Looking at the critical moments where the Warriors lost the lead the other night against the Spurs, you can see that it boiled down to two instances: the start of the 2nd quarter when a 32-23 end-of-first lead became a 43-35 deficit, and the 10:12 mark of the 4th quarter when a 90-81 lead dwindled to 92-91.
In the second, Gui Santos had trouble staying in front without fouling or giving up the lane, with Blake Wesley winning the 1v1 battle twice, then also Keldon Johnson. Although Jimmy Butler (16/17 on free throws) stemmed the tide once, Jonathan Kuminga followed by settling for a three that missed.
After a miss of his own, Steph decided against shooting an open one, only for the play to end in a late-clock missed open jumper by Buddy Hield. Trayce Jackson-Davis got two quick reloads for his shooters with offensive rebounds, but after another Moses Moody missed three (3/11 overall), Trayce mindlessly pushed Stephon Castle on a screen for Curry. The Warriors tried an inverted action for Kuminga with Steph setting the pick, but he got stripped by Castle and Moody finally ended the drought with a triple to cut the Spurs lead to five.
It was probably the worst spate of combined performances by the youngsters all season — obviously excluding Quinten Post, who was out with an illness for the second straight game.
And yet, the Dubs would build another lead through halftime and into the final frame to the aforementioned 90-81 in the fourth.
But during the San Antonio run that, as Steph said on the podium postgame, turned the game into a make-or-miss close-out, yet another slew of Warriors mistakes or bad decisions ensued.
Kuminga settled again for a three and missed at the top of the fourth quarter, Draymond Green smoked a layup, and Wesley went downhill again, drawing another foul. JK got another drive knocked away, Johnson burned Brandin Podziemski, who was cold throughout (3/11, same as Moody), although maybe only one of the misses coming into the two times the Warriors lost the lead.
Moses missed another early three, and Keldon once again out hustled everyone for a tip-in.
I’ve gotta say, if you’re not hitting 3s and you haven’t established force with getting downhill, then you’re in for a long night. Playoff-caliber teams win with force.
I’ve said a million times, JK has to learn how to establish force as his foundation — cut hard without the ball and never stand around watching — before he earns the right to shoot. Then again, the “three is better than two” analytic mantra is pervasive throughout this league. I can see why it would take a kid that only started playing basketball at age 13 so long to figure this out.
Of course, by now in the 4th with their inability to earn Kerr’s trust with their play in the 2nd, Jackson-Davis and Santos stayed on the bench and the rest of the guys would have to keep the squad afloat on a back-to-back and sixth game in ten days. So it makes sense now why the team look so tired. The energy of Gui and Trayce couldn’t be tapped because they’d rendered themselves “not ready” by their poor play in the 2nd.
Then with about 8:30 to play, almost inexplicably, Green helped Curry as Chris Paul — yes, the forty-year-old CP3 — got the initial step on the left side. Draymond shading so far led to an easy swing-swing to the weak side that found Harrison Barnes wide open in the corner for three, completing the Spurs’ second comeback within the game to 92-91.
And so we can probably point to that three as the one that setup Barnes’ confidence in hitting that buzzer-beater.
That’s why Dray pointed to grit (see postgame transcripts below). That’s why there was little talk of the crazy inbounds that Butler fumbled, plus the miscommunication between Draymond and Jimmy on the Keldon inside bucket, which was initiated by the dribbler getting another step on Steph. That whole play was probably foreshadowed by that earlier Chris-help-swing-to-HB-3 play.
If the Warriors just play with force and physicality on the outset, that changes the dynamic of the game and the mistakes — made by practically every player on the team against the Spurs, like, nobody had a very bad performance, but everybody had a near-equally subpar performance — are less likely to occur. That’s what Green meant by “mess around.”
And that’s why Steve chalked it up to 1 of 82. The Warriors are, indeed as he said, still 22-7 since acquiring Jimmy and still third-best in the NBA since the All-Star Break at 19-6, behind only OKC (22-4) and Boston (20-5), and ahead of Cleveland (19-7), Houston (18-7), the Pacers (19-8) and Clippers (17-9).
This race for the 6th seed is really just Golden State paying for its sins for the identity it had prior to Jimmy.
