What we learned as Warriors’ late-game woes continue in loss to Nets

What we learned as Warriors’ late-game woes continue in loss to Nets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – No lead is safe in the NBA, as the Warriors again learned Monday night at Chase Center against the rebuilding, short-handed Brooklyn Nets.

The Warriors on Saturday in San Antonio led by 17 points in the third quarter and wound up losing by 10. After one day’s worth of rest, the Warriors enjoyed an 18-point lead over the Nets in the third quarter. That lead then was down to only five going into the fourth quarter.

Just a little more than three minutes into the fourth, the lead was gone. The Warriors never got it back, losing 128-120. Brooklyn outscored Golden State 41-28 in the fourth quarter.

Steph Curry scored a team-high 28 points, going 8 of 16 on 3-pointers. Andrew Wiggins added 18. Moses Moody had 15, but all in the first half. Lindy Waters gave the Warriors 13 points, 10 of which were in the first half.

Inexcusably, the Warriors again were crushed at the free-throw line. The Nets made 26 of their 30 free throws. The Warriors however, shot 11 of 17 on free throws, making 15 fewer free throws in an eight-point loss.

Here are three takeaways from Golden State’s second consecutive frustrating loss.

3-Point Party

As it often does in the NBA, the deciding factor between these two teams clearly was going to be the 3-point line. The Warriors and Nets entering Monday both ranked in the top seven in 3-point attempts per game. While Brooklyn was seventh, averaging 40.6 attempts per game, Golden State was slightly above at 41.6 tries – fourth in the NBA.

Right away, it was clear it was going to be a 3-point shootout at Chase Center. The first quarter saw the Warriors and Nets combine to take 48 shots, and 31 were beyond the arc. Though the Warriors were more accurate to start the game, the Nets held a six-point advantage from deep through the first 12 minutes and led by four.

The advantage at halftime then belonged to the Warriors. They hit two more 3s than the Nets in the first half and led by nine points. Six Warriors had already cashed in from deep.

Both teams then were tied at 15 3s apiece going into the fourth quarter as the Nets outscored the Warriors 29-25 in the third quarter. The final tally was 20 3s for the Nets, and 19 for the Warriors – with nearly half coming from Curry.

Nets coach Jordi Fernandez gave time to nine players, and each made at least one three.

Paint Night 

The Nets, when healthy, are a much longer and taller team than the Warriors. But down multiple big men, coach Jordi Fernandez turned to 6-foot-9 small forward Ziaire Williams to be his small-ball center and the Warriors took advantage.

And more than their post players like Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis contributed to the action.

Whenever Andrew Wiggins is playing downhill, that’s a positive for the Warriors. Within the first two minutes, he had a diving layup and didn’t shy away from contact. Moses Moody had several reasons to flex on the Nets, too.

Gary Payton II, at 6-foot-2, showcased his uniqueness in many ways. With around four minutes remaining in the first half, Payton sprinted down the court after a Nets missed layup and sealed off Cam Thomas (6-foot-4), getting in position for a fastbreak layup after Brandin Podziemski found him for an easy bucket. Later in the first half, Payton threw down a dunk off a Curry missed three.

The Warriors in the first quarter had eight more points in the paint than the Nets, 12 to 4. By halftime, those numbers rose to 30 points in the paint for the Warriors, 16 more than the Nets’ 14.

In their Saturday night loss against the Spurs, the Warriors feasted in the paint early but settled far too often as their lead unraveled. The Warriors scored more than twice the Nets’ points in the paint, 52 to 34, but other aspects of the game were too much to overcome.

Dynamic Duo

For more than a decade, the combination of Curry and Draymond Green have completely changed the way basketball can be viewed, offensively and defensively. One sequence in the third quarter showed exactly how.

Roaming like an All-Pro free safety, Green scoured the Nets’ offense before surprising their sensational scorer Cam Thomas. As Thomas sprinted off a dribble-handoff with the shot clock running down, he thought he’d have an opening for a three. Green thought otherwise.

The legendary defender jumped the switch, closed out on Thomas and forced an errant deep off the back of the rim. The ball then bounced to Curry, who took it down the court and let it fly from the left wing, splashing a triple on Thomas and Jalen Wilson.

Fouled on the shot by Wilson, Curry completed the four-point play after celebrating on the floor.

Those 30 seconds perfectly showcase the kind of impact only Curry and Green can have on the game. They’ll also be forgotten after such an ugly loss.

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