The Golden State Warriors’ loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday certainly has drawn plenty of strong reactions – some might even say overreactions.
After the 114-102 defeat, Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski heaped the blame on himself and called it his worst performance of the season. Hearing of those comments, teammate Klay Thompson disdainfully responded, “Dramatic rookie.”
BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI:
“A lot falls on my plate. I’m the guy that’s supposed to bring the energy. Hustle plays and effort plays and I didn’t do that tonight.”
Tonight was probably my worst performance of the year in that case…” pic.twitter.com/Amvsp0MEe1
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 29, 2023
Klay after hearing Podz took the blame for the loss:
"Jeez. Dramatic rookie." 😆 pic.twitter.com/1DzsQKmWNY
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 29, 2023
That’s in addition to Golden State head coach Steve Kerr saying that Miami “demoralized” his team during the game in which the Warriors trailed by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.
Podziemski scored 10 points and had six assists and three rebounds on Thursday. Despite the 20-year-old’s harsh assessment of his performance, it was in line with his averages of 8.9 points, 3.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game in 25 appearances this season. He was the No. 19 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Golden State looked to have finally found its footing after a difficult start to the 2023-24 NBA season that includes two suspensions for Draymond Green. The 33-year-old is currently suspended indefinitely by the NBA after incidents involving physical confrontations with Jusuf Nurkic of the Phoenix Suns in December and Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves in November.
Prior to the loss to the Heat, the Warriors had won eight consecutive home games after losing six of the first seven at Chase Center this season. A recent five-game winning streak had pushed their record above .500, but they are back below that mark at 15-16 following two straight losses.
After opening the season 5-1, the Warriors suffered through a stretch when they lost seven of eight games and eventually hit a low point of a 10-14 record.
Earlier this month, Kevin Garnett said Golden State isn’t postseason material or even worthy of being considered a play-in team. Video also emerged of Stephen Curry showing frustration toward his teammates for their lack of defense.
Coming off a second-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last season, the Warriors are in 11th place in the Western Conference heading into play Friday. They get a chance to bounce back on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks as they continue a seven-game home stand that runs through Jan. 10.
