Warriors Defeat Sixers 119-108: The Death Lineup is Not For the Faint of Heart

The Golden State Warriors made their yearly trip to the Wells Fargo Center tonight, the one day per year your younger cousin wears their Steph Curry Dubs jersey and Under Armour sneakers and behaves like a complete bandwagon fan in the Sixers’ home.

The 76ers held Golden State to a three-point lead at 59-56 in the first half somehow despite the huge disparity in talent level between the two teams, due in part to a putrid one-for-17 shooting performance on three-pointers from the Dubs and some timely contributions from Dario Saric and Richaun Holmes. Law of averages says that a team with Steph Curry, who missed all seven of his threes, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson isn’t going to miss 15 out of 16 shots from deep in a half twice.

Regression was not kind to the Sixers in the second half, my friends. It was as angry as an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

Golden State shot as Golden State normally does in the final two quarters of play, nailing nine of their 17 shots from beyond the arc on their way to a 119-108 victory that was never as a close as that score would indicate, as the Dubs coasted without needing to ever turn the jets on the full throttle.

Get well soon, Joel Embiid.

Points of note:

• Following what may have been the best game of his career Saturday night against the Knicks in New York (28 points, 11-for-19 shooting, 10 rebounds), Jahlil Okafor had one of his worst as a pro tonight, totaling four points, three rebounds, seven turnovers and five personal fouls in just 17 minutes of play while being a -15. Ouch. It’s hard to think of a more unfavorable opponent for Okafor’s style of play than the “lightyears ahead” Warriors and their lineups of death.
• Saric’s three-point shot is maddeningly inconsistent, as he missed all six of his shots from deep. It’s reminiscent of how poorly he shot at the beginning of his professional career in Europe, but he did manage to improve in each consecutive season of play going forward. For what he lacks in skill and athleticism, he makes up with effort and smarts, as evident by his 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists tonight despite the horrific shooting performance. It won’t be this season, but hopefully the Sixers are dealing with a version of Saric who has a complete offensive arsenal when the time comes for their eventual playoff push.
• Can Covington get some All-Defensive Team love? The man deflects balls as frequently as Draymond Green kicks them. He had four steals and held Durant, Curry and Thompson in check for the first half before they snapped out of a funk for a more typical, Golden State-esque performance in the second. Curry himself finished a shocking 0-for-11 from three-point range. The Dubs very much felt Covington’s influence on that side of the court. This all just leaves me wondering what type of contract Rock will be looking at as an unrestricted free agent next summer.