San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl (25) and guard Lonnie Walker IV have plenty to be happy about after handing the Golden State Warriors their fourth loss of the season at the conclusion of the game Sat Dec 4, 2021 (AP News photo)

Warriors Upset By San Antonio 112-107

By Barbara Mason

A slow start for Golden State coupled with poor shooting spelled disaster for the Warriors. Lack of energy was not surprising after last night’s game. San Antonio came in with upset on their mind and their first half shooting 55 % was a huge factor in their 112-107 win.

Last night the Golden State Warriors dug deep to hand the Phoenix Suns their first loss in a very long time. That win by the Warriors took unbelievable energy. Tonight Golden State (19-4) was back on court taking on the San Antonio Spurs (8-13).

After last night’s game how would we see the Warriors handle San Antonio? Would they come out flat or would they take apart the Spurs?

In the first half we saw the later, a very flat Golden State. To make things even worse for the Warriors, the Spurs came out with a perfectly executed game plan and actually led by as much as 22 points in the first half. Stephen Curry couldn’t get anything going being completely covered by San Antonio, so any open looks were not coming Curry’s way. At the half the Warriors had made up a lot of ground trailing 67-58.

San Antonio continued to grind in the third quarter and extended their lead back into the double digits. With under five minutes left in the quarter the Warriors needed to make a move or suffer their fourth loss of the season.

Curry was 1 of 15 and watching this team tonight we all wondered where the team we saw last night had gone. The Warriors turnovers were starting to mount up and really killed any momentum that Golden State was able to create.

In the first three quarters the San Antonio Spurs were the better team in this game. They were better offensively and defensively. As the third quarter came to an end the Warriors began to heat up and Curry began to get loose and hit those three’s. They trailed by the score of 99-88 but a momentum shift in this game favored the Warriors.

The momentum that had favored the Warriors in the third quarter followed them into the fourth quarter. The 22 points that the Spurs had once enjoyed in this game had been cut to seven points. Golden State began forcing turnovers and cutting the Spurs lead. The energy that San Antonio had started the first three quarters with had fizzled but the Warriors were not taking full advantage.

The final four minutes of this game was a wild affair. The Spurs shooting had gone cold and the Warriors were hitting, taking their first lead of the game 106-103 with two minutes left in the game. With 1:05 left in the game the Warriors trailed by a single point. San Antonio extended their lead to 110-106 with 33.6 seconds left in the game eventually winning 112-107.

It was a sluggish start for the Warriors in the first half and dominant play for Golden State in the second half. It was just too little too late. They had fallen behind by such a huge margin in this game and just plain ran out of clock. The Spurs really capitalized on the Warriors mistakes and hit shots at the very end that were crucial.

A lot of credit has to go to the San Antonio Spurs who had five players in double digits and played three quarters of brilliant basketball. That was all it took for the Spurs.

The positives in this game for Golden State was the competitive play in the second half. They really gave themselves a chance to win. Curry finished with 25 points and Jordan Poole had 15 points. Head Coach Steve Kerr felt that the team was a step slow in this game and really drained.

Monday night the Warriors will be playing the Orlando Magic at Chase Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.