The talk of only having beaten bad teams with Jimmy is, therefore, ridiculous. If you say that, then you’ve discounted OKC, Boston and Cleveland since the All-Star Break as well.
The talk of blaming Steph and Draymond (or Jimmy) for their turnovers late as costing them the game, is missing the point.
The (usual) talk of the Steve’s rotations being at fault is wrong.
The talk of Kuminga needing to play more minutes just because the boxscore said he had 12 points on 5/10 from the field in 18 minutes are absent of the analysis that most of his missed threes and turnovers happened during times the Warriors blew leads.
For those who sensed that JK was costing the Warriors possessions, giving up on his ascent is just as preposterous. He has his moments. Right before settling for the three to start the fourth, he had a dunk to end the third, assisted by Butler. So, good force, but… Kuminga has to start playing with more force without the ball, as I said, otherwise the good moments are only flashes.
So the next time you hear all these crazy takes, especially when they’re amplified on Xitter, all you have to do is go to the play-by-play and analyze the stretches where leads are lost or deficits are created. It is literally two tabs over from the “boxscore” one on every NBA.com game page.
Then what the coach and players say postgame align. And that’s why Draymond is up on the podium with few words and why Steph can go up there and say that the loss was a “one-game blip” — assuming they play better.
It all makes sense when you just analyze the play-by-play.
Videos and transcripts from postgame Spurs-Warriors are below. I’ve skipped some of the Kerr pregames because I’m saving some of them — assuming we don’t quickly get ousted by the Play-in — for later when there are a few days off.
The behind-the-scenes video from Chase will have to wait until the Dubs crush Portland which will happen tonight. This is different than the San Antonio game because the Warriors are not coming off a blowout win, and the Trail Blazers have nearly every offensive scorer out (Deni Avdija is doubtful). I’m confident the basketball gods aren’t this crazy to make me eat my words tonight…
00:00 What did you think about Harrison Barnes fouling Draymond and then the ball getting back in Harrison’s hands for that game-winner?
00:08 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME SAS-GSW; Yeah, big shout out Draymond, knocking down them free throws. I got trapped on that play, threw it back. I don’t — did he do it — I don’t know if he did it intentionally or whatever he decided to do. Draymond made them free throws and obviously a big shot. That next possession, you give a team life and give them the ability to make a run, finish the fourth quarter like they did, then it’s make-or-miss at the end of the game, whether it’s going to overtime or not, and you never want to put yourself in that position. We did and got bit by it.
00:46 Where do you feel like you guys kind of screwed this one up most?
00:52 I think we had two stretches, first half, second half, I don’t know the time specific, but where we just got lax defensively and gave up a lot of straight line drives to the basket. We were pretty soft on the ball. They were just driving the paint, getting to the rim, offensive rebounds or finding open threes and those two stretches gave them life, gave them the belief that it was worth fighting. And after that first quarter start, you let your foot off the gas pedal and you give a team an ability to make plays, they’re NBA team, too. They’re gonna take advantage of it and they did.
01:39 There’s still so much to sort out, standings-wise, and there’s still paths for you guys to get 5th and 6th and all that, but I guess how significant did this loss feel, considering the position you had set yourself up prior to tonight?
01:53 I mean, we know where we’re at. We know that every game is important. It’s been important, in fact, the last two weeks and we’ve done a lot to give ourselves a chance to climb pretty high, considering where we were before the trade deadline. And then these last two home games, it sucks for different reasons. Houston and tonight, two games that you feel like we’re winnable and should have won. And I don’t know how it’ll impact the ending of where we end up after Sunday, but we still do have two games. We gotta win both of ’em, see what happens. Just made it a little harder on ourselves.
02:39 You guys had three turnovers in the last minute or so. I think you had one of them on the inbounds. Was it just their pressure was forcing perfect passing? Was it a little bit sloppy passing? What was going on there in those turnovers?
02:55 Two of ’em were just bad spacing. Mine was just a bad pass. We were trying to set up a play to get Jimmy the ball and then have some action around and HB was kind of all over him. I tried to tuck it in there low so he could get it, but he got a deflection, that stuff happens. Tough timing, obviously, but it honestly shouldn’t come down to those three possessions, even though we still had a chance to win because we played well enough for stretches, majority of the game to create separation, give ourselves — or, maintain the momentum. But again, when you give your — come down to a possession here, possession there down the stretch, anything can happen in this league.
