'Humiliating': NBA world stunned after Warriors' historic failure

The next time someone doubts the impact of Stephen Curry, point them to what happened to the Golden State Warriors on Friday.

With Curry out due to a tailbone injury, the Warriors fell 130-77 to the Toronto Raptors.

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That 53-point margin represents the worst loss of the 2020-21 NBA season, surpassing the Los Angeles' Clippers ghastly 51-point loss earlier this season.

Draymond Green was also a late scratch with a finger sprain, while Klay Thompson remains out for the season with a ruptured Achilles.

As you might expect, the box score does not paint a pretty picture for the Warriors. The team shot 32.9 percent from the field, committed 21 turnovers and got out-rebounded 57-45.

Meanwhile, the team's defence routinely got cooked thanks to a series of inexplicable breakdowns.

As enormous as the Raptors' margin of victory was, it could have been worse.

You may note the above tweet shows a 60-point deficit at one point midway through the fourth quarter. The Raptors ended up topping out with a 61-point lead, before a small Warriors "run" made the loss a little less historic.

With more of the same for the game's final eight minutes, it could have very well broken the NBA's record for biggest loss, currently held by the Miami Heat's 148-80 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991.

The Warriors' franchise record still sits at 63 points, against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972.

Golden State's record now sits at 23-26, good for 10th place in the Western Conference.

Mitchell puts flying fears aside for Jazz

Utah Jazz' All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell will resume flying with the team after opting out of a trip this week following an emergency on a team flight.

Mitchell's chronic fear of flying was exacerbated Tuesday when the Jazz's charter flight hit a flock of birds shortly after takeoff for a trip to Memphis.

The plane, with Australian Joe Ingles also on board, returned to Salt Lake City after a failure in one of the plane's engines.

While the team boarded a different plane in advance of Wednesday's game at Memphis, Mitchell elected to stay behind. He missed the team's 111-107 victory over the Grizzlies.

"I just needed to take that time, because it wasn't sitting right for me to go on the trip," Mitchell said, acknowledging his flying fear. "My teammates and my coaches respected that, and I appreciate the support. But I understand that I have a job to do."

The Jazz's next road game is on Monday at Dallas and Mitchell says he will be there to face the Mavericks with his team.

"I know I have a job to do," Mitchell said. "I understand that (flying) comes with the job. I took the time that I needed to kind of just mentally get myself in a good place. I'll be fine come Sunday when we fly out, but I just needed that time mentally.

" ... Some things are just bigger than the game of basketball, and that right there was it for me. Everybody kind of has their different things. Mine happens to be (a fear of) flying."

Tuesday's engine failure and subsequent engine fire created a loud boom on board, with the plane tilting left and experiencing severe turbulence.

"There was a point where you just felt like this could be it — and the fact that it's out of your control," said Mitchell, who sent text messages to his sister and parents to tell them that he loved them as the flight returned to its point or origin.

Mitchell, 24, leads the Jazz in scoring at 25.7 points per game. An All-Star both this season and in 2019-20, Mitchell also has 5.5 assists per game, as well as 4.5 rebounds and is shooting 39.9 per cent from 3-point range.

With AAP

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