Warriors need to ‘find that energy again’ for tough stretch after recent blown leads
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors got a little too comfortable, Moses Moody said. They lost their juice, according to head coach Steve Kerr. They couldn’t sustain their effort in the second half, Steph Curry and Gary Payton II said.
They ran out of gas, again. Their defensive intensity tailed off, even against a lottery team without several rotation players, again.
However they term it, the Warriors choked Monday night against a significantly depleted Nets team. Two nights before, they blew a 17-point, third-quarter lead to the Spurs on the second night of a back-to-back for all the same reasons.
That was the Spurs and the Nets. Upcoming for the Warriors (12-5), starting on Wednesday at the Chase Center against the Thunder, is a gauntlet of playoff contenders. Oklahoma City recently overtook the Warriors for the top spot in the West.
“The schedule is the schedule,” Kerr said Monday night. “I don’t look ahead. There’s all kinds of hard games. A couple weeks ago, we had OKC, Boston and Cleveland staring at us. It is what it is. We’ve got to play better. Nothing else matters.”
The first time Golden State met the Thunder, on Nov. 10, they defeated them on the road after OKC center Chet Holmgren exited with an injury.
Back then, the Warriors were rolling, stunning the league with a combination of defensive execution and clutch play from Curry. They won eight of nine, including victories over the Thunder and defending champion Celtics.
“We had a lot more energy a couple weeks ago,” Kerr said. “Maybe it’s just the schedule catching up to us a little bit. But we know we’ve got to find that energy again.”
That has been particularly apparent at the ends of games. In the Warriors’ last two fourth quarters, they were outscored 74-41. And preceding each dismal final quarter was a back-breaking run from their opponent to end the third.
The Warriors have called on Curry to rescue them in clutch situations. Unlike earlier in the season, he hasn’t been able to locate the escape hatch.
The way the Warriors want to play defense requires a ton of energy because of how they want to swarm and make rotations; they have slipped from second in defensive rating through three weeks to fourth. Getting complacent with leads is reminiscent of last season’s lowlights — the weaknesses that looked behind Golden State during its 12-3 start.
Before the choke against the Spurs, the last time Golden State blew at least a 17-point lead and lost was their infamous loss to Denver last January — in which Nikola Jokic hit a game-winner and Jonathan Kuminga got benched for the fourth quarter.
“These last two games have left a sour taste, for sure,” Curry said. “But we’ve given ourselves a little bit of cushion.”
A cushion in the West can thin out quickly, though.
On Monday night, Dennis Schroder torched the Warriors, scoring 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter. As skilled and shifty as the veteran point guard is, Schroder isn’t Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP candidate the Warriors will have to stop on Wednesday. He’s not Kevin Durant, whose Suns are 8-1 with him in the lineup and await the Warriors on Saturday.
Next week doesn’t get easier. The Warriors face MVP favorite Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, Houston and Minnesota twice before the NBA Cup quarterfinals, potentially on the road.
If the Warriors’ recent schedule is catching up to them, as Kerr theorized, it’s not going to get easier through the holidays. Golden State is 7-1 against sub-.500 teams, but itthey might not play another one until January.
Finding more time to practice should help. The Warriors had an intense session on Tuesday and have another scheduled at the Chase Center Friday before heading out to Phoenix and Denver.
“We’ve all got to be in this together,” Curry said. “Nobody should run for the hills or press a panic button. Practice definitely helps (keep) everybody together. We got to talk (through) some stuff.”