Sport

Golden State Warriors winning streak comes to an end

Milwaukee Bucks beat NBA champions 108-95 ending record 24-game start to season

Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) reacts in front of Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) after a Bucks basket late in the fourth quarter. The Bucks beat the Warriors 108-95. Photo: Benny Sieu
Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) reacts in front of Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) after a Bucks basket late in the fourth quarter. The Bucks beat the Warriors 108-95. Photo: Benny Sieu
Sun Dec 13 2015 - 12:24

Golden State’s record 24-game winning streak to start the season came to an end on Saturday in a 108-95 loss to the Bucks in Milwaukee, with interim coach Luke Walton saying the Warriors “ran out of gas”.

A night after scraping past Boston in double overtime, the weary National Basketball Association champions succumbed in Milwaukee on the final stop of a seven-game road trip.

Golden State’s winning streak, the longest to start a season in NBA history, is the third longest in a single season behind the Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 in a row in 1971-72, while the Miami Heat won 27 straight in 2013. The Bucks also stopped the Lakers’ winning steak in 1972.

Stretching back to the end of last season, Golden State won 28 consecutive regular season games. The normally sharp-shooting Warriors struggled offensively, shooting barely 40 per cent from the floor, with guards Stephen Curry (10-for-21 for 28 points) and Klay Thompson (four-for-14 for 12 points) struggling to find their range.

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“We didn’t have it tonight,” Walton told reporters. “That’s why it’s so hard to do what these guys have done so far. Tonight it caught up to us. To me, they (the Bucks) looked like they wanted it a little more tonight. We looked like we ran out of gas. Even if you’re 24-and-1, losing still sucks.”

Walton, filling in for head coach Steve Kerr, who is recovering from back surgery, said his players should be proud of their accomplishment. “There’s no reason for anyone to hang their heads in that locker room for losing that game. They’ve been incredible all year, and the losses are going to come.

“It’s important for us to realize that hey, that was great .. but we’re a quarter of the way through the regular season,” he added. “What we’re trying to do is be an NBA championship team, and that requires a lot of work and getting back to the fundamentals and the basics. That’s what we’ll be doing after giving them a day off tomorrow.

Milwaukee, who also played on Friday in Toronto before flying home, improved to 10-15 with the win. Greg Monroe was the team’s top scorer with 28 points.