The Golden State Warriors failed to capitalize on a golden opportunity to continue their dominant opening to the 2025-26 NBA season on Thursday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee’s 2-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was revealed to be a late scratch for the matchup against 4-time NBA champion Stephen Curry’s Warriors, but the loss did not matter to the scrappy Bucks.
With the 2021 Finals MVP sidelined, the Warriors were still handed a deflating 120-110 defeat by Milwaukee, as ex-Warriors guard Ryan Rollins torched his former team for 32 points and eight assists while knocking down five of his seven attempts from three-point range.
Following the contest, Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr spoke with ESPN’s Anthony Slater about the team’s clear lack of energy and failure to execute on the defensive end.
“It looked to me like fatigue,” Kerr told Slater late Thursday night.
“Mental and physical fatigue. It did not look like our team out there.”
“We didn’t handle our switching very well. Our defense struggled tonight , they were small so we went to an all-switching coverage and lineup.”
“We’ll have to watch the tape, but I didn’t feel like they did a great job there.”
When Milwaukee’s floor-spacing, shot-blocking center Myles Turner took a seat on the bench, Golden State struggled to combat their various combinations of small-ball lineups consisting of Rollins, Cole Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince, AJ Green, Kyle Kuzma, Amir Coffey and sixth man extraordinaire Bobby Portis.
Aside from Rollins’ career night, Turner and Anthony combined for an efficient 33 points, and the Bucks boasted eight double-digit scorers for the game.
Even the Warriors’ most versatile defensive talents, such as Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Brandin Podziemski struggled to contain Milwaukee’s drive-and-kick offensive style and increased pace.
After all, Golden State’s jam-packed schedule to begin the new season must not have helped with their energy levels, as the bout against Milwaukee on Thursday night was their sixth game in ten days.
Curry tried his best to help the sluggish Warriors pull out a come-from-behind victory, but his 27 points on 40.0% shooting from distance was not enough to get the job done.
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