Warriors start hot, finish cold in close loss to the Mavs
The Warriors came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday night as after the first quarter the score read: 37-24, a healthy thirteen-point lead for the Dubs. It stayed double digits at halftime and made its way to a twenty-one-point lead at one point in the game. But in the fourth quarter when it mattered most, they just could not buy a bucket. The Mavs on the other hand had no problem scoring in bunches and went on a ridiculous 26-3 run led by Luka and Spencer Dinwiddie. Just one fourth-quarter basket for Steph and a multitude of missed shots all around cooked up one of the Dubs’ worst losses this season.
Obviously, the post-game questions were tough to answer but Steve Kerr had this to say about the loss, “It’s a good lesson for us. We gotta understand, an NBA game can turn on a dime, it happens quickly...”
A great lesson to learn in the regular season rather than in the playoffs, but still it was a tough game to watch down the stretch. Much to Kerr’s displeasure, the Warriors were still missing Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and now Klay Thompson with a non-Covid illness so he had to find a way to fill those minutes with other guys. Kerr decided against using Jordan Poole because he was having an off night.
And because Poole was struggling it seemed difficult for the Warriors to produce points from anyone not wearing number 30 or 22. Kerr noticed saying, “He (Poole) just wasn’t having a great night so I decided to go a different direction.”
And fans took notice as guys like Damion Lee, Kuminga, and Moses Moody all had to play key fourth-quarter minutes after not having much experience doing so. And it most likely could have worked out for the Dubs but like I said earlier, nothing was falling for them in the fourth. Frustrating to say the least, Kevon Looney told reporters the feeling in the locker room after the game saying, “I think everybody’s just pissed off, it ain’t much that needs to be said... I think we all kinda know what happened, know where we fell short.”
A discouraging statement but a true one, as they knew that they had no one to blame but themselves. It appears that some nights they do sensationally well without guys like Draymond, but then you look at games like tonight and wonder how he and Klay could have helped. The broadcast crew even spoke on it as they guessed that without Draymond, Curry has to become more of a facilitator on offense and lock in on defense more than he normally would. This leads him to become more fatigued and miss some makeable shots.
The biggest question for the Warriors this season has been, “If they are healthy... if (fill in the blank) comes back then they will be contenders.” So as a fan I wouldn’t be too concerned with the loss, just chalk it up and move on to the next game. As we should see Klay, Draymond, and Wiseman all back before the playoffs start. When they start losing when they are fully healthy, then we can go full panic mode but for now, it’s just an ugly loss that we’ll soon forget about.
(Photo credit: AP)