BOX score

SAN FRANCISCO – The immaculate spirit of the Warriors’ first two games of the season was marred by a 112-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night at Chase Center.

Losses of possession plagued the Warriors in their home debut. The bank was unable to muster anything as its vaunted strength suffered a blow. The Clippers dominated the Warriors in the game, outscoring them 58-38.

But the real bad egg was Steph Curry leaving in the fourth quarter with a left ankle injury after rolling over twice.

Andrew Wiggins did his best to compensate for Curry, scoring 29 points on 11 of 15 shooting and being 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. Kevon Looney posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds along with three assists and three steals.

The Warriors also allowed James Harden a double-double with 23 points and 11 assists and Ivica Zubac with 17 rebounds and 23 points.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ first loss of the season.

Steph limps to the locker room

Win or lose, Curry’s health is more important than anything. Dub Nation held its breath in the third quarter when Curry twisted his left ankle and was benched. Curry was replaced by De’Anthony Melton in the final two minutes and 43 seconds and was seen on the bench doing tape work.

Then came the good news. Unfortunately for Curry and the Warriors, it was short-lived. Curry re-entered the game 8:08 into the fourth quarter. His return took all of 13 seconds.

While trying to set up a screen for Buddy Hield, Curry aggravated his left ankle injury and, with the help of Rick Celebrini and teammate Gary Payton II, immediately hobbled down the tunnel and into the locker room.

Steph appears to be aggravating his ankle injury and heads to the locker room pic.twitter.com/AllTixka32

– Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 28, 2024

Shortly afterwards, Curry was ruled out for the rest of the game due to a left ankle injury. In 27 minutes, Curry was a plus-2 with 18 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, but also six turnovers. He made 6 of 11 from the field and 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

Sales takeover

Ball movement has always been a cornerstone of Steve Kerr’s offense. In addition, there have been far too many fluctuations over the years. That was a big problem last season, and the turnover train returned to Chase Center for the season opener on Sunday night.

The Warriors had 40 more assists than turnovers in the first two games of the season, two blowout road wins over the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz. They provided 73 assists and only suffered 33 turnovers. But against the Clippers, the Warriors were far too careless with the ball.

In the first quarter, in which they trailed the Clippers 34-34, the Warriors had twice as many assists (eight) as turnovers (four) in the first 12 minutes. An unpleasant trend began in the second quarter. Because the Warriors scored more points in the quarter, 25-20, the Warriors only had three assists and turned the ball over eight times. As a result, they had more turnovers (12) than assists (11) in the first half and trailed 59-54.

Entering the second half, the Warriors had three turnovers on offense in their first four possessions. Her final total was 21 turnovers, two more than her 19 assists, which led to 21 points for the Clippers.

Hield’s hot streak stopped

There was simply no way Hield, despite being a great shooter, could match his absurd numbers early in his Warriors career. Hield was the leading scorer in each of the Warriors’ first two games, scoring a total of 49 points in 35 minutes on 69.2 percent shooting (18 of 26) and 75 percent shooting from 3-point range (12 of 16). On Sunday night, Hield missed his first four shots, including his first three 3-pointers, in his regular-season debut at Chase Center in a Warriors uniform.

His first basket came with just under eight minutes left in the second quarter, creating a turnaround. That sparked a mini-stretch in which Hield scored six points — highlighted by a four-point game — in just a minute and a half, grabbed two rebounds and found a sweet lob from Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Hield finds TJD with the praise 💥 pic.twitter.com/a7S38NUUAJ

– Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 28, 2024

But that was the best part of Hield’s evening. He never got going and scored eight points in 28 minutes. Hield went 3 of 14 from the field and made just one of his nine 3-point attempts. The Warriors’ bench shot a total of 19.1 percent (4 of 21) on 3-pointers.

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