Two Down, Only 12 More National TV Warriors Games To Go

For the second time in as many games, one of the league’s best teams ran the poor Golden State Warriors off of the floor on national television, as the Milwaukee Bucks took a little while to get going but eventually steamrolled the Warriors on Christmas in a 138-99 win, bouncing back from a tough loss in Boston on Tuesday.

Khris Middleton dominated the game throughout, finishing with 31 points, five assists, and four rebounds in just 26 minutes, as he lit up Golden State’s wings from all three levels of the floor.

Giannis Antetokounmpo struggled with efficiency, both from the floor and from the foul line, but still managed a 15-point, 13-rebound outing. Really, though, the story was on the other side of the floor where the Warriors simply look like a team that is wildly overmatched when facing some of the league’s best teams thus far.

Part of that should’ve been expected. When the schedule makers got together to figure out the first half of this season’s schedule, they were banking on the Warriors returning to their ways of old after a reset year with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both injured in 2019-20. However, when Thompson suffered a torn Achilles this offseason, the margin for error in Golden State once again shrunk to effectively nil, and through two games their hopeful wing fill-ins for Thompson simply haven’t sufficed.

Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. have really struggled to make any kind of positive impact in their first two games, as Oubre has yet to hit a three-point shot and Wiggins shooting woes have become a running joke on NBA Twitter. Neither of those players are as bad as they’ve looked through two games (a ghastly 8-for-39 from the field combined), but also, they aren’t the hyper efficient shooters Curry is accustomed to being surrounded with even when at their best. Add in Draymond Green’s continued absence forcing Marquese Chriss into a significant frontcourt rotation role, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The Warriors probably aren’t actually this bad in the long run. They’ve drawn a miserable opening slate to the season and have looked about as bad as possible — with the exception of some genuine positive play from rookie James Wiseman that has to be what Warriors fans are clinging to at the moment.

Still, they’re going to be on national TV 12 more times in the next 35 games of the season, and things are truly dire at the moment. Hopefully Green will return soon and can help shore up a defense that’s been run ragged early, and playing teams other than the Nets and Bucks will certainly help. However, things are extremely ugly at the moment for the Warriors and unfortunately for them (and the TV networks) they won’t be able to hide anywhere from the national spotlight as they try to work through it.