3 observations after Curry-led Warriors hang 139 points on Sixers 

The Sixers never led and never remotely threatened to Thursday against the Warriors. 

Golden State dominated the night and notched a 139-105 victory at Chase Center.

Stephen Curry was brilliant, posting 30 points, 10 assists and six rebounds in his 30 minutes. 

Joel Embiid led the 13-19 Sixers with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Paul George added 19 points. 

The Sixers were missing Kelly Oubre Jr. (left hand sprain), Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Jared McCain (left lateral meniscus surgery) and KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction). The 17-16 Warriors had two players out injured in Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II. 

Next up for the Sixers is the finale of a six-game road trip Saturday against the Nets. Here are observations on their blowout loss to the Warriors:

Picking up where they left off in Sacramento 

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was essentially forced to use an early timeout because of his team’s very slow start. 

Whatever the Sixers’ plans were to make Golden State’s offense uncomfortable, they did not materialize whatsoever. Dennis Schröder hit a trio of first-quarter three-pointers and Moses Moody’s triple on the opening play of the second put the Sixers in a 38-19 hole.

The Sixers’ showing was the opposite of a bounce-back performance after their collapse late in the fourth quarter Wednesday vs. the Kings. From the end of that game to Moody’s jumper, the Sixers were outscored 53-19 by their opponents. 

On top of the Sixers’ turnover woes carrying over from Sacramento, they didn’t make many of the decent shots they got up. The team began 0 for 7 from three-point range and had no long-range makes in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Warriors shot and played like the relatively well-rested team on a homestand. 

George’s trend of foul trouble continued, too. He picked up two in the first seven minutes and change. Since a zero-foul night on Christmas in Boston, he’s had four consecutive games impacted by early fouls. 

Yabusele always ready to roll off bench 

Amid all the negatives, Guerschon Yabusele’s play off the bench was a plus in the first quarter. 

He scored twice off of sharp cuts and led the Sixers with eight first-period points on 3-for-3 shooting. Yabusele has been outstanding this season at immediately making something good happen when he checks in, regularly appearing more high-energy and in rhythm than players already in the game. 

For a second straight night, Nurse opted to use a two-way contract player in his rotation. After a Justin Edwards stint in Sacramento, Jeff Dowtin Jr. played six scoreless first-half minutes. Reggie Jackson, Eric Gordon and Ricky Council IV were the other members of the Sixers’ second unit.  

The Sixers and Warriors traded plenty of baskets early in the second quarter with Embiid sitting. Draymond Green stormed down the floor and managed to navigate through the Sixers for an easy layup on one especially low defensive sequence. 

The bar wasn’t lofty, but the Sixers looked a bit better on both ends once Embiid came back. He did his usual damage scoring against anyone in front of him and drawing heaps of fouls (11 for 14 at the free throw line). 

Big-time clunker to conclude back-to-back

The Warriors led by 16 points at the half and pushed their advantage over 20 early in the third quarter. 

Curry fired jumpers like the all-time great shooter he is Thursday, going an incredible 8 for 8 from three-point territory. Golden State was 22 for 39 overall.

There’s always some hat tipping appropriate when facing a Curry-centric team. However, the Sixers’ defensive activity and focus level never appeared anywhere near sufficient to overcome such a large deficit. They were lax in stopping the ball, tracking cutters and rotating out to shooters. The Warriors scored 13 more points than any Sixers opponent has in a game so far this season.

These sorts of thoroughly bad performances do occur over a long season. The situation was challenging for players like Tyrese Maxey, who played 42 minutes the night before and went 4 for 13 from the field Thursday. Caleb Martin’s heavy minutes load lately — 37.6 per game over his last four outings — was also evident against the Warriors. He had two points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Regardless, the Sixers were indisputably well below par on the factors within their control. Nurse turned to his deep bench players with the Sixers down 30 points and a little over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.