SAN FRANCISCO — After a fantastic first month of the season, some of the Warriors’ issues from last year are starting to float to the surface.
After blowing a 17-point lead in a loss at San Antonio over the weekend, the Warriors similarly collapsed from a peak of an 18-point edge in the third quarter. Even with the highest-scoring bench in the league, the Warriors are having trouble in minutes Steph Curry sits. And when he’s on the court, he can’t always save them.
Curry, despite scoring 28 points, couldn’t rescue the Warriors on Monday night against an undermanned and overmatched Nets team at the Chase Center. The Warriors (12-5) got outscored 41-28 in the fourth quarter, running on empty for a second consecutive game.
“It felt like we lost juice again tonight,” Steve Kerr said postgame. “Big lead late third and can’t close the deal. Not a lot of energy, not a lot of force. And you open up the door for a team in the modern NBA and they might make 20 3s like Brooklyn did tonight.”
Dennis Schroder scored 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter, handing the Warriors a 128-120 loss. Kerr said the issues with energy aren’t related to fatigue, but rather execution. Regardless of the root cause, Monday was the team’s worst loss of the year — its biggest collapse and its first loss to a sub-.500 team.
For a second straight game, Jonathan Kuminga was unavailable with an illness. And for a second straight game, the Warriors missed his scoring punch.
The Nets, on the second night of a back-to-back, didn’t have Ben Simmons, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nic Claxton or Noah Clowney available. And Cam Johnson got ruled out in the first half due to an ankle sprain.
Still, Brooklyn took an early lead. Eleven of the Nets’ first 17 shots came from behind the arc, and they hit six of them.
“I think we gave them too much freedom in the first quarter,” Curry said postgame. “They got up 19 3s in the first quarter, then made a couple adjustments so that rate slowed down. But guys got the ball in their hands, got a little comfortable. There’s a sense that can translate to more confidence down the stretch.”
The Warriors also started hot from deep, nailing six of their first 10 triples — including a 3-for-3 start from Steph Curry.
Then the Warriors’ bench ignited a 17-5 run to start the second quarter, with Brandin Podziemski sticking a step-back 3 to punctuate it. Lindy Waters III, who started 4-for-4 from the floor, sank a quick-release 3 from the corner and Kevon Looney added a drop-step score down low.
But really, the Warriors’ bench units had more life defensively than any Warriors group did in the first quarter. They flew around the court, rotating and swarming to shooters to run them off the line, Looney cleaning drives up in the lane.
Moses Moody chipped in 15 in his first eight minutes, converting a pair of layups through contact and adding a trio of 3s. His at-rim finishing and driving ability, particularly from the corners, has been a visible development for him this season.
Moody closed the first half by breaking up what could have been an alley-oop from a baseline out-of-bounds play, sending the Warriors into half with a 67-58 lead. They outscored the Nets by 13 in the second quarter.
Without Johnson, Thomas had even brighter of a green light to shoot than he normally does. The shooting guard stayed efficient, dropping 23 points in his first 21 minutes on 10 field goal attempts, but he didn’t have much help. Until Schroder went nuclear.
A 3 from Thomas got sandwiched between treys from Draymond Green and Curry, then Curry found Trayce Jackson-Davis running the floor for a fast-break dunk. Then Curry drilled a 32-footer in transition, getting hit on the release. On his back, he gyrated and pointed both pointer fingers to the ceiling.
At that point, Curry had 17 points on nine shots, each of which came from behind the 3-point arc.
With an 18-point lead, the Warriors were in control. But then the Nets ripped off a 19-6 run, refusing to go away. Against the Spurs on Saturday night, the Warriors blew a 17-point third-quarter lead. Recent history looked to be repeating itself.
“I think this game, we got a little too comfortable,” Moody said. “They stayed aggressive, picking up full (court), playing hard. I think we got a little relaxed when we got up (18).”
The Nets retook their lead after Schroder scored eight unanswered points to open the final period. Much of the Nets’ comeback occurred during Curry’s scheduled rest. When Curry returned for the final 7:29, the Warriors trailed by five.
Curry immediately created a Kyle Anderson dunk when two defenders closed out to him in split action. A minute later, he sank his sixth 3 of the night. To draw the Warriors back within 3, he stopped on a dime in transition to convert his seventh trey.
Schroder had answers on the other end, like he has in the past in matchups with Golden State. The jitterbug point guard found a groove and took over in the fourth, assisting on a 3 with 1:04 left to put Brooklyn up 124-115.
For the first time this season, the Warriors have lost two straight. And they were by far their worst losses.
“You can tell we had a lot more energy a couple weeks ago,” Kerr said. “Maybe it’s the schedule catching up to us a little bit. But we know we’ve got to find that energy again.”
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