"We still had some self-inflicted wounds" - Steph Curry lauds LeBron James' 56-point monster game, introspects on Golden State Warriors' own problems
Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors are feeling the pressure after stumbling to their fourth successive defeat of the season on Saturday night. The Warriors lost 116-124 to the ninth-placed team in the Western Conference, the LA Lakers, after LeBron James pounded them with a 56-point performance. James' historic night helped the Lakers overcome a 14-point deficit to hand the Dubs their third loss of their ongoing four-game road trip.
This was James' highest scoring game ever since he joined the LA Lakers in 2018 and his second 50-point game for the franchise. Steph Curry, who had one of the best seats in the house to watch James, was totally complimentary about the 19-year veteran's scintillating game. Curry, however, also offered a stoic assessment of his own team's fortunes in the post-game media interaction. Curry said:
“Obviously, Bron played amazing. Hit some tough shots. Got to acknowledge that for sure but we still had some self-inflicted wounds.”
The "self-inflicted wounds" that Curry possibly refers to is that the Warriors gave up a double-digit lead to lose the game to the Lakers. They could manage only 22 points in the final quarter even as their opponents scored 35 points in the final 12-minute period to win the game.
"We just didn't make winning plays throughout the game," says Steph Curry as Golden State Warriors lose four straight games for the first time this season
The Warriors' latest defeat to the LA Lakers means that they have lost four straight games for the first time in their 2021-22 campaign. Steph Curry, who finished with 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting, believes that the reason the team lost was because they didn't make "winning plays". The 33-year-old superstar said:
“We just didn’t make winning plays throughout the whole game.”
The biggest problem for the Warriors, however, has been their defense. They gave up a combined 67 points to the Lakers in quarters one and four. Additionally, they could not limit their oppponets to under 25 points in any of the other two 12-minute periods.
With Draymond Green recovering from injury, the Warriors' defense has regressed considerably. Since February 1 of this year, the Dubs rank among the bottom-10 teams in the league as far as defensive rating is concerned. Perhaps that is why Steph Curry told the media in his post-game media interaction:
“Right now, if the playoffs started tomorrow, we’d be in some trouble.”