SAN FRANCISCO — In the Golden State Warriors 113-95 blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, Dennis Schröder followed a lefty scoop layup with a wing 3 around the 9-minute mark of the fourth quarter. It mattered little, trimming Cleveland’s lead to 18. Within 66 seconds, they’d bumped it back to 23. The Warriors showed little resistance against a team significantly superior and lost again to drop to 16-16.
“We’re just very average,” Steph Curry said.
But Schröder’s mini 5-0 run was notable because of its sparsity. Since joining the Warriors — acquired via trade to boost the offense — he’s only hit consecutive shots three total times in seven games. It’s one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. He finished Monday night’s game 4-of-11 shooting, which ticked him upward to 29.7 percent overall with the Warriors.
Dennis Schröder stumbles while driving to the basket against Cleveland’s Sam Merrill. (Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
Schröder has made 22 of his 74 shots and is 7-of-34 on 3s. Among all NBA players who have taken at least 30 shots during this small subsection of the schedule (the last seven games), Schröder has the fifth-worst shooting percentage. But he isn’t the worst Warriors player. Draymond Green, at 9-for-34, has made 26.5 percent. He was 1-for-10 against Cleveland’s long frontline on Monday night, struggling to finish over contests at the rim and whiffing when left open for 3.
This is the elongated problem for these Warriors. Many of their veterans are in deepening slumps at the wrong time. Buddy Hield is 1-of-15 shooting in the last two games, missing all 10 of his 3s. Hield is notably streaky and the Warriors benefited greatly during their 12-3 start. Hield shot better than 50 percent from 3 for nearly a month and scored 20-plus points in six of their first seven games.
But the law of averages has screeched him to a halt. Hield is a career 40 percent shooter from 3 and this recent dry spell (10 straight misses and 2 for his last 21) has dragged him back down to 39.3 percent.
“All it takes is one for Buddy and he’ll bounce back,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Lindy Waters III also started the season hot as a bench option to stretch the floor. Waters made seven of his first 10 3s and sat at 41.6 percent from deep in mid-November. He missed all five of his 3s against the Cavaliers on Monday night, missed all six of his 3s during a recent loss to the LA Clippers and is now down to 32 percent overall on the season — inadequate for a bench shooter.
Steph Curry: “We’re just very average.” pic.twitter.com/xHGSBRqP3D
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 31, 2024
Even the Warriors’ best player hasn’t been immune to this team-wide drought. Curry went 4-of-14 against Cleveland, wrapping up an 11-game December at 40 percent overall and 36.2 percent on 3s. He’s been spectacular on a few select nights to bump them into the win column but mostly labored as the Warriors’ offense has cratered.
They are 4-13 in their last 17 games. During that time — beginning on Nov. 23 in San Antonio — the Warriors have the eighth-worst offensive rating in the NBA and they are dead last with a 41.8 overall shooting percentage, a tick below the Wizards and Hornets, who have 3-13 and 1-16 records during that stretch, respectively. The Warriors are playing like a lower-level lottery team as their star calls them “average” in a deflated tone, sounding a whole lot like he did the last few mediocre Warriors’ seasons.
“There’s a little deja vu,” Curry said. “But I think it’s different, just in the sense of how we started the year (12-3). It’s kinda like the (2022) year. We started 18-2. The last two years have been opposite, slow starts and chase a little bit. … It’s an emotional roller coaster for sure. It’s frustrating.”
(Top photo of Donovan Mitchell and Steph Curry watching Mitchell’s successful 3-point shot: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images )
