Takeaways from Warriors' Loss to Cavs: Record without Steph an Organization Failure

Playing without Stephen Curry for the 27th consecutive game, the Golden State Warriors' perimeter shooting failed them as they fell 118-111 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday at Chase Center.

The Cavs went 16-of-36 from three (44 percent), while the Warriors made just 12 of 44 (27 percent).

All five Cleveland starters scored in double figures, led by Donovan Mitchell with 25.

Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos paced the Warriors with 25 points apiece.

Here are two takeaways from Thursday's game.

Dubs' Record without Steph Signals an Organization Failure

Steve Kerr said on Thursday that Curry and Rick Celebrini will decide on Friday whether Curry will return for Sunday's game against the Rockets.

This long stretch without him might be about to end.

What we learned during this stretch is the Warriors are still more dependent on Curry than most contenders are on their superstars.

Star	Record w/ Star	Record w/o Star
Stephen Curry	23-16	13-25
SGA	53-12	8-4
Nikola Jokic	39-22	10-6
Luka Doncic	43-21	7-6
Victor Wembanyama	48-13	11-5
Anthony Edwards	36-23	10-7
Devin Booker	35-26	7-9
Kawhi Leonard	35-26	4-12
Deni Avdija	33-29	7-9
Kevin Durant	44-29	3-0

The chart above has the best player on each of top 10 teams in the Western Conference.

Only the Clippers have had a worse winning percentage without their star than the Warriors.

Of course, the Warriors tried to address this by trading for Jimmy Butler at last year's trade deadline. They couldn't have foreseen that he'd suffer a season-ending ACL tear in January.

Still, the front office made years of mistakes that led to the roster being so dependent on two guys.

Imagine what this team would look like with just one of Tyrese Haliburton, Fraz Wagner or Trey Murphy III.

Now, the gap between their second-best player (Butler) and third-best player (?) is a chasm.

Over the last few years, the Warriors had the challenging task of surrounding Curry with more talent to make up for the fact that it was likely he'd miss more time and a decline a bit in his late 30s.

They failed him.

Santos, Podz Shine

The Warriors battled Thursday, even taking a four-point fourth-quarter lead before the more talented Cavs took over down the stretch.

Of the Dubs' rotation players, only De'Anthony Melton (2-of-12) struggled, and he's playing through a thumb injury, so it would be unfair to be critical of him.

Instead, let's focus on Santos and Podz playing well again.

Santos had 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting against a Cavs team with good interior defenders in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. It's feeling more and more like this breakout stretch is just who he is. He's undoubtedly a rotation piece for a contender.

Podz also had 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, showing some craft and toughness scoring inside.

Podz continues to be puzzling on offense. He's not excellent at anything, but he's decent at shooting and passing, and occasionally his in-between game shines like it did Thursday.

Is there a world in which he can up his scoring average to the high teens instead where it is now at 13.5? Should the Warriors call more plays for Podz even when Curry is on the court?

These are questions Kerr has to answer if he's back next year.

It does seem like Podz has a little more to offer than he was providing prior to Curry's injury. He's probably not going to be Golden State's next star, but he could be an even better high-end role player next season if he finds the right offensive balance.