Currently sitting eight games under .500 with only 20 games left in the regular season, the Golden State Warriors were in dire need of some road wins on their longest trip of the season away from Oracle. Unfortunately they found that easier said than done over the past week.
The Warriors are 1-4 on their road trip so far, and it hasn't been too pretty to watch. It started in Minnesota against the Timberwolves, where Steph Curry dropping 33 and 11 boards was eclipsed by another monster double-double by Kevin Love (37 points, 23 rebounds) eventually keeping the Warriors at bay by a score of 126-123. Monta Ellis had the ball with only seconds left, but couldn't hit his runner in the lane to take the lead late in the fourth, starting the road trip with a definitive sour taste in the team's mouth. From here it was on to Conseco Field House to take on the Indiana Pacers, and it was a shootout from start to finish, although the Warriors couldn't get the win by a score of 109-100. Reggie Williams had 25 points from the bench this game, which helped keep it close despite a meager 13 point performance by Monta on 5-17 shooting form the floor, without a single 3-pointer. Two games on the road, two losses in the books.
Golden State then traveled to our nation's capital to face the Washington Wizards where they got their only win of the trip thus far, 106-102. In rookie Ekpe Udoh's first start of the season, the W's let a 20 point third quarter lead dwindle down to three, but won the game by out rebounding the Wizards 54-40 and getting to the free throw line 34 times, two things the W's rarely do well. Unfortunately the high from the win in Washington was immediately quelled by a trip to visit the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The Warriors fought with the C's the whole game, yet David Lee's 26 points and 12 boards against Kevin Garnett and Monta's 41 point explosion were not enough to topple the reigning Eastern Conference Champions, eventually losing 107-104. That's one up, three down for those keeping track at home.
From Boston the Warriors traveled to the city of brotherly love, where they found little to none of it against the Philadelphia 76ers. It took a triple-double from Andre Iguodala and five minutes of overtime for the Sixers to eventually beat the W's 125-117, which sent the team from disappointment to frustration as proved by head coach Keith Smart. The Warriors have moved in the opposite direction since the All-Star break ended, and with a record of 8-22 on the road this year and 11 of the last 20 games away from Oracle, you can almost hear the fat lady warming up her pipes about the W's season off in the distance.