Golden State Warrior guard Stephen Curry (30) can’t look as the Charlotte Hornets Theo Maledon (9) does his own splash hit with a three pointer at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Sat Oct 29, 2022 (AP News photo)

Warriors Fall to the Hornets In Overtime 120-113

By Barbara Mason

Saturday evening the Golden State Warriors (3-3) took on the Charlotte Hornets (3-3) and took their third loss 120-113. Friday night the Hornets were soundly beaten by the Orlando Magic 113-93. Golden State was last on the court Thursday against the Magic winning that contest 123-110.

At the end of the first quarter the Warriors were overwhelmed trailing 34-23. After the loss yesterday, the Hornets were an angry bunch and they took it out on the Warriors. After the second quarter, the Hornets took a 62-50 lead into the locker room.

Warrior guard Stephen Curry had 12 points as did Jordan Poole off the bench. Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington and Kelly Oubre Jr. all had double digits for Charlotte. Golden State had their work cut out for them going into the second half.

Nearly four minutes into the third quarter, the Warriors had not found the basket trailing 67-52. They were shooting around 35% and the Hornets were dominating Golden State offensively and defensively.

The Warriors had no rhythm so far in this game. With 6:53 left in the third the Warriors made their first shot of the quarter. Klay Thompson and Curry hit back to back three’s cutting a fifteen point deficit to seven. The Warriors had trimmed the Hornet lead to five with four minutes left in the quarter.

Every time the Warriors got to within five points, the Hornets responded. The two teams began to trade baskets in a high octane third quarter. With 2:06 left, the Warriors took the lead 80-78. The Warriors dominated in final minutes of the third winning it 33-18. Charlotte took an 85-83 lead into the final quarter.

With 3:15 left in the game the Warriors continued to trail 101-98. Golden State desperately needed to string some shots together if a win was in their future. With 2:44 remaining the score was tied at 101. With 1:02 left on the clock the Hornets called a time-out now trailing 107-103. Charlotte cut the Warrior lead to 107-105 and Warrior head coach Steve Kerr called a time-out in response. The Hornets tied up the game at 107 and this game went into overtime.

This was the first overtime for the Warriors this season. Both Curry and Draymond Green were operating with five fouls. With 2:01 left in the overtime, the Hornets took a 114-111 lead and the Warriors were climbing uphill yet again. With 1:02 on the clock it was a one score game 116-113 in favor of the Hornets.

One of the culprits in this game was the 31 Warrior fouls to Charlottes 14. You have to give a lot of credit to the Charlotte Hornets who fought hard in the absence of LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier.

All five starters for Golden State had double digits but it just wasn’t enough.Curry had the high score for Golden State with 31 points. Off the bench Poole kept the Warriors in this game with 24 points. The Warriors had some great opportunities in the final minutes of the fourth quarter but did not take advantage of them.

There will be no rest for the Warriors as they travel to Detroit to take on the Pistons Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 PM.