03:45 Steph, ahead of the game I asked Coach Kerr about the preparation going into this matchup, being that it was the second of a back-to-back and he said that the leadership between you, Jimmy Butler and Draymond would be able to get the team ready and understand the urgency of this game. Given the results of this game, knowing the implications of the next two, is the weight heavier on you guys to make sure everyone is ready for the next two games, so that you guys can make the best possibility going into the Play-in or playoffs, or is there no weight at all?
04:13 There’s definitely weight and there’s been weight for a while. We understand, I mean, our record’s been great in the last 20-plus games and every one of ’em we felt a sense of urgency, so with two games left, you can kind of narrow down the — those 48 minutes on Friday’s gonna be important. Sunday, the same. We’ve had a very professional approach and very consistent level we’ve been playing at. Our execution tonight just wasn’t great and a good team will bounce back from it and take care of business these next two and then go from there, so we have to prove that we’re a good team.
04:58 Steph, you said — excuse me — you said you guys relaxed defensively for stretches and soft on the ball. your defense has been really good. I mean, I think No. 1 rated in the league since Jimmy’s here. Last week, big games on the road. How, sort of on a fundamental level, how sort of surprised or startled were you to have those stretches tonight, exactly what you guys have avoided for quite a while?
05:22 Yeah, I think there’s a pattern of certain styles that have — will give us trouble if we’re not locked in defensively. When teams that go five-out spacing that have theoretically five shooters, even though there are different levels of shooting, but they space the floor and you have drive-and-kicks, you gotta be on a string. You gotta guard your yard, as we call it. You gotta be able to have some resistance on the ball, but then everybody’s gotta be flying around and if one piece of that puzzle is soft or a step slow, then you get eaten alive and that happened for far too many stretches. And we’ve been on the other side where you don’t — if you don’t feel any resistance offensively, everybody feels good. Everybody feels confident, feeling like they can finish a play, knock down a shot, create a shot, so that’s where you give teams life and you can’t do that. I don’t care who you’re playing. And good teams pride themselves on defense like we have during this run and that’s what hurt us tonight.
06:27 Two important stretches this game were start of the second quarter, start of the fourth quarter with you on the bench. Since getting Jimmy, those minutes haven’t been as big of an issue, but why do you think that trend flipped tonight?
06:41 Same answers I’ve been talking about all this whole time, just defensively, like everybody’s gonna look at the offense and what Jimmy does on that end, but it’s our defense that’s been extremely impactful and dominant, so we’re all in this together. It’s not — there’s not two teams out there. It’s one team that has different combinations, no matter who’s on the floor and you gotta — if we wanna reach the heights that we say we want to and really believe that we can get to, then it doesn’t matter if you make or miss shots. The stuff that you can control, the defensive effort and attention to detail, game plan, discipline, all that type of stuff, has to stay at a high level and it didn’t tonight.
07:26 Steph, since Jimmy arrived, you guys have been pretty good about not giving up double-digit leads in the fourth quarter. Is this a moment to pause and say, “Okay, what do we fix, back to the lab,” kind of thing? Or is this just a one-game blip, you think?
07:39 What were we up?
07:41 About 12 at the start of the fourth.
07:44 Mm. What was the question again?
07:49 You guys have done a really good job of not losing leads like this since Jimmy came aboard. Obviously, a bunch of those early in the season. I’m wondering when you look at a game like this, is it like a “back to the lab” thing and see what we did wrong? Or do you just figure it’s a one-game, a one-off?
08:06 You recalibrate and make it a one-game blip. That’s the stuff you can control. Like I said, you’re up 12 going into the fourth, your defense is really gonna be the difference in maintaining that separation. Again, who cares if you make or miss shots? You just can’t give a team life and give up 38 points. If you’re telling me we gotta give up 38 points when it’s crunch time, that’s not gonna win any game, so we gotta be better.
00:00 Is there a possession or kind of maybe an aspect to this one that stings the most?
