San Francisco — —The Philadelphia 76ers (10-9) lost to the Golden State Warriors (16-2), 116-96, on the road on Wednesday night.
Philly were without its two key players in Joel Embiid, in COVID-19 protocols, and Ben Simmons has been out all season for non-injury related reasons. But the brotherly matchup with Steph Curry squaring off against Seth Curry gave the crowd their money worth.
The Warriors play the worst half of basketball this young season, but regained their composure, they turn a 19-point first-half deficit into a 20-point victory, their ninth-straight double-digit victory at Chase Center.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr Warriors have the luxury of having a deep bench to find the right mix. He has experimented with a 10-man rotation to find the right chemistry on the court. One of his experiments that have worked well is Juan Toscano-Anderson who stepped up big, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, and six assists in 20 minutes of play.
“It’s great as a coach to know you can always count on a player like Juan,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “Who can start, he can be your eighth man. He can be your 12th man. But you always know what you’re getting.”
Philly led by 19 points in the first half and 61-52 at the break, the Warriors used a 34-23 third quarter to help fuel their comeback effort. Golden State tighten up on defense and held the Sixers to 12 points in a 30-12 fourth period.
Both squads attempted 80 field goals in the contest, with Golden State making 42 to the Sixers’ 34. From downtown, Phily was 8-for-28 (.286) and the Warriors was 15-for-38 (.395). The Sixers shot 20-for-22 (.909) from the foul line, while Golden State converted 17 of their 24 (.708) free throws.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 25 points (9-16 fg, 6-11 3fg, 1-2 ft) and posted 10 of the Warriors’ 32 assists.
After an early back and forth between Steph and Seth Curry, the Sixers went on a 20-4 spurt to take control of the game. The Sixers, plain and simple just wore down in the second half.
Thirty-eight of Golden State’s points were the result of 21 76ers turnovers.
Steph shot 9 for 16 with six 3-pointers and dished out 10 assists for the Warriors. Steph and his brother-in-law Damion Lee hit consecutive 3-pointers over the final 39.4 seconds of the third to put their team ahead 86-84 going into the final 12 minutes of the game.
“We were on our heels most of the entire first 18 minutes. Our identity is our defense. We can score with the best of them but we flipped the switch and got stops and made them take tough shots, especially in the second half and turned that into offense,” Curry said. “It was pretty impressive just the energy flip that happened after that first quarter.”
Toscano-Anderson — a week ago was out of the rotation — made a go-ahead three-point play with 9:32 remaining and Golden State immediately forced a turnover before Otto Porter Jr’s trey moments later.
“We were locked in,” Wiggins said. “We dug ourselves a little hole. We knew to get out of it we were going to have to play harder.”
Porter finished with four 3s and 12 points.
“The fourth was just a phenomenal defensive effort, 30-12,” Kerr said.
Seth Curry, who had been questionable with back issues, started 4 of 6 and outscored big brother 17-14 in the first half. He wound up 8 of 16 from the floor, missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
“It’s just nice to have guys back,” coach Doc Rivers said.
The Sixers lost for the seventh time in nine games after winning at Sacramento on Monday.
“They make you fall in love with their 3 and they kill you with the 2,” Rivers said. “Then on the other end when they were a dominant team they were always one or two in defense. The attraction of the 3-point shot and some of the shots that Steph makes mesmerizes you. But they’re killing you with the 2s, and I think teams that understand that would have a better grasp of how to play them.”
UP NEXT:
76ers: Play the Timberwolves on Saturday.
Warriors: Play the Trail Blazers on Friday night having won 10 of the last 12 against Portland at home.