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The road struggles for the Warriors went from bad to worse Thursday night as the reigning champs fell to their hated rival Memphis Grizzlies, who were without Ja Morant at the FedExForum.
Morant was serving the third game of his indefinite suspension that followed a video of him appearing to show a gun in a nightclub popped up on social media.
The 131-110 loss is the Warriors’ eighth consecutive road loss, tied for the longest such streak since Steve Kerr took over as head coach in 2014.
Memphis got out to an early 21-point lead in what was a 48-point first quarter, and while Golden State made it close at several points of the night—thanks to a 29-point outing from Stephen Curry—it was never enough to completely climb back into the game.
With a Clippers win Wednesday over the Raptors, Golden State will lose hold of the No. 5 seed and creep ever closer to the play-in spots, an unthinkable proposition for the defending champions.
Warriors fans and NBA Twitter let Golden State hear about its rough night.
Twitter also payed close attention to the interactions between the Warriors and Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks, who has been a key piece in the rivalry.
Draymond Green recently called out Brooks on an episode of his podcast ahead of Thursday’s game, and with Memphis up big most of the night, the former Oregon Duck let the Dubs hear it every second he was on the floor.
And Twitter was loving it.
Golden State have also now lost three games in a row. What’s even more concerning is that the losses all came with Stephen Curry back on the floor after he recovered from a leg injury that kept him out about a month.
The Warriors need to take advantage of having their superstar back on the floor, because the tests aren’t getting any easier as the season winds down.
Next up for them are the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo coming to San Francisco for what is sure to be another uphill battle.
