OAKLAND (California) • Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr accused his players of "jogging", after the two-time National Basketball Association defending champions suffered the worst home loss of his era in a 128-95 collapse to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
"Right from the beginning, just the level of competition wasn't where it needed to be," Kerr, who has been in charge of the Warriors since 2014, said on ESPN following the game at the Oracle Arena.
"It was 11-to-nothing in about three minutes, four minutes.
"And it looked to me like we were jogging up the floor. You can't play basketball jogging. You got to sprint. You got to be going all out.
"It was embarrassing. We were not giving the sort of effort that it takes to win an NBA game. It starts with a passion, with an anger, and an intensity.
"And it wasn't there tonight."
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the previous worst home loss suffered by the Warriors was in 2009, when they lost also by 33 points to the Los Angeles Lakers.
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33
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Margin of defeat Golden State suffered against Boston, their largest under coach Steve Kerr.
On Tuesday night, Gordon Hayward came off the bench to score 19 of his 30 points in the first half as the Celtics (39-26) stunned the Warriors (44-20) with 73 points in the first 24 minutes.
Kyrie Irving recorded 19 points and 11 assists for the Celtics, who salvaged a season-series split with Golden State after a 115-111 loss at home in January.
The Celtics outshot their hosts, 51 per cent to 40, as they started a four-game western swing after five defeats in six games. The margin of victory was their second-biggest on the road this season after the 133-77 trouncing of the Chicago Bulls in December.
Stephen Curry had 23 points for the Warriors, who suffered their fifth home loss of the season by 20 or more points.
Kevin Durant added 18 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 10 for the Warriors, coming off a 120-117 win at Philadelphia on Saturday to wrap up a four-game road trip. They were missing Klay Thompson, out for a second straight game with a sore right knee.
"I think we played with purpose all the way through. We were very businesslike the whole night," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
"We know we haven't played like that enough but It's encouraging as a reminder that we can."
REUTERS
