Warriors takeaways: What we learned in tough 124-110 loss to Wizards

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SAN FRANCISCO – Staggering toward 60 or more losses this season, the Warriors are bound to have games when they might be good enough but simply lack the necessary endurance.

That was the case Sunday night at Chase Center, where after a respectable first half, they were destroyed in the second and walked out with a 124-110 loss to the sub-mediocre but less-fatigued Washington Wizards (22-37).

The Warriors (13-48) have lost nine in a row at Chase Center, the last win coming on Jan. 18 against the Orlando Magic.

Here are three quick takeaways from the game:

Trouble with triples

The Warriors continue to be the place teams go to get their fill of 3-pointers. They entered Sunday ranked 30th – dead last – in defending from deep, allowing opponents to 38.7 percent.

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They stayed true to form.

The Wizards, who ranked 11th in 3-point shooting defense, lit it up early and often, with Bradley Beal doing most of the damage. They shot 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from distance in the first half and an astonishing 20-of-30 (66.7 percent) for the game.

Beal’s game-high 34 points came on 10-of-24 shooting from the field, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. Juan Toscano-Anderson drew the primary assignment and, despite his effort, was G-League fodder for a two-time All-Star who ranks second among NBA scoring leaders.

On the other side, the Warriors made shot 32.1 percent (9-of-28) from deep – their sixth consecutive game where they failed to hit 35 percent.

Scrappy early, faded late

For a full four months now, coach Steve Kerr has implored his underdog team to play with effort, citing it as necessary to narrow the talent discrepancy.

They did Sunday night, but it didn’t last. After a solid 24 minutes, they went into the locker room trailing by six (63-57) looking nothing like a team on the second night of a back-to-back set.

The Warriors then faded badly after halftime, particularly on defense, as Washington rang up 61 points. The Wizards pulled away on the power of a 31-19 third quarter.

This is what you can get when a roster is so depleted. They didn’t hold up, which surely had as much to do with having only eight available players for the second consecutive game.

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Cobbled together on the fly, out of necessity, the Warriors once again victimized themselves with turnovers. Some are a natural product of team-wide unfamiliarity, others a matter of ill-conceived ideas.

One night after committing 10 turnovers in a win at Phoenix, the Warriors gave it away 22 times against the Wizards, who took those gifts and turned them into 28 points.

This marked the 22nd time this season that opponents turned Warriors turnovers into at least 20 points. The Warriors are 3-19 in those games.

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