WARRIORS RIDE PAT SPENCER, STELLAR TEAM DEFENSE TO IMPROBABLE WIN OVER CAVALIERS
CLEVELAND - Steve Kerr affirmed Saturday night what Pat Spencer yelled Thursday night to the crowd that watched the Golden State Warriors play the Philadelphia 76ers.
"His head coach realized that Pat is that motherf-er," Kerr said postgame at Rocket Arena "I was getting the inkling. It was starting to creep in. But I didn't realize until he told the world and tonight, it was very clear."
Against the Cleveland Cavaliers in his first career start with Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green - plus Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton and Seth Curry - out, Spencer scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter of a 99-94 win. He chirped and quieted a restless crowd with a personal 8-0 fourth-quarter run and waved it goodbye when he made two free throws with 4.1 seconds to play.
Spirited defense held the Eastern Conference favorites to 34.6% shooting, including 25 of 60 from its standout trio of Donovan Mitchell (11-for-26), Evan Mobley (8-for-19) and Darius Garland (6-for-15). Mitchell scored a team-high 29 points but missed a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
Gui Santos scored 14 points for the Warriors, who got 13 points and seven rebounds from Buddy Hield and 12 points and nine assists from Quinten Post. Spencer started with Hield, Post, Will Richard and Jonathan Kuminga.
Warriors 99, Cavaliers 94
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOLDEN STATE | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Kuminga | 21:30 | 1-10 | 2-2 | 1-7 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Richard | 20:36 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Post | 31:55 | 5-14 | 0-0 | 1-9 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| Hield | 26:26 | 4-9 | 2-2 | 1-7 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| Spencer | 29:28 | 7-12 | 2-2 | 1-4 | 7 | 3 | 19 |
| Payton II | 26:40 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Santos | 26:30 | 3-8 | 6-8 | 1-3 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| Podziemski | 21:07 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Moody | 19:43 | 2-5 | 4-5 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Jackson-Davis | 16:05 | 3-6 | 2-2 | 2-5 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 33-86 | 20-23 | 8-46 | 25 | 19 | 99 |
Percentages: FG .384, FT .870.
3-Point Goals: 13-35, .371 (Spencer 3-4, Hield 3-6, Podziemski 2-3, Santos 2-4, Post 2-6, Moody 1-3, Richard 0-2, Kuminga 0-3, Payton II 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 14. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 8 (Post 3, Hield, Jackson-Davis, Kuminga, Moody, Santos).
Turnovers: 13 (Payton II 3, Post 2, Santos 2, Hield, Kuminga, Moody, Podziemski, Richard, Spencer).
Steals: 8 (Payton II 3, Jackson-Davis, Moody, Podziemski, Richard, Spencer).
Technical Fouls: None.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLEVELAND | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Hunter | 33:17 | 2-9 | 2-3 | 1-3 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Tyson | 34:05 | 5-12 | 0-0 | 4-11 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| Mobley | 35:08 | 8-19 | 2-2 | 2-10 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Garland | 31:59 | 6-15 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
| Mitchell | 37:10 | 11-26 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 3 | 2 | 29 |
| Wade | 19:22 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Tomlin | 16:05 | 3-10 | 0-0 | 6-12 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Porter Jr. | 15:12 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bryant | 12:24 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 1-6 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Travers | 5:18 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 37-107 | 10-12 | 24-61 | 15 | 18 | 94 |
Percentages: FG .346, FT .833.
3-Point Goals: 10-42, .238 (Mitchell 7-14, Wade 1-3, Tyson 1-4, Garland 1-6, Travers 0-1, Tomlin 0-2, Bryant 0-3, Hunter 0-4, Mobley 0-5).
Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: None.
Blocked Shots: 4 (Mitchell, Mobley, Porter Jr., Tomlin).
Turnovers: 12 (Garland 3, Tomlin 3, Hunter 2, Mitchell 2, Mobley, Tyson).
Steals: 7 (Garland 2, Tomlin 2, Hunter, Mobley, Wade).
Technical Fouls: None.
| Golden State | 12 | 33 | 27 | 27 | - | 99 |
| Cleveland | 18 | 18 | 26 | 32 | - | 94 |
A_19,432 (19,432).
Golden State concludes its three-game trip Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.
"We'll take any win we can get right now," Spencer said after a joyous postgame celebration that reporters heard though the locker-room walls. "Great energy in the locker room. Just competed our butts off tonight. We're trying to weather the storm until we get healthy. Yeah, we're fired up in there."
Spencer scored 17 against Philadelphia and made a clutch triple in the closing stretch that prompted the proclamation that Kerr validated but the Warriors (12-12) squandered a four-point lead and lost that game on a buzzer-beating tip-in. The disappointment stuck with Spencer, who's bound to a two-way contract this season and tasked with orchestrating offense from the point with Curry and Butler sidelined for now.
Said Spencer postgame Saturday: "Stings a little bit more for me than maybe guys who have played for a long time and they realize it's one of 82 and I don't get that many opportunities. It hurts for guys like us who are trying to make a mark, but ultimately we learned from it."
That he did and yes they did.
A 45-36 halftime lead was sparked by defense and second-quarter offense that powered a 33-18 edge after 4-for-23 first-quarter shooting. Spencer's pick-and-roll penetration opened passing and cutting lanes. Mitchell beat the halftime buzzer with a triple for 7-for-27 second-quarter shooting.
Kerr said the Warriors "were on a string" with their defense, limiting Cleveland to eight fastbreak points and 10-for-42 shooting from 3-point range. Golden State's third-quarter offense slowed (8-for-27 shooting) but its defensive effort persisted regardless, forcing five turnovers en route to a 27-26 scoring edge.
"Our guys battled and stayed with it," Kerr said.
Mitchell's eight-point fourth-quarter burst pulled Cleveland (14-11) within three with 8:27 to play, but Spencer answered with a floating layup and back-to-back triples from either wing. He followed a timeout with back-to-back assists to Gary Payton II for a 92-79 lead with 5:17 to play.
Kerr noted Spencer's improving jumper - he's shooting 12-for-27 from 3-point range this season compared to 5-for-24 the previous two seasons - is emboldening him as a scorer and playmaker.
"It's not an overnight process," Spencer said. "Couldn't shoot the ball at all in college and first couple years out had coaches I worked with and just put the hours in, man. I'm a believer that - give me a couple years to figure something out, I'm going to figure it out."
Down 92-79, Cleveland countered with a 9-0 only to see Spencer answer with a driving layup that was sandwiched around a 3 from Mitchell with a leaning, contested banker from Podziemski. Mobley had a putback and Garland and Santos split their respective pairs of free throws - preceding Mitchell's miss from the corner and Spencer's free throws in the clutch.
Kerr called Spencer "the ultimate pro."
Santos called him something else.
"Pat is that motherf-er."
Briefly: Spencer's scoring output represents a career high. … He has topped 15 points in three straight games, averaging 14.7 in the second halves. … The Warriors are 4-1 when holding their opponents beneath 40% shooting and have used 12 unique starting lineups this season. … Golden State shot 38.4% and hadn't won shooting worse than 39% since Nov. 6, 2017, when it beat the Miami Heat 97-80 despite shooting 36.8%.
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