For the umpteenth time this season, the Warriors have only themselves to blame. This past Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-114 was another masterpiece of self-sabotage on the part of the Golden State Warriors.
Minnesota was ahead 96-82 with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter before Golden State collapsed and the Wolves went on to win in overtime thanks to the Golden State players’ numerous miscues.
If the Warriors’ disappointing loss wasn’t already a warning indication that problems linger, coach Steve Kerr’s silence after the game certainly should have been. As for why the players weren’t accessible for interviews, that mystery remains unsolved, but rumors have circulated that a team meeting was called.
It was only Kerr who spoke but his words carried the full weight of the group. Kerr told reporters after the game, “I believed we had control of the game and then I thought we just kind of gift-wrapped it.” And I don’t want to discount Minnesota, but I really liked them. They capitalized on our ineptitude and blunders.
While [D’Angelo Russell] was on fire and others made big shots, our team struggled in other areas. We failed to win enough box outs, gave the ball away too often, and attempted too many difficult shots.
“So everything we had done to that point to have control of the game, we stopped doing. We got what we deserved.”
The Warriors have lost 25 games this season, but eight of those games were decided by five points or fewer. With the exception of a 143-141 double-overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on January 2, Golden State is 1-3 in overtime.
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Wednesday night was a familiar feeling for the Warriors, a team that has lost a number of fourth-quarter leads this season. Kerr’s explanation for why this continues occurring is straightforward.
“If you want to win, especially on the road, you have to execute and we’ve lost probably five, six games like this on the road this year because of the lack of execution. We’re not good enough to win without executing, we might have been a few years ago. We’re not good enough now to win without executing in the fourth quarter on the road. We’re trying to correct that, we’re trying to work on that and we gotta do better.”
The Warriors played carelessly in the final minutes of regulation and throughout overtime. The Warriors gave the other team seven easy points in the last five minutes of regular and the overtime period. The Warriors’ sloppy play on Wednesday night wasn’t the result of weariness, as is typically the case when a team’s performance starts to decline.
“The game went overtime. Steph and Klay got to 42 and 40 minutes, so you take the overtime away and they’re right in their normal range,” Kerr said. “We had yesterday off, so I didn’t think fatigue was a factor. Just mentally we were not sharp. We gave a bunch of possessions away.”
The Warriors seemed to be on the verge of turning things around after reeling off three consecutive victories and they promptly began their push toward one of the Western Conference’s top seeds.
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