SACRAMENTO – The maladies of the NBA regular season, particularly on the road, are following the Warriors into the playoffs.
And now they’re two losses away from the offseason.
Golden State never quite recovered from a disastrous second quarter and took a 114-106 loss to the Kings on Monday night at Golden 1 Center in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
The Warriors boarded buses back to Chase Center trailing two-games-to-none in the best-of-seven series.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 28 points, Andrew Wiggins totaled 22 and Klay Thompson added 21.
The Warriors, once again, were unable to cope with Sacramento’s scrap and speed.
Golden State Warriors
Here are three observations from the Game 2 loss:
Draymond loses composure
Draymond Green has built a tremendous career playing with his emotions at or near maximum. He went beyond max in the fourth quarter.
Tangled in the paint with Kings center Domantas Sabonis, with both landing on the floor, Draymond finally untangled and got to his feet but, in the process, stepped directly on the torso of the prone Sabonis.
With Draymond walking away and Sabonis writhing in pain, lead official Zach Zarba immediately whistled a foul on Green. After the officiating crew huddled to review video, a ruling was announced.
Sabonis received a technical foul, presumably for grabbing Draymond to initiate the tie-up. Green, however, was issued a Flagrant 2 foul, resulting in automatic ejection, with 7:03 remaining.
The Warriors were trailing by four at the time lost by eight.
Draymond, already frustrated with an earlier call, went too far this time. Given the stakes, he has to maintain a grip.
Death by old habits
The Warriors of recent vintage made a habit of nullifying their worst traits with tight defense and splendid shooting. They’re finding it harder to thrive amid the slop.
In taking a 23-17 lead in the first quarter, the Warriors survived giving the Kings 10 points off nine turnovers in the first quarter. Two minutes into the second quarter, though, they were trailing by three. With 6:44 left in the half, they were down nine.
That’s because Golden State, rather than pull together, committed three more turnovers and was unable to offset it with defense or shooting.
While the Warriors managed 29 points on 47.4 percent shooting in the second quarter, the Kings were piling up 41 points and blazing away at 54.2 percent.
So desperate was coach Steve Kerr to stop the second-quarter avalanche that he played 10 different players. Nothing worked.
No longer can the Warriors dance with danger and escape unscathed. The first two games of this series indicate times are changing.
L on the bench
Placing their trust in four players – Jordan Poole, Gary Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga and Donte DiVincenzo (after starting Game 1) – the Warriors entered the series believing they had an edge in bench proficiency.
After losing the battle in Game 1, thanks to Malik Monk scoring 32 points in 29 minutes and co-owning the fourth quarter with De’Aaron Fox, Golden State’s bench was demolished in Game 2.
Sacramento got 36 points from its reserves, who shot 13 of 29, while the Warriors got 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
Poole (four points on 1-of-7 shooting) again lost the Sixth Man battle to Monk, who rang up 18 points.
DiVincenzo had one of his worst games, never taking a shot and finishing minus-13 over 13 minutes. Kuminga was no better than his forgettable Game 1, also failing to take a shot and finishing minus-10 over a scant four minutes.
Only GP2 and Moses Moody, in a desperation appearance, managed to acquit themselves nicely.