Before the postseason opens, the Golden State Warriors still needed to handle business for the final three games of the regular season, starting with the San Antonion Spurs on Wednesday night. With the race for playoff seeding tightening, the Warriors couldn’t afford a slip-up down the stretch. However, the Warriors couldn’t do what it takes to put away the Spurs at Chase Center.
Despite the Spurs losing eight of their last nine games, including a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, San Antonio wouldn’t go away on Wednesday night. Although the Warriors opened with an early lead in the first quarter, the Spurs battled back to take a lead heading into halftime as Golden State’s shooting went cold.
In the third quarter, the Warriors got rolling, outscoring the Spurs 37-21. Despite going into the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, the Warriors went quiet again.
The Spurs landed multiple late haymakers, including a stunning game-winning 3-pointer from Harrison Barnes at the buzzer to deal the Warriors a shocking defeat, 114-111. The Spurs outscored the Warriors 38-23 in the fourth quarter. The Spurs drilled seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, while the Warriors shot 1-of-10 from beyond the arc in the final frame.
Steph Curry scored a game-high 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field with five made 3-pointers. Jimmy Butler added 28 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Butler got to the line successfully throughout the night, hitting 16-of-17 attempts from the free-throw line.
The Warriors struggled when Curry went to the bench on Wednesday. Golden State’s supporting cast went cold against the Spurs. Outside of Curry and Butler, no other player in the rotation scored over 13 points.
Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Buddy Hield combined for 26 points on 10-of-35 shooting from the field and 6-of-22 from beyond the arc against the Spurs.
With their loss on Tuesday, the Warriors will now need to win their final two games of the regular season against the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers to potentially avoid the play-in tournament in the West. The Warriors will need the Grizzlies to lose one of their final three games to create a tiebreaker situation to bump back into the No. 6 seed.
The Warriors currently hold the No. 7 seed in the West with only a few days remaining in the regular season. The Warriors will get Thursday off before traveling to Portland for their final road game of the regular season on Friday.
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