KD hits the three to give Dubs first lead in the game #DubNation pic.twitter.com/AfOfr7Hixa
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 3, 2017
Kevin Durant looked awful. So did the Warriors.
Midway through the first quarter of Thursday evening’s contest in San Antonio, Golden State trailed 31-12 and one of its best players was a mess on both sides of the floor.
But if there’s one similarity between Durant’s slumps and his team’s struggles, they don’t last for long. By the middle of the third quarter, it was Durant’s three-pointer that gave the Warriors a 60-57 lead, their first of the night, en route to a 112-92 victory.
After an 0-for-8 start to the night from the floor, Durant connected on his next six shots which helped the Warriors overcome that early 19-point deficit to help Steve Kerr edge one of his mentors, San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich. While Durant’s success certainly helped engineer Golden State’s comeback on Thursday night, an energetic and efficient Draymond Green frustrated the Spurs’ post players and helped the Warriors space the floor with seven assists.
In the midst of the Warriors’ charge on Thursday, Green went coast to coast with a dunk after a defensive rebound and threw down another slam after navigating through traffic to give Golden State’s offense an extra lift against a Spurs team that was active around the three-point line.
Aside from dealing with poor play early on, Golden State also had a temporary scare when star Steph Curry left the game with a left knee tweak during the first half. But after getting taped up, Curry returned to the floor and helped set the tone with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
After blowing out the Clippers on Monday night in the first game of a three-game road trip, the Warriors found themselves matched up with a Spurs squad that has also struggled through an uncharacteristically slow start to the season. Each team entered the month of November with three losses on their ledger, but the Spurs’ struggles are much more explainable given the absence of star forward Kawhi Leondard. The Warriors, according to Kerr, have been challenged by focus and intensity issues, perhaps the result of a championship hangover given the team captured its second title in three seasons this summer.
Those issues were poised to bury the Warriors early on Thursday night, but after falling behind by 19 points, Golden State closed the first quarter trailing by just nine points thanks to eight late first quarter points by Curry. The Warriors then edged the Spurs by four points in the second quarter to close within five at halftime, and were again buoyed by a late three-pointer as Klay Thompson hit a shot with 28 seconds left in the quarter to close the gap.
In the third quarter, it was Durant who stole the show, scoring 15 points including the go-ahead three-pointer less than two minutes out of the break to give Golden State a lead it would never look back from.
Golden State will return to action on Saturday evening in Denver against a Nuggets team that’s off to a 4-4 start to the season.