Head coach Steve Kerr entered the postgame room calmly, albeit frustrated with how the Golden State Warriors have softened themselves right from the middle portion of their 112-110 defeat against the Denver Nuggets.
The Dubs had a splendid first quarter, posting a 36-26 marginal lead over the Nuggets team without Nikola Jokic. In the second frame, they ballooned their deficit for as much as 15 with their on-point offense and plays.
But they became passive afterward. Denver went aggressive on the other hand in courtesy of their top gunners in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. and carried their team’s heavy load with their reigning two-time MVP sitting down for the second consecutive game due to a calf injury.
“We had total control of the game in the middle of the second quarter,” Kerr said, via C.J. Holmes od The San Francisco Chronicle. “We stopped playing, lost our focus at both ends and gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. We gave them life and they took advantage of it. I wish I could have done a better job of getting them locked in. I tried to take a couple of timeouts to get them organized and focused. But those last five or six minutes of the (second) quarter were really a mess, and it carried over into the third.
“I love the way our guys fought in the last four minutes. But from mid-second quarter until those last four minutes, we were mindless out there. We weren’t tough enough or disciplined enough, and ultimately we didn’t deserve to win the game.”
The Warriors gave the Nuggets a comeback scare, blitzing for the last nine points of the match before ultimately bowing down due to a blocked potential game-winning trey by Klay Thompson. The buzzer horned and left Golden State hanging with their revived hopes after a fallout in the mid-game.
Golden State drops again to the shaky sixth seed of the currently tight Western Conference playoff race.
The loss further inflicts their road record to 9-30.
“If we’re going to do anything in a playoff scenario, we can’t have a game like this,” Steph Curry said, who had an inconsistent 8-for-28 shooting en route to 21 points. “We kind of picked them apart early with body and ball movement. It probably could have been a bigger lead.
“Then we had a couple of turnovers, gave up some open looks in transition, fouls. It’s kind of a vibe of how it’s been on the road all season, when the wheels fall off for a four- or five-minute stretch. You give teams a belief they can win.”
The bright light of securing a playoff seat and evading a risky play-in situation remains visible for the Warriors, but they have to start attempting to capture it yet again as they are set to face a fellow playoff hopeful in Oklahoma City Thunder this Tuesday.
With three games remaining in their regular season, the context and impact of either wins or losses can’t be heavier for the defending champs.
“There’s a sense of urgency on these last three games and not only just the wins, but the vibe that you create going into a playoff series,” Curry said. “That does matter.”