00:11 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME SAS-GSW: No, not a possession. I just felt like we never — other than the first five minutes of the game and the first five minutes of the third quarter — I never felt like we had control of them defensively and so we left the door open. We know they’re a really good three-point shooting team. They made 17 last night against the Clippers and hung in there and gave them a tough game, so this was not a surprise to see this kind of effort from the Spurs, but we just, we couldn’t contain them defensively and when you do that, you leave the door open for shots like they hit, like the one Harrison hit at the end.
00:50 You were minus-16 in the non-Steph minutes. How significant was that?
00:55 Huge. I thought that was the key to the game, top of the second, top of the fourth. We played two great quarters tonight, first quarter and third quarter and then both of those quarters, top-second, top-four, they blitzed us. I think they went 19-3 in the second quarter and then to go into the fourth with a 12-point lead and, immediate — I think it was at a maybe a 12-4 start in the fourth and those were the two key stretches of the game.
01:28 You had three turnovers in the last minute or so, one on inbound, some other entry passes. Was that just sloppy passing or were there some overplaying that you guys just couldn’t make up for?
01:37 I think sloppy execution. We just — our spacing wasn’t great and so they made some good plays there for the most part for the game. We took care of the ball and then down the — in those last two minutes — and we’ve been playing really well down the stretch of games, closing games — well, tonight we weren’t able to do it.
01:57 Obviously, we all know what this could mean for playoff standings. Do you talk to your team about that? Do you need something to try to change the mood or change the momentum after something like this?
02:08 This is the NBA. That’s how it works. Everybody’s good. Everybody’s got talent. You’re always vulnerable, no matter who you are and it’s going down to the wire for a reason. There’s a lot of great teams in the West and there’s very few easy games. There’s just very few games that fall into place and because of the three-point line, in the modern NBA, you’re always vulnerable. And that’s what what got us tonight. 18 threes.
02:38 Coach, obviously a disappointing loss with you guys trying to win out the rest of the game so that you could make sure that you were in a pretty good position going into the playoffs. Now, dropping to the 7th seed, if you could share, what do you say to your team after a loss like this? What are you telling them, looking forward, after something like this, to avoid?
02:55 This is — we’re already in the playoffs and so this is what the playoffs feel like, a lot of pressure, a lot on the line. Tough losses and so the only thing you can do is you pick up your chin and off the floor and you get back at it the next day, so we got a huge game in Portland and we’ll fly there tomorrow and get these guys ready and right back at it.
03:24 Steve, what was harder to take the, the late turnovers by your veteran guys or the fact that the Spurs shot better than 70% in that fourth quarter against your defense? What was tougher?
03:34 All of it. I mean, to lose a 12-point lead to start the quarter at home, that’s tough, but give the Spurs credit, they played a great, great game and Harrison has been hot for a couple weeks and even the shots he missed tonight were halfway down. And he hit just an incredible shot to win the game, so we try to pick up the pieces from this and get right back at it tomorrow and — or Friday, I guess in Portland. And look at the tape, see where we can get better, and that’s what we’re gonna do.
04:15 Overall in the game, do you think that their three-point shooting success was more your defense or just they were hitting tough shots, or how much was it?
04:25 It felt like they broke us down off the dribble in that fourth quarter quite a bit. Castle did a good job getting into the paint and I thought his three was a big one. He is about 28%. You don’t expect him to make that one, but he knocked it down. Like I said, give him credit. That was the big one. I think it tied the game and kind of put us in a tough spot, but yeah, they made the plays.
04:55 Hey Steve, Chris Paul’s been mum on his future as to if he’s coming back next year. This could be your last time coaching against him, obviously, someone you’ve coached for in the past. Just what makes his game so unique after coaching against him all these years and, more specifically, his pick-and-roll game?
05:11 So unique. So he’s one of the greatest point guards of all time and it was a pleasure to coach him and I imagine he’ll keep playing next year ’cause he’s still really good.
05:22 Kuminga 18 minutes tonight and just looked like you kind of trimmed it to an eight-man rotation. In general, how difficult right now are your rotation choices and, particularly, your fourth quarter?
