Dennis Schröder made his debut for the Golden State Warriors. However, there was nothing to celebrate. The Warriors suffered a painful 93:144 defeat at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Schröder started for the Warriors alongside Stephen Curry and immediately made his first mid-range shot, but after that, not much happened. In just under 22 minutes, the Braunschweig native recorded five points (2/12 FG), five assists and four turnovers and went down with the team.
Coach Steve Kerr took his starters off the court as early as midway through the third period, by which time the Grizzlies were already leading 96:50. Stephen Curry did not score a single field goal in 24 minutes, something that had never happened before in the guard’s illustrious career when he played at least ten minutes. His plus-minus rating of -41 was even “outdone” by Draymond Green (-42). Such a weak value in just 19 minutes has never been seen in NBA history.
Grizzlies set franchise record
The Grizzlies, who cemented second place in the Western Conference, led 37:15 after the first quarter. Later, it was up to 57 points, only three times have the Warriors lost higher in their franchise history than on this evening. Memphis also made 27 threes (out of 48 attempts), which set a new franchise record. All 13 players who came off the bench scored at least two points, and six scored in double figures.
Superstar Ja Morant managed just nine points, while the top scorers were Santi Aldama (21, 14 rebounds) and Jake LaRavia (19), who both came off the bench. For the Warriors, backup guard Brandin Podziemski (21, 9/13) scored the most points, while Andrew Wiggins (19) was the only starter to score in double figures.
It was the Warriors’ third straight loss, and they have now lost eight of the past 10 games. The latest setback drops the Warriors to 14-12 on the road in the West. On Saturday night, they will be guests of the Minnesota Timberwolves (14-12).
The Wolves also lost to the Knicks by a wide margin, while Tristan da Silva and Moritz Wagner also lost with the Orlando Magic and Maxi Kleber with Dallas. You can find out everything else that happened during the night here.
