Golden State's record 24-game winning
streak to start the NBA season came to an end with a 108-95 loss to the Bucks
in Milwaukee on Saturday.
The stunning defeat came at the conclusion
of a gruelling seven-game road trip for the weary Warriors, who needed a double
overtime marathon to beat the Boston Celtics on Friday and extend the streak to
28 straight regular season wins dating back to last season.
"The losses are going to come. We
didn't have it tonight," said Warriors coach Luke Walton.
"We turned the ball over too many
times tonight.
"Losing sucks even if you are
24-1."
The Warriors fell just five wins shy of
equalling the NBA all-time record of 33 straight victories set by the Los
Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season.
The Bucks also stopped the Lakers' winning
steak in 1972.
Golden States' streak stands as the second
longest in league history and the longest to start a season.
It has been just over two weeks since they
set the record for the best start in history at 16-0.
Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry paced the
Warriors' attack with a team high 28 points in front of a crowd of 18,700 at
the Bradley Center.
Australia's Andrew Bogut bagged just two
points for the Warriors to go with six rebounds and four blocks.
Both clubs were playing the back end of
consecutive Friday-Saturday contests.
But the Bucks were able to battle through
the fatigue better than Golden State, who were hoping to become the first NBA
team to sweep a seven-game road trip.
Golden State knew it wouldn't be easy as
they were coming off their most trying contest of the season, a hard-fought
124-119 win over the Celtics in Boston.
Centre Greg Monroe tallied 28 points and 11
rebounds for the Bucks, who looked surprisingly fresh after losing 90-83 in
Toronto on Friday.
"We wanted to come out with a lot of
effort and energy," said Monroe.
"We were at home, a packed house. It
was a great opportunity for us."
Milwaukee will have Sunday and Monday off
before beginning a four-games-in-six-days trip that includes a visit to Golden
State next Friday.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs' winning
streak against the Atlanta Hawks stretched to 11 games and Mike Budenholzer is
0-6 against coaching mentor Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs - the NBA's top defensive team at
88.2 points per game - held Atlanta to 25 points in the first half and romped
to a 103-78 victory over the Hawks.
Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points to lead San
Antonio in scoring for the 15th time. Manu Ginobili added 17 off the bench as
the Spurs led by as many as 28 in the third quarter.
Australia's Patty Mills had seven points
and five assists for the Spurs.
0 comments:
Post a Comment