Golden State loses to San Antonio in Season Opener

On Tuesday, October 25th, the 2016-17 NBA season kicked off with a very surprising outcome, as the Golden State Warriors lost to the San Antonio Spurs 129-100.

In the previous 2015-16 season, the Warriors went on to make NBA history as reigning finals champions, getting a record of 73-9. This record beat the long held 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72-10.

Despite this record breaking season, Golden State fell short in winning the 2016 NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With such a disappointment losing the championship after getting the most wins in NBA history, the Warriors looked to rebound from their hardship by acquiring a new player to their team. That player was long time Oklahoma City Thunder forward, Kevin Durant.

This signing sparked much controversy as Golden State is now given the title of super team by the media and NBA fan base. It also brought up previous debates such as the 2011 Chris Paul trade that was vetoed by former commissioner David Stern. This trade would have brought Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers and in some eyes made LA a super team with the trio of Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Kobe Bryant.

Now with a star group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and now Kevin Durant, the 2016-17 Warriors were looking to get there season started with what was thought to be the first win of as many as 82 (the amount of games played in a season).

In the season opener loss to the Spurs, the Warriors fell behind early and never recovered. Durant tallied 27 points and 10 rebounds in his regular season Warriors debut and Curry had 26 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough against a Spurs squad that looked incredible the majority of the game.

Arrowhead freshman and NBA fan, Bryce Marmes said he was surprised to see Golden State lose their first game.

“I didn’t think the Warriors would end up losing the season opener,” said Marmes. “I was very shocked.”

After the Warriors held a 16-12 lead in the first quarter, the Spurs ended the period on a 19-4 run with Golden State playing catchup from there on.

Kawhi Leonard was the star of the show, scoring 35 points. 20 points out of San Antonio’s 129 were scored off the bench from Jonathan Simmons, burying the Warriors even further.

Despite double-doubles from Durant (27 points, 10 rebounds) and Green (18 points, 12 rebounds), the Warriors were out-rebounded 55-35 and shot just 21 percent from 3-point range (7-for-33) compared with 50 percent (12-for-24) from San Antonio.

As stated in the article Why the Warriors’ blowout loss to the Spurs should seriously concern Golden State by Dieter Kurtenbach, Kurtenbach points out what most people forgot.

“‘Either way, for all the talk about the Warriors heading into the season,” by Kurtenbach, “it turns out we forgot about the San Antonio Spurs — again.’”