05:31 Yeah, I thought we really missed Gary tonight. We miss QP. Those guys, we’ve we’ve really developed a good groove, rotation-wise with those two guys and so that jumbled the rotation. You saw, top of the second, we had Gui out there. Top of the fourth, we had JK and so we’re mixing and matching. We tried Trayce for a few minutes as well, but again, the key stretches of the game were top second, top fourth. That’s where they got right back in the game and so those are the rotation choices we have to make.
06:06 What do you think about the Spurs going to Harrison Barnes for that last shot and then the emotion that poured out of him that he had that moment against a former team?
06:13 Well, it made sense to go to him because he can get the shot off over the top because he’s big and he’s been hot, so he made an incredible shot. I’m sure it’s pretty sweet for him being a former Warrior and anytime you can hit a shot like that, it’s an incredible thrill. And so Harrison’s one of my favorite guys. I’ll be happy for him after the season ends, but not tonight. Thanks.
—
06:41 How would you describe what happened in the fourth quarter? What mostly went wrong?
06:51 DRAYMOND GREEN: Didn’t happen in the fourth quarter. It happened in second quarter, end of the first quarter. Second quarter, we just started giving up straight-line drives. They found a rhythm. That’s when it happened. We found a way to get the lead back, but we never — don’t mess around with games. Mess around with games, in this league you lose, so that’s what happened.
07:23 Guys have been pretty good in the non-Steph minutes since Jimmy’s been here. Tonight, I think, minus-16. I guess one of those pockets is the one you’re talking about, but I guess what were the issues with those kind of lineups?
07:35 Couldn’t get a stop. Couldn’t get into nothing good offensively. Couldn’t get a stop.
07:45 Dray, when it comes to the leadership on this team, Steve Kerr, head coach Steve Kerr said earlier that it was because of you, Steph, and Jimmy, that you guys could get the team ready. How much of a weight is it on you guys now? Like you just said, you can’t mess around in this league. How much of a weight is it on you guys to make sure everyone else is ready for the next two games, including, of course, you three?
08:10 Yeah, definitely gotta make sure people ready to play, but we are professionals and know what’s at stake. You gotta come in ready to go.
08:19 And when you say mess around, do you think there was a lack of focus for this?
08:23 There was a lack of grit. Sometimes it don’t take focus, sometimes it take grit. There’s a lack of that.
08:35 Stunning to you that it would happen in this moment, this late in the season with this much on the line?
08:43 It’s upsetting. I wouldn’t say stunning. It’s upsetting.
08:51 There’s still, I mean, regardless of the significance of this loss, there’s still some clear paths for y’all to get out of the Play-in. Even if you were to be in the Play-in, obviously you’d be on the better side of that. I mean, how I guess optimistic are you still, even after a night like tonight?
09:16 Like I told you last night, I don’t sit and look at the standings and wish for other teams to lose. You take care of what you’re supposed to take care of, everything else take care of. So I don’t sit and build myself up with optimism. Wanna be a winner? Go win the game.
09:36 Why do you think there was a lack of grit tonight?
09:43 We’ll figure it out.
09:49 What happened on that one possession? Seemed like there was a miscommunication late. What kind of happened?
10:07 Got bunched up. We were bunched up all night. Spacing was awful.
10:21 How do you expect the way you lost tonight to fuel the next two games? I mean, you’ve — recently, this team when it’s — hasn’t lost much, but when it has, it’s come back strong. Obviously, those two losses on the trip, you come back and win in Memphis and LA. What kind of carryover do you expect, either way, on this? I mean, how much can this — how much do you think this will affect you guys going forward?
10:44 Every game is different. You can’t carry one win to the next game, you can’t carry a loss to the next game, so.
10:53 Draymond, you’re —
10:53 We needed to win every game before. We still need to win every game.
10:59 Obviously, I could imagine it’s frustrating to lose a game like this, you’re man of few words tonight. Was it the same in the locker room or are you kind of having to talk to the guys about not showing up again with the lack of grit and sloppy on defense, in the words of head coach Steve Kerr?
11:14 No, I’m not doing that. We know what it — we know what we’re supposed to do. We’re not children. We’re adults. Champions. We know what it takes. No need to beat a dead horse. We messed around with the game, we lost. That’s how it goes.
🫶💙💛