Steve Kerr Gets Honest About Warriors' Blowout Loss to Spurs

The Golden State Warriors knew Friday night in San Antonio would be hard without guard Stephen Curry, but few could have guessed it would go this badly.

The Spurs won 123-85 at Frost Bank Center in an NBA Cup group game, and the Warriors never held a lead all night.

San Antonio opened on an 18-0 run, which the team's own site called the worst start Golden State has had under head coach Steve Kerr.

The Warriors missed their first 11 shots, trailed 38-14 after one quarter and 63-33 at halftime, and fell behind by 43 late in the third quarter, which let the Spurs rest their starters for the whole fourth.

Guard Stephon Castle scored a season-high 32 points for San Antonio, and forward Victor Wembanyama added 12 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in about 21 minutes.

Golden State shot 31-of-93 from the field, and guard LJ Cryer was one of the few bright spots with a career-high 20 points, while forward Yaxel Lendeborg went 1-of-13 for three points and guard Brandin Podziemski scored eight on 2-of-10 shooting.

Kerr gave the Spurs their credit after the game and called them the best and hottest team in the league, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

He would not pin it on any one player, either, and when he was asked about Podziemski, he spoke for the whole group.

"It just wasn't our night as a team. Nobody's going to look great on a night like tonight when we get hammered like that. It's a team loss."

Curry left Wednesday's loss in Houston after just six minutes, so this was the first full game without him.

The team announced on Thursday that an MRI showed a right oblique abdominal tear and that he will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and Kerr had already talked about the injury after the Houston game.

Curry flew home to the Bay Area on Friday to start his rehab.

He is far from the only one out.

Forward Jimmy Butler III and guard Moses Moody are both out after knee surgery, center Kristaps Porzingis is out with an illness and guard Brandon Williams has a hamstring strain, which made for a long injury report before the Spurs game.

Kerr started a lineup with no center, and it had no answer for the size of San Antonio, which won the rebounding battle 60-43.

The Warriors are now 8-5 with two straight losses right after an eight-game winning streak, and they are 1-1 in NBA Cup group play.

Still, I would not read much into one night against a Spurs team that has won 11 in a row.

I care more about how Golden State plays on the rest of this road trip, which continues Monday in New Orleans before stops in Dallas on Wednesday and Memphis on Thursday.

Kerr also showed faith in Lendeborg to figure it out, per the Chronicle, and the Warriors will need him and Podziemski to carry more of the scoring with Curry out.

There is a clear list of players who need to step up, and these next two weeks will show who can.