagged with a technical foul before he turned back toward the official and mocked him by giving the signal for a technical.

It won’t get any easier for Golden State but a road win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday would get the Warriors back on track.

Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s game:

Where did the help go?The absences of Curry and Green was felt throughout the game, particularly on the offensive end where the Warriors struggled to find any sort of rhythm.

Two days after Golden State had six players score at least 13 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors were pretty much a one-man show for most of the night.

Kuminga came out very strong and had 16 points in the first half but had trouble finishing several hard drives down the lane because of the Mavs’ size and athleticism inside. Still, he topped 20 points for the seventh time in his last nine games as he’s taken his game to a much more consistent level.

The bigger issue was that the Warriors didn’t give him much help.

Paul and Klay Thompson were particularly chilly.

Thompson was off target for most of the game and had points on 3-of-13 shooting. Many of his misses coming from mid-range where he’s historically been solid. Paul, starting again in place of Curry, wasn’t much better with nine points while going 4 of 12 from the floor and finishing minus-14.

Sloppy second quarterThe game shifted into the Mavs’ favor during a miserable second quarter when the Warriors were limited to 15 points.

The problems came across the board, too.

Golden State missed 10 of its first 11 attempts in the period, shot 30.4 percent overall (7 of 23, 1 of 6 behind the arc) and committed eight turnovers that the Mavericks turned into 10 points.

That the Warriors were able to rally back and keep it close in the third quarter magnified even more the problems that they had in the second.

Filling in for DraymondGreen does so much for the Warriors that it’s nearly impossible to replace him with just one guy.

That’s why coach Steve Kerr tried a three-pronged option, starting Jackson-Davis and using Kevon Looney and Dario Saric as well.

The trio combined for 14 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Compare that to Green, who puts up 9.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.

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