The Golden State Warriors fell to the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night, losing 129-118 to the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard led squad. The Dubs were without Steph Curry, putting an immense amount of pressure on Golden State’s remaining rotation players to pick up the slack in his absence. While multiple young players shined, another poor shooting night from both Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins proved too much to overcome.
After a rough stretch of games, rookie Brandin Podziemski finally rekindled his rhythm offensively. The rookie guard finished the day 10-for-14 from the field (3-for-5 from three) with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers. Not to be outdone, Jonathan Kuminga was excellent off the bench, leading the Warriors with 28 points (10-for-18 from the field) despite receiving just under 30 minutes of playing time.
The Warriors trio of big men (Kevon Looney, Dario Šarić, and Trayce Jackson-Davis) were all efficient from the field, combining to score 30 points on 14-23 shooting, with Looney and Šarić each grabbing 6 rebounds. Šarić also recorded 6 assists.
Despite those valiant efforts, the Dubs were done in by horrendous shooting performances from Wiggins and Thompson. Thompson at least managed to put up an inefficient 21 points. However, Wiggins only racked up 7 points on 3-for-13 shooting. Without Curry, the Warriors needed more than a combined 10-for-36 shooting night from their best two other veteran scorers.
Meanwhile, the Bucks leaned on their trio of stars. Antetokounmpo unsurprisingly led the way with 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Lillard added 27 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and a game-high +21 plus/minus. Wing Khris Middleton was excellent as well, making 10 of his 13 field-goal attempts in route to a 24 point-10 assist double-double.
Now 18-21 on the season, the Warriors will head south to Memphis to face the Grizzlies on Monday.
