Warriors done in by their former player
A close contest gone wrong.
Chris Boucher’s career began with the Golden State Warriors. Back during the team’s 2017-18 title run, Boucher began his NBA journey by signing a two-way contract. He spent the bulk of the year playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors, and his NBA debut — a 79-second stint against the Los Angeles Lakers in mid-March — was the only time he would step on the court for Golden State. He won a championship with the Warriors and, two weeks later, was waived.
He caught on with the Toronto Raptors, where he played a larger role — but still a small role — on a team that beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals, giving him two titles in two years.
Now he’s a proven, quality role player in the league, a lanky big who drains threes, gobbles up rebounds, and blocks shots. He’s the only Raptor from that championship team who still plays for Toronto, and on Monday he paid homage to his former team by exacting revenge on them.
The Warriors marched into frigid Toronto with visions of a solid win, as they were welcoming back Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins, though Draymond Green was ruled out due to illness and a minor back injury. But their shooting was as icy as the Canadian weather: through the first half, Golden State shot just 7-for-24 on threes, 9-for-23 on twos, and 11-for-16 on free throws. They did some good things on defense, though, and took care of the ball, with just five turnovers. And because of that, they trailed just 52-50 at halftime, despite the dismal shooting.
Things looked to turn in the third quarter. They rattled off a run to begin the frame, with a banked-in triple courtesy of Dennis Schröder giving them a lead, and shifting the momentum. They hung onto that lead, and entered the fourth quarter winning 78-75. Things were looking good for a Warriors team that entered the game 18-3 when leading after three quarters.
They quickly pushed the lead to nine points, further giving you confidence that they could get back in the win column.
And then Boucher happened. Jump-started by the former Warrior, Toronto went on a blazing 14-4 run to take the lead just over halfway through the quarter. From there, the teams went back and forth and back and forth again, until an Ochai Agbaji layup gave Toronto a 102-101 lead with 1:33 left, that spelled doom for the Warriors.
Buddy Hield missed on the other end, and while the Warriors got a stop, Wiggins missed on the next possession. Golden State’s defense stayed tough, forcing another stop, but Curry forced a three with just under 50 seconds remaining, and the miss led to an easy transition bucket for the Raptors, setting the score at 104-101.
The Warriors had time for a two-for-one, but Wiggins missed a three on the front end. They worked another stop, got the ball back, and called timeout. With 3.8 seconds left, they dialed up a play from their own sideline, and Hield got a fairly decent look from straightaway, but air-balled it, ending the game.
Golden State lost 104-101 and, for the first time all year, has a losing record at 19-20.
Curry led the Warriors with 26 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, though he turned the ball over four times. Wiggins added 20 points, but amazingly has still not won an NBA game in his home country. Scottie Barnes paced the Raptors with 23 points, while Jakob Poeltl had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
But it was Boucher who was the star. He finished with 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting ... with 17 of those 18 points coming in the fourth quarter. For one day, at least, the Warriors have some serious regrets about letting him go.
The Warriors will finish their four-game road trip on Wednesday, when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at 5:00 p.m. PT. With a win, the Dubs will have split the road trip.