The Golden State Warriors absorbed their worst beating of the young season on Friday night in San Antonio, losing 123-85 to the Spurs in NBA Cup play after falling behind 18-0, the team reported in its official recap from Frost Bank Center.
The Warriors called it their worst start in the Steve Kerr era. They went scoreless for the first six minutes and missed their first 11 shots before Gui Santos ended the drought with a layup through contact. San Antonio started 8-for-10 from the field and led by as many as 30 at the half and 43 overall. The Spurs shot 50% to Golden State's 25%. No Warriors starter made more than one field goal in the first half, and Stephon Castle's 18 first-half points outscored Golden State's starting five, the recap said.
Castle finished with 32 points, six assists and five rebounds to lead a Spurs team that stretched the league's longest active winning streak to 11 games, tied the Los Angeles Lakers for the Western Conference's best record, and moved atop West Group C. The Warriors dropped to 1-1 in group play and have lost consecutive games for the first time since an 0-3 start to the season, the team said. They had entered the night in first place in the group on a point-differential tiebreaker; the head-to-head loss dropped them behind San Antonio with two group games left, at home against Sacramento on Nov. 25 and at Portland on Nov. 27.
LJ Cryer led the Warriors with a career-high 20 points and six 3-pointers, all off the bench. He had scored 13 at Houston on Wednesday and 10 against New Orleans on Monday, the recap said. The night was much harsher on rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who had said at the morning shootaround that he needed to be "a lot more aggressive" with Stephen Curry out of the lineup. Lendeborg went 1-for-13 and finished with three points in 23 minutes.
The Mercury News later quoted Lendeborg as saying, "I'm cooked right now," and reported that he vowed not to forget the Spurs disaster after what the paper called the worst rout of his basketball life.
Golden State continues its road trip Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center at 5 p.m. PT, on NBC Sports Bay Area, the team said. After an 18-0 hole and a 38-point defeat, the assignment is less about the NBA Cup standings than about stopping the slide before it becomes a third loss in a row.